New Delhi, Nov 25 : Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday asked Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to give a special economic package to the state as 14 districts are included in the National Capital Region (NCR). The state should be given a special economic package keeping in mind that a lot of resources have to be spent on the construction and maintenance of infrastructure in these areas, said Khattar while speaking at a pre-budget consultation meeting with Sitharaman in Delhi. The Chief Minister said Haryana's area of 25,327 sq. km. and population of 164.3 lakh comes under the NCR. The region consumes a lot of resources for infrastructure, water, sanitation, urban development and connectivity. He said in the NCR, the Haryana government is spending money on the development of the KMP Expressway, the Rail Orbital Project, the development of five cities along the KMP corridor as a Panchgram Vision, an Integrated Multi Modal Logistics Hub at Narnaul, an International Horticulture Market at Gannaur and other big projects. The demand made by the state government for a special package from the Central government for the implementation of these projects is justified, said the Chief Minister. Khattar thanked the Central government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Sitharaman for continuously giving special assistance for the Capital Investment Scheme to the states in the form of a 50-year interest-free loan in 2022-23 also. The Chief Minister said Haryana has received Rs 874 crore under this scheme in 2022-23 for the implementation of the Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor Project. He requested the Centre to continue this scheme in future also. The Chief Minister said the state has done tremendous work to strengthen the health infrastructure of the state along with doing commendable progress in medical education. He said the construction and operation of medical colleges require to get capital intensive, with a capital investment of over Rs 700 crore on each such project, hence a demand has been made to the Centre to provide special financial assistance to open these medical colleges in Haryana. /IANS