Chandigarh August 13:Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today constituted a core group under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Mr. RI Singh to study the report on ‘Punjab Industrial Review’ submitted by the 3-member team led by Consultant United Nation Industry Development Organization (UNIDO) Dr. (Mrs.) Isher Judge Ahluwalia to evolve consensus as to what should be the New Industrial Policy of the state that was likely to be come in force from 1st January, 2009.
Taking part in the deliberations during a presentation made by the UNIDO team leader Mrs. Ahluwalia on the Punjab Industrial Review, Mr. Badal asked the core group to submit its report by 15th October, 2008. The document of the core group would be thoroughly deliberated upon by the members of infrastructure Council, large industrial board, medium industrial board and small industrial board and thus it would be referred to Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Local Govt., Industries & Commerce Minister Manoranjan Kalia with other members being Finance & Planning Minister, Agriculture Minister (Agro-industries) and Housing & Urban Development Minister or their representatives. The final recommendations of the GoM on the new industrial policy would be brought to the consideration of Council of Ministers latest by 31st December, 2008 so that the new industrial policy is operative from 1st January, 2009.
The Chief Minister mentioned that the industry in Punjab had been passing through a difficult time due to locational disadvantage, discriminatory policies of Government of India providing concessions to neighbouring states and global competition. "We intend to revive the sick industry, existing industry to grow and invite fresh investments in the state" said Mr. Badal. To achieve this end we had sought the services of UNIDO that has the exposure to global scenario in the process of industrial policy formulation.
Mr. Badal reiterated his firm commitment for the infrastructure development in the light of the recommendations made by the UNIDO’s team and added that the role of the state government in the process of industrial development would be that of a facilitator.
Mrs. Ahluwalia briefly outlined the proposed industrial strategy identifying new thrust areas, bidding skills, industrializing border district areas, building Special Economic Zones and assuring power availability at competitive price. The document also carried SWOT analysis i.e. Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunity and Threat. She prioritized the setting up of industry in agro-based, cotton & textiles, petro-chemical, automotive & bicycles components, light engineering, machine tools & Hand tools, leather & Sports good, pharmaceuticals, information technology and bio-technology to put the state on the high growth trajectory in the field of industrialization.
Interacting with the members of the UNIDO team, Industries & Commerce Minister Manoranjan Kalia said that the state government was committed to strengthen the ‘Udyog Shahak’ as an effective single window system for industrial approval under the Industrial Facilitation Act. He said that it was a high time to formulate a new industrial policy as the previous policy of 2003 had become almost redundant with the radical economic changes on the national and global scenario in view of the globalization and liberalization. He said that the state government would introduce a system of deemed approvals after a specified lapse of time to minimize the hardships faced by the prospective investors and entrepreneurs. He was also of the view for setting up of high empowered administrative reforms commission to suggest radical reforms in administration so as to make significant improvement in the investment climate. The Industries department would soon introduce online information and the composite forms for seeking approvals from different departments for setting up industrial units to the advantage of the prospective entrepreneurs.
Specifying his observations, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said that land was a major constraint in Punjab and therefore, we would ensure proper utilization of available land for industrial development. He said that as recommended in the report we would focus on developing the potential of dairy industry and textile industry in the state. He hoped that UNIDO would continue to support the initiatives of state government in industrial development in future too.
Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting included Media Advisor to Chief Minister Mr. Harcharan Bains, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr.DS Guru, Secretary Industries SS Channy, Additional Principal Secretary AK Mahajan besides the senior functionaries of the state government. The other two members of the UNIDO team Mr. Saumitra Chaudhuri and Mr.Samrat Sidhu also participated in the discussions.