CHANDIGARH, July 20: Former Chief Minister and permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee Capt Amarinder Singh today said that entire state of Punjab needs a special industrial package for the industry as it had suffered during the last one and a half decade due to special tax concessions to the neighbouring states like Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
He said, while being the Chief Minster between 2002 and 2007 and till now he has been vigorously pursuing the case for a special package for the whole of the state as that is the only remedy to strengthen industry, revive economy and generate employment for over 40 lakh unemployed people of the state.
The former Chief Minister asserted that he has been consistently maintaining since 1998, when he first became the PCC president that the industry in Punjab was suffering due to the discriminatory tax concessions provided in the neighbouring states. With the result, he added, the industrial growth was stifled and the industry had either moved out of the state or had stopped to expand and had preferred the other states where it got tax holiday.
Capt Amarinder said, the industry across Punjab, whether along the border districts like Amritsar or places like Ludhiana and Jalandhar had seen the exodus which needs to be stopped and reversed.
The CWC member stated that any package that should be granted must keep in view the entire state of economy across Punjab and not look at the individual districts. He pointed out, given the fact that the agricultural economy was on a massive decline and it had no longer remained lucrative or ruminative it was necessary that alternate sources of employment generation were created and there could be no substitute to the industry. Hence it is important that a special package be announced for the state.