CHANDIGARH APRIL 11:The State Government would soon set up the Punjab Industrial Infrastructure Development Board (PIIDB) to upgrade the industrial infrastructure besides promoting industrialization in a big way.
An assurance to this effect was given by the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal during an interaction with the representatives of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) here at Punjab Bhawan. The Chief Minister said that the industrialization was the need of the hour and PIIDB would act as a catalyst to bring it a systematic and scientific manner.
The Chief Minister assured the representatives of PHDCCI that the state government was committed to promote industry through the implementation of investor friendly industrial policies and incentives to the advantage of industrialists and entrepreneurs.
The members of the PHDCCI lauded the power reforms initiated by Punjab Chief Minister besides setting up of three new thermal plants to further augment the power generation by 5000 MWs in the state. Mr. Badal asked the members of the PHDCCI to harness the joint energies for fighting unemployment and the resultant frustration amongst the youth. He said this frustration could lead to conditions of social instability thereby threatening the peace and development. He said the Government was considering the setting of joint committee of officers and industrial representatives to explore the potential for absorption of skilled or trained youth in various kinds of employment and industry. He specially mentioned the government's initiative for training the youth for security arrangements especially for industry.
Conceding the demands of PHDCCI, Mr. Badal assured the representatives of industry that an industrial help line would be launched soon to thrash out the issues relating to industry. He also mentioned the setting up of a high level committee under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary at the state head quarters having representation of officers and the captains of the industry to mutually discuss the problems faced by the industry and their solution in a time bound manner. He asked the Chief Secretary to regularly hold a monthly meeting to evaluate the feedback and suggest remedial measures to boost investors confidence. Apart from this Mr. Badal also announced the setting up of two committees one under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner and another under Assistant Deputy Commissioner (G) to redress the grievances of the industrialists on day to day basis.
The PHDCCI also urged the Chief Minister to take up the matter with GoI for asking Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd. (BHEL) to setup one of its three proposed Mega Thermal Plants in Punjab. Mr. Badal assured he would soon meet the Prime Minister and the Union Minister of Power in this regard.
In a major move to give fillip to the growth and development of industry, the Chief Minister announced to introduced a system of deemed clearances to avoid unnecessary delay and harassment caused to the prospective industrialists. He said now the requisite clearances from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) would be issued with in 15 days. However board would issue clarification regarding the requirement of NOC in respect of green category units.
The other major demands agreed by Chief Minister included the slashing of the VAT from 12% to 4% on Compact Florescent Lamps (CFLs) and flavored Milk. He also agreed to the demand of industrialists to issue necessary instructions by the Punjab State Electricity Board directing its staff not to visit the Industrial units where electronic meters are installed.
The Chief Minister also asked the Chief Secretary to review the scheme of one time settlement (OTS) for the sick industrial units amongst the small and medium category and the timely payment of subsidy due to the eligible beneficiaries. He also pointed out that there was no proposal to enhance the octroi on electricity consumption from 4 paisa to 10 paisa. Referring to the development of focal points the chief Minster mentioned that Rs. 20 crore had been allocated under annual plan 2008-09 for this purpose. He also said that the facilitation rules would be made net enabled and made public immediately.Prominent among others who were present in the meeting included Local Government & industry Minister Mr. Manoranjan Kalia, Media Advisor Mr. Harcharn Bains, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. D.S. Guru, and Financial Commissioner Taxation Mr. S.S. Brar, Principal Secretary Technical Education Mrs. Tejinder Kaur, Principal Secretary Labour P.Ram, Secretary Industries S.S. Channy, Managing Director Punjab Financial Corporation G. Vajralingam, MD PSIEC, S.S. Rajpur, MD Punjab Agro, S.K. Sandhu, Chairman PPCB, Yogesh Goyal and Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister A.k. Mahajan.The PHDCCI was represented by its Chairman Rajiv Bali, Senior Vice President Satish Bagrodia, Co-Chairman R.S. Sachdeva besides past presidents Amarjit Goyal and Ashok Khanna.