by Punjabnewswire4u (Balbir)
CHANDIGARH, JULY
19
Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma today announced
that the Government of India
(GoI) would soon set up a mega leather cluster at Jalandhar at a cost of Rs.125
crore to boost the leather industry in the region. This was disclosed by Mr Sharma who along with his team of
officers held a high level meeting with the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash
Singh Badal and senior officers of the state government here at Punjab Bhawan.
Mr Sharma apprised the Chief Minister that the upcoming
cluster at Jalndhar was amongst the 7 such clusters being set up by the
Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy.
Union Commerce Minister also announced that a cold storage
facility would be provided at the Cargo Terminal of Chandigarh-Mohali
International Airport to boost the exports of vegetables, fruits and live
saving drugs. He also announced to revive the erstwhile Dhariwal
Woolen Mill at Dhariwal as the Ministry of Textile had already taken in
principle decision to run this mill by National Textile Corporation.
Expressing gratitude to Mr. Sharma, the Chief Minister
said that he was highly indebted to him for personally visiting the state along
with a battery of officers to resolves the long pending issues of state related
to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Textile.
Conceding another demand put forth by Mr. Badal regarding
the completion of Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) to treat the effluents
being discharged by the Small and Medium dyeing industry in Ludhiana at a cost
of Rs 437 crore, the Union Minister said that he had constituted a high level
committee under the chairmanship of Secretary Textiles who would visit Ludhiana
within next two weeks and submit the report to him so that Ministry could
recommend the case of setting up of this CETP at Ludhiana under Industrial
Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS) of the Department of Industrial
Promotion of Policy (DIPP). He informed Mr Badal that under the scheme
60% of funding would be done by Centre as the latter had demanded Rs 264 crore
accordingly from the centre for the completion of the project.
Demanding direct export of Kinnow to Bangladesh via
land route of Kolkatta, the Chief Minister sought intervention of the Ministry
to curb the malpractice of distress sale and subsequent exploitation of Kinnow
growers of the state by the local traders. Responding to the issue Mr Sharma
asked the Director General Foreign Trade Kolkatta to resolve the issue at the
earliest to pave a way for the smooth export of Kinnow directly from Punjab.
On the demand raised by Mr Badal for allowing the export
of wheat to Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries via Attari border, the
Union Minister apprised him that the matter was being taken up by the GoI with
the national Government of Pakistan and a possible headway was expected soon.
In the new regime of Integrated Check Post at Attari-Wagah
border, the Chief Minister reiterated the issue of export which was restricted
to only 137 items from India to Pakistan through land route via ICP Attari, on
the contrary about 6000 items were being exported from Mumbai to Karachi.
Urging the Union Minister to allow level playing field for exports of all the
items which were permitted from Mumbai via Attari too, Mr Badal said that this
step would boost the potential of bilateral trade between both the countries.
Replying to his demand the Union Minister said that the matter was already
under the active consideration of both the Governments and hoped of positive
outcome in this regard.
Mr Badal also raised the issue of giving a financial
package to compensate the state for the loss suffered due to the flight of the
industry from here to the neighboring states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu &
Kashmir and Uttarkhand in view of the Industrial concessions given to these
states. The Chief Minister demanded that if it was not feasible then atleast
Centre should show magnanimity by giving this package atleast to the border
districts of the state.
Accepting another demand raised by the Chief Minister to
allow trade from Attari border through containers instead of sacks, Mr Sharma
assured him that the Ministry would soon issue orders to facilitate the traders
of the region for exporting their goods. The Union Minister also informed Mr
Badal that he would soon take up the matter for providing Additional Railway
racks and creating warehouse facility at Railway Yard in Attari with the
Ministry of Railways.
Taking up the issue of the stringent terms and conditions
set up by the Union government to set up the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the
Chief Minister urged Mr Sharma to relax the conditions of minimum land
requirement in view of exorbitant land prices in the state. Mr Badal emphasized
that it should be entirely left to the Developers and the prospective investors
to prove the viability of the project on the available land. The Union Minister
assured Mr Badal that the issue would be addressed in the new guidelines to be
issued by the GoI.
Mr Sharma also informed the Chief Minister that the GoI
had selected the industrial towns of Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Batala under the
Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS), to provide much needed
impetus for the promotion of trade and industry in the region. He also
mentioned that the industrial units manufacturing toys, sports goods and
readymade garments of the state have been selected by the Union government for
providing special assistance to them. He also divulged the details on the new
National Manufacturing Policy aimed at enhancing the GDP of Industrial growth
which was now stagnated at 16% to atleast 25-26% and urged Mr Badal to make
optimum utilization of this policy which had another in built component of
creating 100 million skilled jobs to cater to the needs the small scale
industry. Under this policy planned industrial integrated townships would be
developed across the country to accelerate the pace of industrialization.
Mr Badal also raised the issue of extending the Eastern
Freight Corridor from Son Nagar (West Bengal) to Ludhiana
and Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC Western) upto Ludhiana
and further to Attari via Amritsar,
as it would enormously propel the trade and commerce activity in the state. Mr
Sharma told the Chief Minister that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry had
already accorded in principle approval for the extension of DMIC to Ludhiana via Rewari. The Union
Minister also said that he would again take up the matter with the Ministry of
Railways to intensify its efforts for the extension of eastern corridor from
Ludhiana to Attari via Amritsar, which was the need of the hour to further give
fillip top export in the wake of ICP at Wagah Attari.
Responding to another vital issue raised by Mr Badal
regarding the sharing of information concerned with the list of respective
holidays amongst the officers of India and Pakistan and trading community on
either side, the Union Minister said that the process had already been set in
motion by both the National governments and a consensus would be evolved on a
uniform pattern of holidays to avoid any sort on inconvenience to the traders.
Mr Sharma assured the Chief Minister that he would soon
get the other issues raised by him pertaining to trade by land route between
India & Pakistan and Gulf countries, introducing barter system (tax free
trade) as allowed in Kashmir, permission for trade through Pakistan territory
to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Nations & Middle-East countries
as permissible in the case of Afghanistan, simplification of procedure for
issuing Visa besides introduction of “Freight Equalization Scheme” examined by
the Ministry so that these could be resolved amicably to the advantage of
Punjab.
Later addressing the media persons immediately after the
meeting, Mr. Sharma replying to a query on the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),
said that since several Chief Minister’s were yet to respond so therefore the
matter was held in abeyance adding that he would like all the Chief Ministers
to respond on this issue before taking a final decision. Since our
country is a Union of states we abide by its
federal character and therefore are bound by the consensus on the issue.
Prominent amongst those who attended the meeting included
Cabinet Ministers Mr Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon and Mr Anil Joshi, Chief
Secretary Mr Rakesh Singh, Principal Secretary Industry and Commerce Mr AR
Talwar, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Mr SK Sandhu, Secretary Food
and Civil Supplies Mr DS Grewal.
Union Industry and Commerce Minister was accompanied by
Secretary Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Mr Saurabh Chandra, CEO
DMIC Mr Amitabh Kanth, Joint Secretary Department of Commerce Mr DS Dhesi,
Joint Secretaries DIPP Ms Anjali Prasad and Mr Talleen Kumar, Joint Director
General Foreign Trade Mr Anil Aggarwal
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