Jalandhar, December 14
The Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, today said his government would waive the tax on power generated by industrial units with the help of private generator sets.
The Chief Minister, who was speaking at an interactive session organised by the Jalandhar Exporters Forum here today, said the forthcoming industrial policy envisaged putting an end to the “inspector raj” and designation of powers to chartered engineers and technical firms for varied industrial assessments for a rapid growth of industry in the state.
Admitting that the PSEB had failed to meet the power demand in the state, particularly in the industrial sector, Capt Amarinder Singh said he saw no reason behind the imposition of tax on private generator sets installed by industrialists.
Announcing that the state government would disburse a subsidy of Rs 550 crore, to exporters within the current financial year, he also assured that industrialists would be inducted into the advisory committees of different departments to give due representation to the industry in the process of policy making. Capt Amarinder Singh assured that the hotel industry would be charged in accordance with the industrial power tariff instead of the commercial power tariff.
The Chief Minister, who was accompanied by state Industry Minister Avtaar Henry and Jalandhar Exporters Forum chief Gautam Kapoor said “We are going tough against polluting units as we are committed to provide a pollution-free
environment to our people. I have seen how contaminated groundwater was playing havoc with lives of people in Talwandi Sabo, Mansa and Bathinda area.” He said he had instructed the Industry Department authorities to expedite the process of setting up a Rs 16-crore treatment plant at the local Leather Complex.
Referring to his governments’ initiatives in the education sector, the Chief Minister said the biggest step was revision of curricula of ITIs and polytechnics of the state. “After a thorough study, 23 subjects — which had outlived their utility — had been abolished and 17 new subjects were inducted to ensure self-employment generation,” he said, adding that as per the new education policy, English would be introduced from Class-I from the next academic session.
Capt Amarinder Singh said the government was going ahead with its move to disinvest in 29 public sector units in accordance with the findings of the Vaishnava Committee. He said these units had already caused a loss of about Rs 19,000 crore to the state government against their assets worth Rs 1000 crore.
The Chief Minister said the state government had not got the Rs 20 per quintal paddy bonus announced by the Centre as yet. However, the state was going ahead with the disbursal of Rs 10 per quintal bonus as per its promise from tomorrow. He also assured the industrialists and others that no operator or union would be allowed to harass them on transportation charges.
Mr Henry demanded that at least four flyovers be constructed in the city to ensure smooth flow of traffic. The Chief Minister assured that four flyovers for the city would be sanctioned during the next financial year.
