Chandigarh, January 15
The union government has agreed to extend the Mumbai-Delhi corridor to Ludhiana. Work on the corridor is expected to be completed by 2012.
The union Cabinet approved the 1,483-km industrial corridor along the dedicated freight corridor on August 16 last year. However, its length will now go up by 300 km.
However, Punjab was not included in it though other six states, including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi were made part of the project. Later, at the behest of union commerce minister Kamal Nath, his parent state Madhya Pradesh was included in the project, it is learnt. The project cost will be in the range of Rs 2,15,000 crore ($ 50 billion). It includes development of infrastructure, including roads, airports, ports, mega thermal plants, industrial parks and industrial zones etc.
A major role in the development of the project will be played by Japan. Apart from giving grant, Japan will also make investment in the project to be developed in public-private partnership mode and with foreign investment. The project has been modelled on the Tokyo-Osaka industrial corridor.
Chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh and director,
Industries, V.K. Janjua represented Punjab at a high-level meeting in Delhi under the chairmanship of the secretary for industrial policy and promotion, Ajay Dua to extend the industrial corridor to Punjab. Representatives of the Planning Commission, the Commerce Ministry also took part in the meeting.
Ramesh Inder Singh said, on return from Delhi, here today that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him to include Punjab in the industrial corridor project. On the direction of Dr Manmohan Singh, Punjab was asked to put up its case at the meeting convened by Dua. In fact, seeds of the project were sown during Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to Tokyo in 2006.
Ramesh Inder Singh said though the project had been extended up to Ludhiana, practically even Amritsar would be included in it. As area up to 150 km on both sides of the dedicated freight corridor is to be developed as industrial corridor for which a special purpose vehicle will be set up by the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor( DMIC) Corporation. However, with the extension of the corridor up to Ludhiana, the corporation
may have to be renamed as the Ludhiana-Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor( LDMIC) Corporation.
Ramesh Inder Singh said Punjab had urged the union government to extend the industrial corridor up to Attari border.
As corridor will be developed as global manufacturing and trade hub, Punjab, which otherwise had lagged far behind in industrial development will come in the mainstream of industrial growth in the country.
Punjab had been hit hard because of the special incentives given to promote industry by the union government to hill states like Himachal, Uttaranchal and Jammu and Kashmir. Punjab was unhappy because of the flight of the industry from Punjab to nearby hill states owing to availability of special sops there.
The chief secretary said the Centre was working on the package to be offered to industrialists willing to have units in the industrial corridor.
Dedicated freight corridor, in which a dedicated rail line will be available to transport goods manufactured in the industrial corridor, was also extended on the intervention of the Prime Minister up to Ludhiana. It was earlier confined up to the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata zones.
