Piyush Goyal to send team to study feasibility of setting up agro-based units in Batala

Ravi Dhaliwal

Batala, July 27

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has agreed to send a high-level delegation to Batala to study the feasibility of establishing agro-based industrial units in and around the city.

This development, if matured, will boost the sagging industrial units of the town, which in the 50s stretching to the 90s had earned the epithet of being the “steel city” of Punjab.

Former Qadian MLA Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa, who contested the Batala seat on the BJP ticket after the Congress did not consider him for re-nomination from Qadian, met Goyal in New Delhi last week.

Fateh said the minister had agreed, in principle, to the proposal of using agro-based raw material, produced within 50 km from the international border, for the industry.

Industrial units which have either direct or even indirect links with the agricultural sector are considered as agro-based units.

Fateh said he had impressed upon the minister that such agro-based units were easy to set up and they did not involve a lot of costs.

He added that the minister had asked him to scout for land where such units could be established. “I have asked my office to locate land on the outskirts of Batala. Hopefully, the task will be completed next week following which we will send our inputs to the industries ministry,” he said.

Fateh claimed emphasis would be laid on agro-produce processing units and agro-produce manufacturing units. In the first category, industries do not manufacture any new product. Instead they reduce the bulkiness of the produce. They simply process raw materials so that it can be easily preserved and transported. Rice mills are a good example of this type of industry. In the second type, units manufacture entirely new products based on agriculture produce as the main raw material. Therefore, the finished goods will be entirely different when compared to the original raw material. Tomato processing factories can be categorised in this sector.

Fateh said he had also met officials of the Union Textile Ministry and discussed ways and means to revive the sick Dhariwal Woolen Mills.

Bajwa meets minister

• The development, if matured, will boost the sagging industrial units of the town, which in the 50s stretching to the 90s had earned the epithet of being the ‘steel city’ of Punjab
• Former Qadian MLA Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa, who contested the Batala seat on the BJP ticket after the Congress did not consider him for re-nomination from Qadian, met Goyal in New Delhi last week