In a first, govt mulls buying three goods trains to boost trade in Punjab
Vijay C Roy
Mohali, August 26
If everything goes as per the plan of the state government, Punjab will be the first state in the country to have its own goods trains to transport goods meant for export and import. The move will help save the precious working capital of exporters and importers as it is likely to bring down the transportation cost by at least 50 per cent.
Rs 350 Crore cost of each train
There is a scheme of the Railways, under which it will offer a loan for the purpose at 3%. Bhagwant Mann, CM
On connectivity
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the government was in talks with major airlines to start direct international flights from Amritsar and Mohali. ‘’We are in talks with the Tatas (Air India), Vistara, British Airways and Air Canada regarding direct flights from Amritsar and Mohali to London, Vancouver, Toronto, Silicon Valley and Chicago,” he said.
On tourism
The CM said the state was focusing on tourism. Clean water of Ranjit Sagar Dam would be leveraged to develop tourism on the lines of Udaipur lake.
On power generation
He said Punjab’s captive coal mine in Jharkhand, which had remained closed for some reasons, had reopened and ‘’there won’t be any coal shortage for power generation’’.
Single-window system
Kamal Kishor Yadav, Chief Executive Officer, Invest Punjab, said, “As a unified regulator, we are ensuring that all clearances take place in a time-bound manner. Another focus will be on transparency. This is a single-window system or one-stop solution that the Government of Punjab is providing to all industries.”
“The nearest port from Punjab is Kandla Port. A truck charges around Rs 25,000 for transporting export goods from Punjab to the port. We are contemplating having our goods train, which can be deployed to export goods from the state and to import goods to the state,” said Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann while addressing a conference on “Vision Punjab”, organised by Assocham in association with the state government.
“Each train will cost around Rs 350 crore. We are planning to buy three trains in which exporters will have their own rakes to transport goods. There is a scheme of the Railways, under which it will offer a loan for the purpose at 3 per cent interest. We will be the first state in the country to have our own train,” he added.
According to AS Mittal, Chairman, Assocham, North Region Development Council, and Vice-Chairman, International Tractors Ltd, a major constraint for Punjab is its location — distance from seaports has a crippling impact on industrial growth. He said the state manufacturing sector needed a level-playing field to compete with manufacturing industrial clusters of southern and western coastal line states, which reap the benefits of near-port location. The government must own freight trains (either solely or in the PPP mode) to boost the state industry by minimising rail freight burden from dry ports to seaports and vice versa.
Addressing industrialists, Mann assured that the state would offer a conducive environment to the industry, which would be free from corruption. Coming down heavily on his predecssors, he said, “In the past, many events were organised such as Invest Punjab, Progressive Punjab and a lot of MoUs were signed, but nothing happened because of the multiple window system. We will not let it happen and there will be only own single window where you can get the NOC, CLU and pollution certificate at a click of the mouse sitting at home.
