Minister: Will waive fixed power charges

Our Correspondent

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 2

Industries Minister Sunder Sham Arora today said though the Electricity Regulatory Commission had imposed fixed power charges on the industry during the lockdown period, the state government would offer a waiver.

Interacting with industrialists of Mandi Gobindgarh, Sirhind and Bassi Pathana, the minister said the Rs 20-lakh crore package announced by the Union Government was “a joke, as it encourages the industrialists to take loans from banks even as they are already availing the facility of bank limits”.

“This will lead them into a debt trap,” he said. The minister said there were 2.55 lakh industrial units in the state and of these, 2.32 lakh had been made operational. “We have written to UP, Bihar and other states that if they want to send labour back to Punjab, the state will arrange transportation to further smoothen the industrial operations,” Arora said.