Boost to industry like all hat, no cattle

CHANDIGARH:The Capt Amarinder Singh-led government has made an effort to win over the confidence of industrialists by proposing schemes to expand industrial base in the state and promising big changes in the department functioning. But when it comes to budget allocation, only ₹209 crore has been proposed for this fiscal.

The government has also made an additional provision of ₹400 crore for setting up a hi-tech Cycle Valley in Ludhiana.

Besides declaring that the Congress government was coming out with a new industrial policy, finance minister Manpreet Badal said industrial parks and industrial estates would be brought under one agency.

The government announced to set up new industrial hubs in Sangrur and Ludhiana, besides a dedicated body “MSME Punjab” for developing micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) clusters. But there is no mention of fund allocation in the budget. The budget also mentions developing 16 specific industrial parks.

A provision of ₹5 crore has been made for the construction of roads and development of industrial infrastructure at Rajpura under the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor project.

The government has also decided to give ₹45 cr assistance to Punjab State Infrastructure Development Corporation to discharge debt liability. Fulfilling the demand of the Ludhiana industry, the budget proposes setting up of an exhibition-cumconvention centre under PPP mode.

The budget proposals also include setting up of technology business incubator at PAU, Ludhiana, and livelihood business incubators in Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Bathinda and Fazilka. The government has proposed to start ‘WISH’ (Women Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Startups and Handholding) with outlay of ₹2 cr.