CM WRITES TO MODI TO SETTLE ₹31,000CRORE GAP IN CCL
CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has reiterated his demand for the implementation of the ‘principle of shared responsibilities’ by the Centre to settle the ₹31,000 crore cash credit limit gap amount that had been converted by the central government into long-term loan.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi , Singh said the cash credit limit (CCL) gap cannot be solely attributed to the state of Punjab.
“The gap had arisen due to systemic and structural reasons, and should be addressed through the ‘principle of shared responsibilities’ amongst all stakeholders in the procurement process of food grains in Punjab,” he said.
Following his letter dated January 15, a meeting on the matter was held at the level of secretary Expenditure, Union India on February 20, in which representatives of the department of banking, department of food and public distribution, and the Punjab government had participated.
However, no decision has yet been taken, he added, urging the Prime Minister to intervene to operationalise the suggested principle of shared responsibilities amongst the Centre , the Punjab government and the consortium of banks.
Meanwhile, in separate letters to Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution Ram Vilas Paswan, the chief minister raised the issue of release of the pending VAT payment, as well as non-reimbursement of actual expenditure on procurement of gunny bags, to the state procurement agencies.
SIMPLE PROCESS
An applicant will have to apply for the e-licence on the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) web portal for the purpose. In cases where an applicant has applied for an E-CLU (electronic-change of land use) and an ID has been generated during the process, he will have to use this ID for applying for the e-licence. The system will fetch the information about the project from this ID. Thereafter, he will have to fill in the requisite form and digitally sign an
undertaking agreeing to fulfil all the terms, conditions and submit all the requisite documents.
For an applicant who applied for CLU manually, he will have to cite his reference number given during the CLU approval process.
First, a letter of intent (LOI) will be issued, which is considered as the provisional licence. Applicants will be able to download the provisional LOI from the website.
After all the undertakings, conditions are fulfilled and submitted by the applicant on the portal, and all objections cleared, he will be asked to deposit the requisite charges and fees. After the applicant makes an e-payment, he will be issued e-licence.
BENEFITS OF IT
The applicant will be able to check the status of his application online. The department will inform about any discrepancies in his application through an email. Yadav, commenting on the benefits of the e-licensing process for applicants, said, “An applicant will no longer need to run from office to office to track his application. At every stage of the file movement he will get an SMS (short message service) on his registered mobile.”
Both applicants and department officials will be able to track real-time status of the application online. The system will also allow search of queries. The details of all projects will be available online.
The process is also expected to improve the efficiency for the department. “We can fix responsibility of our employees at every stage of the process. Earlier, we use to get monthly reports, but now we can get realtime information regarding pendency. We have also identified time-line for every stage. Under the new process, all the objections will have to be informed in one go, and not in piecemeal basis as is currently the case,” added Yadav.
The new process is expected to reduce the time taken for getting a licence to set up a colony. “We expect to cut the time taken for granting of a licence by 30% to 40% after the system becomes fully operational,” said Yadav.