Amidst the claims of success of Punjab government's Invest Punjab, the condition of industrialists
has become miserable. Chief Town Planner of Punjab had declared more than 1 lakh acres of land
as industrial area in the master plan of Ludhiana. After the industrial area was declared in the
master plan, more than ten thousand industrialists bought land in these areas to set up industries,
but GLADA and Municipal Corporation Ludhiana refused to give NOC to these businessmen only
because their land did not require 22 feet government road. Businessmen also wrote that there is a
fifty feet private road in these areas and if they are setting up industries, then they are doing so
after considering the road, but the department rejected the applications of all these people without
listening to their arguments. Due to this Nadirshahi bureaucracy, industrialists are closing their
business in Punjab and moving to other states.
Badish Jindal, National President: AITF, National Chairman: FASII President : FOPSIA said i n statement
The government is asking industries to move from mixed land use areas, but the government will
have to answer where the industries should go. Neither any focal point is being made for small
industries nor the government is giving them any land. The government is allocating land in villages
to big industries, but small industries are not being allowed to set up industries even in the
declared industrial areas. In Ludhiana, billions of rupees of thousands of businessmen have gone to
waste only because their land does not have a 22 feet government road. If the government wanted,
it could have amended it. The businessmen are ready to give that much land to GLADA to make a
road on their land, but the government is completely silent on this. Instead of giving approval to
many large unauthorized industrial colonies built in these areas, the department broke the roads of
those colonies due to which the industries located there were closed.
The government started the Green Stamp Paper Scheme for industries in May last year to provide
relief to the industries but according to the information received in RTI, only 23 applicants could
get the land registered in a year. 23 applications were directly rejected, 2 applicants withdrew their
applications and the remaining 17 applications are still stuck in the departments, this was the
scheme in which the Chief Minister was directly involved and crores of rupees were spent on its
promotion. It is clear from this that buying land for industries in Punjab is a tough job.
More than 50000 industries running in mixed land use areas are still facing the threat of migration.
The government has not recognised these areas as industrial areas and has only extended the
approval to run industries for a few years but the government is silent on where these industries
will go after that. The government is trying to bring in a few new industries by spending Rs 644
lakh every year on the officials of Invest Punjab but neither the government nor these officials have
any time to decide the future of these 50000 industries.
Therefore, the government should reconsider the definition of industrial area as soon as possible
and industries in the industrial areas declared by the government should get approval as soon as
possible so that the migration of industries from Punjab can be stopped.
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Gautam Jalandhari (Editor)
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