Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Punjab to create land bank for industry

Deemed approval’ for new projects in 30 days
Chandigarh, April 11
The Industries Department of Punjab seems to have learnt a lesson in the importance of "self-dependence". The Single Window Clearance for new projects was virtually stalled in the earlier tenure of the SAD-BJP government due to lack of coordination among various other departments of the state government. The Industries Department, this time, has decided to sort out the issue itself by giving "deemed approval" for new projects within 30 days of receiving an application.
It has been decided to implement the revised deemed approval policy in Punjab wherein any new project proposal will have to be granted all approvals by various state government departments within 30 days, failing which the Industries Department, on its own, will give a deemed approval to the project. With an aim to bring transparency, all approvals will be processed online so that the investor knows the status of his application.
Having missed the bus in attracting new industries to the neighbouring tax exempted hill states and even to Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, Industries Minister Anil Joshi has decided on threshing out different issues concerning the poor inflow of investment in Punjab and thus makes Punjab an attractive investment destination.
From help in creating a land banks for industry to improving the infrastructure in industrial focal points, and from promoting setting up of industrial clusters to winning the confidence of local small-scale industry by having a regular interface with them, Joshi is hopeful of ushering an "industrial investment revolution" in Punjab.
Joshi today said the state government has initiated an exercise to look out for land at reasonable rates in Kandi belt and Bathinda area to be handed over to investors for setting up industrial units. "The government has started a process to look out for land available in different parts of state. Initially, we propose to have at least five pockets of land bank, with each pocket having 3,000 acres of land, so that investors can set up industrial units there," he said, adding that all general managers of industry department had already been told to identify land to create land banks, which could be given to private investors for setting up industrial parks.
The Minister said that he was very keen on setting up industrial clusters for the existing SMEs. "We propose to set up textile cluster in the cotton growing Malwa areas, IT clusters in Amritsar and Mohali and a cluster of processing houses in Amritsar. This will help bring down the economies of scale for the SMEs in each cluster thus helping them grow and prosper," he said.

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