Policies fine, but ensure implementation: Traders

Ludhiana: City industrialists are upbeat over chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s announcement to give green signal to the draft of the Industrial and Business Development Policy, 2022, which has to be notified by October 17, 2022.
Businessmen are hailing the proposals made in the draft but request the state government to ensure that they are implemented on ground-level so the industries could reap the benefits.
Apparel Technology and Facilitation Centre chairman Vinod Thapar said, “It is a big relief that government has finally given a go-ahead to the draft. We are happy that our suggestion of giving 5% interest subsidy to MSMEs for new expansion or diversification has been included in the draft. In order to support the small units in textile and garment sector, government should also consider paying back the State GST (SGST) to garment and textile units with turnover of less than Rs 5 crore.”
Fasteners Manufacturers Association of India president Narinder Bhamra said, “Major highlight of the draft is the proposal to introduce affordable housing for workforce, under which government will develop crèche facilities, dormitories and hostels in or around industrial estates. If these plans are implemented, the rising problem of shortage of labour will be addressed and women workforce will be encouraged to work in factories.”
Ludhiana MSME Association president Harish Kairpal said, “The proposal to re-engineer the processes of seven core departments on priority including industry, power, pollution control, labour, housing and urban development, local and taxation, to make them extremely simple, industry-friendly and completely digital will give big push to ease of doing business in Punjab..”
Inderjit Singh Navyug, ex-president of United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association, said, “The state will develop area falling in Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC) along the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) as major industrial hub. It will cover Rajpura, Sirhind, Doraha, Sahnewal and Ludhiana. This will help in faster and cheaper access to seaports for which we currently have to pay huge freight cost.”
Ludhiana Business Forums president Dinesh Kalra said, “State government has proposed that all the new industrial parks shall have warehousing facilities, which could be developed in public-private-partnership mode.”