Bizmen again show wrath over masterplan deadline

Ludhiana: After the state government failed to resolve the ongoing masterplan row, business associations on Wednesday restarted their protest against it at District Industries Centre. As Section 144 of the CrPC has been imposed in the district, the businessmen sat on the protest in groups of four, and will continue to do so for three more days.
A September 2023 deadline was given to the businessmen with factories in mix land use (MLU) areas under the Ludhiana masterplan to shift their units out of such areas. The industrialists have long been protesting against the government, asking them to extend the deadline by a few years, if not change the norms.
Gurmeet Singh Kular, president of Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisations (FICO) said, “Punjab Government has failed to resolve the issue of Masterplan 2023. We feel back-stabbed by the Aam Aadmi Party government, as before coming into power we were promised that industry would be given top-most priority.”
Renowned bicycle industrialist Avtar Singh Bhogal said, “The MSMEs are backbone of the industry and economy, and the MLU areas of Ludhiana comprise of more than 75% of total MSME units of Punjab. Despite this, the state government is hell bent on shutting down our units.”