Himachal seeks extension of industrial package deadline

New Delhi, Apr 24 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh today sought extension of the central industrial package deadline from March 31, 2007 to March 13, 2013 to sustain the industrial development in the state and reap benefits of the package to an optimum level.

Himachal Pradesh Industries Minister Kuldeep Kumar called on Union Minister of State for industries Ashwani Kumar here and told him that the neighbouring state Punjab was creating false propaganda and a wrong impression that Punjab was witnessing large scale industrial migration due to central industrial package to Himachal Pradesh On the contrary, the Punjab government had claimed in the various official advertisements that the industrial projects worth Rs 52,482 crore had been approved by the Punjab government during recent years and large scale industrial investment had been recorded in the State, he added.

Mr Kuldeep Kumar told the union minister that a reasonable time period was required for setting up the industries and also taking investment decisions and obtaining subsequent clearances from the concerned agencies and hence the big industrial houses were hesitant to make further investment in the state keeping in view the limited time factor for starting commercial production in the state.

He said the Centre's decision to limit the excise duty exemption upto March 31, 2007 would adversely affect in building strong industrial base in the state as other incentives like industrial subsidy and income tax exemptions upto March 31, 2013 did not offer lucrative incentives to the industrialists to set up their units in the state.

The initial time period taken in issuing the notifications of excise duty exemptions and subsequently the finance bill 2004 of union government limited the opportunities and scope of investment to merely three-and-half year while a significant time period was required to make investment particularly in medium and large scale industries, he said.

Mr Kuldeep Kumar said the state goovernment had approved 6700 projects with projected investment of Rs 16,600 crore and employment potential of 2.38 lakh people during the last three years and added that while 15 per cent of total investment had fructified and most of the entrepreneurs were in different stage of implementations, it would be difficult for them to meet the deadline of March 31, 2007 to start the commercial productions.

The state had lowest air and rail connectivity in the region and due to geographical conditions it would not be practical to attract the investment without any central packages and tax incentives, he said.

Mr Ashwani Kumar appreciated the aggressive industrial policy of the state and assured that the Centre would take steps to strengthen and increase the industrial infrastructure in the state to expand the industrial base and create employment potential to the unemployed youth of the state.

He assured that the Centre was sensitive to the issue and would take a positive and constructive decision keeping in view the interest of the state.

UNI IP RA VP1953