UP to close 3,616 sick SSI units if not revived by June

Lucknow, June 2 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh government today announced to close down 3,616 sick small scale units in next one month, if they were not revived by then.

State small industry minister Jagdish Singh Rana said around 3,616 units, which turned out to be sick in the year 2005-06, have been given time till June for revival.

''During the last fiscal, over 1,500 units were closed down due to various reasons,'' he told reporters here.

Mr Singh said against the target to set up 30,000 small scale units in UP in last financial, UP achieved a mark of 30,256 units with total investment of Rs 262.76, crore and generating employment for 1.25 lakh people.

The minister said in order to revive the ailing small industrial sector in UP, the government had started One-Time Settlement (OTS) scheme, under which financial defaulters had been asked to pay the amount of their loan, while the interest had been waived off.

''Till now, more than 8,000 OTS application have been received by the department,'' he claimed.

At present, the industrial units owe over Rs 5,000 crore as loan money to the governmeent.

Mr Rana informed the government had also achieved a landmark in processing 53,777 forms under the Prime Minister Employment Scheme (PMES) in 2005-06, while the banks gave loans to 48,219 of them.

''UP topped in PMES by giving employment to 1.32 lakh people under the scheme.'' UNI MB VS CS PC1630