Punjab Khadi Board plans SSI unit in every village

Chandigarh, Aug 12 (UNI) Punjab Khadi and Village Industries Board (PKVI) plans to help set up at least one small scale industry (SSI) in each and every village in the state.

Talking to reporters, PKVI Chairman Charanjit Singh Walia said apart from providing employement to the rural population, it would also put a check on migration from rural to urban areas.

There were as many as 12,329 villages in about 155 blocks in the state, he said.

Mr Walia said the Board would want every new industrial unit to be established in either a village or a small town with population up to 20,000.

The board would give subsidy ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 25 lakh, he added.

The PKVI, he said, had set a target of giving a subsidy of about Rs 10 crore to the rural people to set up SSI units which would amount to a total investment of about Rs 40 crore.

The Board also plans to promote the state's traditional crafts in a big way. ''We will like to have five to six exclusive clusters of villages to promote typical rural skills. For example, in Patiala five to six villages will form a cluster to promote phulkari.'' Mr Walia said for 2006-07, the Board had fixed a target of setting up 896 units which would generate employment for 16,517 rural unemployed people.

The subsidy cheques would be distributed to the beneficiaries by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on the occasion of the Independence Day on August 15 at the state-level function in Patiala, he added.

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