NE expects better industrial policy

Guwahati, Feb 27 (UNI) Asom Industries and Commerce Ministry has urged the Centre to frame a better industrial policy for the northeastern region, after the existing one expires on March 31.

The State Industries and Commerce Minister Pradyut Bardoloi today told the Asom Assembly that he has submitted a memorandum to the Centre in this connection, with a focus on medium and big industries.

In reply to a Zero Hour motion brought by AGP-P legislator Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, Mr Bardoloi informed the House that the current NE industrial policy was announced by the Centre on December 25, 1997 and the detailed notification was issued in 1999. It was a ten-year policy that was slated for expiry on March 31, 2007.

Though the policy was aimed at luring investments to the NE region on the strength of various incentives granted in it, the flow of investment to the region suffered when the Centre had announced similar industrial policies for J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as investors preferred those as better destinations than the far-flung Northeast.

''So the forum of the industries and commerce minister of the NE states urged the Union Government to announce a new industrial policy for the region, incorporating attractive incentives for investment, so that it can compete with the special industrial policies announced in J&K, HP and Uttarakhand,'' Mr Bardoloi said.

UNI