Give industry incentives to other states at own peril: Punjab to PM

Says Punjab is not against concessions being given to any state

BS Reporter Chandigarh
Last Updated : Jul 04 2013 | 8:40 PM IST
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday warned the Centre of "serious political and law and order implications" in case it went ahead with its move to renew industrial concessions to Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand, without those being given to the "border state of Punjab."

The CM sought the direct intervention of the prime minister (PM).

In a letter to the PM, Badal said the earlier package of concessions to these states had played havoc with the economy of "our state and a repetition of the ruinous decision and the consequent disenchantment and disillusionment it will set off in the youth of our state can have serious political and law and order implications."

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Badal said that Punjab is not against concessions being given to any state "so long as Punjab, which has a far greater claim on such concessions, is not discriminated against. This policy has already ruined industry and overall growth of our state. Flight of capital in business and industry, as a direct consequence of this policy, has severely hit the employment scenario for our youth. These factors have had a crippling impact on the economy."

The Chief Minister's letter comes in the wake of "a recent Notification issued by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, extending the Special Package of Industrial Incentives to the State of Jammu & Kashmir up to June 14, 2017.

Further, the Centre is contemplating extension of tax concessions to the other two of States also as were granted in the year 2002-03," Badal noted in his letter to the PM.

Badal also referred to the "long years of militancy, which severely halted its progress and caused immense damage to its economy, development and progress, especially in the field of industry. The flight of capital from Punjab during the militancy years has no parallels in national history."

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First Published: Jul 04 2013 | 8:21 PM IST

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