Punjab exporters want to be on boards

While welcoming the statPunjab government's initiative to constitute three separate industrial trade and development boards for the growth and promotion of the large, small and medium industrial sectors, exporters from the state also demanded appropriate representation in such boards to suggest steps to be taken to promote export from the state.

A K Kohli, Sr. Vice President of Punjab Chamber of Small Exporters stated here today that representation of exporters of the state in the proposed industrial boards was must because industrial has already suffered a lot and now it needed services of dedicated representation from the trade, industry & exports, who could perform well & solve the industrial & export issues in a way that under the dynamic leadership of the chief minister.

He said that the state government should take up the issue of equalize freight policy with the union government, as Punjab exporters were paying high freight cost as compared to other states to ferry their goods to the ports.

"Punjab being geographically located at disadvantageous location with at least 2000 to 2500 kms away from the source of raw materials and other inputs as well as sea ports of Chennai, Mumbai, Gujarat and Calcutta, experiencing about Rs 3500 per metric tone additional transportation cost for bring raw materials", he said.

He demanded before setting up the proposed boards, district wise meetings with the representatives of the Export Chambers should be conducted for selecting the representation of export houses.