"The UPA government is clearly working on a plan to cause economic devastation to Punjab through its ruinous policies. It does not require a great economist to understand that Punjab, a land-locked state along an international border, has a much better claim on tax concessions, extended to its neighbouring states," Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said in a release here.
Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma had recently announced extension of capital investment subsidy of 30 per cent of value of plant and machinery and freight subsidy of 75 per cent to hilly states.
"Is your politics limited to providing a verbal cover-fire for the assault by the Congress-led government at the Centre to destroy the state's economy?" Badal asked.
The Chief Minister said, "Whenever we raise our voice against such injustice, Congress leaders in Punjab start blaming us."
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Badal said he was not against concessions given to any state, but only against denial of similar concessions to Punjab.
"We only demand a level playing ground and merely ask that we may be allowed to compete on even terms. We seek no favours, even though Punjab deserves a special package because of several historical and geographical factors," he said.
Economists have pegged the loss at around Rs 25,000 crore in only two major industrial towns of Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh, Badal claimed, adding that due to Centre's policies, losses to Punjab ran into more than Rs one lakh crore in the form of flight of capital, direct and indirect revenue loss and dip in employment.
"Thousands of units across the state have shut down. Industry in Punjab has been deliberately made highly non-competitive to an extent that it can no longer survive," he said.