PNS n
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday shot off communiqués to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi requesting them to extend the special industrial package, given to three hilly states, to six border districts of Punjab also.
Bajwa, in his letters, has stated that there has been extensive flight of industry from Punjab. He claimed that data in this regard indicate that during the last seven-eight years, 274 industrial units from Punjab entailing an investment of Rs3674.79 crore have shifted to neighbouring States primarily due to various taxation benefits under the industrial package given to Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu &Kashmir by the then NDA Government.
“Reports have suggested that UPA Government is considering to extend this industrial package beyond 2013, which was the sunset year,” he stated. The letters further read, “Our six border districts of Fazilka, Ferozepur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Pathankot, and Gurdaspur are industrially very backward. This particularly effects the unemployed youth who is becoming frustrated day-by-day and are becoming victims of drug abuse”.
Bajwa requested the Prime Minister to give the same package to the six border districts of Punjab while extending the industrial package to the neighboring States.