Stressing on the need for the industry and the government to work together for sustainable development of MSME clusters of Punjab, the state’s Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation and Programme Implementation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday said that Punjab Government has planned to take a multipronged approach and involve different stakeholders at macro, meso, and micro level through convergence of available development resources and coordination among stakeholders.
Cheema, chairing the session of the Regional Industry Dialogue on Sustainability organized by UNDP and ASSOCHAM (north region council), said that there is a need for the industry and the Government to work together for the sustainable development of MSME Clusters.
“For the advancement of the MSME ecosystem in the State, Punjab Government and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The agreement was made to start the umbrella initiative ‘Mission Swavalamban’ over a three-year term,” he added.
Sharing some of the initiatives which Punjab Government has planned to undertake, Cheema said that the government has been working on the revival of Canal System in the State, besides construction of canals in areas deprived so far, including Kandi belt. Rivers’ water would be protected from being polluted from industrial waste, he added.
Minister said that the State Government would heavily promote the microfinance sector and a supportive environment for private microfinance operators would be created. “Besides, to generate employment in the backward Kandi belt adjoining Himachal Pradesh, a new industrial township with special incentives will be developed in Ropar to kickstart state-of-the-art environment-friendly IT and other industry,” he added.
Cheema further said that an industrial complex, with unique incentives, would be built in Ropar to launch cutting-edge, environmentally-friendly IT and other industries. In agriculture sector too, special arrangements would be made for sale of crops yielded through organic farming, he added.