Govt pushing away investors: Bajwa
Wednesday, 17/04/2013
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130417/punjab.htm#12
Amritsar: PPCC president Partap Singh Bajwa said with the work at Talwandi Sabo thermal power plant coming to a halt due to the “non-cooperative” attitude of the SAD-BJP government, making Punjab a power surplus state seemed a distant reality.
Talking to mediapersons here today, Bajwa said the allegations levelled by Sterling Limited, the promoter company of the thermal plant, against the SAD-BJP government “are serious and will turn away investors from Punjab”.
He said the power company had blamed that it was forced to stop work due to “non-conducive atmosphere and bureaucratic wrangling”. He said the project came to a standstill at a time when the company had already spent Rs 7,000 crore of its estimated cost of Rs 10,000 crore. He said the development had sent wrong signals to the investors.
The PPCC president said about 80 per cent hike in power rates in the past six years had sounded the death knell for the small-scale industry. He said more recently, knitwear units of Ludhiana had decided to shift base to Himachal Pradesh due to “unbearable” power tariff. He claimed 80 per cent of the steel units in Mandi Gobindgarh had been shifted to Gujarat.
Bajwa said: “Punjab is facing a serious financial crisis which is evident from the fact that 3.5 lakh government employees were not paid their salaries for April till yesterday. The state’s debt has mounted to a whopping Rs 1 lakh crore”.
He also lashed out at the Badals for “not doing enough” for Amritsar. “There is no sign of any SEZ or magnetic pods in the city,” he said.
On sand mafia operating in the state, he said would conduct raids in the areas where illegal mining was thriving next month. Replying to a query, he said a helpline for Congress workers bearing the brunt of vendetta had been started. A couple of cases had already been reported in Amritsar which were being examined, he said.
