Bajwa demands immediate relief for yarn spinners
Tuesday, 05/08/2014
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=112339&boxid=57834&uid=&dat=2014-08-05
Chandigarh : The Punjab Pradesh Congress (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday demanded immediate relief by way of VAT withdrawal to the yarn spinner industry in the state to provide level playing field and check further flight of capital to the other states.
In a statement issued here, Bajwa extended full support to the demands of the spinning industry. He pointed out that VAT was nil on yarn spinning industry in West Bengal, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh while it was just 2 per cent in Rajasthan as against 6 per cent in Punjab. This had proved to be ruinous for Punjab triggering capital flight to other states.
He said the yarn spinners from Punjab had already invested about Rs 15,000 crore in other states leading to the loss of 25,000 direct jobs while about one lakh persons would have got indirect employment from this investment here. “The prosperity of Punjab had been compromised while the state had been losing crores in revenue,” he alleged.
Bajwa further pointed out that the high incidence of VAT would also have to be seen in the context of higher wage rate and higher power tariff in the state, thus turning the yarn spinners in Punjab non-competitive.
He supported the demand of the yarn industry of providing level playing field by imposing a ban on imports, exemption from advance tax or lowering the VAT to two per cent.
He slammed the government for having failed to come to the rescue of the existing industry in the state while its new industrial policy and the so called industrial summit had failed to attract new investment.
