CM: No fiscal package, but cheaper power for industry

Capt Amarinder says focus on relaxed norms, revival of sick units

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 23

Citing the precarious financial condition of the state, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today ruled out any fiscal incentives to the industry in the state’s industrial policy. The focus would rather be on the ease of doing business, good governance and revival of the existing industry.Addressing industrialists at an interactive session organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), the CM said the government was still trying to ascertain the extent of the financial mess the state was in and would soon bring out a White Paper to reveal the real status.It would thus be difficult to address the demands of the industry, he said, adding that the state’s debt had increased from Rs 48,344 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 1,82,537 crore at the end of 2016-17.Nevertheless, the CM said, he would ensure ease of doing business, backed by affordable power, as was promised by the party in its poll manifesto.He said the revival of industry was critical for the restoration of the state’s growth, as that would also act as an impetus to attract new industry.Speaking on the occasion, Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh made it clear that the government was committed to implementing its promise of providing power at Rs 5 per unit, which the PHDCCI said should be frozen for the next five years.The PHDCCI has demanded a legislation to regulate the operations of truck unions, which, it said were indulging in extortion and intimidation. It has also demanded that all illegal activities of these unions be made punishable to ensure that they operate as any other service providing company.Amarinder also promised to look into other issues raised by the industry such as delay in VAT refund and environmental clearances and support in reviving the cotton ginning mills in the Malwa belt.

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PHDCCI’s roadmap for revival

• The state has immense potential to attract investment in areas such as textiles, steel, agriculture, food processing, dairy farming, fertilisers, electronics, sports goods, solar energy, tourism and handlooms, said a report prepared by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) The report was submitted to CM Amarinder Singh on Monday.
• Gopal Jiwarajka, president, PHDCCI, said the new industrial environment in Punjab should focus on the seven basic ingredients of manufacturing efficiency — availability of land, conducive industry-labour relations, availability of finances, zeal for entrepreneurship, availability of skilled manpower, state-of-the-art infrastructure and ease of doing business. tns

 

What industry wants

• Faster VAT refund
• Check on transport unions
• Eliminating bureaucratic hurdles
• Reduced tariff and continuous power supply
• Setting up of newfocal points
• Freight subsidy
• Revival of sick industry

Farm loan waiver: Panel report likely by June 15

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23

An expert group headed by NITI Aayog adviser Dr T Haque, constituted by the Punjab Government to look into the waiver of farm loans, is likely to submit its interim report before June 15.The state government is keen on rolling out a relief package for indebted farmers during the Budget session next month.The group, which includes Baldev Singh Dhillon, VC, PAU; Dr Balwinder Singh Sidhu, state’s Agriculture Commissioner; and PK Joshi, South Asia Director, International Food Policy Research Institute; met here today. It is learnt that Dr T Haque and the others deliberated upon various options the government can chose from for implementation.Dr Haque said, “We met for the second time and are in the process of tabulating data to analyse and firm up the quantum of debt. Some data is there with us and some needed to be collected from lenders and the RBI. Possibly, we will be able to quantify the total loan before the next meeting in the coming week.”However, sources privy to the meeting stated that out of the total 20 lakh crop loan accounts, 60 per cent belonged to marginal farmers, whose land holding is below 5 acres. “There are 5.71 lakh accounts belonging to marginal farmers and 8.15 lakh are with small farmers,” an official said.Meanwhile, “not completely ruling out the Uttar Pradesh model” where farmers are being given loan waiver up to Rs 1 lakh, a senior NITI Aayog official said, “This may not work in the case of Punjab, given the state’s financial health. The experts are working on various scenarios, assessing the burden on the exchequer.”

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Govt working out solution, says CaptChandigarh: Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday appealed to the debt-ridden farmers in the state not to commit suicide and assured them that the government was working on fulfilling its poll promise of debt waiver. Asserting that there would not be any “kurki” — auction of mortgaged land of farmers, he wondered whether the government’s message of debt waiver was reaching the farming community. “Last month, 21 farmers committed suicide. Don’t take such steps,” Capt Amarinder told farmers, adding, “We are here for you and we have made a promise (debt waiver) in this regard.” “The way they (farmers) commit suicides…I don’t understand this scenario,” said the CM. Capt said the government had already set up an expert group led by T Haque, former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, to assess the quantum of agricultural debt of farmers in the state and suggest way and means for its waiver. The CM said the group had been asked to submit its report to the government within 60 days. PTI

Bidders for mines back out, state may only get Rs310 cr

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 23

In an embarrassment for the Capt Amarinder Singh government, which has hailed its record bids of Rs 1,026 crore for 89 sand and gravel quarries auctioned on May 19-20, the state has actually succeeded in selling only 45 per cent of the auctioned sites and may only rake in around Rs 310 crore.Since 55 per cent of the bid amount should have been deposited by 5 pm today, ideally, considering the total bids of a whopping Rs 1,026 crore, the government should have received Rs 564 crore. The amount received today was just 30 per cent of the amount that should have been received in case of 100 per cent success.None of the bidders, who bid for quarries in Ropar, Ferozepur and Fazilka, have come forward to honour their bids. The highest bidders will now lose their security and these bids will be auctioned again, in case the second highest bidder too refuses to take up the contract.Of the 89 successful bidders, only 43-odd bidders have come forward to deposit the initial 25 per cent security, 25 per cent installment and land compensation charges at the rate of Rs 15 per tonne to the land owners where quarrying of these minor minerals is allowed. None of the bidders, who had made exorbitant bids (almost 30 to 40 times higher than the reserve price for a quarry) has turned up to fulfil the condition for depositing 55 per cent of the bid amount by today evening.Initial data compiled by the Directorate of Mining, Department of Industries reveals that the bids of Rs 51 crore received for the Rail Baramad quarry in Nawanshahr and of Rs 29 crore for Adalatgarh quarry in Pathankot have not been honoured. Officials say most of the bidders, who had made unrealistic high bids, have now claimed that they thought the amount was for the entire five-year contract and had thus made high bids. When they realised that the bid amount was to be paid each year for the next five years, they withdrew.Information gathered by The Tribune reveals that of the total bids for Rs 238.14 crore received for 12 quarries in Nawanshahr, only three have been auctioned and the state received just Rs 27.68 crore. In Pathankot, only one of the five quarries put on the block was auctioned and the state received just Rs 9.51 crore. For Amritsar, total bids of Rs 51.48 crore were made for seven quarries, but only three quarries have finally been auctioned and government received just Rs 9.64 crore.In Ludhiana, one bidder, who made high bids for Dopana, Sikandpur and Razapur quarries (Rs 94 crore in all), backed out and only 13 of 17 quarries were auctioned and the state received just Rs 52 crore against bids of Rs 205 crore. Mohali and Gurdaspur, too, saw the bidders backing off and only Rs 19.82 crore and Rs 14.28 crore was realised today.

Copies of answer sheets online soon

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 23

Amid a controversy over 85 per cent re-evaluation or reappear cases in IK Gujral Punjab Technical University(PTU)-affiliated colleges, Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi today directed the PTU authorities to offer the facility of providing answer sheets’ scanned copies online on demand to the students.Channi said engineering and management students would thus be able to view the answer sheets before applying for re-evaluation. He said an examiner could face the music if re-checking of a paper led to a variation of more than 10 per cent marks.On his first visit to the PTU campus today, the minister gave strict directions to the affiliated colleges and announced major scholarship offers for the students taking admission on the university campus, government colleges and polytechnics. Technical Education Secretary-cum-officiating Vice-Chancellor Kahan Singh Pannu and various deans were present on the occasion.He said affiliated colleges where examination centres were set up should have CCTV surveillance with control and monitoring at the university headquarters so as to check copying. He said if cheating was reported from a centre, the exam centre head and the invigilator would face strict action.He said Rs 25 crore were being spent on incubation centres wherein PTU, too, could start projects. He said the syllabi of courses being offered on PTU main campus would be on a par with the syllabi of IITs after consultations with the IIT authorities.Scholarship scheme“Under the SC scholarship scheme for four government engineering colleges and polytechnics, those scoring above 90 per cent marks in Class XII will get 90 per cent fee waiver, 80-90 per cent marks (80 per cent waiver) and so on till  50 per cent fee waiver for 50-60 per cent marks.” — Charanjit Singh Channi, Technical education minister

Minister’s kin appointed Gurdaspur DEO

Chandigarh, May 23

Education Minister Aruna Chaudhary’s sister-in-law Rakesh Bala is among the 37 District Education Officers (DEOs) who were transferred or elevated to the post this evening.Bala has been appointed DEO (Secondary), Gurdaspur, the minister’s home district. She is presently serving as the principal of a Government Senior Secondary School. Chaudhary and Bala could not be contacted.Sixty officers were transferred or appointed, including three Circle Officers. Deputy Directors Inderjit Singh and Dharam Singh have been given additional charge of DPI (Elementary Education) and Director (Admin), respectively.

Rules ‘violated’

The department has appointed over six officers as DEOs, who have been recently divested of powers as Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDO). They were among a group of 168 vocational teachers, who were reverted from the post of Principal following a court order in October last year. — TNS

Cong MLA raises banner of revolt

Chandigarh:Congress MLA from Zira Kulbir Singh on Tuesday raised a banner of revolt against the Education Minister, Aruna Chaudhary.He claimed that two DEOs had been posted in Ferozepur despite his opposition. He said he would lodge his protest with Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.“If my concern is not addressed, I will hold a press conference on the issue on Wednesday,” he said, adding that it was not only the bureaucracy that was unresponsive, even ministers were not listening to the MLAs. — TNS

BJP indulging in Corporate Governance: Manpreet

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 23

Punjab Finance and Planning Minister Manpreet Badal today said the BJP was indulging in divisive communal politics and rather than coming to the rescue of the distressed farmers they are engaged in “Corporate Governance.”“The BJP might be gloating in the victories it registered in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand but eventually people of India have to decide whether they want this kind of politics or what is in the larger interest of India,” he remarked while addressing a press conference here at the Congress Office today.He said such divisive politics is not in the interest of the nation and it is only a matter of time when people will see through their agenda-based politics.Reflecting on the distress of the farmers and the resultant 35 suicides by them daily, he said the BJP-led NDA regime must implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee report. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologise to the nation for not honouring the promise he made to the nation of waiving the farmers debts,” he demanded.Badal accused the Centre of appeasing their select cronies who were being given special favours while the distressed farmers have been left in the lurch. They were left with no option but to end their lives. “The number of farmers, who committed suicide, is on the rise from 12,630 in 2014 to 14,000 in 2016 while loans of business friends, amounting to Rs 1,54,000 crore, written off by the Centre,” he rued.He lamented that while 62 per cent of Indian’s population of farmers was being denied succor, the BJP’s crony friends are prospering through the windfall profit from the premium under the PM Fasal Bima Yojna.BBMB projects: ‘Wouldn’t deny HP its claim’Badal said Punjab would not deny Himachal it’s just and legitimate claim on arrears as per 7.19 per cent share in all Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) projects.“Though the matter is sub judice as friendly neighbours we must try to look for political solution as such trivial issues can be sorted out through dialogue,” he replied when asked if Punjab would give Himachal its arrears amounting to Rs 4,200 crores. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court but Himachal is yet to get the arrears.However, despite being the Finance Minister Badal declined to give an assurance that Punjab will give Himachal its due. “All such issues concerning the states are discussed threadbare at the Inter-State Council meetings and this too will get sorted out,” he assured.

SYL: Give some, take some

Haryana should concede a part of its share; Punjab can promise implementation

PUNJAB and Haryana might have missed a historic opportunity to settle their long- standing river water dispute. This opportunity arose on May 12 when Capt Amarinder Singh, the newly elected CM of Punjab, in a meeting of the Northern Zonal Council, offered a negotiated settlement of the SYL dispute. The Haryana Government should have taken up this offer and started negotiations. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Instead both governments went back to their hard positions, closing the possibility of a dialogue. Predictably, political parties in both states have backed their respective governments. We are back to square one now. At this moment, the Haryana Government feels that it does not need a dialogue, for the law is in its favour. Way back in 2003, the Supreme Court had given a final ruling and had ordered Punjab to build the SYL canal so that Haryana could get its due share of waters. In 2004, the apex court had issued a decree asking the Central government to step in if Punjab does not fulfil its obligations. The then Congress government in Punjab tried to block it by passing a strange law that unilaterally terminated all the earlier water agreements. The law was referred to the Supreme Court and after an inexplicable delay of 12 years, in 2016, the court declared the law as unconstitutional. The Akali-BJP government tried to block this again by de-notifying the land acquired for purposes of building the SYL. The Supreme Court was not amused. Now, the Haryana Government has filed an execution petition requesting for an order for the implementation of the Supreme Court’s judgment. No doubt, the Haryana Government has an upper hand in this legal battle at the moment. This is why political leaders from Haryana are reluctant to engage in a dialogue with Punjab. This is unfortunate and short-sighted. The Haryana Government will in all probability get a favourable order from the Supreme Court. But the implementation on the ground may still be far away. It is quite clear that the Punjab Government, backed by all parties of Punjab, will take every possible measure to delay and deny the construction of the canal and the release of waters to Haryana. This would led to a protracted legal and political battle. It is already more than 40 years since the first river water-sharing award was announced by the Central government. The present path being pursued by the Haryana Government could mean many more years. Even if successful, this path would end up in creating avoidable animosity between the people of Punjab and Haryana.I have repeatedly argued that the water dispute between Punjab and Haryana is a very limited dispute, much smaller than both state governments and their lawyers would have us believe. I have also argued that this dispute is best resolved through political negotiations within the framework of our Constitution. Such a proposal is bound to be misunderstood on both sides. This idea was presumed to be anti-Punjab when I proposed it in 2016, prior to the Supreme Court orders. Now, this may be seen to be going against Haryana’s interests. Nevertheless, let me reiterate the proposal in the spirit of positive nationalism.The essence of the proposal is that the Haryana Government should agree to a lesser share of water than it is entitled to under the previous agreements. Punjab should agree to a swift implementation of the new agreement, including the construction of the SYL. Let me spell this out.Let us remember that there is no dispute over the Sutlej waters. The dispute pertains to only the Ravi-Beas waters. Here too, it is agreed that the pre-existing usage of 2.3 MAF by Punjab and 1.1 MAF by Rajasthan is to be respected. The dispute is only about two issues pertaining to additional waters available in the Ravi-Beas rivers. The differences between Punjab and Haryana on both these issues are fairly limited and there is no reason why a sincere dialogue should not sort it out. On the first issue, Punjab has claimed that the water available for distribution is much less than claimed. The most conservative estimate available for distribution was 15.9 MAF in the 1955 agreement. This initial estimate was revised upwardly to 18.3 MAF in the Eradi Tribunal report of 1987. Punjab has disputed this estimate. Haryana has claimed that a significant proportion of water, up to 3 MAF, is being wasted and allowed to flow to Pakistan. In any case, this is a technical dispute and there is no reason why the existing Ravi Beas Tribunal cannot resolve it. The tribunal has been inoperative for over a decade because of vacancies. The Central government needs to fill these vacancies and let the tribunal give its opinion on this question. This need not hold back the water-sharing agreement which is on a pro-rata basis. The second dispute is about the share of Punjab in the available water. Successive governments of Punjab have argued that Indira Gandhi’s award of 1976, which gave Punjab 22 per cent water was unfair. This was revised to 25 per cent in the agreement arrived at by the CMs of both states in 1981. The tribunal raised it to 28 per cent in its first report. Political leaders from Punjab have argued that even this is unfair. They have inappropriately invoked the privileges enjoyed by the upper riparian states under the international law. They have also resorted to some irresponsible rhetoric of ‘not a single drop available for sharing’.While their reasoning is bad, they face a real problem that needs to be acknowledged. Farmers in the Malwa region are dependent on the additional water that legitimately belongs to Haryana. Once the canal is built, that water will begin to flow to Haryana. Hence this determined, and often illegal opposition, to the canal. Haryana should understand this genuine difficulty faced by farmers of Punjab and should concede some additional water, say 5 per cent, over and above the share determined by the Eradi tribunal. In return, Punjab should give up its intransigence on the building of the canal and agree to its completion within a time frame. In all probability, Punjab will have to agree to this in the Supreme Court. But a political agreement would ensure that there is no further litigation, and no more political drama. Such an agreement would be in the long-term interest of the people of both states. It is time that right-thinking people, activists, intellectuals and farmers’ organisations in both states come together to encourage the governments to come to the dialogue table.yogendra.yadav@gmail.com

Tweaking rules: Congress govt to give DSP’s job to Beant Singh’s grandson