Won’t let Punjab industry die: Union Minister

Tribune News Service

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Ludhiana, July 13

The Central Government is committed to developing the industry in Punjab and will not let it die. For the revival and rehabilitation of sick enterprises, a new scheme has been launched under which banks have been urged to give one chance to them to revive and rehabilitate themselves.

This was announced by Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, here today. The minister was on a two-day tour to the city.

He said 32 industrial sectors had been identified in Punjab, of which 20 were in Ludhiana alone.

“Another scheme, named Credit Link Capital Subsidy Scheme, has been started in which an MSME enterprise can avail itself of a loan of Rs 1 crore with a subsidy of 15 per cent,” he said.

The Union Minister said earlier some industries of the MSME sector were facing problems in getting loans from banks. He said now a Credit Guarantee Scheme had been started for the MSME enterprises under which the MSME Department took guarantee of a particular enterprise. Under this scheme, they have already taken a guarantee of more than Rs 84,000 crore on behalf of several enterprises with the banks.

To strengthen the road network in Industrial Area and Focal Point in the city, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Ministry at the Centre would be spending Rs 8 crore. This was also announced by Kalraj Mishra while addressing a press conference here.

Mishra said with a grant of Rs 8 crore, all roads in the Industrial Area and Focal Point would be repaired for the benefit of industrialists.

He said it had come to his notice that work on the development of some of these sectors was going on at a slow pace. He said he had now directed his staff in the state to expedite the work and develop these clusters on a priority basis.

Today, the minister also held a series of meetings with the representatives of different industrial organisations and heard their grievances.