Industrial units wind up, curtail their operations in Una district

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, July 15

Many industries are curtailing or winding up their operations in Una district. Una has the second highest number of industries in the state after Solan district. It has well-established industrial areas of Tahliwal, Mehatpur and Gagret.

Sources say that thousands of youth from the state have lost their jobs over the past two years as big units are curtailing or winding up their operations. Industries are closing operations in the state due to the lack of incentives, high power tariffs, political interference and overcharging by the truck union.

Cremica was one of the biggest units in the Tahliwal industrial area of Una, employing about 2,200 people. The sources say that the company management has curtailed its operations in Tahliwal and now it has about 800 employees. The company has shifted its operations to a new plant set up in Rajpura.

Inox Wind is another big industrial unit in Una that used to produce wind turbines. The unit has closed down its operations and about 400 local youth have been rendered jobless. Luminous that produces batteries had five plants in the Gagret area of the district. The company has closed down one of its plants, rendering about 800 people unemployed.

The sources say that there were about 1,200 Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSME) in the district and about 20 per cent of them had shut operations. Rakesh Kaushal, president of the Tahliwal, Bathu and Bathri industrial Area Union of Una, says, “The industry had come up in border districts like Una and Solan when the Union Government gave an industrial package to the state. At that time, the industry that came up in Himachal were exempted from Central excise tax. Later, the state government also gave incentives in terms of cheap land and cheap power. However, now there is hardly any incentive left for the industry in the state. Now, in the Tahliwal industrial area, the government has kept the rates of industrial plots at about Rs 5,500 per square metre whereas the market rate is just about Rs 2,000 per square metre.”

He says that earlier power was cheap in Himachal but now for the industry, the power rate was about Rs 7 per unit, which was higher than the rate in Punjab. Many industries, including Nestle, located in Tahliwal have shelved their expansion plans in Himachal. Nestle has set up a plant in Gujarat. Surjeet Starch, another big unit located in the Tahliwal area, has set up a plant in Hoshiarpur and did not expand its unit in Himachal.

The industrialists allege that the higher freight being charged by the truck union is one of biggest bottlenecks for them. Despite the Himachal High Court orders, the industry has not been provided any relief from the higher rates being charged by the truckers, says Kaushal.

Joint Director, Industries, Una, Anshul Dhiman, refused to comment on the industrial units winding up or curtailing their operations in the district.

Lack of incentives, overcharging, etc

• The industry units are winding up operations in the state due to lack of incentives, high power tariffs, political interference and overcharging of freight by the truck union.
• In Tahliwal, the government has kept the rates of industrial plots at about Rs 5,500 per sq m whereas the market rate is about Rs 2,000 per sq m.
• The power rate is about Rs 7 per unit, which is higher than the tariff in Punjab.
• Industrialists allege that higher freight charged by the truck union is one of biggest bottleneck for them.