Industrialists air grievances, laud Mann govt’s initiatives

Patiala, March 11

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“Sarkar Vyapar Milni” initiative has provided a platform to industrialists to address their grouses as well as extend compliments for various steps taken by the state government before Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann.

While some businessmen complained of poor quality of roads and streetlights, the others expressed concern over the unavailability of raw material.

Harminder Singh Khurana, from the Patiala Chamber of Industry, said of the four parks in the Focal Point area, only two had been completed since its establishment in 1990. He highlighted the need for installing more street lights to prevent untoward incidents, especially considering factories operating round the clock. He called for redesigning the entrance to the focal point to decongest heavy traffic.

Debnath Guha, from Hindustan Unilever Limited, said the Punjab Government had conducted a high-level meeting with all stakeholders regarding tomato paste. He urged the government to procure high-quality tomatoes in Punjab.

He said his Kissan Ketchup Factory was located in Nabha, which required 10,000 tonnes of tomatoes annually, a majority of which was being procured from Nashik, Maharashtra, at present. Gurdeep Singh Walia, from the Hotel Association, expressed concern about the heavy traffic passing through the focal point and increasing road accidents. He urged for a suitable solution to this issue.

Chandradeep Nasra, from Tripri Market, said the Punjab Government’s initiatives and various services were now accessible online. Previously, people had to stand in long queues for hours and corruption was rampant.

Satinder Saini, from the Arhtiya Association, Anaj Mandi, lauded the steps taken by the Mann government.

Referring to significant reforms in arrangements for crop procurement at the grain markets, he said there were no longer issues with lifting of produce, payments were made promptly to landlords’ accounts, “arhat” wages were received on time and the issue of shortage of gunny bags had been resolved.