Chandigarh (The Stellar News): The Punjab government took major decisions in its Cabinet meeting held today. The Council of Ministers headed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has imposed a cess of 90 paise per litre on petrol and diesel. This is the first tax imposed on the public by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government since it came to power.
The Cabinet also gave its nod to the much-awaited Industrial Policy during the meeting held today. The approval of policy is important in wake of the Investors Summit proposed by the state government for February 23-24.
The state government is looking at attracting industrial investment worth Rs 5 lakh crore through the roll out of this policy. To woo investors, the policy is highlighting the low power rates to industrial consumers. Project approvals with investment of upto Rs 25 crore will be given at district level. Mandi fee on basmati shelling units have been waived off with an aim to promote basmati shelling in the state.
The Punjab Industrial and Business Development Policy 2022, talks of providing employment generation subsidy to units that employ domiciles of Punjab. Those employing Punjabis will be given Rs 36,000 per annum per employee for five years, and Rs 48,000 per annum per employee for five years in case the employee is a woman, or belongs to the reserved categories.
The primary focus of the policy is on promoting manufacturing and services sector, while creating a conducive ecosystem for start-ups.
For MSMEs and large industry, the government is ready to reimburse state goods and services tax for seven years; give a 50 per cent on fixed capital investment; exemption from electricity duty and stamp duty; subsidy on applying for patents; and, subsidy for getting access to technology.
The policy has identified certain thrust sectors where they would like to push for growth– electronics, food processing, apparel, IT and ITES.
Other than this, the Cabinet has given its approval for allowing open mining at 18 sites in the state. People can extract sand at Rs 5.50 per cubic feet by taking a tractor trolley. The cost of transportation is over and above this rate.
The electric vehicle policy too has been approved, which will lay the foundation for installing charging stations for such vehicles and incentivising those who buy these vehicles with upto 15 percent rebate on road tax.
The Punjab Cabinet under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann approved new industrial and electric vehicle policies here on Friday, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said.
Talking to media, Cheema said that the Punjab Electric Vehicle Policy and the new Industrial Policy, both have been approved in the cabinet.
The approval of both the policies comes days ahead of an investors’ summit to be organised by the state government on February 23-24 in Mohali.
Housing and Urban Development Minister Aman Arora, who was also present with Cheema, said the new industrial policy pitches Punjab as a favourite investment destination, adding that the Chief Minister has recently visited some states in the country to garner investments.
Talking about the formulation of new industrial policy, Arora said that suggestions of various stakeholders from the industry have been incorporated.
He also talked about various incentives being offered to the industries, including low power rates.
Arora also said that electric vehicles are the future and that government has already announced incentives for those switching over to electric vehicles under the vehicle scrapping policy.
Charging stations will also be installed on a large scale in the state, he said.
Arora said the Cabinet also accorded its approval for the introduction of public mining sites to ensure that sand and gravel are available at reasonable rates to common people.
Initially, 18 such sites will come up in 7 districts, of which, one will be inaugurated on February 5 by the chief minister, he said.
By the end of March, 50 such sites will be functional in the state. It will also ease up supply and make sand easily available to the public, said Arora.
Mining and Geology Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer had recently said that “these sites will help in checking any malpractice to jack up the prices of sand and truly give the freedom of choice to the common man to buy sand from the source of his choice and at the price of his choice”
