Accusing the ruling SAD-BJP combine of not supporting the industries in the state, Punjab Congress on Friday ridiculed Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s claims of attracting huge investment.
“Deputy Chief Minister had organized a mega investment summit only a few months back...What to talk of the new investment, even the existing units are closing down and the Dell is the latest in the series,” said the state Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa.He was referring to global computing giant Dell’s decision to shift its customer support operations from Mohali to its other sites, including Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Bangalore.
The state government had miserably failed to create investment confidence and the necessary infrastructure for the industrial growth in Punjab, Bajwa said, claiming that more than 18,000 industrial units had been shut down during the last few years in Punjab.“The only business establishments in the state making super profits are those owned by Sukhbir himself who has his hands in every pie, from road transport to aviation,” said Bajwa.
He said, “The government has miserably failed to create investment confidence and the necessary infrastructure for the industrial growth of this border state,” he said. Bajwa said: “The fact that about 1400 industrial plots are lying vacant in Mohali industrial area is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in Punjab which totally exposed hyperbolic claims of Deputy Chief Minister. One should visit what once used to be the steel town, Mandi Gobindgarh where the chimneys have stopped belching out smoke. Similar is the situation in Batala.”
He pointed that the state government had been blaming the industrial concessions given to the neighbouring state for the capital flight and a big hurdle in inviting fresh investment.“These concessions were given by the NDA government in which the Akali Dal was the partner. Now, the NDA has returned to power in which the Akali Dal is again a partner. Now is the time for the Akali Dal to get that decision reversed or get the same for Punjab,” he added.
