Punjab cabinet gives nod for setting up two industrial parks

The Punjab cabinet on Wednesday approved setting up of two industrial parks in Ludhiana and Patiala at a total cost of Rs 3,200 crore.

Aimed at boosting the state's economy, the modern industrial park and integrated manufacturing cluster would come up over an area of 2,000 acres on government and panchayati land near Mattewara (Ludhiana) and Rajpura (Patiala).

The two projects would be instrumental in accelerating the pace of industrialisation and creating enormous employment potential to ensure the state's economic progress, an official spokesperson said after a meeting of the cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, through video conferencing.

To be set up at a cost of Rs 1,600 crore each, the projects will cater to the needs of prospective entrepreneurs/industrialists for setting up their ventures expeditiously, in line with the urgent need to develop such industrial/economic hubs in the state.

The panchayati land for the said projects would be purchased by the Housing and Urban Development department for development as mixed land use/industrial park/IMC, the spokesperson said.

The Integrated Manufacturing Cluster (IMC) near Rajpura would be developed with the assistance of National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the cabinet also gave its nod for increasing mutation fee from Rs 300 to Rs 600, which would help add nearly Rs 10 crore to the state exchequer.

The mutation fee set by the government for revenue collection is very low, and was last increased in October 2012, when it went up from Rs 150 to Rs 300, according to a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office.

With increasing expenditure burdening the state's exchequer, the state government has decided to increase the mutation fee after a long period of eight years, he said.

Mutation refers to recording of transfer of the title of a property from one person to another in revenue records.

The cabinet also approved an increase in the number of attempts for candidates belonging to ex-servicemen category for the Punjab State Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination.

With this approval, the number of attempts for general category ex-servicemen candidates would increase from existing four to six, and four to nine for Backward Classes ex-servicemen category in the PCS (Executive) and allied examination, while the Scheduled Castes ex-servicemen candidates would continue to get unlimited chances.