Punjab has asked United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) to frame its new industrial policy, according to sources. Chief secretary of the Punjab government, Ramesh Inder Singh, told FE tthat Unido was likely to frame the policy by October.
Chief minister, Parkash Singh Badal, is due to meet top Unido functionaries in New Delhi shortly, it is learnt. Senior officials from the state industry department and other experts are likely to accompany Badal.
It is also learnt that Punjab’s new industrial policy would be modeled more or less on the lines of the industrial policies of Maharashtra and Orissa, both of which have been framed by Unido and have helped the states attract huge investment.
Official sources said the aim of the new policy would be to make Punjab investor-friendly and hassle-free. It would propose to set up three special economic zones.
However, skeptics feel the government had assigned the task of framing the new industrial policy to an international agency only to appease international funding agencies that had moved away from Punjab in view of its policies on subsidies, like free power to farmers. Says Jarnail Singh, secretary, Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation Karamchari Union, “Outsourcing the industrial policy was unheard of in the state. It appears that Punjab is prepared to barter its interests for petty gains”.
