Haryana CM made announcements to bring industries on track; separate nodal officer for HSIDC related issues
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
In view of the important role of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in economic and industrial development, Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal has made several announcements to bring these industries back on track. These include setting up of bank complaint information centers for redressal of issues related to banks by the Finance Department, extending the date of depositing electricity bills without penalty till May 31, to provide guarantee to MSMEs for bank loans from Small Industries Development Bank of India by the State Government, fixing the power rate at Rs 4.75 per unit for agriculture based industries up to 20 KW, and pre-fabricated housing for labourers in the factories itself.
The Chief Minister said this while interacting with the representatives of MSMEs along with the members of the Laghu Udyog Bharati Association of all the districts of the state through video conferencing here today. Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, who also holds the portfolio of Industries and Commerce Department, was also present in the meeting.
The Chief Minister said that during the nationwide lockdown period, the economic activity of all the states was affected and now they are being re-opened in a phased manner. Haryana’s Enterprise Promotion Policy, 2015 was appreciated all over the country. Now the State Government is committed to make the best industrial policy in the country again, a new Enterprise Promotion Policy will be formulated from August 2020, for which suggestions will be invited from all stakeholders, he added.
He said that the revenue collected in the last two months has been almost negligible. The revenue is mainly collected from GST, Excise, Stamp Duty, VAT refund from Central Government, and mining, he added. He said that these are now being operationalised in a phased manner. He assured that a separate Nodal Officer will be appointed for issues related to HSIIDC. In addition, issues related to VAT refunds of 2017 are being resolved in a timely manner. For about 1300 applications, a refund of Rs 162 crore has been made since April. He also assured to re-assess MSME’s bank loans. The scheme to provide 10 percent working capital has also been announced by the Central Government, he added. The Chief Minister said that in long-term loans, the margin money taken from MSMEs will be reduced to 15 percent. During the lockdown period, adequate arrangements were made in Haryana in which the State Government has spent an amount of Rs. 1047 crore for the needy and various organizations have contributed Rs. 250 crore to the Haryana Corona Relief Fund, he added. He said that 72,000 people had registered on the COVID-19 Sangharsh Senani Portal and offered voluntarily to fight against the Battle of Corona.
In the meeting, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, V. Umashankar, Additional Chief Secretary, Power Department, T. C. Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department, T.V. S.N. Prasad, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce Department, Apoorva Kumar Singh and Director, Industries, Commerce Department, Saket Kumar, Labour Commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal, and Director Public Relations and Languages Department, P.C. Meena and other officers were present in the meeting.
May,9,2020
