Tired of holding meetings offering no solution: Traders to minister

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 29

It seems that industrialists, traders and manufacturers are losing their patience. Attending a meeting with Industries Minister Sunder Sham Arora here on Thursday, some of the traders raised their voice and said there was no point of holding meetings when no solution to the problems being faced by them was suggested. Ravinder Dhir, convener, Khel Udyog Sangh, told the minister that only meetings were being held, but there was no proper solution to their problems.

The minister listened to the various problems raised by traders of hand tools, leather, sports, auto parts, surgical, textiles, pipe fittings, etc, and almost all problems that were raised were old and never got resolved.

Ravinder Dhir said, “Whenever a meeting takes place, at least the minister should tell them which issues discussed in the previous meeting were resolved. We have given a suggestion that when the next meeting will be held, we must be told about what action was taken with regard to the problems we discussed today,” he said.

Gursharan Singh, president of the Federation of Jalandhar Industrial and Traders’ Association, said the industry stood ruined. During the meeting, he told the minister that he was the custodian of the industries but they weren’t getting any fruitful answers from him. “We will see now how many of our issues discussed are taken into consideration,” he said.

One of the major issues troubling the industrialists these days is the submission of C-form. So, the minister said the Punjab Government was set to unveil a one-time settlement policy (OTS) within a few days for resolving the long-pending issue of C-forms and others, raised by the industrialists in the state.

The minister said the industry in the state was facing an unprecedented crisis due to the cancellation of goods trains as export or import worth Rs 2,000 crore was stuck amid the farmers’ protest.

Describing the industry as the backbone of the state’s economy, the minister said that every problem of industrialists would be solved on priority. He said the state government was committed to ensuring holistic development of the industry in the state.

Arora said ever since the Capt Amarinder government took over in the state, every problem of the industry was being resolved. He said the Industrial Policy framed by the state government in 2017 had been instrumental in giving an impetus to the industry in the state and acted as a catalyst in reviving the industry in the state.