Ease of doing biz: Punjab has a long way to go, says industry

Shivani Bhakoo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 6

The local industry feels Punjab cannot improve its ranking in “ease of doing business” till the time basic infrastructure is strengthened, corruption in government departments curbed, digitisation of work done in each department and good airport connectivity is established.

Punjab has been placed at No. 19 in the list of states providing ease of doing business, as per a report of the Business Reform Action Plan 2019. Even the neighbouring states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have secured better ranks than Punjab.

Mridula Jain from Shingora Shawls here said the state’s entire focus today was on curbing the Covid spread. As far as ease of doing business is concerned, businessmen look for best infrastructure, easy air connectivity, less tedious works in government departments and a corruption-free environment.

“Well-connected persons can get their work done quickly by calling up top officials but not all businessmen have access to senior officials. Maximum work is done by the officials sitting in the departments (SDOs, JEs, etc). They need to be sensitised to doing work without vested interests,” said Jain, adding that instead of coming up with new clusters, the present infrastructure should be improved.

President of the All-Industries Trade Forum Badish Jindal said there was a need to bring about reforms in each department. “Genuine files need to be immediately cleared by the departments. The bureaucracy should keep a vigil on the working of staff/officials so that industry does not face any problem. Unless the government and all staff are fully committed to bringing about reforms, ease of doing business will be a distant dream,” he said.

Director, Industries, Sibin C, however, said the state government was making efforts to bring about reforms to improve the ranking so that there is no problem to the industry. As far as infrastructure is concerned, about Rs 200 crore will be spent on it with the help of the Central Government, he added.