Batala industry gasps, rues lack of support

Tribune News Service

Ravi Dhaliwal

Batala, January 14

Total lack of interest-and vision-shown by the political class in the past four decades has meant that Batala’s once famed industrial units are now gasping for breath even as leading businessmen claim that only the government incentives in the form of fiscal package and tax reforms can revive the ailing units of ‘steel town’. Statistics tell a chilling story. In the 80s, the city with 2,000 odd units was teeming with industrial activity.

That was the time when Batala became the envy of many cities. Residents wore opulence on their sleeves and signs of economic prosperity were visible everywhere. Car, scooter and tractor sales hit the roof and posh colonies mushroomed on the town’s outskirts.

Dr Satnam Singh Nijjar, chairman, Gurdaspur district planning board, said, “The ‘iron bird of India’ had the highest number of agricultural and machinery units in North India. Cotton ginning, weaving, sports, woollen, sugar refining and rice milling businesses had sprouted in every nook and cranny.”

Around 40 years down the line, just 400 units remain. Things started looking gloomy when in 1992 the centre abolished Freight Equalisation Policy (FEP). This policy was adopted in 1948 to facilitate uniform growth all over the country.

An official of the Department of Industries and Commerce, said, “This meant transportation of minerals and metals would be subsidised to a factory established anywhere in the country. With its abolition, the cost price of goods manufactured in Batala became more than the selling price of the same goods elsewhere.”

Poor rail connectivity, too, proved to be a bane for the industrialists. If this was not enough, neighbouring states of J&K and HP launched the single-window clearance system and also started offering massive tax rebates. Slowly, but steadily, Batala’s units started shifting base. On a conservative estimate, 60 percent of the total population is dependent on the industry. Despite this, in the past 40 years, not even a single MP or MLA has deemed it appropriate to extend a helping hand to the beleaguered industrialists.

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