27-07-2025
Arora meets bizmen, gives them a hearing
Ludhiana: Cabinet minister Sanjeev Arora gave a patient hearing to the issues being faced by the industrialists of the city during an interaction with them on the premises of Avon Cycles here Saturday evening.
Among the leading industrialists present in the meeting were Onkar Singh Pahwa, Rahul Ahuja, SC Ralhan, JR Singhal, Sanjeev Pahwa, Rajnish Ahuja, Mandeep Pahwa, Arshdeep Singh Sahni, Harsimerjit Singh Lucky, MS Bhogal and Gurmeet Singh Kular.
Matters related to GST, PSPCL, freight subsidy, industrial plots, industrial corridor, traffic jams and municipal corporation were taken up.
On fake GST billing, Arora asked the industrialists to suggest remedial measures to him so that strict action can be initiated.
The minister was told that the industrialists doing genuine business are suffering losses due to fake GST billing.
On the industrialists' demand that the GST rate should be reduced from 12% to 5% on bicycles, Arora said when he was a Rajya Sabha MP, he had taken up the matter with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
He said the state govt has distributed industrial subsidies worth Rs 222 crore in the first four months of the current financial year, and that the remaining subsidies worth Rs 28 crore would be distributed in the near future.
Subsidies worth about Rs 80 crore were distributed in the last fiscal, he added.
The cabinet minister said the state govt has already set up nine industrial committees for industrial policy enhancement in Punjab, adding that the remaining committees would be announced by next week. The motive of setting up these committees is to gather suggestions from industry experts for strengthening the state's industrial policy and further improving ease of doing business.
The industrialists thanked the state govt for taking care of their issues in the last three years.
Arora said he has observed that despite Punjab being a landlocked and border state, people from outside are willing to invest here because of the business-friendly ecosystem. He added that the state govt is also trying to make pro-industry policies and boost ease of doing business by ensuring that new units get approvals within 45 days.
