SAS NAGAR, April 26: In terms of population growth, SAS Nagar has burgeoned over the past 30 years, but when it comes to the township's presence on the industrial map of Punjab, there's not much growth. Although the township's industrial directories list about 50 large and mediumscale industries and some 1,500 smallscale industries, involving an investment of more than Rs 1,000 crore and a workforce of 25,000 and from time to time, more area has been added to the industrial estate but the pace of growth remains sluggish. Mohali Industries Assosiation president R.S Sachdeva blames "The state government's defective allotment policy" for this township's failure to take off as an industrial center."Many of those who wrangled industrial plots here were not genuine industrialists but property speculators who intended to hold the plots until they could be resold for handsome profit. Today 30 per cent of the plots are lying vacant and another 30 per cent are used for semi-industrial operations. Only 40 per cent are being used for industrial activity," Sachdeva charges. Sachdeva feels that the way to see that plots go to genuine industrialists is to make allotment at one go and thoroughly verify the buyers.Vacant plots should be resumed and re-alloted. Another factor which impedes development of the township's industrial estate include is the high price of plots as compared to rates charged for industrial plots in nearby towns. One industrialist complains: "Annually we pay Rs 10 to 12 crore to the Municipal Council by way of octroi and other levies but the council hardly spends more than Rs 1.5 crores on civic amentities in the Industrial Area. We are short of water in summer and street lights don't work."Municipal Council President Harinder Pal Singh denies that street lights are non-functional and claims "there is no water shortage now" since a new tubewell went into operation.More than 100 SSI units are locked out and even some large units are facing serious problems. Jagjit Singh, an entrepreneur, blame the industrial "sickness" which is widespread in the area on "inordinate delay in making payments relating to incentives/concessions announced by the state government in its industrial policy."We get Sales Tax exemption immediately, but not the capital subsidy," claims small scale industrialist Gurpreet Singh. According to Punjab Industries Department Director D.S. Guru, the state govrnment paid Rs 30 crore as capital subsidy in financial year 1997-98 to industries in Punjab. Industrialists claim that only Rs 5 crore were paid. Guru disputes this and claims that Rs 5 crore was paid in 1996-97.In financial year 1998-99 the government was to pay Rs 45 crore but only Rs 11 crore were paid. The director did not comment on this question. In 1999-2000, Rs 45 crore is to be paid, but to date nothing has been paid. Industrialistsare also unhappy with "the slow pace of infrastructural development for electronics and information technology industries".Punjab had identified SAS Nagar as its "Silicon Valley" and set up a IT park, but ten large-scale units covered under the Electronic Policy are closed while some others are on the brink of closure. Industrialists say that nothing has been done to develop ancillaries/subsidiaries in the small scale sector. Normally the SSI supplies many components to large units but the large units in SAS Nagar are getting their supplies from far off places.
