News Source : www.expressindia.com
Shimla Industrial package:
Dhumal says joint action plan with Uttarakhand ready but he hopes PM will restore benefits A day after his meeting with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the industrial package issue in New Delhi, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said on Thursday that the Centre did not have any logical explanation on the premature withdrawal of the Central Excise Duty benefits to industries.
The concessions formed a major part of the three-tier special industrial package granted by the NDA government in 2003.
BJP’s national leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley strongly supported Himachal’s demand as Dhumal met the PM on Wednesday. Prior to this meeting, he also spoke to UPA president Sonia Gandhi and sought her help in the matter.
“It is historic in many ways as all leaders are supporting the state’s demand for extension of the package till 2013. Even Congress president Sonia Gandhi has assured me to take up the issue with the prime minister. We are arguing our case with logic and also have strong justifications. I am quite hopeful that the PM would agree to the demand,” Dhumal told the media here.
He, however, added: “If the prime minister manages to restore the package till 2013, as was proposed in 2003, we will thank the Centre in the upcoming Monsoon Session of the Assembly. But if it does not work out, Himachal will not wait for this for an indefinite period. How long can the Centre test the patience of a peaceful state?”
Dhumal, who also had Uttarakhand Chief Minister Romesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ with him when he went to meet the PM, said he also held a separate meeting with Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Chandigarh on Tuesday and explained that the neighbouring states’ opposition to the package was not justified.
“Not even a single industrial unit from Punjab or Haryana has migrated to Himachal during the package period. It is just false propaganda. Most of the industries set up in Himachal are either pharmaceutical units or automobile expansions projects. In fact, the opposition of the neighbouring states is not new. There was opposition even when former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee sanctioned the package in 2003,” he added.
Dhumal said a common strategy with Uttarakhand for agitation against the Centre on the package issue is already final but the state would wait for the PM and Sonia Gandhi’s response.