PUNJAB

Punjab gives nod to shorter airport route from Chandigarh; will acquire 14 acres

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The Punjab Government today gave in-principle approval to the construction of a shorter and alternative route to the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport from Chandigarh.

The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit and attended by Punjab Chief Secretary VK Janjua, UT Adviser Dharam Pal among other officers at the UT Secretariat.

The UT Administration has been deliberating on developing a shorter and alternative route to the airport, as the existing one is longer as residents have to travel 11.5 km to reach the airport via Junction 63.

The alternative route has been prepared after consultations with all stakeholders, including the Punjab Government, Ministry of DEFENCE, Air Force authorities, Chandigarh International Airport Ltd, Ministry of Railways.

In yet another pro-farmers initiative besides promoting e-governance, Punjab on Sunday launched a digi-locker facility for its farmers becoming the first State in the country to do so.

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Now, the farmers in Punjab have an option to print or download digital copies of their J-Forms in the State, as the Punjab Mandi Board has made the electronic format of J-Forms available, from the current wheat procurement-2021 season onwards.

With the implementation of this landmark step, if any farmer forgot the registration form at Home or the document gets misplaced or the farmer is waiting for the delivery of the printed copy, they just need to download the app DigiLocker and save their virtual J-Form.

To check fiscal deficit, SGPC mulls merger of educational institutes

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Keeping in view the , the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is contemplating merging the committee-run educational institutions.

SGPC has recently passed a budget allocation of Rs 1,138.14 crore for the fiscal 2023-2024. The expenditure estimate on educational institutes exceeds revenue estimates by around Rs 30 crore. An amount of Rs 242 crore has been spared for educational institutions whereas the anticipated income could not be more than Rs 213 crore.

Last year (2022-2023), of the total budget of Rs 988.15 crore, an amount of Rs 231.83 crore was kept for Education. As the income generated was not as per the expectations, an extra amount of Rs 37 crore from its golak (donation boxes) had to be pumped in to overcome the deficit.

Cabinet approves package to woo ultra-mega projects

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The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi approved a special package of incentives for new mega and ultra-mega projects to attract across the state.

According to a spokesperson for the Chief Ministers Office, projects with fixed capital investment of Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500 crore with a minimum contract demand of 20 MVA would be treated as mega projects and those with fixed capital investment of above Rs 2,500 crore and minimum contract demand of 30 MVA would come under the ultra-mega project category.

Under the special package, a special power tariff for four years would be provided to mega projects and five years to new ultra mega projects from the date of release of the permanent power connection.

Similarly, the incentive of net goods and Services tax (GST) reimbursement would be available at the rate of 100 per cent of the net GST with a cap of 200 per cent of the Fci to be availed over a maximum period of 17 years for mega projects and 20 years for ultra-mega projects.

Punjab Government to ramp up registration of workers

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Ahead of the upcoming Assembly , the government has asked the Labour Department to register around 60,000 construction workers in the state every day. The target is to take the number of registered workers from the current 3.70 lakh to 10 lakh in the coming weeks so as to provide financial benefits to maximum workers.

The benefits, however, cannot be extended to workers who have not worked for 90 days in the year they apply for benefits in. It has been learnt that MGNREGA workers might also be registered as construction workers. In an order of the Labour Commissioner on December 1, all deputy commissioners have been asked to ensure smooth registration of eligible beneficiaries, including MGNREGA workers. Ironically, the Labour Department in 2017 had issued orders on the directives of the Centre that MGNREGA workers cant be registered as construction workers.

For mutual cooperation on investment promotion and ease of doing business, Punjab and the American Chamber of Commerce in India (AMCHAM India) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

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The MoU, signed by Invest Punjab CEO Rajat Agarwal and AMCHAM India program director Rajiv Anand, a first for the US body with any state in the country. It entails the formation of a joint working group (JWG) having members from Invest Punjab and AMCHAM India, to support and develop cooperation, as well as, for enhancing the Ease of Doing Business in Punjab, India and USA.

Sharing details of the investment opportunities in the state for the US companies across multiple sectors, Agarwal highlighted that the state had served as a launchpad to renowned MNCs who looked to start their India operations. Inviting the US enterprises, he said opportunities for investment or collaboration with Punjab-based companies existed in multiple sectors such as Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and Food Processing, technical engineering, textile and pharma.

The investor-friendly ecosystem had allowed Punjab to receive more than $12 billion investments that were under various stages of implementation, he added.

He talked about the high impact business reforms such as the Right to Business Act 2020, deemed approvals and central inspection system, amongst others that have been undertaken by the State Government to reduce time and cost incurred by businesses.

Established in 2013, by the state government, the Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion (Invest Punjab) is a single point of contact for facilitation of investors who are looking to set up a business in Punjab. Invest Punjab has been rated as the top-performing state IPA by the Government of India, said Agarwal.

Punjab to take peoples suggestions before implementing New Sports Policy

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Punjab Government has decided to take the suggestions of the people before implementing the comprehensive new Sports policy being prepared by the Sports Department, after which this policy will be implemented very soon.

A draft of the sports policy has been prepared and it has been decided to seek public opinion to get the feedback of people associated with sports and sportspersons before sending it for approval. After this, an effective sports policy will be prepared by incorporating people’s suggestions, which will take Punjab forward in the field of sports, said the states Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Friday, after holding a marathon meeting with the committee of experts formed to draft the sports policy.

Hayer directed the Department to complete the draft of the sports policy after soliciting public opinion so that it can be implemented at the beginning of the new session.

More citizen services to go online in Punjab

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The government will bring more citizen Services on its online platform to further strengthen the citizens services in Punjab as well as strengthen the deployment of IT personnel in departments.

This was decided at the 38th meeting of the Executive Committee of the Punjab State eGovernance Society (PSeGS) held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua.

PSeGS had been tasked with bringing major reforms in service delivery and would cover all services notified under the Punjab Act. It was pointed out that 430 services were being delivered from Sewa Kendras and 93 being delivered online portal.

In a major reprieve to the traders across the State, the Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday decided to exempt about 1.50 lakh cases from assessment related to cases of C form for the past years from 2014-15 to 2017-18. With this decision, taken during the Cabinet meeting, about 8,500 such cases would now be assessed under this category every year. This trader-friendly decision would cost Rs 200 crore on the State exchequer.

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Forms Cs are used for filing returns against the tax already paid in interstate sale of goods.

To further boost trade and economic activity in the State, the Cabinet also gave approval to exempt the traders from making payment of 70 per cent of the excess demand and now they would be only required to deposit 30 per cent of the surplus demand. The decision would also cost the state exchequer to the tune of Rs 940 crore. Subsequently, they would now be required to deposit the said amount that is 20 per cent of the 30 per cent portion of the additional demand by March 31, 2022, and the remaining 80 per cent by March 31, 2023.

Notably, the has taken these significant decisions to facilitate traders in the wake of the recent Covid pandemic. Although it has been nearly four and a half years since the end of the VAT regime, there was still a heavy burden of VATassessment on the traders coupled with difficulties in providing C-forms etc to them.

The Cabinet also approved One-Time Settlement Policy-2021 for Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation Limited, Punjab Financial Corp and Punjab Agro Industries Corp for settlement of dues. The new policy will help resolve long-pending litigation and settlement between the corporations and the private investors, besides creating a more business-friendly Environment in the State.

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Saturday approved a proposal of power utility PSPCL for terminating the power purchase agreement (PPA) with private sector electricity generator GVK due to high cost.

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The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (Pspcl) has issued a termination notice to the company, an official statement said.

The development assumes significance as several Punjab Congress leaders, including Navjot Singh Sidhu, have been pressing for scrapping faulty PPAs signed during the previous SAD-BJP regime to provide electricity to people at cheaper rates.

The GVK power project was set up at Goindwal Sahib with a capacity of 2X270 MW. GVK has been generating energy by arranging coal from Coal India limited. As per the PPA, the company was required to arrange a captive coal mine but it failed to do so even after the lapse of more than five years of synchronisation with the grid.