U'khand House calls for extension of package

As the deadline for the expiry of the area-based exemptions draws near, the Uttarakhand Assembly has passed a resolution recommending further extension of the tax holiday scheme.

The House passed the one-line resolution on Thursday despite a ruckus created by the Congress members over various alleged scandals rocking the state. However, leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat told Business Standard that the Centre was finding it difficult to extend the package since the issue was pending before the Supreme Court. “We (Congress) also want the package to continue. But unless the Punjab government withdraws its petition against the package in the Supreme Court, it will be very difficult to give it a further extension,” Rawat said.

Meanwhile, Industries Minister Bansi Dhar Bhagat said in case the package was not extended, the BJP leaders would hold a sit-in strike in New Delhi over the issue.

From industries’ associations to the government, there has been a strong demand in the state for the extension of the special industrial package 2003 in the hill state, which is expiring on March 31.

The government is claiming that the industries are not showing any interest towards its 2008 hill development industrial policy mainly because of the suspense over the industrial package. Following the special tax holiday scheme of January 2003, an industrial boom was witnessed in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Nearly 2,400 industries have so far set shops in the state, while another 100 are in the process of starting production before the deadline. Though Himachal and Uttarakhand had been seeking extension of the package, Punjab, Haryana and some other states had been opposing the same.