Ludhiana, Sep 7 (KNN) Anguished over the poor ranking of Punjab in “ease of doing business”, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the state slammed the government and said in terms of corruption nothing has changed since years.

Punjab has been placed at No. 19 in the list of states providing ease of doing business, as per a report of the Business Reform Action Plan 2019. Even the neighbouring states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have secured better ranks than Punjab.

All Industries and Trade Forum (AITF) National president, Badish Jindal in its letter to Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh alleged that all fake documents were submitted to the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP).

''Sir, it’s really shameful for us that even after submitting all the lies to the DIPP our state still ranked 19th in Ease of Doing Business in our country. We are almost last in the list of developed states of the country and below us are just states like Meghalaya, Mizoram, Orissa, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim, Dadra & N havelli, Goa, J&K, Assam, Chandigarh, Bihar and Puducherry,'' he added.

AITF in its letter also said that the corruption in Punjab is increasing by year on year basis and nothing changed in state since years.

''No file process in any department without giving money under the table. Still most of the time it’s hard to get the work done from the departments like PPCB, GST, Department of Factories & Labour, Department Linked to Local Bodies, Transport & Procurement departments of state,'' the letter read.

The state’s focus is on large scale Industries whereas the state has 98 per cent micro enterprises. The policies are made by focusing on large investment whereas the micro entrepreneurs are providing 90 per cent of the jobs in the state, the letter said.

''Dear Chief Minister, the state’s micro sector is strong enough to improve the economy of the state and can generate millions of new jobs in state but unfortunately, they are never called by departments in their meetings. In all the important committees of the state government the members from the medium or large Industries,'' it said.

Jindal in its letter further said that EODB ranking has nothing to do with the investment as the 10th ranked Gujarat got investment of 343834 crore whereas 1st ranked Andhra got investment of 18823 crores.

''The large investors invest as per states locational and resource advantages. Punjab is a land locked state and with the passage of time the manufacturing cost is increasing in the state due to distance from resources and ports. This is one of the main reasons for underneath sickness in the state’s economy. This is also impacting the revenue of the state,'' he said.

He further said that the micro industries have limited resources and manpower and a little delay in their project turns them from entrepreneurs to bankrupt.

''There is a provision of Single Window but merely below 10 per cent applications filed through the single window of the state government. No agency is monitoring the applications submitted to the department by the micro and small entrepreneurs,'' he asserted.

''The state must follow the zero-tolerance policy against corruption for giving relief to the Industries of state,'' he concluded.