Jalandhar
Terming the unveil of ‘OTS Scheme for Vats Dues’ as a historic step to give much-needed relief to the industrialists, Punjab Industry and Commerce Minister Sunder Sham Arora on Tuesday said that the scheme will benefit almost 10,000 small and medium scale businessmen of the Doaba region.

Participating in a virtual launch of the scheme, The Minister accompanied by MLAs Rajinder Beri, Sushil Kumar Rinku, Avtar Singh Junior Bawa Henry, Mayor Jagdish Raj Raja, Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori, said that around 10000 traders of Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, and SBS Nagar will be covered and Rs 50 crore of dues would be waived off as per the scheme’s provisions.

He said that this scheme will resolve the long-pending issue of unavailability of C-forms and others, raised by the industrialists in Punjab. Minister said that the OTS scheme will facilitate the business community which was facing problems due to the C-forms.

He added that ensuring unprecedented infrastructure development in 17 Focal Points of the state, the state government has released 146 Crore for the development works.

Describing the industry as the backbone of the state’s economy, the Minister said that every problem of industrialists would be solved on top priority.

Arora said that the state government is committed to ensuring holistic development of the industry in the state and in the last four years, Punjab has attracted investment of Rs 71000 crore and generated 2.70 lakh jobs.

The Minister said that ever since the Captain government has assumed office in the state every problem of the Industry is being resolved and told Industrial Policy framed by the state government in 2017 has been instrumental in giving impetus to Industry in the state and acted as a catalyst in reviving the industry in the state.

MLAs Rajinder Beri, Sushil Kumar Rinku, Avtar Singh Junior Bawa Henry welcomed the policy and said that Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh always stands with the industrialists’ rock-solid to boost Punjab’s economy. They said that the state government has fulfilled its promise to the industrialists by bringing out this scheme to settle the pending arrears.

The industrialists, who took part in the video conference, hailed the OTS policy and thanked the Punjab Government for fulfilling their long-pending demand.

Prominent among present on the occasion included Deputy Taxation Commissioner Jalandhar Division Paramjit Singh, Assistant Taxation Commissioner Kanwaljeet Singh, and others.