For ease of doing business in the State, the State Government has put the Industrial Reforms promised during recently held Progressive Punjab Summit on fast track. Such reforms will enable the companies to invest in State on a single window and also in a hassle free manner . The progress of all the Industrial Reforms promised during the recently concluded Progressive Punjab Summit by Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister was reviewed in detail by Mr. Sarvesh Kaushal, Chief Secretary Punjab. While reviewing the progress of reforms being undertaken by Excise & Taxation Department, CS asked Financial Commissioner Taxation to clear the complete VAT refund backlog by 31st January 2016. To enable transparent and effective interaction of industrialists with the Government, Excise & Taxation Department was asked to make C form, F form and H Form online in all the districts by 28th February after successful pilot in Mohali. Excise Department will also develop an online portal for monitoring of its Quasi-judicial cases to improve transparency. State will take all the necessary steps and all the departments will work in coordination to promote “ease of doing business in the State” said Mr. Sarvesh Kaushal
Chief Secretary was informed that all the preparatory work related to provision of Self Certification and third party annual inspection of boilers has been completed and final notification will be issued soon after legal vetting. After these notifications, no boiler inspector or Electrical inspector shall visit the industry unless requested for annual inspection by Industry. The other reforms which were reviewed by Chief Secretary and are at advanced stage of implementation included issuance of permanent TIN in 3 days after verification of documents, joint inspection by Town & Country Planning, Fire Department and Airport Authority in issuing construction permits, auto renewal of CTO to green and orange industry without physical inspection, third party inspection to obtain consent to establish or consent to operate etc. While presenting the progress, Mr. Karan Avtar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Investment Promotion stated that the Labour Department has already issued a notification to all the field officers, Labour Inspectors, Factory Inspectors not to conduct inspections of industrial establishments without the prior permission of Labour Commissioner. CS asked all the departments to promote self -certification schemes wherever possible and also to replicate the best practices being followed by other States in Industrial Promotion.
Further State’s performance on all the 340 parameters under the “Ease of doing business” study conducted by Government of India were also discussed. Chief Secretary asked all the Departments to diligently follow the parameters and complete the work as per the benchmark given by Government of India. The parameters included establishment of a dedicated physical body/ bureau that functions as the sole point of contact for the purpose of setting up a business, Availability of land, online property registrations, construction permit enablers, various NOCs, Environment registration enablers, consent to establish/operate enablers, labour regulation enablers and other industry related approvals.
Further for the State to enable transparent and agile communication with citizens, 10 departments with maximum citizen interaction were selected to adopt Mobile Governance platforms in collaboration with CDAC Mumbai, a GoI body. The departments selected included Labour, Excise, Food, Power, Education, Revenue,Forests, Housing, Health , Governance Reforms etc. CS asked Secretary Governance Reforms to finalize MoU with CDAC on mobile Governance in next 1 week so that work on the departmental mobile applications can be initiated. CS also asked Secretary Governance Reforms to automate the complete Gazette notification process in next 4 weeks.The meeting was attended by Mr. Karan Avtar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary Investment Promotion, Mr. Viswajit Khanna, Principal Secretary Housing & Labour, Mr. G Vajralingham, Principal Secretary Science Technology & Environment, Mr. Anurag Aggarwal, Financial Commissioner Excise & Taxation, Mr. A Venuprasad, Principal Secretary Power and other concerned officials.