Investors abandon Punjab due to the failing law and order situation

Chandigarh, Jan 30: Punjab have started harnessing the side effects of a deteriorating law and order situation. The empty threats issued by hardliner Khalistani groups, such as the Waris Punjabi De's self-styled chief, Amrit Pal Singh, to settlers and Hindi-speaking people have cost the state dearly.

 

 

 

Amrit Pal Singh has openly threatened Hindi-speaking settlers and small business owners from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Himachal Pradesh, asking people not to buy anything from them. He has also demanded that outsiders be denied the right to purchase land in Punjab.

 

 

 

Sources close to the Punjab industries say that many of the NRIs and business houses have stalled their investment plans in Punjab, keeping in mind the agenda of hardliner groups. Besides the hardliner groups, the routine road and railway blockages by the farmer unions have also compelled investors to shun investments in Punjab. The farmer protests had cost Rs 2,220 crore to the Indian Railways alone during the agitation against the now-scrapped agri-laws. The state's industries also faced an estimated Rs 30,000 crore losses during the agitation. The state government's decision to scrap a mega textile park near Ludhiana, as well as the closure of a Rs 300 crore distillery unit in Zira due to pressure from farmer unions and NGOs, has sent the wrong message to the industry. Sources close to the Uttar Pradesh government said that a delegation of nearly four dozen business owners from Punjab met CM Yogi Adityanath and reportedly cited the deteriorating law and order situation in the state as well as a desire to invest in the state. What is being termed a major setback for the Punjab government is that 29 investors have already pledged an investment of Rs 10,000 crore in UP. A few of the business houses, according to the Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner of UP, Arvind Kumar, are Madhav KRG Private Limited (Rs 700 crore), Spray Engineering Devices (Rs 1,000 crore), Nahar Group (Rs 800 crore), and Trident Group (Rs 800 crore), among others.

 

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The investment proposals from Punjab are being called a shot in the arm for the UP government, which is going to organize the Global Investor Summit in Lucknow between February 10 and 12, 2023. Yogi Adityanath's government has been holding a series of consumer-government meetings with prospective investors from Chandigarh, Haryana, and Punjab to attract investment. The UP government has so far held eight road shows in various parts of Punjab and Chandigarh.