''Centre''s policy towards Uttarakhand discriminatory''

Dehradun, Mar 8 (PTI) Criticising the Centre for adopting discriminatory policy towards the state, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank today said the union government's withdrawal of Concessional Industrial Package (CIP) has blocked investments worth Rs 56,000 crore."The industrial projects with an estimated investment of Rs 56,000 crore were in pipeline when the CIP was ended in March last year. The withdrawal of concessions not only blocked that investment to the state, but also affected nearly 2 lakh job opportunities which could have been created for unemployed youths," Nishank said.The chief minister was speaking after releasing a booklet 'Uttarakhand- Suraj Ki Ore' marking the completion of the BJP government's four year in office.Nishank said he along with his cabinet colleagues met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh several times over the issue and was even assured that his demand for restoration of CIP would be met, but nothing was done by the Centre on this front.The Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA government had given the CIP to Uttarakhand in 2003 for a period of 10 years following which the state saw an industrial boom.Later, the CIP was cut short to 2010 when the UPA came to power in 2004. The BJP government launched efforts for getting it restored, but did not succeed.Under the CIP, the industrial units were entitled for several incentives like exemption in excise duty and income tax for 10 years.Nishank also alleged that the Congress-led UPA government had different policies for different states."On one hand they (Centre) extended industrial concessions for Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast states for another 10 years, but on the other they refused to do so in the case of Uttarakhand," he said.The chief minister also alleged that the Centre gave only Rs 500 crore for carrying out relief works after a large part of the state was hit by natural disasters last year."We sought a package of Rs 21,000 crore from the Centre but they turned down our request," he said.The curtailing of the state's quota of foodgrains from 24,000 metric tonnes to 2,400 metric tonnes is another example of discriminatory attitude towards the state, he added. PTI