Bittu batted for small and medium steel industries of Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh in Lok Sabha

Ludhiana, July 14, 2014: Congress Member Parliament from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu today batted for the small and medium steel industries of Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh in Lok Sabha. He not only asked the Government to reduce the import duty on scrap to zero as was the case earlier but also demanded the lowering of excise duty from 12.36% to 6% to help the local industry.

Ravneet said, there are many clusters of steel producers in our country which are facing difficulties. One such cluster of steel producers is located around Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh in Punjab. These industries use scrap as raw material and have been serving the country for last 4 decades by catering to the requirements of our Automobile, Engineering and Housing Sectors. These small and medium industries have been providing employment to lakhs of people. But today 50% of these industries have closed down and the remaining are on the verge of closure which would render lakhs of workmen jobless besides loss of investments worth several thousand crores of rupees, he said.

To this the Minister assured the House that the matter has been brought to his notice today by the Member Parliament, the Government will consider the proposal and certainly take necessary steps to help protect the steel industries of Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh.

Demanding that raw material should be made easily available to the domestic producers of Steel, Ravneet asked the Minister to provide early necessary clearances for supply of Iron Ore and Coal to our domestic industry so that they are able to produce sufficient steel for the needs of the country and are also able to export.