Ludhiana: Cabinet minister Sanjeev Arora called on Union minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi Monday and raised the state’s industry related issues with him. In a statement issued here, Arora said on his request, the Union industry minister has promised to provide the latest equipment to all govt R&D centres in Punjab, as part of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) scheme. This followed after Arora presented him a letter requesting Rs 100 crore grant for the Indian Association of Hand Tools (IAHT), Ludhiana. In the letter, Arora asserted that a vital infrastructure is the need of the hour for IAHT, which is a crucial manufacturing and export hub. The absence of modern testing and certified lab facilities limits its global competitiveness, he added. Arora further said this will help establish the latest tool room, design development & reverse engineering facilities. Testing & evaluation, and metrology labs are needed to ensure international quality compliance heat treatment facility to improve durability, he explained. He also highlighted the need for the establishment of an advanced welding training workshop, inclusive of consultancy fees for designing course materials and evaluation of structures in line with international standardsArora also presented another letter to the Union minister for strategic infrastructure support in Punjab. Taking up the matter of the economic corridor along Delhi-Katra Expressway, he stated that “to address the outflow of industries and boost investment, we propose developing a modern economic corridor along the Delhi-Katra passing through Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Gurdaspur, Patiala, Sangrur, and Malerkotla- connecting key regions and facilitating seamless movement of goods and services. This corridor can host modern industrial parks, plug-and-play infrastructure, and IT hubs.”Further, Arora called for the upgradation of Ludhiana-Rewari Route for double stack container movement. He said the Ludhiana-Rewari route is a key logistics link connecting Punjab to the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor.
