CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Thursday urged the Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to take effective steps thereby scraping import duty on the import of scrap and imposing 20% duty on export of semi finished steel. 

In a communiqué addressed to the Union Finance Minister, Badal impressed upon Chidambaram to declare Iron or as national heritage since this product and its stocks were limited.  He also underscored the need to set up a Regulatory Commission which would be a step in the right direction to resolve all the emerging issues relating to steel prices. 

The Chief Minister mentioned that Punjab had a large number of Small Scale Industrial (SSI) units and was one of the largest consumer of steel. 

Badal pointed out that the representatives of the industries had brought to his notice time and again that the main producers of steel like Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), Tata Iron & Steel Company Ltd. (TISCO) and Rashtraya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL) raised the prices of steel arbitrarily and at frequent intervals thereby adversely affecting the growth of industries in general and crippling the SSI units of the state in general.  

Badal further stated that moreover, Punjab being a border state and far away from steel plants of SAIL, RAIL and TISCO etc., the units have to pay higher freight charges as compared to other states located near these plants. 

Resultantly the SSI units of Punjab could not compete in the market and therefore, these units required a substantial special rebate on steel from main producers.

He emphasized the need to examine afresh the issue of price structure of steel items in proper perspective to check the increase by way of frequent price fluctuations to save the industry in the state which was already facing great hardships. 

It may be recalled here that over last one year the country had seen unprecedented rise in the prices of steel which had adversely hit the SSI units and housing sector in the state in a big way.  

The Chief Minister had already taken up this matter with the Union Minister of Steel Ram Vilas Paswan expressing deep concern over the rising prices and need for an immediate correction.  Moreover, no relief had been given in the union budget, prices have gone from Rs.36000 to Rs.44000 per tonne post budget thereby registering an increase of 25% within a month.