Patna, Jan. 19: The industry bodies today tabled a wishlist before deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi with an emphasis on the implementation of the announcements made in the budget.

Representatives of Bihar Chamber of Commerce, Bihar Industries Association, Confederation of Indian Industry and Laghu Udyog Bharati came up with several demands for inclusion in the state’s budget for 2012-13. Their wishes included adherence to budget announcements through proper notifications, exemption of entry tax on raw material to be used in industries, creation of Rs 100-crore corpus for revival of sick units, allowing industries to purchase power at reasonable rate through open access, compounding scheme of up to Rs 1 crore be provided to industries, increase in the allocation of industries budget up to Rs 2,000 crore, VAT reimbursement and bringing Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada) under the Right to Public Service Act.

Bihar Industries Association president KPS Keshri emphasised that the state government should keep its words vis-à-vis announcements made in the budget to promote industries in the state. “Several promises made in 2010-11 budget have not been implemented so far. It should not happen. Rather, the government should implement the announcements within a timeframe,” Keshri said.

Keshri, who emphasised on value addition to agricultural produce, said the government should purchase power from different companies to meet the energy requirement given the fact that the state would not have its own generation in the next three-four years.

Bihar Chamber of Commerce president O.P. Sah and its former president P.K. Agrawal demanded that industries, especially small and medium ones, are paying the price of state electricity board’s inefficiency.

Agrawal said the government must bring the actions of Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) and VAT reimbursement within the purview of the Right to Public Service Act so that industrialists could get their work done in a specified timeframe.

“The government must issue matching notifications to implement the announcements made in the industrial investment policy of 2011,” Agrawal said.

Sanjiv Choudhary, the managing director of Gangotri Iron and Steel Company, said he set up his company a few years ago but never got the reimbursement of up to 80 per cent on entry tax, as announced by the government. “Such anomaly must be brought to an end by issuing a notification immediately,” Choudhary said.

Giving assurance to the industry representatives, Modi, also the finance minister of the state, said: “We have heard them patiently for three hours. The government will try to incorporate as many suggestions as possible in the budget.”