Days after Haryana slipped from third to 16th position in the latest rankings of states on the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Index, chief secretary Keshni Anand Arora on Tuesday directed the heads of departments to ensure 100 per cent implementation of Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) by the end of September to improve the state’s EODB ranking.

Presiding over a review meeting regarding the progress of implementation of the BRAP, Arora directed the officers of all the departments concerned to work in mutual coordination so as to ensure implementation of business reforms and make sure that all services are rendered online within the stipulated time.

She said to prevent the businessmen from making rounds at the government offices time and again for issuance of No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for starting a business, a status tracking system and document upload system should be formulated.

The chief secretary directed the administrative secretaries to carefully review the progress of the BRAP. She was informed that 213 reform points are to be implemented at the district level and 301 reform points are to be implemented at the state level under the BRAP by the Central government and Haryana is working on it so as to augment the facilities being provided to the businessmen.

Former Chief Minister and leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda targeted the Manohar Lal Khattar led BJP-JJP coalition over.

With Haryana falling 13 places to number 16 in the latest rankings, the government stands exposed and it has become clear to the people why Haryana has reached the number one position in unemployment, said Hooda.

The Congress leader said the BJP’s six-year directionless rule had created a situation where far from new industries setting up base in Haryana, even existing industries were leaving the state.

Haryana deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, who is also the Industries minister, however said that the ranking was impacted by new standards being introduced in the survey.

“The 2018-19 ranking of Ease of Doing Business has lowered the rankings of not only Haryana but several other states as well. The rankings of some geographically small states and Union Territories have increased but the rankings of most states, acknowledged for their industrial growth, has declined,” he said in a statement.

“A survey has been conducted on the basis of new standards in 2019 to prepare the ranking of states under Ease of Doing Business. More than 25 new standards were added to this survey, while a few standards being implemented earlier were removed. These significant changes have affected the rankings prominently,” Chautala added.