Sep 04, 2007. /Lesprom Network/. Due to the shortage of raw material and high electricity tariff, the plywood industry in the state is on the verge of closure, Indian Express reported. Numerous plywood industry associations met chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh in Chandigarh and urged them to reduce VAT levied on plywood as it was a raw material. The Punjab Plywood Manufacturers' Association fears closure of about 150 factories in Punjab if the government did not do its bit to revive the industry. "In states like West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Delhi, there is 4% VAT on plywood, as it is considered a raw material. But in Punjab, it is more than 12%," the delegation told the CM. Wazir Chand, a member of the delegation who has a factory in Jagraon, said prices of raw materials, like wood, chemicals and phenol, had gone up by almost 35%. "Besides, the electricity rates, wages and transportation costs have hit us hard," said Chand. There was a shortage of wood in all the mandis of the state due to few poplar trees, so the industry has to import wood from other states. "And whatever poplar wood we have is being transported to Haryana," said unit owners. Association members urged the CM to draft a law to stop wood from going outside the state. "The wood is now available at three times the earlier cost of INR 150 to 200 per quintal," claimed Harbhajan Singh, who has a plywood factory in Hambran, Ludhiana. "On the other hand, my other unit in Haryana gets wood in abundance," he said. Giving details of the proceedings, Ashok Juneja, secretary general of the Punjab Plywood Manufacturers' Association, said he had proposed to Badal to bring all the vacant government land in the state under agro-forestry. "The government should make efforts to save this industry as numerous families are earning their bread and butter from it," he added.