West Bengal Govt passes Single Window System Act; services to businesses to be given through a single agency online

Kolkata, Sept 14 (KNN) The West Bengal State Legislative Assembly has passed a Single Window System Act, which when operationalized will provide all industry related services online through a dedicated portal 'Silpa Sathi'.

The Department of Industry, Commerce & Enterprises, Government of West Bengal informed about the initiative to the industry bodies.

In a communication, the department said, “In a recent development for strengthening the efforts of delivering services to new and existing businesses through a single agency in a more effective and transparent manner, State Legislative Assembly has passed a Single Window System Act.”

Once operationalized all industry related services will be provided online through a dedicated portal (www.silpasathi.in). The portal will be operated by 'Silpa Sathi', the single window agency, established under the aegis of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation.

Another important development has happened in the area of defining timeline for statutory clearances.

Now, every government department has notified definite timeframe for providing approval, clearance etc and brought the same under the West Bengal Right To Public Service (RTPS) Act, 2013 ensuring complete adherence to these timelines.

Further, the Industry Facilitation Centre (IFC) located at 4, Camac Street and in districts provide handholding support to industries seeking single window services from Silpa Sathi at state and district levels respectively. District IFCs are attached to District Industries Centre of the district concerned.

The West Bengal Government, in the last few years have taken several reforms towards ease of doing business in the State.

The challenges of obtaining statutory clearances before establishment and operation of a business, ease of making application, information dissemination, time bound delivery of services, dispensing with unnecessary paper works etc. are continuously being simplified and streamlined by different government departments. (KNN Bureau)