Jammu, June 13 (KNN) The New Industrial Policy of J&K states that the lease period for land as 40, 40 and 10 years. Initially, the lease is given for 40 years. After the completion of 40 years, it can be renewed for another 40 years, and further for 10 more years. After this, the lease cannot be renewed, i.e., in no case, it can be extended further, which was not the case in the previous industrial policy.

Rajesh Jain, President, Association of Industries, Gangyal, Jammu, along with a delegation of MSMEs met state chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and urged that the lease period should be enhanced from 40, 40 and 10 years to 90 years with no stipulation.  If one party wants to discontinue the lease, it can do so at any point of time and the remaining lease will be given to some other party.

“The price of land in this area is neither too high nor too low, i.e., moderately priced. The land will always remain on lease, no matter how long it has been worked on. It can never be owned privately,” Jain said.

The New Industrial Policy has not gone well with the MSMEs and the sector has been demanding the government to re-visit the policy.

Jain said, “The new industrial policy creates hurdles in the progress of SMEs. The problems begin from the very beginning from the time of allotment of the land. The land will be allotted and the size of the plot will be determined by the bureaucrats, not by the entrepreneurs. The next problem is that after getting the lease, you cannot add a partner during the project implementation period.”

He also said that there is a problem in time frame for completion of project under the new industrial policy.

“The time period is very less to complete the project. If the project is not completed within the specified period of 2.6 years, the lease will be cancelled,” AOI chief said.

So, according to him, the government should consider increasing the lease period to 90 years, instead of splitting them into 40, 40 and 10 years in the new policy. (KNN/ FA)