Unease of doing biz: Karnataka MSMEs waiting since more than a decade for land allotment

New Delhi, May 10 (KNN) Land allotment continues to remain a big problem hampering the industrial growth in the state of Karnataka. There have been reports coming in from various districts of Karnataka on similar lines.

Talking to KNN, Suresh Kumar Jain, Secretary of Mysore Industries Association informed about the severity of the problem. He said that the MSME entrepreneurs in the Mysore region applied for lands to set their units in 2007 and 2008. It has been ten years almost. There has been no allotment of lands so far.

Terming the situation as ‘catastrophic’ for the industry, Jain said that while applying, we the MSMEs also paid the money in advance.

“The money is blocked with the Government, there is no interest that we receive on it, nor are we getting the land for which we paid the huge amount of money. With such a scenario prevailing, how can one expect ease of doing business in the country” asked the Secretary.

Jain further lamented that the present requirement of the land just for the region of Mysore alone is around 100 acres, that is expected to house over 200 MSMEs but with the delay in land allotment, the entire graph of the industry has come to a standstill.

Talking on the scarcity of land, he said that there are huge chunks of land that at once came under agriculture category, now they are neither used in by farmers, nor do the industries get the land.

Jain further informed that his Association have been approaching the Ministry and the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) but not much has changed in the last ten years. The latest assurance to the industry is given by the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. During the  budget session the CM directed the KIADB to allot land immediately, the industry awaits action.

Also recently there were media reports which revealed that around 18000 applications seeking land for setting up the MSME units are pending with the KIADB, to which the KIADB CEO Pankaj Kumar responded with surprise saying that the figures doesn’t calibrate the official data. (KNN/ DA)