At a time when the Centre is stressing ‘Make in India,’ an idea coined by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to boost indigenous industrial production, the industrial estates in various parts of Uttarakhand lack even in basic industrial infrastructure like roads, rail communications, air connectivity, regular power supply, water supply and ESIC facilities for the industrial workers, according to the president, Kumaon Garhwal Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KGCCI), Ashok Bansal.
Not just this, they lack in raw materials and they are far away from their markets. Besides, inspector raj deeply entrenched in the system, inspectors from each and every department descend here to dictate terms to those running the industrial units, he alleged.
Venting annoyance over the state of things, the KGCCI) president said that the State government has been neglecting industrial development since the State was formed in the year 2000.
“Chief Ministers succeeding one anoother has made no difference. The only exception is Narayan Dutt Tiwari. The present State Government is also neglecting one of its major sources of revenue. The political class cannot care less as far as the redressal of the industrial woes is concerned. We are lagging far behind other major industrial States in India for a host of reasons,” he said.
He further says the scene of industrial infrastructure is grim. “We have no road communications from industrial estates in Rudrapur to our major markets in Rampur, Bareilly and New Delhi, from Khatima to Dehradun, and from Haldwani to Tanakpur on the Indo-Nepal border. All the roads are potholed, unworthy of carrying trucksloaded with finished products. Recently, national highway from Rudrapur to Delhi remained closed for no less than 60 days. In this situation, how can you fulfill our commitments made to the foreign companies we are dealing withIJ The arrival of raw materials to our factories, and sending our produces to the national and international markets is uncertain. Our trucks moving on the national highways is the last priority of the Uttarakhand government,” he said.
“The region also suffers from the lack of rail communications. There are no passenger or goods trains from here to Delhi, Mumbai or other metropolitan cities. The industrialists here suffer from lack of air connectivity, as there are no regular flights along Dehradun- lucknow- New Delhi route. As a result, we are not getting benefitted from various industrial development schemes launched recently by the Union Government to promote and make success ‘Make in India’ campaign,” he added.
He further said that they are not getting proper electricity supply either in Kumaon or in Garhwal regions. “That is why we have been lagging far behind other industrially developed States in the country. Frequent power-cuts result in undue increase in labour and other production costs, forcing our profits to nose-dive,” he added.
“Our plight has worsened since Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh. A number of our industrial units are dependent on agricultural produces and other raw materials that come from Uttar Pradesh. For example, our spinning mills and starch mills used to get supplies of raw materials from undivided Uttar Pradesh, and in those days we used to pay taxes once. But now, Uttarakhand being formed, our member industrial units are being subjected to double tax, as both the states are realizing Mandi Tax from them,” he said.
Bansal said that in SIIDCUl Rudrapur, multi-storey residential complexes, including MIG and lIG complexes, were planned by the Ministry of Industry over sprawling 25 acre plot to house about one lakh persons employed in more 450 industrial units. “However, none of the residential complexes was built, as the entire land meant for the residential complexes was handed over surreptitiously on lease for peanuts to a controversial builder Supertech in 2012. The same has happened in SIIDCUl Hardwar and Sitarganj also where the land meant for the workers’ residential complexes has been handed over to Supertech. This is a huge scandal worth about Rs 600 crore which has affected adversely efficiency of the industrial staff, and, thereby, affected the industrial output,” he said.
Recounting his annoyance further, he said that an ESIC hospital had been planned in Pantnagar SIIDCUl which could have benefitted the private sector, as well as the public sector employees. “Under a Union Health Ministry scheme, several crore rupees per month are being deposited in the ESIC Fund for past ten years and more. Still, the State Government is not interested in cooperating with the Union health ministry to build an ESIC hospital. Of course, there is an ESIC dispensary, but it works only four days in a week which causes a great inconvenience to the employees both in the private and public sectors,” he said .
He affirmed that inspector raj is very much active here. “When it comes to issuing license to an industrial unit, inspectors behave like tyrants. Setting up an industrial unit in Uttarakhand is like running a marathon hurdle race. You have to run from pillar to posts. The process of getting clearance from various departments is very complicated. At each step you have to suffer an inordinate delay and mindless pestering. Pollution Control Board is the worst amongst all other departments in causing undue delay, unnecessary heckling, vagueness and complications. For them, there is no time limit to issue clearance certificates to the industrial units. Sometimes, the entire year passes away and we have to apply afresh for the next year. Our demand is that there should be one-window system for the industry, and the inspector raj should be done away with. Moreover, industrialists should be made part of the decision-making process in the State government, as well as in the Central government for purpose of streamlining the entire system,” Bansal said.