The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : More land sought for small industries

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 02, 2008
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

More land sought for small industries

M. Raghuram

KASSIA unhappy as space for this sector has not expanded in 20 years

About 35 small industries in Andhrahalli, Kamakshipalya and Doddanna face eviction
‘Small industries are caught between civic bodies and the KIADB for getting facilities’

BANGALORE: The Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) has expressed concern over the lack of land for developing small industries in the State and has appealed to the Karnataka State Industrial Investment Development Corporation (KSIIDC) to reserve at least 40 per cent of the land acquired by Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) for industrial development.

The KASSIA is unhappy that the area of land available for small industries had not expanded at all in the last 20 years. It attributes this to the lack of political will.

Eviction

As a result, small industries have moved into private layouts where there are no facilities and infrastructure, and due to rise in the land price the land owners were evicting the entrepreneurs and putting that land to other lucrative uses.

According to the statistics available with the KASSIA, at least 30 to 35 small industries in Andhrahalli, Kamakshipalya and Doddanna industrial estates are facing eviction.

According to KASSIA president M.C.R. Shetty, the KIADB had acquired only 800 acres of land for the new estate coming up in Dabbspet in Bangalore Rural district. However, it had over-allotted to the extent of 1,200 acres, Mr. Shetty told The Hindu.

Other areas

He said that there were other industrial areas such as Peenya, Bommasandra, Jigani, Anekal, Hoskote, Ramanagaram and Rajajinagar where the facilities were even worse.

Many industrial areas in the city as well as in the other parts of the State come under their respective local urban bodies which collected the tax concerned from them. However, when it comes to providing facilities such as roads, street lights, water, drainage and most important of all, the pollution control measures, the civic bodies point to the KIADB or the KSIIDC.

Mr. Shetty said, “The small industries are caught between the civic bodies and the KIADB for getting their rightful facilities.”

Quoting instances from Gulburga, Mangalore, Hubli and Mysore, Mr. Shetty said that all civic bodies want the industrial estates and areas to be handed over to them for maintenance and for developing infrastructure. However, the KIADB and the KSIIDC were unable to do that due to technical reasons.

Doubtful

The Government has not started land acquisition proceedings at Tavarekere, Ganapathy Halli and Solur villages though the KSIIDC has deposited Rs. 30 crore with the KIADB for identifying lands for developing small industries, according to KSSIDC Managing Director Govinda Raju.

The industrial estate at Kamakshipalya will have to be shifted for which the Deputy Commissioner of Bangalore Urban district has earmarked 400 acres in different parts of the district.

Low-cost land

The KASSIA members have appealed to the KSIIDC and the KIADB for getting them small portions of land measuring not more than 3,000 square feet. They also wanted the KSIIDC and the KIADB to allow them to build their own sheds at their own cost.

K. Ashok of Hubli said, “The sheds built in the industrial estates are of sub-standard quality and are not in accordance with the designs that the entrepreneurs wanted.” He said that each of the modern production unit had had its own design and requirement and only the entrepreneur and his plant engineer can decide on the structure of the shed.

An entrepreneur from the Harihar Industrial Estate in Davangere, Satyanarayan, feels that the land offered by the KSIIDC was too expensive at Rs. 500 per sq ft which works out to be Rs. 25 lakh an acre.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka