The Bengal government has ushered in a simplified procedure for the allotment of land in industrial parks and the issuance of trade licence to industries to enhance the ease of doing business in the state.
The state will do away with separate identities of industrial clusters and streamline them under one banner with uniform rules and regulations to avoid confusion among prospective investors.
“There will only be industrial parks and the lease conditions, transfer fee, product line change fee will be standardised. An industrialist can visit our website and find out about all the details of the land available,” WBIDC chairman Rajiva Sinha told a group of local entrepreneurs in a face-to-face discussion to weed out thorny issues affecting industry.
There are about 4,000 acres available with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and two of its associate companies. Industries — large and small — can take up plots inside the parks according to their appetite. While terms and conditions are being standardised, lease rent will vary with locations.
Sinha, along with WBIDC managing director and industry secretary Vandana Yadav and MSME secretary Rajesh Pandey, met industry representatives from five districts of south Bengal and various chambers of commerce under the platform of Bengal Business Conclave & Synergy.
The industry was also told that the government would issue and renew trade licence online across the states. Institutional capabilities of gram panchayats are being strengthened to carry out this work.
“Do not expect big policy decisions now. They take time and the state is going to enter a phase soon,” Sinha said, referring to the model code of conduct for the upcoming Assembly elections, which is expected to be notified soon.
During the meeting at least one industry representative said the lease rent in the industry parks was too high while another representative pointed out that he was unable to agglomerate land for a private industrial park. Sinha agreed to look into the matter.
“We can see how lack of mutual discussion creates problems. However, we do not work in that fashion in Bengal,” Sinha, known for plainspeak, said at the end of a 2-hour long meeting co-organised by Ficci, in an obvious reference to farmers’ strife in Delhi.
