The Hindu 30.07.2012
Proposed industrial township authorities welcomed
Stakeholders in Mysore feel that the move will boost development of industrial areas in city
The proposed constitution of industrial township authorities at the local level for administering industrial areas has been welcomed by the stakeholders here.
The constitution of the local industrial authorities or township authorities was hinted at by M.N. Vidyashankar, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce and Chairman, Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB), here on Saturday
The move, once implemented, is expected to give a boost to the development of industrial areas in Mysore, some of which lack basic amenities despite housing a large cluster of industries.
Suresh Kumar Jain, general secretary, Mysore Industries Association (MIA), told The Hindu that none of the industrial areas in Mysore, including Hootagalli, Metagalli, Belawadi, have been provided with basic amenities or civic services.
Despite the fact that the industrial layouts employ thousands of people who work here round the clock, , the authorities have not provided treated water to the factories. “Raw water can be used only for industrial usage and is unfit for human consumption. Our repeated demands for supplying drinking water have been ignored over the years,” said Mr. Jain.
The MCC council in December 2011 had rejected a request from BEML — which is one of the major companies in Mysore – seeking supply of 3 lakh litres of water per day on the grounds that it could affect the supply to the city and wanted the proposal to be withheld till the Kabini water works was commissioned. Likewise, in 2006, a group of entrepreneurs in the Nanjangud industrial area had pooled resources for maintenance of civic amenities including asphalting the approach road, planting trees and maintenance of street lights as they were tired with the indifference of the civic authorities and the KIADB. Meanwhile, the industries in Mysore have received notices from the MCC to pay property tax at commercial rates. Expressing surprise over the development, Mr. Jain said most industries in and around Metagalli have received the notices though they were part of the local gram panchayats and the MCC did not have jurisdiction over them. Resisting the move, entrepreneurs questioned the rationale for demanding tax from the industries when the money is used for providing amenities elsewhere. “The industrial area being non-residential, money is spent on residential areas of the city. While we had no objections to the local authorities collecting taxes and spend it anywhere in the city, they ignore genuine demands of the industrial areas,” said Mr. Jain. There are more than 2,000 industrial units – small, medium and large – and taxes are paid to the KIADB towards maintenance, trade licence and renewal fee to the MCC, mandatory clearance from various departments including the pollution control board but without amenities in return. “However, once the local industrial township authority comes into being, taxes will be payable to it and the industrial township authority will be responsible for providing all civic amenities to the area under its jurisdiction,” said Mr. Jain. This includes regulating the location of factories based on whether they are electrical, manufacturing, chemical and food processing apart from providing civic amenities.
- No industrial area in Mysore has been provided basic amenities
- Factories in the city are not even supplied drinking water
