More than a decade since the Industrial Township Act  was passed, the government was struggling to thrash out an amicable solution for granting industrial township status to Guindy and Ambattur industrial estates following opposition from the Chennai Corporation and Ambattur Municipality.

However, the government is now studying the Andhra Pradesh model whereby 70 per cent of revenue goes to the municipality of industrial estates and 30 per cent to the corporations, sources at the department of industries and commerce said.

The delay in granting the industrial township status to the two estates has drawn flak from the industry who say that the infrastructure in the two estates is in a pathetic stage.

Speaking on the sidelines of a workshop on ‘Fostering the Growth of medium and small Micro Enterprises’ on Tuesday, Commissioner of Industries and Commerce Harmandar Singh agreed there has been a delay and said that the government was studying the revenue sharing model between the local bodies. With both government and the industries stating that the Small Industries Development Corporation has limited mandate on the issue, a solution is still far off.

A M Kanahamurthy, chairman of the R V Centre for Entreprenuerial Development, told Express that the experimentation for conversion of industrial estates into industrial townships was supposed to have begun in Chennai. But, the city Corporation did not want to miss out on the property tax accrued from the Ambattur and Guindy industrial estates.

Kanahamurthy said that the situation in Guindy estate was worse but things changed with the coming up of an IT complex there and with the Central Government pumping in `18 crore for infrastructure.

Former civil servant and advisor to FICCI president, P Murari, during the workshop, said he was appalled to see the condition of Ambattur and Guindy estates and stressed the need for immediate resuscitation.