Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) on Sunday asked Orissa to ‘be’ flexible in Land acquisition policy to attract massive investment. Submitting a report ‘Orissa Towards Industrialisation’ to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, ASSOCHAM president Venugopal Dhoot advised him to be more proactive on the issue of land acquisition.
This issue was later released by Dhoot in a press conference in the state capital on Sunday. Pointing towards the four projects pending in the pipeline, Dhoot asked the CM, “Why Orissa is so far behind in land acquisition and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) contribution that is only 0.20% of the total FDI investment?”
However, he also quoted the solution of his question by citing that Orissa is more rigid in this matter and do not provide comprehensive compensation to the land owner. “Orissa should have a transparent and flexible land acquisition policy to enable itself to attract huge investments to explore its mineral resources and take its FDI's contribution to over 5 percent”, said Dhoot.
“Besides adequate compensation package, jobs to their dependents and a percentage of equity shares must also be given to the oustees”, added Dhoot.
Comparing to its neighbourhood states Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal, Dhoot stated that the land acquisition policy of these states are more flexible that’s why these states were now attracting huge investments through industries and FDIs. However, the living status and labour cost are cheaper in this state in comparison to other states.
Probing to the state government, D S Rawat, Secretary General of ASSOCHAM said that state government should initiate to take proactive measurers and play a catalyst role while all political parties should as well as the people should also support in it.
“Before taking the steps of acquisition, government should take into confidence to all political parties and people of the state.” Rawat said.
Since, last 3-4 years, four major projects are only on the paper but not being transformed into reality. It is a major misfortune of this rich-mineral state that has all the eligibility to become a rich and developed state.
“Education sector is also need to boost here. For this, state needs to open more technical institutes include, technical universities, engineering colleges, management institutes, polytechnics, Industrial training institutes”, said Dhoot.
While on the matter of environment, Dhoot said, “Industry had been facing a tough time in Orissa as environmentalists had been opposing projects leading to utter delays for required environmental clearances.”
ASSOCHAM has suggested Orissa to set up ‘Investment Regions' for promoting sectoral investments especially IT, petrochemicals, minerals, refining and other manufacturing sectors.
For attracting industries and major projects, state needs to reform infrastructure that is very poor in the state. Highway constructions include national highways and the major linking roads are very much necessary to link one another. The road to rural hinterland is also necessary to enhance the state’s speed. Moreover, state also need to upgrade domestic airport and seaports.
To attract more industrialisation, states should give adequate incentives to Real estate projects, as per report stated. Meanwhile, ASSOCHAM is planning to set a nanotechnology and IT park while Special Economic Zone may also be vital if the problem of land acquisition been sorted out.
Since last four years, four major projects comprise POSCO, Tata Steel, Arcelor-Mittal, and Vedanta Group’s are delayed of Rs. worth nearby 1.5 lakh crore.
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