The Hindu Business Line : Bengal Govt to ease norms for investments

THE West Bengal Government is planning to introduce simplified procedures for getting the necessary clearances for setting up units in the State, according to Dr Sabyasachi Sen, Principal Secretary, Commerce and Industries Department, Government of West Bengal.

Participating in an interactive session with members of the Indian Plastics Federation (IPF), Dr Sen admitted that the much promised single window system is still not in place and investors face problems in getting statutory clearances. "Procedures need to be simplified and this has to be done over a period of time," he said.

He mentioned that the State Government was already planning to simplify procedures for units that are to come up in the Special Economic Zone. "We will extend this to cover units in other industrial zones and parks," Dr Sen said.

On the issue of incentives for downstream units of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), he said that there were some anomalies in the West Bengal Incentive Scheme, 1999, which has now been taken up with the State Finance Department. By an oversight, petrochemical downstream units were not covered, he said.

However on the issue of subsidies, Dr Sen came across firmly, saying that the feasibility of a unit should not hinge on availability of subsidies. "That can at best be the icing on the cake, but it should not be factored in your feasibility report in such a manner that delays in their disbursal impacts your bottomline," he said. He said this in response to a point made by IPF president, Mr J.C. Agarwal, who said that delay in availability of committed subsidies was escalating projects costs.

Dr Sen said that the polypark project has now been revived, as a focused area was needed for plastics units. He offered Kharagpur as a destination for setting up a polypark for plastics units urging the IPF members to visit the site, which is located close to Haldia. Mr Agarwal had earlier said that the development of a polypark was most essential for promoting HPL downstream units. However, IPF members were not too warm to the idea of Kharagpur as a site, since they wanted a location within 20 km of the city.

It may be mentioned in this context that the The Chatterjee Group, which is a major equity holder in HPL, had earlier planned to set up a plastics park in Haldia. However, the project was abandoned.

"With the removal of initial doubts about HPL, it should now be possible to set up a park," Dr Sen said, adding that the government favoured a public-private partnership in this respect. He said that the IPF could take a more proactive role in this regard.

Taking no sides

Dr Sen refused to side with the plastics industry in its war against the jute industry.

Responding to some points on the Jute Packaging Control Order made by a member of the IPF, Dr Sen said during an interactive session: "Both plastics as well as jute were important to the State Government."

More Stories on : Industrial Policy | Other States

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page