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Assam to set up infrastructure development centres for SSI units

Our Bureau

GUWAHATI, Nov. 26

THE Assam Government has taken up two schemes for setting up Integrated Infrastructure Development Centres (IIDC) for SSI units at Dalgaon in Darrang district and Bhomoraguri in Nagaon district. The Centre has cleared the project proposals and sanctioned Rs 4.18 crore for the Dalgaon centre and Rs 5.10 crore for the Bhomoraguri centre.

The Chief Minister, Mr Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, recently reviewed the progress of the implementation of the two projects and instructed the officials concerned to start work immediately and also to prepare similar project reports for the other districts o f the State so that such proposals could be sent to the Union Government on a priority basis. The Centre will provide 80 per cent of the total project cost and the rest will be provided the State Government.

At the same time, in the sphere of medium industries, developments have taken place in respect of the Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP) at Amingaon and the two Growth Centres at Balipara in Sonitpur district and at Matia in Goalpara district. The U nion Ministry of Industry and Commerce accorded administrative approval for an amount of Rs 25.43 crore for the Balipara Centre and Rs 22 crore for the Matia Centre. The Union Government will be providing Rs 15 crore for each of the Centres.

The Assam Minister for Industries and Commerce, Mr Gunin Hazarika, said the EPIP at Amingaon had been completed and some units had already started functioning from the Park since early this year. Developed plots of land and sheds have been allotted to 28 units of which 5 units had started operation. These unit would be manufacturing items as diverse as water storage tank, fabric whitener, cigarette, stone crusher machine and screener, Ayurvedic and allopathic drugs, food packaging, tea packaging, chewin g tobacco, Pan Masala and Gutka, PVC pipe, disposable glass, cement paint, glazed tiles, ginger oil and paste. The State Government would soon form a company to manage all assets created in the EPIP, he said.

The Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology (CIPET), Guwahati Centre has already been operating since last year. Mr Hazarika said land had been acquired, designs approved and construction works of the permanent building at Changsari would s tart within this year. A Tool Room is in the process of being set up at Amingaon by the Union Government. The total project cost is estimated at Rs 14 crore. The Tool Room will impart training in CNC and CMC manufacturing technique for dies and tools for both engineering and plastic industries.

Mr Hazarika said that the State policy on information technology was declared and notified on June 17 last. It was decided to implement introduction of IT in the 126 schools of Assam. The project would be implemented by the Industries and Commerce Depart ment with financial assistance from the MLA's Local Area Development Fund.

More than 50 per cent of the MLAs confirmed their participation in the project till now. 26 units got registration under the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) and 5 units have been able to establish their contacts abroad. Other units are under var ious stages of implementation. A team of State Government officials along with the STPI units visited Bangalore and Hyderabad recently to discuss with experienced players in various aspects of IT-related areas.

He said the Union Government declared a new industrial policy for the North Eastern Region on December 24, 1997. The incentives included in this policy were Transport subsidy, Central Capital Investment subsidy, Comprehensive Insurance, Subsidy on Intere st on working capital loan for a period of 10 yeas and Central Excise exemption for 10 years. These incentives were made available for units set up in specified areas and also for some identified industries. But he said the process was too tardy.

Refuting the general misunderstanding in Assam, Mr Hazarika said the State Government was not going to lose any thing directly from its own exchequer if the Union Government exempted the central excise for these units. The NE industrial policy aims at ge neration and employment and also at creation of an industrial atmosphere in the State. In the interest of the State, the State Government took certain steps to increase its revenue and to ensure employment opportunities in the on going tobacco based indu stries. The Government is levying luxury tax on these industries irrespective of whether the units fall under SSI or IEM.

He said that due to commissioning of the tobacco based units in the State, investors from outside the State had been moving in, more than 600 workers were directly employed and around 2000 workers indirectly employed in these units.