Bhubaneswar: To promote industrialisation, the state government had allocated lands to several industries in Odisha. However, as many as 51 industries have utilised the lands otherwise and availed loans to the tune of Rs 6989.395 crore by mortgaging the provided lands, a report said.
According to a state Revenue and Disaster Management department source, the high-value lands are in possession of the industry owners for years. On the other hand, around 1,170 acres of government land have been lying unused in 14 districts, the official source added.
Over the last 10 years, the 1,170 acres of land were provided to private owners on lease at designated estates to set up electronics and IT industries. The government has neither taken steps for return of the unused lands nor has initiated legal actions against the lessees.
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The state government had provided 36,851.1036 acres of land to 410 industrial units in 14 districts including Bargarh, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Koraput, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Subarnapur, Rayagada, Balasore and Mayurbhanj, of which 1,170.596 acres have been lying unused at the industrial estates.
As many as 2,851.900 acres of land were accorded to some industrial units in Cuttack, of which 494.380 acres still remain unused. Similarly, 554.94 acres in Dhenkanal, 32.40 acres in Kalahandi, 32.98 acres in Balasore and 182.64 acres in Mayurbhanj remain unused so far.
It is known that, nearly 397.310 acres of lease-hold land have been mortgaged against already availed loan of Rs 6989.395 crore. The government is in tight corners as regards to return of the lands.
Moreover, in the last ten years, the state government has provided 1,160.6129 acres of land on lease basis to 48 various industrial units in Rasulgarh, Chandaka, Chandaka SEZ, Mancheswar, Infovalley, Infovalley-2 IT Park, Infovalley-2 EMC Park, Infocity and Angaragadia estates to set up electronics, IT and Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industries, as part of its promotion drive.
At present, 16 such industrial units alone are full-fledged functional.
On being contacted, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Tusharkanti Behera said, “As per norms of IDCO, show-cause notices have been issued to industrial units which have not used the leased out lands for the purpose for which those were taken. Land allocations have been nullified and legal actions initiated.”
PNN