A few conscience-pricking queries on State Cabinet's decision to pass the MSME

GUWAHATI: The much-debated State Cabinet's decision to pass the MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) Ordinance has a few riders too.

The Ordinance is set to put an end to the process of multiple permissions for the setting up of micro, small and medium enterprises in the State for the next three years. However, this is not without any riders.

The riders in the proposed Ordinance are – no industries will be allowed to be set up in tribal belts and blocks, wetlands, eco-sensitive zones, PGR (Professional Grazing Reserve) and VGR (Village Grazing Reserve) and lands meant for religious places, etc.

To throw some light on the highly debated issue, source in the State Industries and Commerce department said, "An applicant willing set up an industry under the proposed Ordinance will have to go for such a venture at his/her own risk. If any objection comes from the district or any other authorities after three years, the industry will meet its dead end. This amply suggests that the applicants will have to invest money only on such lands that can be converted into industrial lands without any hassle after three years."

The source further said, "The need of such an Ordinance arises as there is no streamlined system for giving permissions for the setting up of new industries in the State. Even though the single-window system for clearance of permissions for industries has already been adopted, yet the numerous and lengthy queries from various departments and the PCBA (Pollution Control Board, Assam) make the process a lengthy one, needing not less than one-and-a-half years to get approval. Under the Ordinance, the merit of the applications will be judged on the basis of the existing lands laws and pollution control rules.

"Apart from these, our thrust will be on the setting up of more and more agro-based industries. If we're to bring industries to the State, some of the agricultural lands will have to be sacrificed. Even now, there are farmers in the State who sell their agricultural lands to industrialists or businessmen."

The State government has a 'land bank' of its own. It has also declared the land on either side of the national highway as an industrial corridor from Guwahati to Tihu. Apart from these, there are industrial parks and industrial estates in the State. The moot question: When all such options are at hand, why hasn't the State government made the provisions for the setting up of the new micro, small and medium enterprises on the lands that are already under its disposal? Such a measure could have sealed the agriculture lands from being used for non-agricultural purposes. It's again an open question as to why the State Industries department hasn't been able to make the single-window clearance for the setting up of industries in the State a streamlined one. Who is at fault for such a failure?

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