Patna, July 20: Young entrepreneurs wishing to set up businesses in Bihar have been caught in the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada) land allotment controversy, as some of them happen to be relatives or children of ministers and bureaucrats.

Educated and professionally settled, the enterprising youths wanted to start business in Bihar following improved law and order situation. Rahul Sharma, the son of JD(U) MP from Jehanabad Jagdish Sharma, is one among them. He quit his lucrative job in an Indo-Japanese company in 2010 to settle down in Bihar as a young entrepreneur. Conducive atmosphere and improved law and order in the state prompted him to try his luck as an industrialist.

After doing management from Pune-based Symbiosis in 2008 Sharma got the job as HR manager in Sona Koyo Steering Systems (Gurgaon), which manufactures steering systems for all passenger cars. A product of RK Mission, Deoghar, Sharma was looking for an opportune moment to do something on his own.

But destiny had something else in store for him. He applied for a plot of land at Hajipur industrial park to set up a water bottling plant. He was allotted about 15,500sqft land for the purpose in June 2010. The construction work started soon after the proposal was approved and a bank granted loan to him.

But in November 2010, Jagdish successfully contested election from Ghosi Assembly constituency on a JD(U) ticket. “But it did not hamper the work at Hajipur industrial area. The bottling plant is ready for operation,” said a close family friend, Roshan Kumar.

Saurabh Kumar Agarwal is another young entrepreneur, who has been allotted land by Biada for setting up an industrial unit at Forbesganj in Araria district on the India-Nepal border. Agarwal, a bachelor of commerce from Calcutta University, is a product of Institute of Management Technology (IMT) from Dubai. Agarwal, son of Ashok Kumar Agarwal, MLC from Katihar, has been allotted about 13,06,800sqft land by Biada for setting up a liquid glucose factory. His company’s managing director A.K. Choudhary is a product of IIT, Roorkee.

“We decided to set up an industrial unit at Forbesganj because of availability of cheap labour in the area and good transportation system,” Agarwal said.

Rahmat Fatima Amanullah, the daughter of social welfare minister Parveen Amanullah and a Bihar-cadre IAS officer Afzal Amanullah, has done management from the Symbiosis Centre For Management & Human Resource Development, Pune.

After completing management course from the prestigious institute in 2006, she was recruited from the campus by the Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. She worked in the company till January 2010 when she finally decided to bid adieu to the managerial job and set up an industrial unit at Bihiya in Bhojpur district.

Rahmat was allotted about 87,120sqft of land at Bihiya Industrial Area for setting up a food processing unit. The land was allotted to her in June 2011, a source close to the Amanullah family said. She preferred to join the food processing business in the wake of availability of raw material and transportation system in the area.

Another young woman entrepreneur, Urvashi Shahi, is the daughter of minister for human resource development P.K. Shahi. Urvashi has done management from AMITY University. As she wished to set up an educational institute at Hajipur industrial park, the Biada allotted about 87,120sqft of land to her for the purpose.