Patna, July 19: Industrialists have come out in support of the Nitish Kumar government battling the land allotment controversy, saying plots are given to entrepreneurs only after their projects are cleared by a committee set up for the purpose.
Satyajit Singh, national council member of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada), which has made the allotments, was not the sole authority that decided on applications. All applications, Singh said, were screened by a project clearance committee (PCC), which has members from the Bihar Industries Association (BIA), Bihar State Electricity Board and the Bihar State Pollution Control Board. Only after the committee approves the project is land allotted by the Biada.
“Some of those who have attacked the government on the ground that tenders were not floated for allocation of land should check their facts. Biada land is never allotted through tender and applicants get land on the basis of the project they submit to Biada,” Singh said.
BIA vice-president S.K. Patwari said anyone from any part of the country was free to submit projects for getting Biada land. The PCC gives approval only after it is convinced about the project.
“Recently, we had received three applications for one plot of Biada. While one applicant wanted the plot for expansion of an existing industrial unit, two other applicants wanted to set up new units. The application for expansion of the project was rejected as after scrutiny it was found that the applicant, while taking the first piece of land, had clearly mentioned that the plot size was sufficient for his project. Among the two remaining bidders, the PCC recommended that the party willing to pay maximum premium over the base price of the land should be given the land and Biada did exactly that,” he said.
Singh sought to make light of the allegations that relatives of ministers and bureaucrats had been given Biada land. He said in the past six years, Biada had allotted land for around 1,200 projects and if out of these, five or six persons were relatives of ministers or bureaucrats, then doubts should not be cast over the entire process. Applicants are allotted land on the basis of their projects and not their family background, he added.
Singh said that chances of irregularities were minimal as the price of land is fixed well in advance. Land is handed over to the allottee only after payment of the amount to Biada. He said Biada fixes the price on the basis of investment made in procuring land and its development. “More or less the prices are almost the same as the market price of the land. At Patliputra Industrial Area, the price of an acre of Biada land is about Rs 2.5 crore,” Singh said.
Bihar Chamber of Commerce president O.P. Sah appeared perturbed over the developments. “Politicisation of industrialisation would be detrimental to the growth of the industrial sector in the state. An environment has been created in the state which is attracting entrepreneurs, both local and those from outside, to set up units in the state and those levelling baseless allegations without verifying the facts would damage this process.”
Some of those who are in the eye of the storm expressed surprise over the allegations.
“Is it a crime if the ward of a bureaucrat intends to set up an industry in his/her native state?” said Rahmat Amanullah, the daughter of minister Parveen Amanullah and IAS officer Afzal Amanullah, an MBA who has worked for more than three years with Mahindra and Mahindra.
After quitting her job and coming back to Bihar in February 2010, Rahmat had been exploring the possibility of setting up an industrial unit in the state. She approached the industrial development authorities of the state government in April 2010 to seek guidance and went through the entire process of preparing a project report, applying for a plot and faced interviews. Finally, she was allotted 8093.7sqm of land in Bihiya Industrial Area in Bhojpur in June 2011.
