Udyog Bhavan. Telegraph picture

Around 500 industrialists in the state have not started their units despite getting land from Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada).

The problem is none of them want to return the land to the state government despite chances been given to them.

Almost six months after the state introduced the exit policy to get back unused land leased out to industrialists, the move did not prove to be fruitful.

Senior officers with Biada on Thursday said they have been successful in procuring just 10 acres, a figure which is contrary to what was expected.

Agitated at the response, Biada has now decided to act tough by cancelling the land allotment agreement with the industrialists whose projects have not taken off.

“The state government had given a choice to the industrialists in the form of an exit policy. The policy was launched on May 1 and is slated to end on October 31. The outcome has so far been dismal. With the exit policy ending on October 31, the Biada has only been able to procure 10 acres from the industrialists. This means that very few industrialists have shown interest in availing the policy. There is still some time left though and we are hoping that some more land would be returned,” said Deepak Kumar Singh, the managing director of Biada.

According to the policy, industrialists interested in returning land would be paid the present rates.

There are many industrialists who have got the land from Biada and are facing difficulty in continuing with it. For example, an industrialist was allotted land from Biada in 2006 for the usual 90-year period. The work at the unit continued for two years and then because of financial problems had to be shut down. The state government is now seeking to get the possession of the land back.

This was one such case that prompted the government to come up with the exit policy.

The industrialist, whose factory is shut, needs to contact Biada if he wants to hand over the land. The industrialist would then be handed over a compensation for the land.

Industrialists said the exit policy has not been properly campaigned and that is the reason why it did not catch up with time.

“Not many are aware of such an exit policy. The failure of the policy is a major drawback because scarcity of land is a problem. Because of this, many are planning or have cancelled plans of investing in the state. The department is not working on the policy in a systematic way,” an industrialist said.