The Patliputra Industrial Area in Patna. Telegraph picture

Patna, May 22: Three years after inception, the ambitious “Aao Bihar” scheme for investors facing land roadblocks is mired in trust deficit with even its new avatar yet to become policy.

Officials at Biada (Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority) told The Telegraph that though the government was trying to give a push to the Aao Bihar scheme, till now no land-owner had come forward to willingly provide their land.

“Though the government is trying to give a fresh lease of life to Aao Bihar, things remain as before. The industries department has made it a point to talk about the scheme at every investor meet or seminar hosted outside the state. Naveen Verma, the principal secretary of the department, spoke about the scheme at an event held in Calcutta last week. Moreover, the scheme and its details along with a smiling picture of Nitish Kumar were recently uploaded on the website of the industries department (www.industries.bih.nic.in).

Initially when it was launched in 2011, two land-owners had shown interest but the department couldn’t act properly. Hence, after a long wait, they backed out. Even now, the scheme has found no takers,” a Biada official told The Telegraph on condition of anonymity.

The industries department is considering replacing the scheme with a plan that envisages creation of private industrial parks.

Biada managing director Deepak Singh confirmed that no new land-owner had shown interest in the Aao Bihar scheme.

“Until now no one has come to offer their land. The problem is that there are some people with land but they don’t have proper papers. Unless proper verification of the land is done, the department cannot upload the details of the land and its owner on the website. The government has talked about the creation of private industrial parks. The work on this is on and there will be a proper policy in place. The private industrial park policy can be said to be a new version of Aao Bihar,” Singh told The Telegraph.

Sources said under the new scheme, a private industrial park will not be less than 25 acres in area and that the government will provide subsidies to the interested parties. “More aspects are being discussed and for now, there is no specific date for the policy to be announced,” another department official said.

Principal secretary Verma had told The Telegraph in February this year that the government was working on a policy to make private industrial parks a reality. He had then expressed optimism that the draft policy would be presented before the industry associations on February 25.

However, P.K. Agarwal, the president of the Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said no such draft of the proposed policy had been made available.

“I had asked for a copy of the draft proposal from the department a month ago. But we were told that the policy would be presented in its final form. Also, it was stated that the policy would be announced on April 29 during the Udyami Panchayat in Rajgir. But that date too has passed,” Agarwal said.