Udyog Mitra, a wing of the state industries department, will soon be fully responsible and act as a single window to clear documents of potential investors from all departments concerned.
Department officials told The Telegraph that in accordance with the Bihar Single Window Clearance Act of 2006, potential investors will just have to go to the Udyog Mitra office at Udyog Bhawan near Gandhi Maidan and the wing will help get clearance from every department, without the investor having to run to the different departments.
Earlier, on December 6, Naveen Verma, principal secretary of industries department, had told The Telegraph that streamlining of the single window system was a top priority of the state government. The senior official said that the system, introduced by the state government in the form of the Bihar Single Window Clearance Act in 2006, will be streamlined by next year.
“The task of clearing investors documents has been given to Udyog Mitra. Now, an investor will not have to run to the different departments. Udyog Mitra’s CEO can be contacted at 0612-2532695 or 0612-2532695 and the clearance task will be taken care of. Directions regarding the same have been sent and even advertised on the department website (www.industries.bih.nic.in) for people to know,” a department official told The Telegraph. Industry sources pointed out that utmost care would be taken to ensure that the system works properly and is free of red-tapism.
The state government floated the single window system for investments in 2005, after Nitish Kumar was elected Bihar CM. The Bihar Single Window Clearance Act was notified in 2006 after studying the Single Window Act of Punjab. The aim of the system was ‘one-stop clearance’. Any investor wanting to set up industry has to do the rounds of various departments — namely labour, sales and commercial tax, BSEB (Bihar State Electricity Board) — for the purpose of getting clearance. This consumes a lot of time. Under the new system, the investor had to submit the documents at one place and get clearance without moving to the other departments.
However, problems had cropped up in between. Even after getting clearance, investors found themselves running to different departments as their heads didn't recognise the clearance and stressed on submitting the documents again. Hence, after almost a year of improper functioning, the purpose of the same was defeated. Right now, the single window system in Bihar is totally being shunted, sources said.
“There have been problems earlier, but these will not be repeated and the state government and the department assures the same to investors. Proper instructions have been provided to Udyog Mitra and any kind of lapse will not be tolerated. The system, in the near future, will be made stronger and even more effective,” another department official told The Telegraph.
