Udyog Bhavan which houses the office of Biada

Patna, Oct. 30: The government will not accept any applications from potential investors who want land in industrial areas of the state for setting up their units after tomorrow.

A notice issued by Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada) says no fresh application regarding land allotment in any industrial area would be accepted.

The notice further says that several applications are pending but Biada doesn’t have enough land to cater to them all.

Sources said the notice proves three things — First, that the government has officially accepted the fact that they have little or no land available with them and neither are they in a mood to acquire land; second, that with the private industrial area policy newly notified and the Aao Bihar initiative finding some takers, the government is trying to send a message to investors to approach private land owners for land. Third, the notice also proves that the Exit Policy, which Biada had introduced for six months on May 1 and will end on October 31, has been a no show.

“The notice states that Biada at present doesn’t have much land left with it and will not accept any applications for land after October 31. This isn’t good news for industrialists and also outside investments. With the power situation in Bihar improving marginally, one could hope for some outside investment to happen. However, it has been said earlier that availability of land is a bigger problem and the government is still not taking any concrete steps to solve it. This notice further proves that the government doesn’t have any plans to acquire land for industrial purpose in the near future and is only dependent on a few policies which have been not been hugely successful until now. It seems that the government has put its hands up when it comes to land,” an industrialist told The Telegraph.

Biada officials refused to speak up, but sources said the Exit Policy had not been much of a success.

“The policy was for those industrialists, who, despite getting land from Biada, were unable to start their business or whose units had gone sick. They had been given the choice of returning back the land to Biada and certain perks had been announced for them. However, the response has not been very encouraging,” a Biada official told The Telegraph, adding that the authority was successful in procuring just over 25 acres of land through the policy.

Earlier this month, in a talk with The Telegraph, Biada managing director Deepak Kumar Singh had accepted that the Exit Policy was heading towards a flop and stated that the authority would be starting with the land cancellation process from November.

“However, the Aao Bihar (Come to Bihar) initiative, which was first launched in 2010 but had found no takers, has gained some ground with two landowners ready to give their land for setting up of industries. The message in the notice is clear — land has to be arranged by the industrialists themselves by sealing a deal with private land owners and the government will provide assistance. Further, with the land cancellation process starting and Exit Policy coming to an end, Biada wants to calculate the land it has so that the re-allocation process can be started afresh,” another industrialist told The Telegraph on condition of anonymity.