Ranchi, May 10: In a season of new MoUs and optimism tempered by Reliance Power's shock pullout in Tilaiya, Jharkhand seems to have woken up to the need to polish its brand equity and push single-window clearances for industrial proposals.
Beset by big-ticket investor charges of delays in clearances and land acquisitions, Jharkhand has appointed global audit and consultant major Ernst & Young (EY) for a year to recommend best practices to ease doing business here. EY will compile best practices of other states and recommend those most suitable for Jharkhand's state departments and agencies to put in place for an investor-friendly climate.
At the same time, the state is also looking at the 98-point agenda of structural reforms prepared by the central government's department of industrial policy and promotions (DIPP) to work out internal changes.
State industry department secretary Himani Pande told The Telegraph that a five-member team of EY started working for the state from last month itself.
"EY has been engaged for a year. Through them, we aim to get an idea of the best practices adopted by various other state governments and agencies so that we can implement them in Jharkhand to speedily clear industrial proposals," Pande said.
She added the state government was bullish about activating the single-window system to facilitate industrial proposals.
Though Jharkhand bagged MoUs in steel, power, cement and other sectors and invited investment proposals surpassing Rs 2,75,000 crore between 2003 and 2008, the single-window system never worked in the state. Investors frequently rued it was tough to get statutory clearances to start their projects. Getting land in a state bound by Chotanagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, followed by environment clearance, were major hurdles, they said.
But, the Raghubar Das government, which rode to power on twin planks of political stability and economic development, urgently wants to revive industry and appears keen to learn lessons from Reliance Power's backtrack.
Speaking to The Telegraph, chief secretary Rajiv Gauba also explained the DIPP's 98-point agenda.
"The state departments which need structural reforms defined by the central government include commercial taxes, labour and employment, Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board, urban development, revenue and land reforms, registration, among others," Gauba said. "These reforms will speed up clearances, which every department should undertake in a time-bound manner. Industries department will work as the nodal agency for the whole exercise," he said.
Gauba has also recently issued a directive to state pollution control board that green industries such as food processing, sericulture, renewable energy and others did not require environment clearance.
Unless there are serious complaints, pollution control board officials should not make surprise inspections of projects, Gauba had said recently, implying that they only serve to harass investors. He had stressed more on third-party inspections and self-certification mechanisms.
