powerless

Ranchi, Jan. 9: The erstwhile NDA government had issued notification to form the Santhal Pargana Industrial Development Authority (SPIDA) in August last year. Nearly five months on, the fourth industrial estate of the state is in a limbo.

The state government has neither formed the board of the SPIDA nor created necessary infrastructure for the new authority to function from its proposed headquarters in Deoghar.

“The state government has to notify the formation of the board with an IAS officer as the authority’s managing director. It has also to name other members of the board, including the chairman. But so far nothing has been done on this regard,” said a source in the industries department.

The objective behind creating the new authority was to ensure that the agency worked to create industrial zones in that region and pumped in money to improve the condition of roads, water supply and power, said officials.

“The industrial fraternity of Santhal Pargana has started believing the new authority would never come into existence. We have been clamouring since the formation of the state for an industrial authority for Santhal Pargana. This government is taking the entrepreneurs of the region for a ride,” said the president of Santhal Pargana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pradeep Kumar Bajla.

“The state government pumps over Rs 2 crore to the existing industrial authorities at Adityapur, Ranchi and Bokaro every year to boost their infrastructure for the benefit of the industrialists. But the industrial infrastructure in Santhal Pargana is so pathetic that no new investments are taking place,” he added.

“The existing entrepreneurs are making new investments in other parts of the state where things are in much better shape than in Santhal Pargana. If the state government’s attitude does not change, no new investor would come to this part of the state,” said the industrialists of the area.

The industries minister, Sudhir Mahto, assured that SPIDA would be formed soon. “It takes time to decide on the members of the board. Once that is finalised, SPIDA would start functioning,” Mahto said.