Bhubaneswar, April 21: The Orissa government today mooted a proposal to set up a separate department to exclusively deal with the micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSME) in the state.

Industries secretary T. Ramachandru said: “A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting presided by chief minister Naveen Patnaik. A committee has also been formed under the chief secretary to look into this aspect.”

Ramachandru said a delegation of officials would soon visit states such as, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, to undertake a study on functioning of the MSME departments in those states. “The official delegation will submit its report to the committee headed by the chief secretary,” he said.

Orissa has nearly 1.90 lakh micro, small and medium-scale enterprises. Of these, only 50,000 industries have been registered at districts level. The Orissa government, with the help of banks, has recently bailed out 2,000 small and micro industries which had been passing through financial crises.

Chief secretary Bijay Patnaik said: “The panel will comprise development commissioner, finance secretary, industry secretary and textile secretary. It will give concrete suggestions on how to improve the condition of the small-scale industries. The committee will submit its report within one month.”

General secretary of the Khurda District Small Scale Industries Association (KDSSIA) Tapan Swain said: “Lack of marketing support from the Orissa government has affected the small-scale industries a lot. We are really bleeding.” He further said the single window system operating at the district-level is defunct. “If one tries to set up a small-scale industry, it will take nearly six months to one year to get the necessary clearance,” Swain said.

The association said that the large-scale industries, which had set up their units in Orissa, were not giving the due weightage to the Orissa-based small-scale industries.