Struggle for survival

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 31: Odisha’s industrialisation drive seems to have run out of steam. While the big houses have not been able to acquire land to set up projects, the small-scale ones are facing problems because of the “lack of support” from the state government.

As many as 41 small-scale units have been forced to down their shutters since 2008 and 1,690 have fallen sick. Of the closed industries, 20 are located in the mineral-rich Keonjhar district.

A delegation of the Odisha Industries Association last week called on chief secretary Bijay Patnaik and urged him to review its Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR-2007) which has become “obsolete”. They also demanded that government should initiate action to provide market linkage to sell their products.

“All the shopping malls in the state should be directed by the government to keep atleast 20 per cent of our products,” said association secretary Rajesh Kanungo.

On the other hand, the mega industrial houses find it tough to set up projects because of land acquisition problems.

“Apart from land acquisition, the raw material shortage has also hit the industrialisation process,” said industries minister Niranjan Pujari.

The minister also admitted that lack of water connection, power connectivity and supply of coal and general lack of infrastructure had hit the industries. “Skyrocketing prices of the raw material have also affected the industries. Once the market situation improves, condition of the industries will also improve,” he said.

While the big industrial houses, including Vedanta Alumina Limited, are grumbling at the “indifferent attitude” of the Odisha government, the association said the state government should come forward to bail them out as they were passing through bad times.

“To avail incentives as per the IPR-2007, one has to start commercial production within two years from the date of first investment which is not practicable for medium and small-scale industries (MSME). Anyone associated with industries knows how much time it takes to obtain the required permissions from the government offices and financial institutions,” said Kanungo, demanding extension gestation period to five years.

The association also demanded that raw materials such as dolomite, lime stone, quartz, soap stone powder and other minor mineral powders should be exempted from mining trade licence.

“Many fast moving consumer goods such as detergents, toiletries, frankincense, food items, edible oils, disinfectants are successfully manufactured by the MSME. These should be marketed through the malls by the Odisha Small Industries Corporation,” said Kanungo.