Online application for land allotment in MIDC

Mumbai, July 27: Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) today unveiled its online application form to ensure speed, effectiveness and transparency in land accquisition.

The new facility is available on the corporation's website www.midcindia.org and was inaugurated by Industries Minister Ashok Chavan at Mantralaya here.

On the occasion, Mr Chavan said the facility will also enable prospective clients to know the location of the land available.

He said 40 SEZs have been sanctioned so far and proposals for 30 more are under consideration. ''In near future, more investment is expected in about 70 SEZs in different parts of the state. This online application for land allotment will go a long way in ensuring speed, effectiveness and transparency,'' he added.

He said the Industries department is contemplating help from non-government organisations like the Karve Institute in Pune, to conduct a socio-economic survey of the project affected people (PAPs). The Government's rehabilitation policy should also be explained to the people and remove apprehensions, if any, before undertaking land accquisition projects.

Mr Chavan said even though there is a lot of demand for setting up industries in the state, the hurdles are caused due to opposition to land accquisition.

MIDC CEO Rajiv Jalota said at present PAPs are given 15 per cent of the developed land at 50 per cent cost. PAPs are free to sell it off as well, he added.

Mr Jalota said MIDC has initiated computerisation mainly in its finance and land management departments. The water billing, payroll, financial accounting and land allotment process are already computerised. To make it more dynamic, MIDC has already embarked on a study and implement the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions for which TCS has been appointed to review the studies done by them in past and to offer the solutions which are not only compatible to satisfy present needs, but will also accomodate future needs of the organisation and its prospective customers, he added.

''Through the customer-interface portal, we intend to offer the allotment of plot, approval of building proposals, approval of the fire NOCs, water conections and various other services under the customer relationship module (crm),'' he added.

Mr Jalota said the online application form for land acquisition aims to address the key requirement of the existing entrepreneurs and prospective new investors in MIDC's industrial parks.

After the online application is submitted, the applicant will get a unique token number. The applicant will print this form and submit it to the concerned regional office along with all required documents, complete in all respect and process fee within ten days.

The objective behind this module is to provide hassle-free service to the prospective new investors, he said and added that the MIDC does not levy any additional charges for this service, other than the statutory process fee, and hopes this will serve as an additional step in its service to the industry and business.

UNI