Orissa cabinet okays new Ind

Bhubaneswar, Feb 28: In a bid to generate more revenue andemployment generation, a new Industrial policy, providing specialstatus to the industries in Orissa, has received the cabinet nod.

The Industrial Policy Resolution(IPR) 2007 was approved in thecabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, would now focus theneed for greater emphasis on the infrastructural development in thestate with the setting up of new Industrial and allied InfrastructureDevelopment Fund(IAIDF) with an initial corpus fund of Rs 100 crore.

The state cabinet identified Agro processing,automobiles, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals textile and ancillary industries as thrustsectors to be given pioneer status with several incentives.

It also decided to provide special incentives to the non-mineralbased units in the backward districts of KBK region, Gajapati, Kandhmaland Mayurbhanj districts and set up ''Shilpa Adalat'' to provide aneffective dispute grievance mechanism to the industrial houses, keen toset up industries in the state.

In view of huge investment offer of Rs.4 lakh crores by industrialhouses, mostly in steel, power and other mineral sectors, the newIPR-07 also proposed to develop five new industrial corridors such asChandikhol-Paradeep, Balasore-Bhadrak-Dhamra, Rayagada- Gopalpur,Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Rourkela and Angul-Talcher- Duburi in the state.

The state capital of Bhubaneswar would be developed into a"Knowledge Hub and High-tech city" with necessary infrastructures andthe business houses would be provided land at a concessional rate toset up trade centres and multiplexes as the new IPR would give morethrust on infrastructure development through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) concept.

For the first time the IPR proposed the exemption of conversion chargesfor use of agriculture land in the industrial purposes. As per the newpolicy, the conversion charges for the micro and small units would beexempted. For the priority sector units, it would be 50 per cent whilethe medium scale industries requiring land upto 25 acres. Theconversion charges would be exempted upto 75 per cent. The large scaleindustries would avail 50 per cent exemption in the conversion chargesto set up industries on agricultural field.

This apart, the IPR-2007 would extend the incentives and otherbenefits in the form of entry tax, VAT and CST reimbursement to thethrust area sectors as well as small and medium industries.

The cabinet also approved a new draft Transport Policy giving dueweighatge to safety,technological improvement and modern administrativesystem in the transport sector.

As per the new Transport Policy, Orissa Transport InfrastructureDevelopment Authority in the public private mode would be set up toestablish truck and bus terminus.

Similarly, an independent body called Orissa Transport Regulatoryand Advisory Council would be set up to deal with the issues of fareand freight charges.This apart a Transport Infrastructure DevelopmentFund would be established in the state.

The government has also decided to strengthen the state owned Orissa State Road Transport Corporation(OSRTC).

UNI
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