Create Mysuru Industrial Dev. Authority: Industry

Shilpa P | NT

Mysuru Industries Association (MIA) has urged the State government to allot land for an exclusive helipad for Mysuru industrial area, allocation of Rs. 100 crore to constitute the Mysuru Industrial Area Development Authority. They also plead for reviving the scheme of 2003 to rejuvenate industries which are in crisis especially due to covid among others in the forthcoming State budget. These demands form part of their prebudget proposal presented to the Chief Minister Mr. Basavaraj Bommai. Speaking to News Trail, Association secretary, Mr. Suresh Kumar Jain said, Mysuru industrial area is spread over 6,500 acres, and Mysuru district has 160 export industries, 135 medium and large industries, 80 software industries, 26,000 small and medium scale industries. “An exclusive helipad is a distinct necessity for industries. The State government must make provision for all these in the budget and arrange land allotment for the purpose through KIADB”, Jain demanded and said the MIA will maintain it.

Jain says the Mysuru industrial area comes under Hootgalli City Municipal Council and industries were paying taxes to it while the maintenance cost was going to KIADB. After KIADB approves the blueprint of an industrial building, Hootgalli CMC issues them the building license. As per section 364A of 2003 amendment for Karnataka Municipal Act 1964, Industrial Area Development Authority should be constituted in order to create a single window for all approvals and sanctions. The proposal to form such an Authority has been pending since 1988. The forthcoming budget should have provision for the same, he urged.

According to Jain, industries are facing hard times. Skyrocketing raw material cost has led closure of nearly 30% medium and small-scale industries while another 20% were facing crisis and looking for buyers. Another 10% are under partial crisis. He said, it is in this context that the MIA has urged the State Government to revive the scheme conceived in 2003 for rejuvenation of industries in crisis.

Mysuru is already a clean city and set to get the tag of the solar city. The Association has urged to make provision for solar streetlights in industrial areas and to set up solar power units above stormwater drain in industrial areas. They have also urged the State to allot 30 acres of KIADB land for disposal of the industrial waste from Mysuru as it was proposed in 2001. “But currently most of the industrial waste is let out into the lakes, farmlands,” Jain informs. The demands include allotment of 20-acre land in Koorgalli industrial area for a truck terminal for vehicles that bring raw material and carry finished goods. Yet another plea is to construct at least 50,000 housing units for accommodating labourers from other areas within the State or far off states.

The Association had asked for a budgetary allocation of Rs. 3 crore for Mysuru Export Centre this year. The Central Government has already allotted a matching fund of Rs. 3 crore. The State government allotted Rs. 1 crore in the budget last year against a demand for Rs. 4 crore. It has also sought provision of 8-acre of land to Mysuru Printers Cluster so that they can avail of Rs. 20 crore grant from the Centre on this score. Similarly, they urge provision of one-acre land in the Chamarajnagar Industrial Area for Devaraj Urs Multiskill Development and Global Industrial Information Center free of cost. “This will be developed on public-private partnership basis by Mysore Industry Centre”, informs Jain.

The Association has suggested allotment of 60% of the sites developed by KIADB to MSMEs and allotment of 50ft by 80ft dimension industrial plot at 75% discount. It could also have provision of 10% sites to the entrepreneurs from among minorities and 5% sites to women, physically challenged, backward I and 2A categories. In view of the water scarcity, 30% of the industries in Mysuru are using water supplied by private tanker. The MIA has therefore asked expediting the Halehundawadi drinking water project to address the water scarcity in the industrial area. It is pointed out that raw water being used by industries in Hebbal First and Second Stage, Hootgalli, Belawadi, Koorgalli, Pura Anaganahalli is not potable. It has therefore urged that the Industries Dept set up a commission on the lines of KERC for water supply and a separate tariff may be fixed for water used for Industrial purposes. They plead for supply of power to small and medium scale industries by CESCOM at rates comparable to those prevailing in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

The MIA has also petitioned the Government to allot Rs. 25 crore under the IID scheme to Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) to provide or put up basic infrastructure facilities to Industrial areas in banimantap A and B layouts and Vishweshwarnagar in Mysuru south Industrial area which come under the MCC.

The MIA