Jharkhand will announce a new industrial policy which is likely to become effective from April 1 this year andis said to be more investor-friendly than the one existing today which expires on March 31.
Speaking to FE from Ranchi on Thursday, Jharkhand industrydirector Aradhana Patnaik said the draft industrial policy was readywith the department and awaited government approval.
?The earlier policy has been extended up to March 31, 2010 andhopefully by that time (April 1) we will come out with the newpolicy,? said the industry director.
The present JMM-Bharatiya Janata Party-AJSU government now has to take a call on it.
?A lot of incentives has been added in the newly drafted industrialpolicy as we studied the policies of the neighbouring states as wellas that of advanced states like Maharashtra and Gujarat before incorporating changes,” said Patnaik.
Asked whether the state?s resettlement & rehabilitation (R&R) policypassed by the last UPA government?s cabinet in 2008 but not by the Assembly was in force, the director industry said: ?The resettlement & rehabilitation policy which was formulated in 2008 and notified thereafter is in force as a gazette notification too has been done.”
Tata Steel, for instance, has been saying that the company was awaiting the state?s R&R policy ?to be formalized? before the company could speed up its proposed 12 mtpa greenfield project at Tontaposhi in the adjacent Seraikela-Kharswan district, 35 km from here.
When told that buying huge chunks of land for mega steel projects could pose problems for the big investor, Patnaik said, ?It might need government intervention, in that case they (investors) would then have to request the government; if the industry wants the government to acquire land for it, the government will do so.”
Patnaik said: ?If there is any problem we will step in, generally we step in where investors request us; there are many places where industries have got land from the villagers directly.”
The industry director stressed that there has to be ?a goodcoordination between the party (investor), the government and thevillagers? as sometimes there is a communication gap where the party (investor) had neither been in communication with the government nor with the villagers but hadkept on giving statements in the media.
?This will not result in anything; the big parties have to literally go down to the field, talk to the villagers, get them into confidence and then approach the government for whatever help they wanted,” she said.
Asked if there was anything in the existing policy which said that the government would not intervene on behalf of the investor regarding acquisition of private land for projects, Patnaik said: ?I don?t think it is there.”
State deputy chief minister Raghubar Das, who also holds the finance, urban development, energy and housing portfolios in the current JMM-BJP-AJSU government, had in this year?s Republic Day speech, mentioned that the new government would ?review? the existing R&R policy document so that the displaced get a better deal.
The R&R policy also does not find place in the state?s official website.The industry director said she would talk to the state revenue department, the department responsible for the R&R policy, and urge it to display the policy on the website.