BIADA issues notices to sick industrial units

PATNA: In a bid to offer land to interested entrepreneurs at subsidised rates, the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) has decided to cancel the land lease of all sick industrial units, officials aware of the development said.

According to officials, the sick units have been asked to either start operating immediately or quit the land allotted by the BIADA.

A senior officer of the industries department said that there are around 400 sick industrial units on BIADA land and many of them are not in operation for the last few years. “They have been given a last chance to operationalise the units in the next six months or surrender the leased land,” he said.

As per the decision taken by the BIADA board last week, the leasees have been given a oneyear deadline to start their operation in the next six months and produce around 2/3 of their installed capacity in the next one year. “Lease of land to those units failing to meet the criteria would be cancelled,” said the principal secretary of the industries department Sandeep Poundrik. “Those units, who take advantage of the recent policy and yet fail to live up to the norms would not be qualified to take legal recourse,” added Poundrik.

Officials said that the same conditions would apply to those who wished to transfer their leased land in BIADA jurisdictions to other entrepreneurs. “The transfer of land would be allowed on deposit of 10% of the land value to BIADA as a fee. However, entrepreneurs who get land through transfer will also be given a year’s time to produce 2/3rd of their total installed capacity to skip the lease deal cancellation,” said a BIADA official.

The BIADA has issued a guideline to cancel the lease of land to sick industrial units in conformity to the Patna high court’s orders. “We had seen the court issuing the same type of orders when the owners of sick industrial units resorted to the legal recourse against the BIADA lease cancellation orders,” said the officer, adding that as many as 16 persons, approached the Patna high court had received similar reliefs. Poundrik said that the BIADA has sufficient land for entrepreneurs keen to set up industries in Bihar. “The BIADA has recently got the possession on around 2,441-acre land from closed sugar mills from across the state. Four industrial units interested in the production of grain-based ethanol have been allotted land of the sugar mills,” he added.

THE SICK UNITS HAVE BEEN ASKED TO EITHER START OPERATING IMMEDIATELY OR QUIT THE LAND ALLOTTED BY THE BIADA, OFFICIALS SAID