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Business News/ News / India/  BSY proposes amendments to land laws to ease setting up of industries in Karnataka
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BSY proposes amendments to land laws to ease setting up of industries in Karnataka

The proposed amendments are for provisions under section 109 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act

Karnataka CM B.S. Yediyurappa (Photo: PTI)Premium
Karnataka CM B.S. Yediyurappa (Photo: PTI)

Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Saturday said his government will introduce amendments to existing land laws governing the setting up of industries which would speeden the process of approvals and attract more investments into the state.

Addressing a press conference after his return from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Yediyurappa said the amendments, likely to be placed before the legislature in the upcoming session, would negate the need for industries to run from “office-to-office" to get approvals.

“The common complaint of most corporations is the hurdles during land acquisition," Yediyruappa said, adding that there was “truth in their complaints".

The proposed amendments are for provisions under section 109 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, which allows promoters of approved projects to deal directly with owners to acquire land. The other proposed amendment is for speedy conversion of land use from agriculture to industrial.

He said the time for obtaining clearances for projects, approved by the SHLCC (State High Level Clearance Committee headed by the chief minister) will be brought down to 30 days from 60 days for both acquisition and conversion.

However, if clearances fail to be provided within 30 days, both approval and conversion would be considered “deemed" to avoid further delays.

The changes will be incorporated in the new industrial policy, due to be released later this year.

The amendments have been proposed not just because of the feedback the state government has received from companies at the Davos meat but also due to the large number of pending projects in the state that has cost Karnataka significant investments and a chance to create jobs.

Of the total 142 proposals totalling 49379.13 crore, approved between 2013 and 2019 under section 109 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act for setting up new projects or existing manufacturing units in sectors such as automobiles, textiles, mining, among others, over 90 of them remain non-starters including 23 that have been dropped completely, Mint reported in November last year.

These 90 projects are valued at over 39000 crore, with the potential to create 80000 jobs in Karnataka, where frequent droughts and floods have hit the rural and agricultural economy hard, forcing millions to migrate to urban areas in search of employment.

With thousands of crores worth of dues in goods and services tax (GST), devolution of taxes among others, the Karnataka government has been under increasing pressure to find funds for development in the upcoming state budget, scheduled to be presented on 5 March.

The lack of jobs, or timely wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme, has forced the calamity hit rural population migrate to cities for livelihood.

Karnataka is staring at the possibility of falling short of around 1.5 crore person days as against its target to generate 12 crore person days under the scheme due to delays in release of funds from the centre, including wage payments, Mint reported. The slowing economy across the country making employment that much harder to find.

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Published: 25 Jan 2020, 04:11 PM IST
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