U'khand industries may be allowed to sub-lease land

After losing the tag of tax exemptions, the Uttarakhand government may be finding it tough to give a further flip to the industrialisation process.

The new plan devised by the State Infrastructure and Industrial Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL) holds the potential to boost industrial development especially when it faces the heat of land shortage in the state. Industries Minister Banshidhar Bhagat would soon convene a meeting of the department of industries in this regard.

Under the plan, the existing industries may be allowed to sub-lease or rent their vacant lands to new industries. According to rough estimates, 400 acres of land is available in the industrial estates of Pantnagar, Haridwar, Kotdwar Sitarganj and Selaquie. Only a handful of industries like Tata Motors and Hero Honda have been allowed to sub-lease their land for setting up their ancillaries at Pantnagar and Haridwar.

And now, the new plan would cover all the existing industries both at SIDCUL industrial estate as well as private ones. Most of these industries now want to bring their own ancillaries to boost the production, and utilise the unused land.

The government is likely to get a revenue of Rs 100-200 crore by sub-leasing at 15 per cent of the current base rate at the industrial estates developed by SIDCUL. The meeting is also expected to clear proposals of over 60 industries showing interest to set up new units or go for expansion in the state.

ITC and scores of other industries had submitted proposals to SIDCUL to buy land at industrial estates of Pantnagar and Haridwar as well as Pharma City at Selaquie and Sigaddi Growth Centre at Kotdwar. All these industrial estates have been developed by SIDCUL where over 1500 industries including top companies like Nestle and HUL have set up units during the past few years with an investment entailing more than Rs 16,000 crore.