Municipal corporations to do away with factory licence

In a step that will help a large number of small scale industrialists and factory owners in the national capital, the municipal corporations have decided to do away with the factory licence provision.
The Standing Committees of North and South Delhi Municipal Corporations today separately passed the proposals to do away with the factory licence requirement in view of the transfer of concerned departments to the Delhi Government.
The chairman of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) Mohan Bhardwaj said that since the authority to give licences was transferred to Delhi Government, there was no need to continue this provision.
Radhe Shyam Sharma, chairman of Standing Committee of South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said that the decision was taken to do away with the department giving factory licence since the task was no more with it and the permission of NGT for setting up of factory was also required now.

While NDMC and SDMC have passed the resolution to abolish the provision of factory licence, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation is expected to take a decision on the matter in a meeting of its Standing Committee in coming days, said a senior official.
The move has come as a big relief to small scale industrialists and factory owners, Bhardwaj said.
Presently, there are around 1.5 lakh industrial units running in Delhi out of which a large number are running without proper licences, said a senior municipal corporation officer.
The municipal corporation issued around 4,000 licences to factories in Delhi while receiving no major benefit from them. The South municipal corporation issued 452 licences in past five months earning Rs 31 lakh while it spent several crores of rupees on the department issuing licences, added the officer.