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An organisation representing factory owners from Bawana industrial area today requested the Delhi government to convert plots from leasehold to freehold.
The Bawana Chamber of Industries also demanded Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), local civic bodies and the government to correct anomalies in taxation to provide relief to factory owners, who were paying more.
"The main issue is of converting industrial plot from leasehold to freehold. All the industrial areas in Delhi were to be converted to freehold in 2005 itself. Then Industries Minister Delhi Minister Mangat Ram Singhal had said that the Bawana industrial area too will be converted to freehold in three years. It has been 10 years now, but nothing has happened," Prakash Jain, chairman of the Chamber said even as he accused officials of blackmailing industries.
He claimed that the industries here fit all the parameters for converting the plots to freehold including ones like being up to or more than 10 years old.
Jain though expressed hopes that the state government will address the issue this time.
"We are hopeful the government will hear us as our demands are reasonable," he said.
Jain further said that the owners have stopped paying water bills, "ever-rising" common effluent treatment plant (CETP) and maintenance bills to DSIIDC and local governing agencies as a mark of protest against multiple taxation and anomalies in the system.
"We have been raising the issue that the problems be cleared for past three years. But nothing has happened," Jain said.
Raj Jain, vice president of the body, seconded Prakash and demanded the authorities to not impel the industrialists to take Gajendra Singh Chauhan-like steps and commit suicide.
"Please don't make our situation so distressful that we are impelled to take Gajendra Singh Chauhan-like step and commit suicide. Let us run factories. We should not be pushed to commit suicide," he said.
Chauhan, a farmer from Rajasthan, had allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a tree at an AAP rally at Jantar Mantar in April.
