Chhattisgarh Ispat Bhumi Limited (CIBL) was set up as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under the Central government’s Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS), to provide quality infrastructure to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the state through the public-private partnership approach.
CIBL — which came into being in August 2006, but whose existence the state government terminated in January this year, following mismanagement — failed in this task. And SMEs in the industrial areas of the state capital are facing their worst water crisis in 25 years, as supply has been severely affected.
In accordance with the provisions of the IIUS, the Industrial Growth Centres of Siltara and Urla were selected as steel clusters with high growth potential, requiring strategic interventions in the form of infrastructure. For which they received administrative aid of Rs 54.10 crore from the Union government.
While the Chhattisgarh government released Rs 3 crore to CBIL as the first instalment of an interest-free loan, the Union government released Rs 10 crore against a sanctioned grant.
“Contrary to industrialists’ expectations, CIBL failed to address the water problem in the centre, which finally assumed alarming proportions this year,” G K Agrawal, president of the Urla Industrial Association (UIA), said.
Soon after the inception of the SPV, the water filtration plant was shut down and the units were supplied raw water, adding to the industrialists’ problems, Agrawal added. While the water level in the area was fast depleting, no action was taken to re-charge the water or generate new sources.
Housing about 350 industrial units, of which some 85 per cent are SMEs, the Urla growth centre requires 1.5 million litres of water daily. The water level in the centre depleted alarmingly this year, and SMEs faced the worst-ever water crisis since it came into existence in the early 1980s.
Industrialists were forced to press water tankers into service to meet their requirements. This created another problem. People living in the vicinity intercepted the tankers several times and manhandled the drivers, believing that water meant for them was being diverted to industries.
“Now, SMEs are taking measures to harvest water while the UIA is setting up a water filtration plant, besides building tanks to avoid water crises in future,” Agrawal said.
Even the ending of CIBL’s existence created complications for industry. It took two months for the company to transfer authority to the Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC). Since there was no agency to address the problem for two months, the water crisis in the centre worsened.
“Soon after CIBL handed over charge to us, we succeeded in solving the problem to some extent,” CSIDC Managing Director, Rajesh Goverdhan said. The corporation is now working on a proposal to build three major tanks in the growth centre to meet future water requirements, he added.
