1k industrialists get notice for failing to finish projects in Karnataka
KIADB Chief Executive Officer Mahesh M said that KIADB already managed to recover 931.78 acres of land from 40 industrialists in the last few months
The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has issued notices in January to 1,061 industrialists from all 30 districts of the state over delay in finishing projects, officials aware of the matter said.
The KIADB allotted thousands of acres of land to industrialists every year on a lease with a tenure of 10 years with a condition that they must complete the construction of the buildings within 5 years of assuming the lease. In the last decade, 1,061 industrialists across the state who got 7,002.93 acres have failed to complete the construction projects.
The government made this provision to support MSMEs and large industries in return for generating employment. But after the pandemic, several small and medium-scale industries are in bad shape and lacking investments, according to KIADB officials.
KIADB Chief Executive Officer Mahesh M said that KIADB already managed to recover 931.78 acres of land from 40 industrialists in the last few months. “We allot lands to industries on lease for the period of ten years and it can be extended after the completion of lease tenure. According to the agreement, industrialists must ensure they construct the factories, warehouse, manufacturing facilities, etc as per their business needs within the first five years of the lease period. If they fail to complete the project, we will serve them notice. We are now trying to recover a total of 7,002 acres of government land,” Dr Mahesh said.
Any industrialists can seek lands from the KIADB to start industries and if all the official requirements are met the department allocates the land in about a month. Respective beneficiaries need to pay the 30% deposit within the month of acquiring the land and the rest within three months, KIADB officials said explained the leasing procedure.
“We need to serve three notices under 34 B of KIADB act to industries before terminating the lease and acquiring them. First we give three months’ time for the lease beneficiaries to answer and we serve a second notice if the lessee failed to provide adequate reasons. Final notice, which is a direct call for physical appearance, appeared with the KIADB board. Now these 1,061 notices are in different stages and we will acquire all the lands which are not being used,” Mahesh said.
There are complaints from industrialists in general about the situation of industries post GST implementation and Covid-19 pandemic. When asked about the reasons they are receiving from the industrialists, CEO Mahesh said, “There are different reasons and hurdles to every industrialist. Some complain about lack of investments, some complain about resources. But I do not want to comment on either the GST implementation nor post pandemic industrial trauma. We will give them additional time to either complete the project or to surrender the land.”
KIADB has served notice to various sectors of industries from IT to hardware to manufacturing to food parks. The board has issued notices to industrialists from each district who failed to build industries in the given time. In Bengaluru city alone 43 industrialists from IT sector and 14 from hardware sectors are found violating the terms for the leased land of 58 acres. In Bengaluru rural 19 Aerospace companies, 2 aerospace companies in special economic zones and seven other industrialists are served notices. Total 222 acres of land were allotted in Bengaluru rural district. Similarly the board served notices to 4 industrialists in Belagavi, 4 in Bellary, 2 in Bidar, 1 in Vijayanagara, 2 in Chikkaballapura, 1 in Chikkamangaluru, 6 in Dakshina Kannada, 4 in Dharwad, 1 in Gadag, 1 in Kalburagi, 4 in Hassan, 8 in Kolar, 4 in Mandya, 6 in Mysore, 3 in Raichur, 4 in Ramanagara, 2 in Davanagere, 2 in Shivamogga, 4 in Tumkur, 1 in Udupi, 1 in Uttara Kannada, 1 in Yadgir and 3 in Vijayapura.
