Owners of small enterprises in industrial development areas and industrial estates in Kerala have appealed to the State Government to endow them with total ownership of the land even as the Government has promised the industrialists a renewed land allotment policy.
The Kerala State Small Industries Association president M. Khalid said a State committee meeting of the association renewed its request to the Government. He said the Government had said it was working on a new land allotment policy for industrial units in the specified areas.
The request is that the Government should transfer the ownership to up and running enterprises which had been allotted plots of land in industrial areas and estates under the Government Order of April 5, 1969, under the hire purchase scheme.
Mr. Khalid said the 1969 order had provisions for transfer of ownership of the plots once the money under the higher purchase scheme was completely paid up. The agreement between the Government and the entrepreneurs for the allotment of plots under the scheme too made the conditions clear, he added. However, the Government and the Industries Department had not come forward to transfer the ownership of the land, he said.
While the Government stance so far was a violation of the existing agreement, the situation would prevent new entrepreneurs from entering the designated industrial areas, said the association. The situation could also be reflected in the Ease of Doing Business ratings of the State.
Mr. Khalid also appealed to the Industries Department to make the new land allotment policy attractive to investors.
According to data from the Industries Department, there are six designated industrial entrepreneurial areas that include Edayar, Kalamassery, Vazhakkulam, Aluva and Angamaly. These areas extend over an area of 838 acres, in which the total allotted area is 751 acres. There are 711 units working in the areas with Edayar development area accounting for 319 units and Kalamassery for 170 units.
