Date:27/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/27/stories/2008082753970400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

KASSIA seeks 1,000 acres for small units

Special Correspondent

90 per cent of SSIs in State located in private industrial estates

State has six lakh small-scale industries
Separate policy sought for development of SSIs

BANGALORE: The Karnataka Small-scale Industries Association (KASSIA) has urged the State Government to allot 1,000 acres on the outskirts of Bangalore for setting up small-scale industries (SSIs).

Speaking at a meeting chaired by Minister for Small-scale Industries and Sericulture Venkataramanappa here on Tuesday, KASSIA president Arvind N. Burji said nearly 90 per cent of SSIs were located in private industrial estates, which charged exorbitant rent. Many of the private industrial estates did not have basic facilities such as roads, power, drinking water and drainage, he said.

Unregistered units

There were six lakh SSIs in the State, and nearly 50 per cent of them were not registered with the Government. Their turnover was Rs. 13,000 crore a year, and 13 per cent of the output was exported. The Government should provide basic facilities to SSIs to develop and expand their scale of operations, Mr. Burji said.

Stating that the Government should come out with a separate policy for the development of SSIs, he said that in the recent past there had been a steep escalation in the prices of materials such as iron and steel, aluminium, plastics, cement and chemicals.

Mr. Venkataramanappa said many industrial centres in different districts did not have proper roads and drainage because of substandard work by engineers of the Karnataka Small-scale Industries Development Corporation. Two engineers of the corporation would be suspended for laying poor quality roads in Tumkur, the Minister said.

Noting the various problems faced by SSIs, he said a meeting would be convened with officials of all the departments concerned to address the bottlenecks.

It would be difficult for the Government to acquire 1,000 acres at one place. Therefore, 1,000 acres would be acquired in three different places on the outskirts of Bangalore for setting up SSIs, the Minister said.

Land earmarked

The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board had been instructed to earmark 40 per cent of land acquired by it for SSIs, he said.