The report, which had been submitted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, was released at a press conference here by ASSOCHAM president Venugopal N. Dhoot here on Sunday.
Addressing the media, Dhoot said land acquisition had been the bone of contention in most of the mineral resources rich states like Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa and even aroused public anger against developmental projects. This had happened since the respective land acquisition policies lacked clarity, transparency and flexibility, he said.
Dhoot said that the compensation package for oustees of developmental projects had not been adequate in Orissa. Public anger could be contained provided compensation package was adequate, he observed.
Secretary General of ASSOCHAM D.S. Rawat said that the State government should take proactive measures and play the role of a catalyst in helping the companies acquire land to start construction work for their projects. All political parties should be taken along and people should be taken into confidence to facilitate the industrialisation process, he said.
The ASSOCHAM report favours not only a comprehensive compensation package for those whose land are acquired, but also assured permanent jobs to their dependent with even equity stakes to make the oustees shareholders in such developmental projects.
According to the report, there were four major industrial projects in Orissa with investment potential of more than Rs 1 lakh crore which had not been able to take off since last four years.
A steel plant project with 12 million tonne capacity to be set up by POSCO with Rs 51000 crore investment, the single largest prospective FDI in India , could not take progress due to land acquisition problems, the report pointed out.
Similarly, a memorandum of understanding for a Rs. 40,000 crore steel plant project of Arcelor-Mittal was signed in 2006, but the construction work could not commence due to resettlement and rehabilitation factors.
The other plants which also got delayed include a six million tonne steel plant planned by Tata Steel that was delayed by 12 to 16 months. A Rs 4500 crore alumina project of Vedanata Alumininum Ltd had been delayed since 2004 because of the environmental issues being faced by the company, according to the report.
On impact of environmental issues, Dhoot said that industry had been facing a tough time in Orissa as environmentalists had been opposing projects leading to utter delays for required environmental clearances.
ASSOCHAM suggested that Orissa should set up `Investment Regions' for promoting sectoral investments particularly in areas of IT, petrochemicals, minerals, refining and other manufacturing sector.
Engineering colleges, polytechniques, ITIs, management institutes need to be increased in the state in order to meet the talent crunch faced by the industry and enable the local inhabitants to get employed in the upper end of the jobs.
A Special Committee or Task Force may be formed to study the nature of the natives of the state and suggest right strategy to be adopted to negotiate with the tribals and ensure justice to all the parties involved.
The unutilised land available with the state –owned companies may be released or may be given on lease to the new industries for their expansion, ASSOCHAM said in its report.
According to the report, the present infrastructure level needs to develop in order to support the industrialisation drive in the state. So far only 40 per cent of approximately 50,000 villages in Orissa have all-weather connectivity as compared to the National average of 60 per cent.
The state is in dire need for building roadways connecting the rural hinterland, national highways and upgrading the domestic airport at Bhubaneswar and sea ports, ASSOCHAM said.
The aircraft traffic at all airports in Orissa has been rising by 12 per cent, while the growth in passenger traffic was 21 per cent. At Bhubaneswar airport, the passenger traffic rose by 31 per cent.
ASSOCHAM said that fiscal incentives need to be given to the industry especially in order to develop the backward areas of the state through the industrialisation process.
Real estate projects should be given adequate incentives and support by the government, specifically in view of the huge demand to be generated with industrialisation drive taking place in Orissa, the report suggested.
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