'How are other states executing it': Siddaramaiah warns of action against officials delaying investment approvals

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday warned of action against the officials who delay approvals for investment proposals.

Chairing the meeting for 'Improving Ease of doing business ' in the state to attract investment, Siddaramaiah has instructed the Chief Secretary to issue directions to all departments not to delay approvals.

Stressing on the delay in issuing No Objection Certificate (NOC) from various departments, the Chief Minister said, "The time frame for issuing various NOCs should be shortened to prevent delays in investment in the state."

In the meeting, the Chief Minister discussed the time frame fixed at neighbouring states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to clear approvals. During the discussion, the CM got to know that other states are taking minimum 7 to maximum 66 days to issue various NOCs and questioned why the same process is taking 20 to 120 days in the state and instructed officials to address such issues.

"Officials should not sit idle citing the Supreme Court orders as an excuse. The same order exists for neighbouring states as well, but how are they executing? Action will be initiated against such officials who unnecessarily delay," he warned.

Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah informed the officials that time is investment for the investors and if the NOC or approvals are delayed, then the state will be at the loss end.

"We have tough competition from Gujarat, Telangana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. Considering this, a separate proposal has to be submitted reducing the time to issue NOCs and there should not be any room for delays," Siddaramaiah ordered.

Siddaramaiah even assured of bringing necessary amendments to the existing laws and rules to improve the industry-friendly environment in the state. This includes amendments to the land usage conversion for setting up of industries and also amendments to the Fire and Environment department norms, which are delaying NOCs.

In the meeting IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge informed that the process to sanction permission to new industries should be fastened.

"Tamil Nadu has 51 Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and contributes 8.9%, whereas we have 37 SEZs contributing 8.2%. The officials have to look at such favourable situations in the state," said Priyank Kharge.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Industries Minister M B Patil, Higher Education Minister Dr M C Sudhakar and others were also present.