Land change for industries: online mode planned

The government will examine converting land for industrial purposes through an online system to speed up the process of setting up clusters under the ‘Compete with China’ scheme, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said Thursday.

This came up when Kumaraswamy, during his day-long review with regional commissioners and deputy commissioners, found that making available land to set up the clusters in Mysuru and Chikkaballapur districts faced delay due to purchase and conversion of land.

“The government has decided to examine taking online the conversion of land to be made available for industries,” Kumaraswamy said, according to a statement from his office.

In his July 2018 budget, Kumaraswamy announced the following industrial clusters in nine districts under the ‘Compete with China’ scheme: solar power goods manufacturing at Kalaburagi, LED lights manufacturing at Chitradurga, sanitary goods manufacturing at Hassan, mechanised toys at Koppal, ICB/chip manufacturing at Mysuru, textiles at Ballari, mobile phone components at Chikkaballapur, sports/fitness goods at Tumakuru and agricultural implements at Bidar.

“Setting up industrial clusters of ICB/chip manufacturing in Mysuru and mobile phone components at Chikkaballapur has received good response and proposals in this regard will be placed before the Cabinet in two weeks’ time,” Kumaraswamy said.

Seven companies have come forward to be part of the textiles cluster in Ballari and 40 acres of land has been handed over already, he noted. Authorities were directed to focus on the mechanised toys cluster at Koppal.

Industrial development not only creates jobs, but also results in economic growth, Kumaraswamy said, and asked DCs to encourage industries through single-window clearances at their level.