Karnataka govt plans new policy to fix rate for KIADB land

The state government will come out with a new policy to fix rates for land allotted to industries by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB), Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said on Friday.

“There are several anomalies in fixing the rates for the land allotted by the KIADB. It is necessary to adopt a scientific way in this regard. It is therefore felt necessary to bring in separate policies that apply to the old cases of land allotment and the new ones,” Shettar said. He directed officials to take action in this regard. Shettar was speaking at a meeting to review the KIADB functioning.

Apparently, many industrialists and industry associations have complained about this. Presently, there is one rate for allotment of land and one at the time of sale deed. In many cases, this is more than 50% the initial rate. “We need to take action to bring about uniformity in these rules. In this backdrop, new policies are needed to remove anomalies in the previously allotted land and to allot new land,” Shettar said.

The minister also instructed the board to expedite the process of granting compensation to the land owners whose land had been acquired. “There is a lot of delay in compensating the land owners. In some cases, landlords need to visit offices to get relief for several years,” Shettar said, adding that guidelines for the acquisition and settlement of land within a time limit should be framed.

Officials were also instructed to take up a survey of industrial land use in the state to understand the total land extent, the extent of land acquired so far by the KIADB, land allotted to the industry, details of industries set up on the allotted land, the reasons for the non-commencement of industries after the allotment of land in industrial areas and so on. Information regarding the land should be uploaded on the website.