CHENNAI: More than 250 industrial units have been denied pattas in the Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) land in Guindy despite assurances from the State government in the past six years, and the Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association has made a desperate plea to chief secretary Rajeev Ranjan to resolve the issue at the earliest.
The association president KV Kanakabaram told Express that for the last two years they have been urging the State to ensure that pattas are provided to industrial units as that could help them receive bank loans. “The pandemic has severely crippled the MSME sector, and to get or renew loans, we have to provide them patta. The officials have always been generous in promises, but the local Revenue Department officials have turned a deaf ear to our pleas,” he added.
Initially, 300 industrial units functioned at SIDCO without pattas as the district administration allegedly delayed changing the land classification from government poromboke to industrial estate. “What is surprising is that 41 industrial units were provided pattas while the others are denied of it,” Kankambaram said and added that the pattas were not provided despite the then Revenue Secretary R Venkatesan writing a letter to the Commissioner of Land Administration on May 8, 2015, to instruct the district Collector concerned to change land classification.
Interestingly, on December 20, 2018, the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation wrote to the Industries Commissioner that during the review meeting on April 16, 2018, a proposal was sent to the Commissioner of Land administration and action was being undertaken. It is learnt the proposal was sent to the Guindy tahsildar requesting him to take steps for changing the classification, but nothing has been done in this regard.
When Express contacted Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Department secretary Mangat Ram Sharma, he said that the Commisioner of Land Administration and Revenue Department officials are looking into the issue. Revenue department officials could not be contacted.