KOCHI: As Kerala finds it difficult to identify land for development activities, it plans to develop a portal for online processing and monitoring of industrial land in the state.
Details of around 2,500 acres of government land in the state allotted for industrial units will come under this portal which will be launched by January. Bringing in more transparency into the allotment of land to industries, the public can also access these details from the portal.
“This happened at a time when the state finds it hard to find out land for developmental activities. Once the portal is in place, anyone can evaluate the present status of land, which was allotted for industrial purposes. As it was originally allotted at a subsidised rate, people may find it easy to give the land away for other purposes. The monitoring system will be effective to enforce law and even take back the land if it is not utilised for the original purpose,” said P M Francis, Director-Industries and Commerce, Kerala.
He pointed out that as the state is groping in the dark to find land for new industrial projects proper and efficient usage of land should be given top-most priority.
It is learnt that though the law permits to take back the once allotted land if no project/company is started after 24 months, many of the announced projects in the state have crossed the stipulated period. In such an instance, Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Corporation has allotted 210.1 acres of land in Ernakulam to 19 firms for various projects seven years ago. Out of them, only seven are operational, seven are under construction, three are used only partially and two are not using the land, reveals an RTI query.
“The portal aims to bring all the information in this regard in an open platform. Based on the garnered details we could initiate steps to take back the land and could punish culprits who had transacted the land illegally, if found any,” sources said.