EDAYAR: The small-scale industrial units in the Edayar Industrial Development Area are upset with the government’s apathy towards them.
According to the small-scale enterprises, the government is not concerned about their needs, like development of infrastructure and subsidies. They alleged that the government was helping the ‘godown mafia’ by allocating land for them inside the industrial area.
The industrial development zones were established in the 1950s by the government to develop small-scale industries for promoting regional economic growth.
“By allotting land to start godowns in the industrial area, the government has moved away from its objective of promoting small-scale industries,” Edayar Small-Scale Industries Association president M C Nair said.
The industrial units in the Edayar Industrial Development Area are spread on around 450 acres of land. Around 320 units are currently functional.
As part of an initiative to take back the land allotted to the non-functional industrial units, the government transferred a number of units to new parties.
“Meanwhile, the godown mafia submitted proposals to start industrial units here. They set up some machinery to deceive the government, and are functioning as godowns, which cannot be considered as ‘industry,” Nair said.
But, things have changed, and now the godowns are able to function legally with the support of a new Government Order (GO), dated 19/02/ 2014. The GO allows allotment of 5 per cent of land in development areas in the State, under the Directorate of Industries and Commerce, for logistics and facilities like godown, food court, hotel, canteen, conference hall, petrol/diesel pumps and cold storage.
However, so far there are only godowns here, and the other facilities mentioned in the order are yet to be set up.“The government, while helping the godown-owners, turns a blind eye towards the infrastructure issues of the industrial area,” Association secretary Sojan Joseph said.The scheme to develop nine roads in the area has been stalled owing to lack of funds. As per the scheme, the government had agreed to give 70 per cent of the total cost for developing the roads, while the industrialists would bear the remaining 30 per cent.
“Construction of only three roads have been completed so far as the government failed to allocate the promised funds. The industrial units here provide employment to over 1,000 people directly. Big companies like the CMRL, Sri Sakthi paper mills, Binani Zinc and Arjuna Aromatics function here,” he added.
