CHENNAI: The Rangarajan committee has made recommendations to revive the State economy which has been badly hit by the pandemic. Among the major recommendations were -- financial restructuring of electricity utilities, tolling four and six-lane roads, making mortgages valid as long as they are registered with the State Revenue Office, on or before March 2020, and constituting a bio-tech board.
Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) and Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation (TANTRANSCO) needed to be restructured, said the committe, while increasing the tax-GSDP ratio through appropriate rate changes. Stating that the Indian Tolls Act empowered State governments to levy tolls on roads and bridges and its securitisation, the panel said: “So, TN can look into tolling four and six-lane roads developed by it and securitise them to generate additional revenues.”
Constituting and activating a Bio-Technology Board to facilitate academia-industry partnerships; establishing a new 100-acre Bio-Technology Park with GMP manufacturing facility and high-end analytical facilities near Chennai and Coimbatore; upgrading Stanley Medical College Stem Cell Research Centre as an Institute of Regenerative Medicine; and moving the Centre/DBT to establish an anchor central institution as in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, are some of the recommendations for the bio-tech sector.
Besides setting out a pharma policy, TN should make haste in establishing a Bulk Drug Pharma Park. Steps also need to be taken for the immediate start of Medipark near Chengalpattu. Incentives, better than the general package also need to be given, the panel stated, adding that an angel fund was needed, indicating expansion of bio-tech fund.
Every effort should be made to ensure that not only the capital expenditure is incurred in full, but also an additional spending of `10,000 crore is undertaken. Since the State had already effected expenditure cuts to about 0.7 per cent of GSDP, further cuts are not warranted. Transport corporations would be forced to incur costs that cannot be passed on to passengers and would have to be borne by the State, the panel added.