Chandigarh: Industrialists take up leasehold, FAR issues with Central team

Representatives of various industry associations raised their long-pending issues, including conversion of properties from leasehold to freehold, building violations and floor area ratio (FAR), before members of a Centre-appointed task force during an interaction at the PHDCCI here on Tuesday evening.

The Centre constituted a three-member task force under the chairmanship of Surendrakumar Bagde, Director General, National Centre for Good Governance, for deregulation of regulatory challenges and streamlining processes to improve ease of doing business for industries in Chandigarh.

Varinder Saluja, president, Chandigarh Industries Association, Chander Verma, chairman, Chandigarh Industrial Converted Plot Owners Association, Surinder Gupta, president, Chamber of Chandigarh Industries, Arun Mahajan of Chandigarh Industries Association, Vinod Mittal of Chamber of Chandigarh Industries, Avi Bhasin, president, Laghu Udyog Bharti, and Yogesh Kapoor, president of Vayapari Ekta Manch, interacted with the task force members. They stated that all issues pertaining to industries such as conversion from leasehold to freehold, building misuse and violation notices, fire NOC, increase in FAR on a par with adjoining states and allowing MSME service activities in the Industrial Area, were discussed in detail.

Even floor-wise property issues were also raised at the meeting, they said.

Relevant laws and their effects in the Industrial Area were discussed in detail, they said, adding that overall interaction was held with the idea of how to make MSMEs more viable and productive.

The task force is expected to prepare a detailed report on all issues raised during the meeting and submit it to the Union Home Secretary.

Later, members of the task force visited Phase 3, where development has remained stalled for years. Spread across 153 acres near Raipur Kalan, Phase 3 has seen almost no progress since its inception — only three plots have been allotted so far, and even those remain undeveloped due to the absence of basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity and water supply.

A delegation of industrialists had met senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in Delhi on December 3 and submitted a detailed representation. Industrialists say despite repeated reminders, unit owners continued to face building violations or misuse notices. Some notices were totally vague and did not disclose the type and quantum of building violations and some of the notices did not even mention the provision under which the notice was issued, making it difficult for the allottee to defend the same, they said.

Many violations such as temporary coverage of central courtyard have not been permitted, but still the proceedings qua them are not being closed. Certain types of activities, which are ancillary to an industrial establishment, were allowed vide notification dated February 25, 2019. Even thereafter, the proceedings qua those violations are being kept pending without any conclusion, they stated.

One of the most important concerns of the industrialists is the status of leasehold industrial plots. Many of these plots, allotted in the 1970s, still lack clear property titles, preventing owners from securing loans or expanding operations.