Govt fails to issue mandatory procedural guidelines
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 23: More than one and half year after the amendments, the much-touted J&K Private Industrial Estate Development Policy has remained confined to the papers only mainly because of the failure of the Government to issue mandatory procedural guidelines.
The policy aimed to encourage, promote and facilitate more investment in the enterprises and build a strong, responsive and vibrant business environment was approved by the Administrative Council vide Decision No.80/13/2021 dated August 14, 2021 and vide Government Order No.162-Ind dated August 23, 2021, sanction was accorded to the adoption of the policy.
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Thereafter, vide Government Order No.194-Ind dated September 27, 2021 procedural guidelines for the implementation of J&K Private Industrial Estate Development Policy were issued. When the Industries and Commerce Department initiated steps to give practical shape to the policy, some issues cropped up and necessity of carrying out certain amendments in the policy was felt.
Accordingly, some amendments were proposed and after thorough deliberations the Administrative Council vide Decision No.10/01/2024 dated January 18, 2024 gave nod to the same. Vide Government Order No. 22-Ind dated February 1, 2024, sanction was accorded to the adoption of amended version of J&K Private Industrial Estate Development Policy 2021-30.
It was mentioned that previous orders, if any issued, which are inconsistent with the amended policy shall stand superseded to the effect of inconsistency.
“As per the set procedure, after amending the policy framework in February last year, the Industries and Commerce Department was required to issue detailed procedural guidelines—just as it had done in 2021—to facilitate its implementation on the ground. Shockingly, no such guidelines have been issued till date thereby stalling the entire process and leaving entrepreneurs and investors in a state of deep uncertainty”, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
“On one hand, the Government talks of promoting private investment and ease of doing business, but on the other hand it is delaying even basic guidelines for its own amended policy”, they said, adding “the amendments of February 2024 were projected as a game-changer to encourage private players in developing industrial estates and boost job creation. But in the absence of procedural guidelines, the amended policy remains on the papers only”.
They further said, “unless the Government immediately issues the pending procedural guidelines, the Private Industrial Estate Development Policy (Amended 2024) will go down as yet another symbol of tall promises and hollow reforms”.
The clear objectives of the policy are—to provide an efficient and transparent mechanism for development of industrial infrastructure through private sector investment in a time bound manner; to encourage, promote and facilitate more investment in enterprises and build a strong, responsive and vibrant business environment in the UT; to create employment opportunities for the unemployed youth; to enable environment of ease of doing business by supportive provisions in the infrastructure development and creating a conducive regulatory environment for the developers.
Further, the policy was formulated in order to move more speedily towards the transformation of UT’s role from “regulator” to “facilitator” and from “performer” to “enabler” for the industrial sector. Moreover, the Government aims to create new opportunities for the creation of dedicated sector-specific industrial parks and provide an efficient and transparent mechanism for the development of industrial infrastructure through Public Private Partnership and private sector investment.
“All these objectives can be achieved only when the Government, without further loss of time, issues procedural guidelines as frustrated entrepreneurs have already started questioning the Government’s seriousness”, sources said, adding “every day of delay means lost opportunities, lost investments and lost jobs for J&K youth. If the Government cannot operationalize its own amended policy, how does it expect private industry to take the leap of faith?”
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