Kamal Cotspin mill on track, sans govt land

The single-table concept floated by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for speedy removal of investment-related hurdles does not seem to be effective.

After a long and fruitless wait for the government's response through the single-table clearance for a demand for 3 hectares of government land, Burhanpur-based Kamal Cotspin Pvt Ltd has gone ahead with its proposed cotton yarn mill, without the government land.

The company had asked for the land last year. "It had been recommended to allocate the land to the company at 25 per cent of the prevalent rate," said a government source.

However a company source said: "No progress has been made on the demand. The company has started construction work and it will start production by next year with a capacity of 10 tonnes of cotton yarn per day."

The cotton yarn mill will provide direct employment to 200 and indirect employment to 5,000. It will also install machines with the latest technology.

Although company executives declined to comment on the size of the investment, a government source said, "The company has proposed to invest Rs 50 crore in the project."

A document on the meeting of the project clearance and implementation board reveals that the board had issued instructions to the revenue department to allot land on rates notified in the industrial promotion policy.

Burhanpur's power loom industry, which has 33,000 looms, is already in the red. Poor facilities, costly power and population density are some of the problems it faces. The state had accorded it industry status two years ago but it remains stagnant.

The town has 12 processors, which use outdated technology. The state's department of industry had chalked out a plan to set up a separate cluster for the industry but the district administration failed to allocated land for this. Kamal Cotspin will be the first mill to use the latest technology, despite the state having failed to respond to its demand.