In principle, FINER is even of the view that fertile agricultural lands in close vicinity of bustling townships be also converted into industrial land. Quoting Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, FINER chairman RS Joshi said: "Industry is based near cities, rivers, coast lines, expressways and other places for logistical necessities, quality of life for workers, cost of operations and various reasons. History of industrialisation and global distribution of industry hubs show that the location of great industry; be it Manchester, London, Munich, Paris, Pittsburgh, Shanghai or Lancachire, these are all on heavily fertile land."
However in Assam's and Indian context Joshi said: "We would not like to go that extent but industry also needs sympathetic policy." He added that in Assam there was vast potential to develop land, not suitable for agriculture, for industrial activities and enterprise. "That is being inhibited, and that needs to be rectified."
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Joshi said non-availability of land in Assam for industrial activity was putting on hold investments to the tune of Rs 200 crore. "Non-availability of land has become a serious issue in Assam and the sooner the government addresses it, the better it is. All the investment proposals that did not materialise in recent past had land-availability problem," he said. The classification of land and updating of land records, said Joshi, had been done decades earlier, and not much work thereon has been done in the last many years. He said there were instances where a large chunk of land that had been classified as agricultural land has historically been land on which cultivation had never been done or even possible.
He said the banks have been of late been implementing the provisions of Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act 2002 (SARFEISI) very rigidly in Assam and were not lending to industries whose land had not been converted as industrial land.
Government industrial estates in areas where industries can come up either have no space or have long waiting list, Joshi said. This has jacked up the prices of private converted lands, as supply has been artificially restricted. "These private converted land prices have become so high that any industry or entrepreneurial activity automatically becomes either unviable or unable to locate. Creation of governmental infrastructure for industrial estates is welcome but it takes time. Till then the government should enable setting up of private entrepreneurship on self acquired, private patta land where no farming activity had taken place for a long period of time," he added.
FINER has asked the Assam government to enable creation of industrial hubs in and around major cities of the state. As per the industrial intentions filed with the state government, more than 80 per cent of investors want to set up units in and around Guwahati. New industrial hub, feels FINER, can be created in Upper Assam around the cities of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia based on the oil and gas assets present there.