Thane Creek industry waits for freedom

INDUSTRIAL TOWNSHIP: The civic body has collected Rs 1000 cr but industry feels it has got nothing in return.

Will it? Won't it? Industrialists of the Trans Thane Creek (TTC) in Mumbai are hoping against hope that the Maharashtra government will give them the coveted industrial township status.

On the one hand, the state government has recently waived the need for a no-objection certificate from the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).

But on the other, Maharashtra's minister for environment and excise, and the MLA from the area, Ganesh Naik, is staunchly opposed to the idea.

Industrialists from the area insist that the corporation has no right to collect property and cess tax from the units as the area does not fall under its jurisdiction.

They allege that the TTC industrial belt is being treated as a "tax bank" by the corporation to create infrastructure elsewhere in the sprawling township.

"So far, we have paid over Rs 1000 crore to NMMC, but in return we have got nothing," said Kiran S Churi, president, Small Scale Entrepreneurs' Association (SSEA), TTC.

The last two years have seen a surge of residential complexes coming up across the Thane-Belapur Road, putting additional pressure on the existing infrastructure in the area.

"If the township status comes, the civic body cannot squeeze us anymore. Till recently, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) had been collecting around Rs 4.5 crore in taxes from us and was spending Rs 7-8 crore in maintaining infrastructure here. Once we get township status we can generate upto Rs 10-15 crore for infrastructure creation and maintenance in our area," Churi added.

Last year, MIDC handed over street lighting, roads and storm water to NMMC for maintenance which when the dispute broke out.

Recently, MIDC senior officials had assured the TTC entrepreneurs that within six months industrial township status will be granted. Once an Industrial Township Authority (ITA) is formed for TTC, industries will have a say in the governance of the township.

TTC industrial area, spread over 25 sq km with more than 4,000 industrial units, will be the largest industrial township in Maharashtra.

The state government had decided to form industrial townships in 66 MIDC industrial areas in 2003 under the Maharashtra Nagar Panchayat and Industrial Township Act 1965.

In 2004-05, NMMC collected Rs 60 crore as property and cess taxes. Once the industrial township status comes, the ITA will have to pay 50 per cent of the average revenue collection from the area for the last three years to the NMMC for next 10 years.

If last year's collection is made the baseline, then TTC industries will have pay around Rs 300 crore in next 10 years. Said Churi, "It will be a small price to pay for the control we will gain over the area's governance."