 "Naveen Patnaik")
Aiming to bag the third spot in 'Ease of Doing Business' in the next assessment to be done by World Bank and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Odisha is taking measures to provide a congenial atmosphere to prospective investors.
Out of 340 reform points suggested for making the process of doing business more facilitative and proactive, around 258 action points have been complied with. This counts for about 83% of compliance. About 30 suggested points were found ‘not applicable’ for Odisha.
The compliances to reform agenda by the departments varied from 46% to 100%. As per a government statement, the department of water resources recorded 100% compliance to reform agenda by June 16. Similarly, compliance of departments like commercial taxes, energy, labour & employees state insurance, industries and pollution control board ranged from 82% to 98%. The overall compliance was around 83% as on date.
Aditya Padhi, chief secretary, who chaired a review meeting on ease of doing business, directed the concerned departments on Thursday to prioritize implementation of the reforms as departmental agenda and achieve the set targets by July 30.
The reforms implemented by various departments by July 30 will be taken into consideration in the upcoming assessment of Indian states.
The departments were directed by the chief secretary to upload the reforms implemented in their respective departmental websites in a prominent and user friendly manner so that investors can easily access and use it while complying with various statutory clearances and certificates.
Padhi also advised the departments to upload the timelines decided for various services to be provided by the concerned departments in ease of doing business.
The departments will undertake intensive awareness building activities on the reform measures among the down line executing officials and the potential investors.
“The departments were advised to segregate and categorize various points applicable for different types of industries and communicate with them accordingly through e-mail, mass media and SMS modes. It was decided that all the concerned departments would take up proactive steps to diffuse information about reform initiatives among the investors and first generation entrepreneurs”, a government statement said.
It may be noted that a World Bank assessment which ranked Bhubaneswar as the third best city in India to do business has been also reflected in the latest mobile app of ‘Odisha New Opportunities’ launched by industries department.
It was decided at the meeting that state updates would be uploaded regularly in the central web portal on ease of doing business for reflecting Odisha’s competitive position at national level, added the statement.
“We are easing the process of business for all categories of industries with special focus on small & medium scale industries as these are likely to create more employment”, Sanjeeb Chopra, principal secretary, industries department said.
