Spat between state bodies stalls arterial road project

A disconnect between two state government entities, the Public Works Department and the Maharashtra Industries Development Corporation (MIDC), has delayed by several years the construction of an important road project to connect three industrial areas around the city.

The issue found echo in the division level coordination committee (DLCC) meeting, organised by the directorate of industries and chaired by the divisional commissioner Anand Limaye last week.

Industrialists from Kalmeshwar, Hingna and the five-star Butibori industrial areas were incensed at the delay.

They said, they were losing time and money as transport of goods to and from their units had to be done traversing the city. The police had restricted movement of heavy vehicles on city roads; thus, trucks had to be detained for many hours outside municipal limits.

The proposed road, connecting the three industrial areas became a bone of contention between the PWD and the MIDC, when the departments couldn't agree on who should get to construct the road.

MIDC officials told Limaye that their board had sanctioned Rs 22 crore for constructing the road connecting Gondkhairi on NH 6 (Amravati-Mumbai Road) and Butibori on NH 7 (Wardh-Hyderabad Road) via Hingna.

The proposed road, passed through land under PWD's possession and the MIDC had asked the PWD to transfer the land for a temporary period to it, so that the road could be constructed and the amount spent, could be recovered by levying toll tax. After expiry of the period, the road would be handed back to the PWD.

The PWD, however said that it could not transfer the road and that MIDC should give it money, so that it can construct it. At the DLCC meeting on Saturday, representatives of industry associations were in favour of MIDC executing the work.

They said, they did not trust that the PWD would not spend the money elsewhere or that it would spend properly. A senior PWD officer, at the meeting explained that the decision to transfer the road, could not be taken at the local level and that the matter would have to be referred to the state government.

Limaye then asked the PWD and MIDC to send a joint proposal to the state government and get the matter sorted out. The meeting was also attended by Sanjay Mukherjee, the district collector and SM Mushrif, the special inspector general of police of the Nagpur Range.

On the pending proposal of constructing Udyog Bhavan at Chandrapur, Limaye constituted a sub-committee of representatives of District Industries Centre (DIC), MIDC, sub-divisional office and the industry association, to expedite the proposal.

Meanwhile, representatives of Saoner Growth Centre Industrial Association said that a separate electricity feeder should be set up for units in the MIDC areas. Currently, the 10 units in MIDC are supplied power through a rural feeder and consequently had to endure load shedding of eight hours every day. No industry can be run like this, they contended.

Mohan Dev of MIDC Industries Association (MIA), Hingna raised the issue of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), charging hefty interest on back dues of sick units. Banks are reluctant to rehabilitate sick units, because they have been given the impression that the profits earned by the units, would go to paying outstanding PF and interest thereon.

Several other industry representatives said that the PF office was insensitive to their grievances and had no respect for state government laws.

Limaye said, the views of the PF office too should be known in this regard and asked the collector to ensure that representatives of the EPFO also be present in the next meeting of Zilla Udyog Mitra (ZUM).

Sunil Sirsikar, the vice president of MIA, drew attention towards the deteriorating condition of internal roads in MIDC, Hingna.

An MIDC official explained that a tender for Rs 5 crore had been floated for the purpose but got rejected. The MIDC was asked to issue a fresh tender on its website. The tender would be issued by September 15 and it would take another 45 days for procuring the final approval, the officer said.