Revival of industrial belt remains a major concern
Jamshedpur, Dec. 27: Hit by slump, industrialists under Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority ( AIADA)� belonging to rich industrial districts of East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Seraikela Kharswan are pinning hopes on the formation of new Government in the State.
The industrial areas like Adityapur, Ghamharia, Kandra and Chandil have been reeling under bad infrastructure like poor roads, lack of bridges, water and erratic power supply. The entrepreneurs are hopeful that the newly formed Government would work for their betterment.
With several manufacturing units hit by slowdown in production at Tata Motors� plant here and closure of other major industries like Tayo, revival of industrial belt remains a major concern.
Moreover, with Tata Motors drastically cutting production to tide over tough times vendors and auto ancillary units at Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority ( AIADA) are facing perhaps their toughest challenge.
S K Singhal, a city based entrepreneur, said that State
government should immediate work on a rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R)
policy to help the industry acquire land smoothly. Besides, the Government
should also process mining licenses for raw materials such as iron ore and
coal, key to steelmaking.
“We expect the government to convince the banks to provide around six to
eight months’ leeway to the ancillaries (to put on hold repayment of interest
amount and loan amount) and prevent the banks from further declaring the
crisis-hit units as NPA,” said Santosh Khetan, Adityapur Small Industries
Association (ASIA) functionary and ancillary unit owner.
Around 300 ancillaries have secured loans from banks, both public and private, over the last five years, of which more than 100 have been declared NPAs, said industry insiders.
Owners of the non-performing units are worried because respective banks might auction the ancillaries for loan recovery.
“In July alone, Samson Engineering Pvt Ltd in Phase 2 of the industrial area was auctioned by a leading public sector bank, while another unit too received auction notice,” said an ancillary owner and functionary of Laghu Udyog Bharati.
Officials are pinning hopes that the Special Economic Zones
and Adityapur Auto Cluster Limited would grow with faster speed with the
formation of Government. They said a stable Government with a vision of
development is the need of the hour.
Officials of Adityapur Small Industries Association informed that a delegation
would soon meet the CM to update him with issues concerning the industrial
sector.
It may be noted that the sprawling Adityapur Industrial Area houses 900 units-
including 11 large-scale, 64 small scale and 166 tiny industries. A few
important industries that has global presence are Usha Martin Group, RSB Group,
Tata Steel Growth Shop(TGS) etc., too situated in this industrial belt,
situated in Seraikela-Kharsawan.
There are 20 industries, which export its products to the USA, Australia and
other European countries.
A section of loan beneficiaries have mortgaged their houses and valuables to shore up funds. When approached, officials at Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority (AIADA) maintained that they are coordinating with the concerned ancillaries to ensure maximum leeway from banks within their limited capacity.
