The many woes of industries
It doesn’t stop at the Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The Goa Small Industries Association (GSIA), the apex body of micro, small and medium industries in the state, on Monday said that the Goa Industrial Development Corporation’s (IDC’s) lack of transparency in allotment of plots in Goa’s industrial estates is badly affecting industrial growth in the state.
GSIA’s new President Shekhar Sardesai said on Monday that the IDC’s allotment policy is not fair and transparent, and several allotments of plots are done without following any rules whatsoever. The GSIA President has said that this needs to stop, and recommended creating an empowered screening committee that decides selection on merit, based on open criteria. Creation of additional bodies may bring its own set of problems, but no one can deny that the IDC needs to have a transparent policy for allocation of plots, and a system where the plots available in industrial estates are easily known, through a website.
It seems some progress is underway, as the government has created a task force to identify unutilised and underutilised plots in various industrial estates. The fact is that only about one-third of the units in our industrial estates are functioning. Some are in liquidation, others in litigation, while many are just lying unutilised, or used as dumping or storage areas.
Small scale industries contribute almost 40 per cent of the gross industrial value added in the Indian economy. It has been estimated that Rs10 lakh of investment in fixed assets in the small scale sector produces Rs46 lakh worth of goods or services. Small scale industries also create the most employment, next only to agriculture. It has been estimated that Rs1lakh in investment in fixed assets can generate employment for up to four persons (compare that to one job per crore of rupees in large, automated industries). While these ratios may not apply in their entirety to a state like Goa, it shows that this is a sector that needs much more attention and support from the government.
But small industries in Goa have more problems than just allotment of land. The power scenario in Goa is abysmal, says the GSIA, which has advocated setting up of at least two gas-based power plants in Goa. Goa has a demand-supply gap of nearly 50MW during peak hours. The projected power requirement in 2020-2021 is expected to be 1,500MW. Interestingly, Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde too has recommended that Goa should make use of the natural gas from Dabhol, which is to reach Goa by 2012 through a pipeline, for a power plant.
The Electricity Department needs to move urgently on this. Once the gas starts flowing in 2012, the Electricity Department must have all its plans on the ground. It it doesn’t claim its rightful share of gas, there may be none left for it later, as it is a highly cost-efficient and non-polluting fuel, which finds lots of users.
Generating more electricity is not the only way to create more power. Saving electricity is as good as generating it. Goa has a very high rate of power loss, thanks to wheeling charges by neighbouring states and outright robbery by some unscrupulous industrial and commercial users. It also has poor distribution equipment. Investing in power infrastructure must take precedence over expensive sodium vapour street lamps, fancy lamp posts, high masts, etc. Introduction of LED lighting for households can reduce power consumption exponentially.
If people can get uninterrupted power sans fluctuations, we are sure they will not mind tubelights on the roads instead of the costly but not very useful gizmos that our politicians so proudly flaunt as ‘development’ in their constituencies.
