It boasts of a large area, easy accessibility, proximity to airport, port and railway stations and also the best of companies. It also has better facilities than the other industrial estates in the State. Yet, this industrial estate is not without its share of problems. It is lacking the very basic needs of water and power, and yes there are also security issues that need to be taken care of for the thousands of workers who work in shifts in the various units.
The shortage of water at the estate was brought to the notice of authorities at the 114th annual general body meeting of the Verna Industrial Association. Over 300 small and big units in the estate are facing a water crisis and are forced to source water from private tankers and bore wells. The water crisis stems from the bifurcation of the pipeline supplying raw water into several small jobs that led to the pipeline to supply over 20 million litres daily not being completed. This is an example of how an industrial estate should not be mismanaged. But it’s not just water problems affecting the units there, the industrial estate also faces a power crisis with erratic electricity supply and a delay in laying underground electricity cables in the area. The association has demanded that the latter be undertaken on a priority basis. Added to these two are the garbage menace, demarcation of truck terminal and other issues that add to the woes of the industrialists and workers at Verna.
If Verna Industrial Estate, supposedly Goa’s best, can be bogged down with so many problems, then the condition of the other industrial estates in the State will be no better. On an almost regular basis there are reports of the terrible conditions that exist in the industrial estates that also have various sick units. The government is aware of this and in February last year the Industries Minister had announced that the existing industrial estates would be provided with all required facilities and had mooted new industrial estates.
An expansion of the State’s industrial base is definitely required and while doing so, Industrial Development Corporation that handles the creation and management of industrial estates should take that extra step to professionalise its working. IDC needs to focus not just on new industrial estates but also on improving the conditions of the existing industrial estates so that companies and units already in the State are not forced to shift elsewhere or even consider it, and those from outside that are planning projects in Goa are not discouraged.
At a time when the State is planning an electronic city and an IT park, it cannot afford to give the impression that the existing estates are facing problems. This will not inspire confidence in companies that are looking at setting up a base in the State in the new planned developments. To attract industry, it is not just land that needs to be offered but other services, including power supply. An industry’s major requirement is power which Goa does not generate and for which the States depends entirely on the supply from the grids outside its border. The supply and transmission of power needs improvement. An IT park and an electronic city cannot be promoted unless there is a dedicated line that ensures uninterrupted power supply. It is when this is ensured that other demands can be easily met.
Goa has to start with the industrial estate at Verna. It is once all the demands of this estate have been met, that the State can begin to promote itself to the IT industry with a success story to talk about.
