PANJIM: Nearly 140 units set
up by Goa Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in Daman and Diu are facing
an uncertain future as the leases, most signed 30 years ago, expired in 2015
and are yet to be renewed.
The Goa government has
decided to transfer the loss making industrial estates of Daman and Diu to the
respective local administration after the Union Territory rejected IDCs request
for renewal of the lease for Diu industrial estate by 69 years.
Procedural delays between
Daman & Diu Administration and IDC for renewal of leases, which depends
upon the State government decision, have spelt trouble for the industrial units
there.
In all 141 small and medium
scale units are running on 207 plots in the industrial estates of Daman and
Diu. GIDC spends Rs 6.03 lakh per month and earns Rs 5.06 per month from Daman
industrial estate while in the case of Diu, the expenditure is Rs 1.9 lakh and
income is Rs 1.5 lakh per month.
A senior official confirmed
that the delay in renewal is because the Daman & Diu administration has
still not agreed to several requests by IDC for extension of leases, so that
IDC can handover the Daman and Diu industrial estates to the Union Territory.
“The Collector, Union
Territory of Daman and Diu has rejected IDC’s request for extension of lease
for Diu industrial estate by 69 years. The proposal was rejected in 2013 and
again in 2015. Hence, the government has decided to transfer the industrial
estates to the respective administration,” the official said.
Government land of
1,10,638.00 sq mts at Malala, in Bucharvado village in Diu was leased out to
the then Goa, Daman and Diu Industrial Development Corporation (GDDIDC) for a
period of 30 years in 1982, which expired in October 2012.
In the case of Daman, Goa
government had acquired two lakh sq mtr of land while another 87,600 sqm of
land has been transferred from the Union Territory administration.
The official stated that the
government is planning to transfer the industrial estates to the Daman and Diu
administration. “Though the government had earned much profit on both the
industrial estates in the initial period, it is now facing financial losses,”
sources said.
An official said that since
Daman and Diu ceased to be part of Goa after the latter attained statehood in
1987, policy makers are forced to review Goa’s presence there.
