Disclosing this to Deccan Herald here on Friday, Karnataka advisor to Governor Krishna Kumar said one of the new guidelines is that the manufacturing companies getting approval should also provide for housing for its employees.
“Housing is one of the major problems faced by all and we make it mandatory for the companies to provide housing for their workforce. We will ensure that we give all required clearances in this regard as fast as possible.” He said the government would reopen the recent project approvals to ensure that they too fall in the line with the upcoming guidelines.
The advisor also disclosed that the high-level committee (HLC) of the state government to approve industrial proposals has been revamped. “The committee has been trimmed and it will have the governor as chairman and will consist of the advisors, chief secretary and finance secretary with industry secretary as convener,” he said. “We will call the secretary of the department concerned when a matter pertaining to that department crops up”. Earlier, it consisted of all Cabinet ministers and secretaries of all the departments.
“We have already held the first meeting of the HLC and the second will be held next week where we will examine and approve the new guidelines. We will meet again in the first week of March to take up approvals of individual proposals,” Kumar added.
Enquiries have begun coming even before Karnataka’s ambitious Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) project has started taking shape, Krishna Kumar said.
According to him, a firm from Abu Dhabi has evinced interest in investing in the project which will span across 60,000 acre of land in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.
The advisor, stressing that the project was only at an initial stage, said the state government was looking at several such investors for the project for which the Centre has taken keen interest in ensuring that it takes off early.
He said although the project is at the final stage of appraisal, the state government will invite the potential investors, including the one from Abu Dhabi, to come over to Bangalore and understand the project which would help them in making investments. “From our side, we will ensure that clearances are given fast,” he added. Karnataka is one of the 5-6 states where the PCPIR will be implemented.
At a meeting here earlier this week, Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar directed the Karnataka government to submit the final proposal on the project by month-end after which it will be taken up by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for final clearance.
As per the initial project proposal submitted last month to the Centre, the PCPIR will include the Mangalore special economic zone in which the petrochemical complex is coming up. The existing New Mangalore port and Mangalore airport are also part of the region.