Uttaranchal gives investors the cold shoulder

While in Chhattisgarh, investors can sue the state government for delay in issuing clearances, including land transfer within 45 days, in Ut...

While in Chhattisgarh, investors can sue the state government for delay in issuing clearances, including land transfer within 45 days, in Uttaranchal, another newly-created state ruled by the Congress, entrepreneurs cannot even start enterprises on their own land.

The state, which has seen two governments and three chief ministers in its existence of more than one-and-half-years, is yet to declare its industrial policy. Not surprisingly, it is yet to attract a single big investment project or investor from outside.

Surender Uppal, a home-bred entrepreneur who has made it big in real estate business in Ghaziabad and Noida, wanted to build an ultra-modern housing complex on 65 bighas of land, he owned on Sahastradhara road, at a cost of Rs 250 crore. This would have brought Rs 25 crore as revenue for the state.

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He had planned to build 700 fully-furnished air-conditioned flats at the rate of Rs 8.50 lakh per unit in the first phase. Besides developing the land, Uppal constructed a bridge on river Rispana at a cost of Rs 25 lakh, which besides linking his land to the main road, also benefited villagers in the vicinity. A tube well was also dug at a substantial cost.

His company, Uppal Towers, submitted the required drawings and plans to the Mussoorie-Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) with a processing fee of Rs 3.53 lakh on May 13, 2002. To his surprise, he received a notice two days later alleging that he was carrying on illegal construction on the land. ‘‘It was frustrating to get such a response after spending half a crore on developing the land,’’ Uppal said. Uppal met almost anyone who was someone in Uttaranchal, right from officials of the MDDA to Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari, only to get lip sympathy. ‘‘Now, I have decided to abandon the project,’’ he said.

MDDA officials are tight-lipped about the case. MDDA secretary Ravinder Godbole and chief town planner M.C. Ghildiyal were evasive in their replies while state Urban Development Minister Nav Parbhat said he would not like to comment on the issue.

Inquiries by The Indian Express revealed that rivalry between two ministers in the Tiwari Cabinet stalled the project.

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Surender Uppal is a one-time friend of Sports Minister Pritam Singh which was ostensibly not to the liking of his political opponents in the Cabinet. However, this is not an isolated case. CII president P.K. Dhawan has another tale to tell. He said his proposal to built an amusement park in Dehradun has been pending for over a year. ‘‘There is not even a single instance of outside investment into the state,’’ he said.

Kailash Joshi, another eminent NRI of Uttaranchal, who came here with US President Bill Clinton, also did try to bring investment last year but was disgusted at the state of affairs. ‘‘When they cannot manage their garbage, how they can attract people from outside,’’ Joshi recent commented.

Minister of State in the Chief Minister’s Office, Kishore Upadhaya, who was recently asked to look after the Correspondence of Industries Department said that an industrial policy would soon be framed for the state.

Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee during his stay at Nainital in March this year had also assured the state of tax benefits in the form of a decade-long IT holiday for industry in the state but nothing has come out of it yet.