Ladakh Admn puts draft of its ‘Industrial Land Allotment Policy’ in public domain

70 pc land in IEs to be reserved for MSMEs

Nishikant Khajuria

JAMMU, Oct 26: The Administration of Union Territory of Ladakh today put draft of its ‘Industrial Land Allotment Policy’ in public domain for seeking suggestions and comments from general public of the UT by November 10, 2023.
The policy shall remain in operation for 10 years from the date of its adoption and it is aimed at following a transparent mechanism for land allotment for industrial use in Ladakh Union Territory.
Even as the policy provides a framework to attract National as well as International investments in Ladakh, land allotment for the industrial units seeking investment in the Service Sector as mentioned in the Positive List of the Ladakh Sustainable Industrial Policy 2022-27 shall be permitted only for local entrepreneurs of the Union Territory.
The Service Sector includes IT & Electronics industry, Online Services, Film/Video Production and Music Studio based industry; Hospitals/ Medical Diagnostic Centre; Eco-Tourism Infrastructure/ Activity; Hotel, Guest House & Resorts; Coaching/Training & Skill development services, etc .
For the Industrial units seeking investment in the Manufacturing sector, outside entrepreneurs may be permitted, but the policy recommends that preference may be given to the local entrepreneurs.
For saving the interest of Micro and Small Enterprises as per MSME’s definition, 70 percent of the land in the Industrial Estate shall be reserved for Micro and Small Enterprises and 30 percent of the land shall be open for Medium and Large investors.
Further, 40 percent of the total land in the Industrial Estates shall be kept reserved for Priority Sector Industries, 10 percent for Startups and 10 percent for Underprivileged Sections of the Society.
Priority Sector Industries include Food Processing/Agro based industries; Handicraft, Handloom and Pashmina; Solar components manufacturing units; Manufacturing & Processing of aromatic and medicinal plant; oxygen, Nitrogen plant; Printing Press, Flex Printing; Cold Storage/control atmosphere; Packaging Industries (Non-polluting); Recycling Industries (Non-polluting); Manufacturing of Prefabricated items.
Underprivileged Sections include Single Mother, Widows, Specially Abled and Third Gender Persons.
The land shall be allotted on the basis of drawing of lots through a computerized mechanism against the number of plots available, keeping reservation as per priorities in order into consideration.
On the basis of Investment in Plant and Machinery, there shall be District Level Single Window Clearance Committee (Investment up to Rs 5 crore), Department Level Single Window Clearance Committee (More than Rs 5 crores and up to Rs 20 crore) and State Level Single Window Clearance Committee (More than Rs 20 crore). Only applications cleared by the Single Window Clearance Committee will be considered for the drawing of lots.
The State level committee will be headed by the Advisor, UT Ladakh while the Department level and District level committees will be headed by Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Ladakh and the concerned Deputy Commissioner, respectively.
Each committee shall decide land allotment application within 45 days from the day of receiving the application. Once approved, the Agency responsible for the development, maintenance, allotment and management of the Government Industrial land shall immediately issue a land allotment certificate to the applicant. The land shall be allotted on lease to the investors, initially for a period of 40 years, which may be extendable to 99 years.
Premium rate of Industrial land per Kanal in Urban areas is : Rs 2.5 lakh (not exceeding 5 Kanal), Rs 3.5 lakh (not exceeding 8 Kanal), Rs 4.5 lakh ( exceeding 8 Kanal) and Rs 6 lakh (exceeding 20 Kanal).
Similarly the premium rate of Industrial land in Rural areas is: Rs 2 lakh (not exceeding 5 Kanal), Rs 3 lakh (not exceeding 8 Kanal), Rs 4 lakh ( exceeding 8 Kanal) and Rs 5.5 lakh (exceeding 20 Kanal).
An allottee must pay 100 percent land premium within 60 days from the date of issuance of allotment letter and before the execution of lease deed to the Agency. The enterprises shall initially be given Provisional Allotment for two years, within which they shall commence production/render service.
Even as the policy shall remain in operation for ten years from the date of its adoption, it shall be reviewed from time to time based on a critical assessment of feedback from stakeholders and change in scope that is regarded necessary.