NOC compliance from Grampanchayat may De-accelerate Industrialisation In Rural Area : COSIA

Ministry of Rural Development, Maharashtra has recently issued a circular on 19th October’20, which supersedes all its earlier circulars , regarding obtaining NOC from Grampanchayat to get Non Agricultural ( NA)  status to Agriculture land in the rural area.

The new directives given by the state Government to obtain NOC is more cumbersome and time consuming feels COSIA Vidarbha Chapter,as stated by its Chairman Shri.Mayank. Shukla.

The basic purpose of converting agricultural land to Non Agricultural status is to utilise non productive land to make it usable for some other purpose like; industrial,residential, public utility, or recreational activities in that area. This will not only bring socio economic changes in the rural area but will also create more job opportunities for the rural youths thereby preventing them to migrate in urban area.

If this objective is to be achieved than the entire procedure of obtaining NOC from grampanchayats has to be hastlefree,simplified and less time consuming,Mr Shukla added.

Vice Chairman COSIA & leading industrial consultant CA Julfesh Shah said that there should be a single window system to get all clearances for setting up the industrial unit which will promote ease of doing business in Maharashtra state.Already Minister of Industry Shri Subhash Desai has announced the MAHA PARWANA scheme for setting up industrial unit which will be a single window system & will attract industrial investments in the State & now this additional compliance is simply unwanted & unnecessary,CA Shah reacted.

He further opined that no doubt,it’s necessary to take care of preventing ill-effects of urbanisation or affecting  agricultural activities in that area,but inordinate delays in project implementation are not desired & will hamper the pace of industrialization.

The new circular directs the NOC applicant to apply at the respective grampanchayats and if the permission is not granted within 30 days , they may approach BDO ( Block Development Officer) after the lapse of this period and within 60 days, the authorities at BDO will study the matter and ask for clarifictions/objections to respective Grampanchayats and act upon it within 30 days from the date of approaching BDO.

The new procedure is not only time consuming but involves one more Government authorities,which may also lead to unfair practice.Chamber of Small Industry Associations feels that only one Goverment Authority should be jurisdictional authority to grant permission and issue NOC to carry out non-agricultural activities in the rural area.

The whole procedure should be in a stipulated time period and in a simplified way.It is also humbly suggested that the application for Non Agricultural use of Land should be treated as “Deemed Granted” if no objection is raised in a stipulated period by a sanctioning authority which will create delays in the project.COSIA will urgently send a representation in this regard to the authorities ,Mr Shukla concluded.