BJP MLA Chandrappa M. representing Holalkere Assembly constituency alleged that industries that avail the incentives offered to them to start operations violate the conditions on providing jobs to locals as per the Sarojini Mahishi recommendations and payment of taxes after conclusion of tax holiday period.
After raising a question on the investors’ meets in the last three years during Question Hour on Friday, Mr. Chandrappa said some industries were not fulfilling their obligations after availing the concessions and infrastructure facilities.
He cited automobile company Toyota, which started operations in Bidadi in 1995-96. He alleged that the company has failed to pay tax dues to the government even after conclusion of the holiday period. The automobile company owed the government tax dues amounting to more than ₹ 8,500 crore, he alleged in the House.
Replying to the matter, Minister for Large and Medium Industries M.B. Patil assured to get information about the same and look into the matter.
With regard to employment for locals, Mr. Patil said the industries availing benefits under the Industrial Policy 2020-25 should provide 100% D group jobs to locals and 70% jobs overall to locals.
Mr. Patil said 57 companies had signed MoUs for investment worth a total of ₹ 5.41 lakh crore during the Invest Karnataka meet held in Bengaluru in November 2022. During the Hubballi FMCG Investors Meet held in October 2022, a total of 16 companies had signed MoUs for a total investment of ₹ 1,275 crore.
The government had spent ₹ 74.99 crore to organise the Invest Karnataka 2022 Meet in Bengaluru and ₹ 12.23 lakh to organise the Hubballi FMCG Meet 2022. Out of the 57 companies signing MoU during the Invest Karnataka 2022 meet, seven projects had been cleared by the State Level Single Window Agency (SLSWA). Out of the 16 companies signing MoU at Hubballi FMCG Investors Meet, three had been approved by the SLSWA.
The approvals had been given to companies for providing basic infrastructure facilities including land, water and electricity.
To a question on when the approved industries will start operations, Mr. Patil said the progress of work on setting up of the industries was in various stages and the it would normally take 3 to 4 years for the operations to start.
