The Nagapattinam District Small and Tiny Industries Association (NADISTIA) has urged Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation (TANSIDCO) to carry out re-evaluation of SIDCO Industrial Estate plot cost under Notional Increase Method.
In a letter to TANSIDCO Managing Director, NADISTIA president V. Ramachandiran said Nagapattinam being one of the most industrially backward districts the MSME units were severely affected by COVID-19 pandemic and, on earlier occasions, due to tsunami in 2004 and Gaja cyclone in 2018.
As against 80% allotment of plots to entrepreneurs in more than 100 SIDCO Industrial Estates across Tamil Nadu, only 35% of the plots had been acquired so far in Nagapattinam.
In 17 plots, entrepreneurs were unable to start their industrial activities despite paying the Earnest Money Deposit during 2007 as the allotment was yet to be made. No valid reason was given for not making the allotment, Mr. Ramachandiran said.
In 2007, the rate fixed for allotment was ₹9 lakh. It had now been increased to two crore rupees, which was 25 times more. The issue was brought to the notice of SIDCO and a resolution was passed in the 287th board meeting in 2019 for making an indepth study of the cost of unsold plots.
The comprehensive agenda of the subsequent board meeting of SIDCO was to find an immediate remedy for the decade-long pending issue to help the MSME sector in Nagapattinam industrial estate, Mr. Ramachandiran said.
Since no plot had been sold due to the “abnormal and unaffordable price hike”, the economy of the district had been severely hit and the number of unemployed youths were increasing. Many workers had started migrating to other districts for their survival.
Hence, the Notional Increase Method of 12% per annum as prescribed in Government Order No. 907, Revenue Department (dated Dec. 13, 1994), would greatly support new entrepreneurs as well as those who were waiting to start new industries in SIDCO. The issue ought to be considered as a priority, he added.
