Even as Goa improved its ranking marginally from 21 two years ago to 19 on its performance on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ parameter, industrialists say that much of the improvement exists only on paper and it’s still difficult to get timely approvals from government departments
KARAN SEHGAL
In October 2016, when the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Central government had ranked Goa 21 across all states and union territories of India on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ parameter, the State government drew a lot of flak.
Ever since then, the state government has made attempts to improve the situation and to an extent the result of those efforts is visible, as Goa stood 19 (two points better than in 2016) on EODB this time.
Industrialists, however, are not pleased as they complained that they still have to make several rounds of government departments to get necessary approvals. There are very few government departments which process the entire application of an industry online from end to end.
Industrialists even sounded impatient as they went on to claim that the single-window clearance system has not been implemented yet.
However, just two days back, the State government has made the investment promotion board (IPB) to put in place a single-window clearance system for facilitating projects, but the results of this development are yet to be seen on the ground.
Damodar Kochkar, President, Verna Industrial Estate Association, said, “For most approvals, you have to physically be present at the government departments. Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) is the only government department, which can process the entire application online.”
“Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) has to go online. Earlier, GIDC used to send lease rent invoices online, but that has also stopped,” Kochkar continued.
Many departments have gone online but only for a certain part of service delivery. For rest of the service, applicants have to go the departments physically.
Kochkar further said, “In case of Fire Department, you can apply online, but the remaining process is done by going physically to its office.”
Industrialists also complained that the fees for getting or renewing government licenses have considerably increased in the last few years. Given this, they demand that the departments become efficient when it comes to giving approvals.
Members of the business community said that GIDC has to implement time-bound delivery of service, if Goa has to really perform better on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ parameter. This is because GIDC is the most important part of the government as far as industries are concerned.
Joseph Mathew, President, Margao Industrial Estate Association, said, “The ease of doing business has to improve further. The government has to implement a single-window clearance system. If GIDC allots plots, it should send applications for power connection as well to the Electricity Department.”
Mathew continued, “GIDC has to implement time-bound delivery of service. When an industrialist gets a plot allotted to him by GIDC, he has to submit the drawing for the building to GIDC. We have seen that GIDC ends up taking too much time for approving such drawings even when it is prepared by structural engineers.”
Sometime back, GIDC had amended a regulation due to which it has to approve or reject an application for sub-lease and transfer of industrial plots within 21 days or else the application is deemed approved.
Industrialists are happy with this development, but they said that GIDC has to adopt similar approach for
allotting plots and all other services it provides.
Sources in the industrial sector acknowledged that the top brass of GIDC and Directorate of Industries, Trade and Commerce are really co-operative. But they complained that not all government departments are equally responsive or co-operative.
Darshan Vani, President, Mapusa Industrial Estate Association, said,
“It’s only on paper that Goa’s performance on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ parameter has improved. Practically speaking, single window system for industrial approvals has not been implemented yet.”
“Many departments take a lot of time to give approvals. For example, pollution control board at times takes more than six months for renewing license without any reason. GIDC still takes years to allot plots to industries.”
Again and again, industrialists complained that government departments are not time bound in delivering a service when they approach them. Moreover, there is a perennial issue of infrastructural problems. This summer and even in monsoon, power cuts have been particularly terrible in the industrial estates.
A source on condition of anonymity said, “On ground, there is no significant improvement when it comes to ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in Goa. Consider the case of Verna Industrial Estate. There are many vacant plots here, but for existing industries there are water and power supply issues. For every problem, we have to rush to the Chief Minister. The entire government machinery should work.”
Another source, who wished to remain unnamed, said, “The government machinery is not prompt when it comes to giving approvals. The departments work in the same mood and at the same pace they were working 5 to 6 years ago. You apply in one department for approvals, which results in you going to many other departments. So, there are multiple windows and there is no single window for all approvals.”
In a nutshell, the industry is not happy because departments are not accountable if licenses are not given in a time-bound manner. Even the process of getting licenses renewed is cumbersome.
Unless the government takes steps in to really reform its departments, it
will be really difficult for Goa to actually make doing business easy.
