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Onus on industry

Chhattisgarh asks business houses to acquire own land

the Chhattisgarh government is planning to allow new industries in the state provided companies acquire land on their own from farmers.

Executive director of the Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation, Avinash Bhatnagar, said over a dozen investors including the gmr group are awaiting land allotments for the past several months but existing industrial areas are saturated. The four new industrial estates will be in Raipur, Raigarh, Bilaspur and Rajnandgaon districts. He said gmr is trying to acquire land in Tilda area of Raipur but that other investors are yet to make any effort.

The industrial area in Tilda is spread over 2,630 hectares (ha) of which 809 ha is owned by the government. Bhatnagar said the land selected is of inferior quality not suited to agriculture. He said the land will be developed at a cost of Rs 177 crore. Polluting industries like sponge iron units will not be allowed and steel plants will be allowed only if they have their own power plants, he said. Industrialization in the other three areas would be taken up in the second and third phases.

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