Municipal Corporation of Delhi reduces licence burden on industrial units

Changes in factory licensing policy was one of the several policy proposals passed in meeting, which was marred by ruckus and protests from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors

New Delhi

AAP councillors protest. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), in its house of councillors meeting on Thursday, passed a policy reform that allows industrial units located in designated areas or those with MSME registration certificates to be automatically treated as a “deemed factory licence”, eliminating the need for a separate factory licence from the MCD.

Changes in factory licensing policy were one of the several policy proposals passed in the meeting, which was marred by ruckus and protests from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors, who were demanding regularisation of contractual workers in the civic body.

The major relief in factory licences comes on the heels of the administration shelving Delhi Police licensing for seven trades, namely “hotel/motel/guest houses, all eating houses or restaurants, swimming pools, discotheque, video game parlour, amusement park, and auditoriums” in Delhi.

In a press conference after the meeting, mayor Raja Iqbal Singh said factories in designated industrial areas or those with MSME Udyam registration certificates will be treated as deemed factory licences under sections 416 and 417 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act. “This will eliminate the need for a separate factory licence from MCD, thereby reducing the compliance burden on entrepreneurs. Besides this, currently, licence fees are calculated based on electrical horsepower (HP) used by the unit, which often requires physical inspection. Under the new system, the factory licence fee will be fixed at 5% of the property tax and will be collected annually along with property tax,” he said.

MCD officials said that the new system will reduce unnecessary inspections and eliminate “inspector raj”.

“Responsibility for ensuring compliance with fire safety, environmental clearances, and structural norms will rest solely with the factory owners, who must obtain all necessary approvals from the competent authorities like the fire department and DPCC,” an MCD official said.

However, it was hardly a smooth-sailing session, as protests and sloganeering by AAP members led to adjournments.

AAP LoP Ankush Narang said, “When AAP was in power in the MCD, we passed a proposal to regularise 12,000 contractual employees and allocated ₹800 crore in the budget for their salaries and retirement benefits. But now, the BJP-led MCD refuses to implement it.”

The agenda was passed without any discussion during the uproar. Among other proposals cleared by the house include hiring new contractors for managing municipal waste in South, West and Central zones, regularisation of daily-wage workers at Hardyal municipal library, granting councillor area fund rights to nominated members and increasing the number of members in various ad hoc committees.

Mayor Singh said that AAP repeatedly disrupted House proceedings in an attempt to halt important public welfare decisions. “MCD councillors get an opportunity once a month during the house session to raise the issues faced by residents in their respective wards, but AAP’s negative politics disrupted this crucial platform. AAP has no interest in public welfare. Their sole agenda is to create disorder and obstruct progress.”