Bawana factory owners meet minister Jain, seek policy for freehold ownership of land

The move comes as the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation has, over the last one week, issued showcause notices to 11,000 industrial units in Bawana for violation of lease conditions as most allottees have either rented out or sold the units, which is against the norm.

Owners of factories operating out of the Bawana Industrial Area on Thursday met Delhi industries minister Satyendar Jain and demanded a policy for freehold ownership of the units.

The Bawana Industrial Area has a total of 16,350 plots, of which around 12,000 are functional factory units. The industrial area was set up by the DSIIDC following a Supreme Court order of 2004 which called for relocation of small-scale industries that were running in residential areas to outer Delhi’s Bawana and Narela. (AFP/Picture for representation)

The move comes as the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) has, over the last one week, issued showcause notices to 11,000 industrial units in Bawana for violation of lease conditions as most allottees have either rented out or sold the units, which is against the norm.

According to sources, the DSIIDC has issued four different notices — for change of trade, renting out premises, sale and purchase of plots and cancellation of allocation for those that have remained closed for some time — to each of the units. In the notices, the DSIIC has asked the owners of the units to explain why their leases should not be cancelled.

“The notices were issued over the past one week. This is despite the fact that we have long been demanding that ownership of industrial plots be made freehold for the ease of business. All other industrial areas in the city are freehold except for DSIIDC’s Bawana and Narela,” said Subhash Khanna, a member of Bawana Friends’ Industrial Welfare Association.

On Thursday, members of the Confederation of Relocated Industries (Bawana) met Jain at his residence, and demanded relief for the same. “We met the minister and asked him to give relief to factory owners. The minister has assured us that the government will come up with a policy on the issue within a week,” said Rajeev Kumar Goel, coordinator of the confederation.

Conferring ownership right to plot owners, Goel said, will also help the government as revenue will be increased. It will also ensure that there are no illegally run factories. In 2015, the AAP government had proposed to make all factories in the industrial area freehold so that ownership could be kept in check.

Most of these factories are rented out by the original allottees of the plots, even as it is against DSIIDC rules.

The members were supported by the Aam Aadmi Party’s traders’ wing.

“Factories in Bawana were not given proprietary rights as they were given on lease. Proprietary rights will allow owners to take loan from banks directly for their business instead of going to moneylenders,” Brijesh Goyal, convener, AAP traders’ wing, said.

Meanwhile, despite repeated attempts by HT, Jain was not available for a comment on the issue.