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Call it a mess. Local industry is up in arms and the Congress-ruled Delhi government is caught between being confronted with the political repercussions of alienating a powerful lobby of small industrialists and unorganised labour and a Supreme Court order.
The issue that's kicking up a rumpus in the nation's capital? The way the state government is shifting industrial units from Delhi to the outskirts of the city, following a Supreme Court order.
Over the last few years, the Delhi administration has been trying to shift polluting industrial units or units that don't conform to the city's master plan out of the city. Quite some time ago, the Supreme Court prodded the Delhi administration and sought an adherence to the master plan.
Many of these industrial units are located in areas where only residences are permitted (indeed, in some areas, nearly 70 per cent of the land sites industrial units). Almost 90 per cent of these units have legal power and water connections and pay sales and other taxes to the government.
In order to be fair to workers, the court had also asked the Delhi government to provide alternative plots to those who were to be evicted. That order came seven years ago, but the government has not been able to address that issue.
The Delhi government has been sealing (that is, electricity and water supply is cut off and a government seal slapped on the premise, effectively closing it) F category or severely polluting industrial units.
But on the other hand it wants to regularise 24 areas all across the city where it says 70 per cent of the area is occupied by industry. That's something that upsets scores of small businessmen and others.
"If the government feels that it should regularise these 24 areas, why is it going ahead and sealing industrial units here," asks Ajit Choudhary, the Congress leader associated with industrial matters.
While the court set October 8 as the deadline for F category units to be sealed, categories "B" to "E" are to be sealed by November 8.
The last to be sealed will be "A" category industrial units, which are mainly classified as household industrial units. Over 300 units in the city have so far been sealed.
Delhi has, according to a 1996 government survey, 1,26,000 industrial units. The Bawana industrial estate on the city's outskirts can accommodate only 16,000 of them -- and that's exactly the point industry associations are trying to make.
"Why has the government begun the sealing drive when it does not have enough land to accommodate us," asks G K Sethi, general secretary of the Mundka Vyapar Sangathan.
The government says that at least those who've been allotted land should move on their own. "We have developed the land and over 200 plot owners have taken possession of their plots," notes Jalaj Shrivastava, head of the Delhi State Industrial Development Commission (DSIDC).
But owners of industrial units angrily point out that basic infrastructure has not been put in place.
"Basic infrastructure like electric sub stations is yet to come up, there is elephant grass where the plots were supposed to be, how can you expect us to shift there," asks Vijay Virmani, general secretary of the Delhi Manufacturers Association.
The Delhi government, according to official sources, has made up its mind to ask the Supreme Court for time to conduct another survey, as it feels that the previous survey had "underestimated" the number of areas where 70 per cent of the locality is occupied by industrial units.
That, and the inclusion of some more industries in the "A" category, is viewed as one way of not shifting so many industrial units out. The government also considered filing a review petition seeking more time.
"This is a typical attempt to buy time. In fact, in a lot of areas designated as 70 per cent industrial, the situation is very different," says a senior official of an industrial unit.
In early September, the Delhi government had also asked Union urban development minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for help in obtaining more time from the court.
"The sealing operations started after the Centre refused to help, saying that the issue had been simmering from the 1990s and that it did not want to share any guilt on the issue with the state government," admits a senior minister in the Delhi government.
Right now the Delhi government continues its sealing operations. The next date for filing a compliance report is October 30. So unless the court decides to give it more time, the Delhi administration is in a jam. Small businessmen, meanwhile, are banking on appealing to the politicians for a bailout.
"What else can we do except ask the government to represent our case in court, with the findings of various committees asking for regularisation of areas where 70 per cent of the area is occupied by industry," Sethi asks.