Kochi: New entrepreneurs can make use of the online portal of industries department to apply for industrial licences. “This system acts as a single window application portal for entrepreneurs to almost 14 departments of the government,” Minister for Industries E.P. Jayarajan said on Monday.
The online portal is meant to speed up the process and issue licences to the prospective industrialists in a month's time, he said during an industrial adalat organized by the state department of industries and commerce in Kochi.
If any government department did not respond within a month of the application, the applicants would be issued deemed licences with which they could begin operations. He said the government policy was to give complete protection to industries. One-time settlement will be introduced as a remedy to the financial woes of entrepreneurs, he added.
The adalat provided a public platform to industrialists in Ernakulam to voice their complaints and seek redressal. The department received 210 complaints.
Of these, 122 were settled and the complainants were formally handed over the settlement documents by the minister himself at the venue. New complainants were given the opportunity to directly address their complaints to the minister and seek redressal. A total of 17 new complaints were handed over to the minister.
Overall 105 complaints were deferred for action. A total of 25 complaints pertained to land where industries were proposed to be started. The minister said that action will be taken on them within two months. Six complaints pertained to recovery proceedings related to industries.
Officials from various government departments, including the PWD, PCB and electrical inspection were present at the adalat and the applicants were directed to the officials concerned by the minister to initiate the grievance redressal process.
“The future is not restricted to the manufacture of farm equipment alone; we should focus on keeping up with global developments. We as a state need to focus on the growth and expansion of our engineering sector, especially to improve safety measures to combat natural disasters,” he said while inaugurating a technical workshop for the general engineering sector organised by the department of industries and commerce on the sidelines of the adalat.
