KASSIA urges govt to spend 40 pc of tax on basic infra

Bengaluru: The KASSIA (Karnataka small scale industries association) has said that although businessmen pay requisite amount of property tax, there is lack of basic industrial infrastructure in these areas and within the panchayat area, to find a permanent solution to this problem, 40% of the money coming in the form of tax should be earmarked for infrastructure development,.

In a memorandum submitted to small scale industries Minister Sharana basappa Darshanapura, the KASSIA said that there is financial allocation for industrial infrastructure under union government’s MSME-CDP scheme. Therefore, in case of cluster-based land allocation, when industrial areas are developed using grants from the central and state governments, the cost of land will be reduced significantly, which will facilitate the relocation of industries operating in the residential sector. It is suggested that if they focus in this regard, it will not only be of great benefit to the industries, but it will also bring a good name to them and the government, memorandum said. KASSIA urged to provide property tax rebate in municipalities and local bodies for establishment of new industries. KASSIA president C A Shashidhara Shetty said that we have submitted a request to the state government to fulfil the demands, including solving the problems of the Karnataka Pollution Control Board.

Roads in the industrial areas are severely deteriorated and transportation of goods and materials is also hampered. Women employees are afraid to walk at night due to lack of street lights. We requested that this be addressed at the earliest. Further, Rs 5 crore per annum need to be provided to expand our KASSIA activities to all regions of the state. He said that many issues were discussed with the Minister, including industrial court, postponement of electricity rate hike and reduction of tax levied on electricity and subsidy for MSMEs.

The KASSIA delegation also demanded that the industrial estates and colonies managed by KIADB and KSIDC suffer a lot due to lack of infrastructure, which is causing inconvenience to entrepreneurs. KASSIA Vice President M.G. Rajagopal, General Secretary S. Nagaraju, Joint Secretary Shreyas Kumar Jain, Treasurer Mallesh Gowda and many office bearers were in the delegation.