LIVE TV
Odisha
Recommended Stories
Berhampur: Odisha Industries Federation (OIF) has demanded a tax holiday for small and medium industries in Ganjam district for at least an year and also sought Rs 2,000 crore grant-in-aid to rebuild the infrastructure damaged by cyclone Phailin and recent floods.
The federation has also urged the government for a moratorium of one-year on all statutory repayment to banks and financial institutions.
"The total loss to the sector, in the district, due to the cyclone and floods is not less than Rs 1,500 crore. It can be revived only with the immediate intervention of the state and central governments" said Rajendra Kumar Mishra, Vice Chairman of the Federation?s South Zone.
The Federation has also submitted a memorandum to the Joint Director of Industries, S K Sarangi, during his recent visit to the district to assess the damage in the SME sector.
Around 1,000 medium, small and micro enterprises of the district, including rice mills, cashew processing units, kewda distillation plants, crusher units, granite processing units, hotel industries and salt industries, were severely affected in the calamities, he said.
Several other enterprises engaged in electrical manufacturing, plastic and polymer, fabrication and engineering and wood based industries also sustained huge loss, he said.
According to the General Manager, District Industry Center, Badri Patro, there are 2009 registered units in Ganjam district. The exact number of units damaged in the recent calamities could only be known after the assessment of individual units, he said.
"We have asked the Industrial Promotion Officers (IPO) to enumerate the number of damaged units and submit the report by November 15," he said.
Representatives of several associations have also submitted a separate memoranda to the Joint Director of Industries and urged him to waive power supply charges and give them a special grant for reconstruction of the damaged units.
