Odisha: Investors Should Not Be Asked To Run To Any Office Physically For Getting Clearance: Chief Secy

Bhubaneswar: Encouraged by investment proposals worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore during the pandemic, Odisha government on Friday asked authorities to ensure that investors are not asked to run to any office physically for getting clearance.

The direction was issued by Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra while reviewing the progress in taking the Single Window Clearance Authority (SWCA) to the next level.

The senior official directed the departments concerned to designate a nodal officer for coordinating with IPICOL (Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd) for developing a new online version.

Officials were asked to complete development of the new portal in all respects along with its dry run by end of March.

The chief secretary also asked officials to revamp the district level single window authorities with more professionalism and accountability.

He advised them to put in place a district level industry facilitation authority with enhanced role of collectors.

"Converge the promotional activities of MSME, handloom, handicraft, textile and manufacturing units with district industries centres (DICs)," he said.

Personnel in DICs were directed to help entrepreneurs in getting approvals and certificates from different offices.

On the new version of the SWCA, the chief secretary directed the officials to make the new version more comprehensive and gratifying for the investors with an end-to-end system, from receipt of an application to delivery of all services.

Industries secretary Hemant Sharma said, the new version of the SWCA would be more comprehensive covering all phases of activities required for starting production in an industry.

The investors would submit all applications at one time through GO-SWIFT portal. It would have a single payment gateway for different kinds of fees and government dues, he said.

The departments concerned would raise all queries, if any, in one go within seven days of the submission of application by the entrepreneur. The departments would be under obligation to adhere to the scheduled timelines for according approvals, granting licenses and issuing certificates online through the same portal, the official said.

The state has attracted an investment of around Rs 1.25 lakh crore from February, 2020, Sharma said.

The GO-SWIFT portal of Odisha was conferred national -Governance Silver Award in 2020 for excellence in process re-engineering and digital transformation.