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Patna,(BiharTimes): The BIADA land story is not the first of its kind to take place in Bihar nor is it the first move towards industrialization which had repeatedly ran into trouble.
The first phase of post-independence industrialization started after the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru launched several big industries in what is now called Jharkhand, then a part of Bihar. The Heavy Engineering Corporation, Ranchi and the Bokaro Steel Plant are some of the important industries to come up then. In north Bihar the industrialization was confined to Barauni in Begusarai district.
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The freight equalization policy adopted by the then Nehru government in 1948 started taking its toll on Bihar. Thus after the early 1960s no big industries came to Bihar.
However, it was after coming to power in 1977 that the then Janata Party chief minister Karpoori Thakur took up the industrialization programme.
Land plots were allotted in many districts, for example in Fatuha near Patna, Bodh Gaya in Gaya, Bela in Muzaffarpur and Hajipur in Vaishali district. Even a scooter factory came to Fatuha.
But the whole exercise failed to take off. Though the industrialists blamed the banks for not providing working capital loan the other important factor was that the land plots were allotted to many political activists and youths who were in forefront of the JP movement. They did not belong to the entrepreneur class and were new to the world of business and industry. Thus the idea flopped. In contrast those who had the hereditary culture of business succeeded somewhat.
Similarly, when Maurya Lok marketing complex was built by the Patna Regional Development Authority (PRDA) many shops were allotted to those close to powers that be. But they too had no experience of business. They ended up sub-letting or selling off their business space to someone else.
In 1980s no big efforts were made in Bihar, which saw about half a dozen chief ministers coming and going. By later part of the decades there was political uncertainty and Congress was finally voted out of power.
In the Mandal-Mandir era of early 1990s no effort was made in the direction of industrialization. However, after the return of power of Lalu Yadav in 1995 the state government made another attempt towards industrialization. He called a meeting of Confederation of Indian Industries and NRI in Patna. Patna was spruced up and he went to foreign countries to woo investors. But the move failed.
When Nitish Kumar came to power on November 24, 2005 he made another attempt to industrialize Bihar. He invited big industrialists to Bihar such as Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Bharati Mittal of AirTel etc. But the state government’s bid to allure big investment from outside failed once again. In fact a tractor firm which came to set up a plant in Patna district close its business after a few months.
Unable to woo big industries and revive the sick sugar mills and power plants, the state government allotted cheap land to small- and medium-scale industries, malls, commercial complexes and educational institutions. Like in the past once again land plots were allotted to some of those who were close to powers that be. This gave ample scope to a section of media to expose it. In this era, when the government allotted land have become a bone of contention be it in Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashstra or Orissa any such exercise in Bihar was bound to have its political impact.
It is to be seen whether Bihar really undergoes a big industrialization or not. The coming up of one or two small industries would not do.
However, one thing is clear: unlike in the past land has become much precious thing and its price has sky-rocketted. Therefore, the issue is bound to become much more controversial.
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