Express News Service BENGALURU: Bad roads and unkempt premises are a common sight at the 3,000-acre industrial area in Peenya which has at least 6,000 industries, said Prithviraj, chairman of the committee for the establishment of Peenya Industrial Township Authority. He added that there is no waste management system in place either. Prithviraj has been advocating for a township status for the Peenya Industrial Area for almost two decades. He said that all the legal requirements had been met and work for converting the area into a township started in the early 2000s. However, the government has kept the work pending, he said. He said the local municipal authorities were apathetic towards maintaining the infrastructure within the premises of the industrial estate. The seven-year struggle to attain township tag has been worthwhile for Electronics City Industrial Township Authority (ELCITA). While they have improved their roads and basic infrastructure, Rama N S, CEO ELCITA, told TNIE that the Township Authority has been making lives easier for thousands of workers by dynamic synchronised signalling, which reduces commute time, foot over bridge and they are also in the process of building a sewage treatment plant of 1mld capacity. The township uses 70 per cent of the Rs 11 crore collected as property tax for estate management, she said. There is definitely a need for many more townships in the state as they have great business potential, she added. Chairman of the research committee of M Vishvevaraya Economic Research Centre, FKCCI, D Muralidhar said the state has at least 50 industrial estates but just one township — Electronics City. There are myriad problems with estates. Industries are in a pathetic condition and have started resembling debris under the ambit of the local municipal authorities, said FKCCI president C R Janardhan. Even after 25 years of ‘industrial policy for township’, Janardhan said the policy is yet to be implemented in Karnataka. FKCCI wants 60 per cent of the property tax to be given to these townships for their self-governance while the other 40 per cent can be given to gram Panchayats for their development.TNIE was unable to get a response from Dr E V Ramana Reddy, Additional Chief Secretary to the government, Urban Development Department.

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