I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India…

 https://superr.in/economy/i-tried-starting-a-manufacturing-unit-in-india/

 

So this is the story of me trying to start a manufacturing unit in India…

Quick facts:
Land Size: 3 Acres OR 1,20,000 sq.ft.
Factory Shed / Warehouse Building.
State: Maharashtra
District: Sangli

Do note that, Maharashtra state is considered to be one of the most liberal and best states in terms of “ease of doing business” in India.

I started the process around November 2019. It’s been more than 9 months and I am still at least 4 months away from getting the permission that allows me to construct anything on my agricultural land.

The NA Permission

Yes, you need to obtain “permission” before you build any manufacturing structure on your own land with your own money. This permission is called the NA or Non-Agricultural Certificate.

So let’s get this certificate! 

To get that, I went to the Sangli District Administration Office. The building looks quite good.

Collector Office, Sangli

After asking around a bit, I was told that I could get the NA permission from the “Revenue Department” office.

And so I went there.

There I was told to get a list of documents.

Level 1 – The Application:

Documents Required:

1. 7/12 
2. 8A
3. Affidavit (Self)
4. Application Form (Self)
5. All Land Records Since 1950 (Tahshildar Office)
6. Official Plot Map (Gat Nakasha)
7. 9/3 – 9/4 (Document showing ownership of land and other details as on 1950)

The first two documents are available online and easy to get. The 3rd and 4th documents were also easy as the format was already available, I just had to fill them up and sign on them.

The last three documents were not easy to get. It took me more than 3 months and 2000 Rs in legal fees and more than 20 visits to different offices more than 10 kms apart.

But I finally got them. I thought this was it. I was now going to get the prestigious NA certificate.

And so I bought a file and filed all these papers in it and went to the “Revenue Department” Office.

I submitted the file. And was told that the application will be reviewed, discussed in a meeting and then if the application is approved, the procedure for NA-ing the land could be started.

After about a month, I got a call from the Revenue Department asking to visit them for further procedure.

There I was handed a letter, addressing 11 different departments and asking those departments to give me a NOC (No Objection Certificate). I was told to get all the 11 NOC’s by showing this letter to each department and any other additional documents they might ask.

Level 2 – The 11 NOCs:

Actually, there are more than 13 NOC’s required to be obtained but this letter only mentions 11 of them.

After applying to each of these places, they give their own list of documents which require one or two more NOC’s each.

1. Public Works Department
2. MahaVitaran
   1. Gram Panchayat NOC
   2. Clear Land of Any Transmission Lines
3. MahaTransco
4. Irrigation Department
   1. Gram Panchayat NOC
   2. Pay the Irrigation Tax – 1,89,000 Per Hectare
   3. Map showing distance from nearest River
   4. Legal Form showing the Agreement by Adjoining Farm Land Holders
5. Health Department, Zilla Parishad
   1. Gram Panchayat NOC
   2. Primary Health Center NOC
6. Forest Department
7. MIDC
8. Business Center
9. Maharashtra Pollution Control Board
10. Tehshildar (Taluka)
11. Town Planning Department
    1. Gram Panchayat NOC
    2. MSEB NOC
    3. Building Plan – Layout
    4. Mojni Nakasha (90 days)
    5. Legal Form showing the Agreement by Adjoining Farm Land Holders

Okay cool. I said to myself. After 4 months, all I had to do was to take this letter to each of these offices (after finding their address, located somewhere in the district) and then get their letter. Easy peasy, I thought.

But no! Once I reached the first “PWD” office, they gave me a list of documents required by them to grant me NOC. 

And so did MahaVitaran. And Mahatransco. And the Irrigation Department…!

1. The PWD NOC

I understand the reasoning behind the need for a PWD NOC. What if they’re planning to build a road through the land on which we intend to do our construction. It’s certainly worth notifying the public works department before we do any construction activity. 

And the PWD NOC was easy to get. It took more than 4 months but no one asked for any bribe nor did anyone ask for any extravagant documents or signatures. 

I have no problem with this one.

2. Mahavitaran NOC

Again, Mahavitaran is the Maharashtra state owned company. It owns the low-tension electricity transmission lines which provides electricity to houses, commercial spaces and farms. (Not industries). 

The requirement for the Mahavitaran NOC is that “if” there are any lines going through the farm land, then the land owner must get them removed. I also agree with this idea. 

Even though removing these lines cost a lot, it is an important step for safety. So again, not a problem.

3. MahaTransco NOC

Again Mahatransco is the same as Mahavitaran except that it provides high-tension electricity transmission for industrial use. 

But there’s a problem here. 

If there are no high-tension lines, as is the case in our land, a self-declaration by the farm owner that there is no Mahatransco line should be sufficient. 

The problem I face: 

I applied for NOC. They came and checked. Their person signed and wrote that there is no Mahatransco line. And then they gave me that paper and asked me to get signatures from two village authorities. The Talathi and The Circle Officer.

And both of them denied it. 

And that’s it. 

Mahatransco would not accept it without the signatures. And these two people would not sign it at any cost. 

What should a mere mortal with no government or political connections do about this?!

And that’s it. Stuck there forever.

4. Irrigation NOC

Not only do they need 11 documents, each of which requires almost a month to obtain, they also want us to pay Rupees 2,89,000 (That is more than twice the Average Per Capita National Income of India ~1,35,000) “because” our land falls within the area served by a canal from the Irrigation Department.

Now, to begin with, Indian farmers don’t pay for electricity and water. So they just keep the Switch for the water pump turned ON always. Whenever electricity is available, the water keeps getting pumped into the farm, flooding the farm with unnecessary water.

Anyway, let’s assume that I don’t care at all about the water and electricity being wasted by the farmers.

All I care about is that I should get a water and an electricity connection and I should be billed at whatever price that prevails and I will pay the bill.

But no. Someone is taking the pain to setup a manufacturing unit. Someone is taking the pain to provide employment. “So let’s just milk out as much as we can from this person so that we can continue giving free things to these “majority” farmers and keep getting elected.”

5. Health Department, Zilla Parishad  NOC

Why do you need the health department’s “permission” to start a manufacturing unit on your land? Well maybe because the government is interested in creating as many hurdles as possible so that these “public servants” can milk as much money as possible from the fool who wants to start a business and create employment.

Also, they gave me a list of documents. These documents were to be uploaded on to a website. And as always, the website doesn’t work.

So it’s stuck because the website isn’t working.

6. Forest Department NOC

No problem.

7. MIDC NOC

MIDC NOC is understandable. They procure land and offer it for cheap prices for manufacturing purposes. Therefore it is necessary to confirm that the land on which you are building is not a part of any upcoming MIDC project. 

And the process was fast here. No one asked for any bribes. So I have no problem with this one.

8. Udhyog Kendra NOC

This office was created to facilitate the creation of business capacity in the district. But now it just adds to the burden by being in the list of barriers to be completed before you can start a business.

But fortunately I got it with one application and within one week, so it should just be removed anyway.

9. MPCB NOC

Got it within a few days without the need of any documents. And it’s the Pollution Control Board, which is necessary to save the environment. So I am fine with it. As long as it’s fast.

10. Tahsildar NOC

Applied for this NOC in the Tahshildar Office at Miraj. No response. No letter. No communication. And no person is willing to talk about what one should do next.

It’s been more than 4 months. Just total silence.

Obviously, they are playing “hard to get” to get me to pay some bribe and initiate the process. But after going through all this, I am not going to pay any bribe to anyone.

So, it’s just stuck there. Been more than 4 months.

11. Town Planning Department NOC

This is one of the most important NOC according to many experienced “agents” who have been in this N.A. game. A lot of money needs to be sprinkled for this NOC or they can delay your project infinitely. 

They require the following documents:

1. Gram Panchayat NOC
2. MSEB (Mahavitaran NOC)
3. Land Counting Map (Mojani Nakasha) 
4. Land Co-holders Affidavit 

12. Gram Panchayat.

So as this is a requirement in almost all the NOC’s mentioned above, I went and applied for the Gram Panchayat NOC.

And they openly demanded bribes after waiting for four months. 

So the Gram Panchayat NOC is stuck because of non payment of bribe.

And many other NOC’s depend on the Gram Panchayat NOC, so they are stuck too.

And this is how, ladies and gentlemen, brother and sisters, India will treat you if you try starting a small manufacturing unit to create jobs, useful products and prosperity for yourself and a few others.

It’s been more than 9 months, I went from one office to another. From one Taluka to another, most of the times to find out that the concerned person has decided to stay at home that day.

The office in the village, the “chavdi” as it is called in Marathi runs on the whims of one person and this one person could appear at the office any day and disappear any day. All you can do is sit and wait till the evening and “hope” that this person arrives before 6 PM.

So what next?

Well, I have found out that the law governing these rules is based in the “Maharastra State Land Revenue Code”. I will try to challenge this process in the court as well as protest for change so any one could start or construct anything of their choice on their land without much delay.

My request to you is join me in this mission to really make India a place where Businesses come up like weeds grow on fertile land. Currently even though there is a lot of aspiration in the people and lot of people want to start something, laws like these act as a concrete layer on fertile land to completely halt any entrepreneurial willpower in the rural and the poor people of India.