Despande to chair state investments committee

bangalore: the karnataka government has passed an order bringing all investments in the state under a single umbrella high level committee chaired by large and medium industries minister r.v. deshpande. the other members of the committee are home and infrastructure minister mallikarjun m. kharge, agriculture minister t.b. jayachandra, tourism minister r. roshan baig, the horticulture minister (portfolio currently held by chief minister s.m. krishna), it minister m.m. nanaiah along with all the secretaries of the concerned departments. director of industries and commerce and industrial development commissioner g. gurucharan is the member-secretary of this committee, which will meet on every friday of the month and clear all projects. deshpande told reporters here on thursday that such a comprehensive committee was necessary to assist entrepreneurs and promote industrial growth in the state. ``otherwise, the businessmen are made to run from pillar to post to get clearances. we will simplify this process,'' he contended. each project that needs clearances would be mentioned in the agenda sent to all concerned departments 15 days in advance of the meeting, deshpande said. ``they will have time to prepare and we can discuss and remove any problems that come up,'' he added. the single window agency has been similarly reconstituted under the chairmanship of commerce and industries principal secretary b.s. patil to clear industry, it, bt, agro-processing, tourism and infrastructure projects with investments below rs 50 crore. all the concerned department secretaries are members, while karnataka udyog mitra managing director n. sreeraman is the member-secretary. a district level single window agency under the deputy commissioners will also be set up. the nodal officer to clear district investments of small and tiny industries will be the concerned joint director, directorate of industries and commerce, who will be the district committee's member-secretary.