NEW DELHI, Jul 18: Expressing disappointment over Arunachal Pradesh being found at the bottom in the ‘ease of doing business’ (EoDB) index prepared by the World Bank and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Member of Parliament Ninon Ering urged the centre to help improve the ranking and make the state a preferred destination for investment.
Ering mainly blamed poor road and air connectivity and phone/internet facility for the state’s inability to create a business-friendly environment.
“Though a few projects are being undertaken to improve the internal connectivity in the state, lack of connectivity, including road, air and telecommunication still remains a big problem for the state. Unless these existing projects are fast-tracked and new ambitious projects introduced, it will be hard for businesses to establish a strong foothold in the state,” Ering wrote to Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu.
Ering said that Arunachal has been performing very poor in these fronts in the last four years.
He stated that while infrastructure projects will take some time to complete, moving to an online based system for Arunachal Pradesh will relatively be an inexpensive way to smoothen various application processes for permits, making available various databases, statistics, documents in the public domain (such as pre-construction and post-construction, no objection certificates, registrations and other mandatory state approvals) and details about ongoing infrastructure projects to the public, thereby ensuring accountability of the government.
He cited the example of the reform initiatives by Andhra Pradesh, which topped the government’s EoDB index.
“The state has successfully implemented 90 percent of the reforms listed in construction permits and has made a successful transition to an online system,” he said.
Citing an example, he said, the registration under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996 (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) has been made online, which facilitates online application submission, payments, tracking status, approvals and issuance of certificates. Government data is also available on all the department websites. Arunachal Pradesh was at the bottom three of the EoDB index with Lakshadweep and Meghalaya.
