The government will pay heed to the Bihar industrialists' demands of VAT reimbursement, relaxation in commercial taxes and allowing them to create their own industrial areas, among others, to boost industrial growth in the state, said principal secretary, industries, Alok Kumar Sinha, at an interactive session with members of Bihar Industries Association (BIA) here on Saturday.

Sinha said he would call a meeting next week of officials of his department to discuss the suggestions made by the BIA members for industrial development in the state. He also assured the BIA members to arrange their meeting with Bihar State Electricity Board ( BSEB) officials to discuss their demand for reducing power tariff for industries.

BIA president K P S Keshri urged the government to act as a facilitator in the industrial growth to speed up the process with proper implementation of Industrial policy, 2011. He urged the different government departments to maintain the Purchase Preference Policy and give preference to local industries in purchasing their products.

Keshri said the government should allow private sector to create its own industrial areas by developing industrial clusters on the land purchased by them. Creation of equity fund to spur industrial growth and raising corpus fund for reviving sick industries were the need of the hour, he said.

He demanded the formation of a mining company under the PPP mode or in the government sector to get coal blocks by bidding in national-level tenders for creating a coal supply line for the power sector in the state. He also demanded a share to Bihar in the gas supply through the Haldia-Jagdishpur pipeline.

A representative of Riga Sugar Mill, R G Verma, requested Sinha to chalk out an ethanol policy for the benefit of sugar mills and sugarcane growers.

Former BIA vice-president Sunil Kumar Singh demanded creation of a cargo complex with facilities for fast movement of perishable fruits and other horticulture products to different destinations in the country. Others who gave their suggestions included BIA taxation sub-committee chairman S S Khadaria and the president of its policy implementation sub-committee, G P Singh.