Now, online facility to issue trade licenses in rural areas

kolkata: The state Panchayats and Rural Development department has introduced the online facility to issue trade licenses in rural parts of the state.

The move has been taken giving emphasis to ensure Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) for prospective investors and this comes when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has vowed to make Bengal number one in industrial sector.

At the same time, one can also apply online for approval of building plans and renewal of trade licenses in rural areas.

The process of getting trade licenses and building plans issued online would benefit the people of the areas that are semi-urban in nature but still fall under the jurisdiction of any Gram Panchayat.

One just needs to log onto the website of the state Panchayats and Rural Development department where there are three separate links – "Trade Registration (NOC)", "Trade Registration Renewal" and "Building Plan Approval". There is also another link – "Mobile Tower Permission" – to help people get clearance to set up mobile towers.

It needs mention that chief secretary HK Dwivedi held a meeting with senior officers of concerned departments including MSME, Transport, Consumer Affairs and Panchayats and Rural Development department in regards to EoDB on September 22.

The main objective behind such initiatives is to expedite the work to provide better facilities to common people and investors.

Stress was also given to minimize dependency on manual processing of the applications to issue trade licences and pass building plans.

This comes at a time when the Bengal government bagged the prestigious SKOCH award for four EoDB initiatives including "Silpa Sathi-Single Window System" and "e-Nathikaran".

The two other schemes for which the state government had received the SKOCH awards are the online system for "Auto-renewal of certificate of enlistment (urban)" and "Online system for issuance of trade license (rural)."