Belagavi (Karnataka), Dec 17 (IANS): The Karnataka government will recover lands allotted to more than 500 industries for not starting their ventures even after several years of sanction, Large and Medium Industries Minister Murugesh R. Nirani announced in the Legislative Assembly here on Friday.

Replying to Congress MLA N.H. Shivashankar Reddy's query in the Assembly, Nirani said the government has already identified the allotted lands where industries have not been started even after five to 20 years of sanction, and those will be recovered.

"The sale deeds will not be done till they start the industries in full scale. Also, they cannot use the industrial land for real estate purpose," he said.

The minister also said that 15 per cent of industrial land must be reserved for residential purposes.

Reply to MLA S. Ramappa's query, Nirani denied the role of middlemen in the land acquisition process and said that compensation will be paid to the farmers directly.

The minister added that the state-level single window agency has approved 16 projects in Harihar taluk with an expected investment of Rs 217.34 crore, which will create 908 jobs.

"Cargill has set up a starch manufacturing unit at a cost of Rs 630 crore and 85 per cent locals are employed there. The government has approved the Mangaluru Refinery Petro Chemicals Company's 2G ethanol unit at a cost of Rs 966 crore. A total of 47 acres of land has been allotted and the lease deed process is presently underway," Nirani said.

Reiterating the government's position on providing jobs to local people, Nirani, while replying to MLA Amrut Desai, said that the state government is committed to provide jobs to locals as per the Sarojini Mahishi report and also jobs to the kin of farmers who sold land for industries.