bangalore karnataka has made life a lot easier for investors by doing away with the need for getting farmland converted for industrial use after a project is approved by the government the agriculture land where an investor has proposed a project is deemed converted once it is cleared at the highest level chief secretary kaushik mukherjee told et this will open up floodgates for good industrial development a highlevel committee chaired by the chief minister clears investment proposals above rs 50 crore and those below that are approved by a singlewindow committee headed by the chief secretary the government of chief minister siddaramaiah has pushed this significant change through an amendment to section 109 of the karnataka land reforms act 1962 the relief is applicable to educational institutions housing and horticulture greenhouse projects as well as places of worship those investors failing to set up industries within the timeline prescribed will however have to surrender the land to the government this is the singlemostimportant ingredient of the governments new industrial policy the chief secretary said adding that the government came under resistance while trying to push for this change there was a lot of corruption at lower levels and proposals often got stuck because of the conversion requirement he added corporates see this as a welcome relief according to tv mohandas pai chairman of manipal global education services the amendment will empower farmers to sell their land directly to the highest bidder because of the reduction in processes farmers will get a better price while buyers a quicker conclusion of possessing the land he said according to ramadas kamath executive vice president at infosys his firm has gone through the pain of land conversion for each of its projects in the past