Lucknow to get IT park, disaster mgmt unit

The Lucknow Industrial Development Authority (LIDA) has received 351 proposals from entrepreneurs for setting up units at the proposed IT Park, spread over 25 acres near Lucknow airport.

The State Infrastructure and Industrial Development (IIDC) Commissioner, Anil Kumar Gupta, has asked LIDA to complete the process of allotment soon. The ground work will begin from May. The authority would allot plots of varying sizes — 375 sq mt, 450 sq mt, 650 sq mt and 800 sq mt to the firms.

The state government is also setting up another IT City over 100 acres on the Sultanpur road. A budget of Rs 71 crore and action plan for LIDA had been sanctioned. The authority has allotted 25 acres of land for a disaster management and training centre for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. The central security agency is likely to soon start work on the centre.

LIDA was conceptualised during the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav-led government’s reign as another industrial development hub in UP after Noida. But, it made little progress under the Mayawati regime.

When it had planned to acquire about 2,000 acres of land along the Lucknow-Unnao highway in first phase.

LIDA had also tied up with Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO) for taking loan of about Rs 73 crore. However, it faced challenges on the land acquisition front.

Lucknow and Kanpur have immense potential to become IT hubs since they have Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L) and Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) apart from several other reputed institutes in the hinterland, which means there would be no crunch of quality human capital in the region.

The prime focus of the new authority will be to attract potential investors to set up big industries in the corridor. Since Lucknow’s Amausi Airport already boasts of some international flights to Gulf countries, industries are expected to lap up the enclave.

LIDA has the potential to energise the existing chikan, leather and garment sector in the region, while National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) had also expressed its desire to open its branch in Lucknow. It has a unit at Rae Bareli.

The state government had constituted LIDA vide its July 28, 2005 notification comprising 49 villages of Lucknow and 34 villages of Unnao district. The Authority was constituted under UP Industrial Area Development Act, 1976.