Land crunch: Yogi government to reclaim unused industrial plots

Industrial land to be given to projects proposed at UP Investors Summit 2018

In the backdrop of investment proposals worth billions of rupees getting delayed over issues including availability of land, the Uttar Pradesh government is now reclaiming industrials plots lying unused even after years of allotment to private companies.

The plots were allotted by UP State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDC), which is mandated to providing industrial grade land. A large number of allottees fail to set up their units, while holding possession of land, which is now scarce commodity in wake of rapid urbanisation. The forfeited land would now be allotted afresh to projects proposed during the UP Investors Summit 2018 on 21-22 February in Lucknow.

Recently, Adityanath had warned officials against delay of mega projects and directed them to make spot verification for ensuring timely completion and quality of civil works.

Sources said about 2375 industrial plots had already been identified, of which UPSIDC has cancelled the allotment of 1200 plots and reclaimed 450 acres for fresh allotment. Agra accounted for the largest number of 257 plots cancelled by UPSIDC, followed by Aligarh 116, Kanpur 112, Lucknow 39, Jhansi 74, Varanasi 24, Gorakhpur 11 and Faizabad 10.

Earlier, UPSIDC had given time till December 31, 2017 to allottees to set up units on the allotted land. Later, an inventory of all such unused plots was prepared for reclamation and fresh allotment, which is expected to fetch the Corporation an income of about Rs 9 billion. The process of cancellation of plots is still underway, since the report of some regional managers is awaited from some places.

The process of fresh allotment is likely to begin from June-July after the cancellation process is completed. In fact, UPSIDC was also in the process of finalising over 25,000 acres of land at 15 industrial hubs in UP for setting up industrial units, for which the Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping technology would be utilised.

Earlier, the Adityanath government had announced to offer industrial land from a menu of available swatches and plots as added incentive to investors. Such land would be identified under different state industrial development authorities viz. Noida, Greater Noida, Lucknow Industrial Development Authority (LIDA) etc., apart from pockets flanking Lucknow-Agra Expressway and the proposed Purvanchal Expressway.

There are nine industrial development authorities in the state, including UPSIDC, Noida, Greater Noida, Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority (GIDA), Satharia Industrial Development Authority (SIDA), LIDA, Yamuna Expressway Authority, UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) and UP State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA).

At Investors Summit, the government had garnered proposals worth Rs 4.68 trillion across sectors. Recently, Adityanath had announced projects of Rs 550 billion would be launched later this month, although it now looks a remote possibility with only a week left. Earlier, the state had announced to launch projects worth Rs 250 billion in March.