Uttarakhand govt awaits transfer of industrial estates by UP

While Uttarakhand is facing acute shortage of industrial land, Uttar Pradesh does not appear ready to handover nearly 16-17 industrial estates, measuring 1120 acres to the hill state.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has also highlighted the issue saying the possession of these industrial estates by Uttar Pradesh has deprived Uttarakhand of a sizeable revenue from land premium and lease rent.

During various meetings early this year, the officials of the industrial department of Uttar Pradesh had agreed to transfer all these industrial estates, which are currently managed by Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSDIC) to Uttarakhand on top priority basis.

Subsequently, UPSDIC transferred all the land to the government of Uttar Pradesh. “Now, we expect the Uttar Pradesh government to handover these estates to the government of Uttarakhand under the due legal process,” said a government official.

“The main hurdles have been cleared. Any time these industrial estates will be under the possession of Uttarakhand government which in turn will handover them to State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal (Sidcul),” said the official.

Although the Uttar Pradesh government had given its consent for the transfer of the industrial estates to Uttarakhand earlier, the two states have failed to make headway during the past few years. The last meeting was convened to resolve the problems that were coming in the way of the transfer of land as well as the ownership of these estates back to Uttarakhand.

After Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in November 2000, the dispute between the two states on division of assets and liabilities is lingering despite several rounds of meetings. Besides industrial estates, Uttar Pradesh has not transferred various other assets like fish ponds and reservoirs related to the irrigation department yet.