Yogi to post SP rank police officer in industrial enclaves

Private industrial parks to flank expressways, highways

To attract investment and boost investors’ confidence in the law and order machinery of Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government is mulling posting a Superintendent of Police (SP) rank officer in select industrial clusters of the state.

At the same time, the draft UP Industrial Policy is likely to formalise an action plan, wherein private industrial parks and industrial corridors would flank all the major expressways and highways in the state.

Besides, the single window system, which has been in the existence in the state for several years now on papers than practically, would be energised and put in execution mode.

Perceptible poor law and order coupled with lacking basic infrastructure of roads, power and a non-functional single window clearance system in UP have long been cited as the main impediments towards rapid industrialisation in the state, which still remains largely agrarian.

In its maiden cabinet meeting on April 5, the Yogi dispensation had among other major decisions had constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to draft the New UP Industrial Policy. The GoM is headed by deputy chief minister (CM) and former Lucknow mayor Dinesh Sharma and comprises senior ministers Rajesh Agarwal, Satish Mahana, Gopal Das Nandi and Srikant Sharma as other members.

The GoM is mandated to visit comparatively progressive industrial states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to study their relevant policies and prepare a similar document for UP to spur industrialisation and investment. The new policy would further tackle unemployment and arrest the migration of youth to other states for jobs. 

The GoM, which met here yesterday, evolved a consensus on vital industrial issues, including permanent posting of an SP rank police officer and setting up of fire stations in select industrial enclaves.

Besides, the draft proposal is likely to stress upon the need to provide uninterrupted power supply to industries, who would also have the option of sourcing power through open access channel.

Yogi had also constituted a separate GoM headed by other deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, to weed out blatant illegal mining. Its other constituent members are Suresh Khanna and Dara Singh.

Last year, the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana had also decided to set up police stations within industrial parks apart from an industrial intelligence unit to oversee any signs of industrial unrest and provide security to investors. The decision had been taken in the backdrop of rising cases of labour unrests and violent industrial strifes around the Gurgaon-Manesar periphery.

In UP, a group of sacked employees of an Italian auto ancillary in Sep 2008 had allegedly bludgeoned the head of the company's India operations to death following a violent disagreement with the management at the firm's Greater Noida premises. The deceased Lalit Kumar Choudhary was the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Graziano Transmissioni India. The labour unrest had been festering for some time, but it finally got out of hand and resulted in the crime.

The then Mayawati-led UP government had mooted a similar plan to beef up policing around industrial areas to preempt such incidents and instil confidence among industries, including foreign-owned. However, the plan had failed to take any concrete shape. Now with Yogi in charge and moving at a fast pace, the New Industrial Policy in the making is likely to usher in a new era in the state.