Uttarakhand looks into land complaints

Plots had been sold to companies despite restrictions.

The Uttarakhand government is investigating complaints that some plots given for setting up industries in the state were resold despite a restriction imposed such a move.

The chief minister's office here is understood to have sought certain files from the government-run State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd (SIDCUL), the nodal agency that distributed plots at the three main industrial estates being developed by it.

While the process of distributing industrial plots in the Bhel industrial estate in Haridwar and Pantnagar has been completed, work on the Sitarganj industrial estate in Kumaon region is in its final stages. Besides this, SIDCUL is also developing a pharma city in Dehra Dun, and infotech parks and a growth centre in Kotdwar area.

Already, major companies like Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Nestle, HLL, Mahindra and Mahindra and several others have either set up their new units or are in the final stages of doing so.

However, there had been complaints that some of the plots were merely resold to inflate their prices at these industrial estates. There had been reports that some pages of the files had gone missing, official sources said.

It is believed that the district magistrates of Dehra Dun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar have been summoned by top officials here regarding this.

In addition, the government is also keen to know how many youths have been given jobs by various industries that set up their units in Uttarakhand. A new assessment report on the employment in industries was also being prepared by the government, officials said.