Yogi lures investors with 15-day deadline for land allotment

Lucknow, July 21 (IANS) To boost major investment projects in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government has now set a deadline of 15 days for allotment of land after it receives an application.

The state government has issued an order, setting timelines for allotment of land for various categories of investment projects under the UP Industrial Investment and Employment Promotion Policy, 2017.

It states that land allotment for mega, mega plus and super mega industrial units will be fast-tracked to be completed within 15 days of receipt of application.

A monthly cycle for land allotment will be fixed, under which allotment through e-auction for applications received by a certain date, will be carried out by the end of the month.

The steps, being taken to improve ease of doing business in the state, will be implemented by land owning agencies like Noida, Greater Noida, Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority, UP State Industrial Development Authority, Lucknow Industrial Development Authority (LIDA), Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority, Satharia Industrial Development Authority and Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Integrated Industrial Township Greater Noida Ltd.

According to UP Industries Minister Satish Mahana, "UP is getting investment proposals from many multi-national and national investors, especially in focused sectors like defence, aerospace, logistics, warehousing and electronics manufacturing.

"To build investor confidence in the state, it is necessary to have land available and a policy for quick allotment."

The minister further said that all major industrial development authorities are also working to create a GIS-linked online land bank to enable prospective investors to select land of their choice in a transparent manner.

Additional Chief Secretary for infrastructure and industrial development, Alok Kumar said that in case of mega, mega plus and super mega industrial units, investment would be calculated on the basis of their detailed project report at the specified norm of a minimum Rs 2 crore per acre to ensure that investors do not obtain land more than what is required for their projects.

"Along with this, we are also working to increase our land bank. Industrial development authorities have been asked to organize camps for land purchase through mutual agreement. Another system they have been asked to consider is to change land use of an available plot to industrial, as per law, and compensate for it when new land is purchased," he explained.

He added that industrial authorities had been asked to cancel allotment of unutilised land after a prescribed time to ensure that no land remained blocked endlessly.

Another system for opening up land was to allot land meant for specific industries under reserved industrial areas to other industries.