The Uttar Pradesh government which recently announced the building of industrial townships in the vicinity of expressways has notified more districts where land would be acquired for industry.
While the earlier notification had identified 23 districts, a further seven were added to the list on Saturday.
These include Agra, Firozabad, Etawah, Kannauj, and Kanpur Nagar along the Agra-Lucknow Expressway; and Gorakhpur and Ambedkarnagar along the Gorakhpur Link Expressway.
Asim Arun, minister of state (independent charge) for social welfare and a legislator from Kannuaj, said that government had a long-term vision. It focussed on both providing/facilitating the procurement of land for industry and enabling other arrangements, plus skill building of local youth for employment in these industries.
“We will have ready manpower for these industries,” said Arun. In his constituency, Kannuaj, some 2,500 youth have already been put through skill training.
“New townships have a crucial role to play in economic growth. That growth will in turn lead to the bettering of social indices - such as bridging inequalities,” he said.
The state’s growing list of expressways includes the Ganga Expressway, the Bundelkhand Expressway and the Purvanchal Expressway besides the ones mentioned in today’s notification.
The Uttar Pradesh Industrial Development Authority is the nodal agency for land acquisition for the project.
Given the state’s regional imbalances, the least developed regions, Bundelkhand and Purvanchal (east) have received a sizeable share of these proposed townships. Both have six districts listed for development.
Infrastructural enhancements leading to industrial developments will generate employment opportunities and in the long term could also play a significant role in stemming migration. This fits in with the state’s goal of becoming a one trillion economy by not just achieving the requisite growth numbers but by reducing regional disparities.
Region specific bodies, such as the Bundelkhand Industrial Development Authority (BIDA) Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority (GIDA) have also been formed to expedite projects.
Such great are the regional disparities in UP that a small slice of western UP (including Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad) have a GDP of Rs 9.44 lakh crore while the far larger east has a GDP of Rs 5.37 lakh crore.
