The Centre has asked the UP government to expedite process of land acquisition for the UP Defence Corridor, which is expected to span nearly 5,000 hectares across six nodes, namely, Aligarh, Agra, Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Kanpur and Lucknow.
So far, the state has taken possession of over 1,300 hectares, while projects with investments totalling ` 3,732 crore have been launched. These include ` 1,077 crore by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), ` 1,200 crore by Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL), ` 240 crore PTC Industries, ` 200 crore Bharat Forge and ` 900 crore by Kanpur-based MKU.
Presiding over a virtual conference, defence minister Rajnath Singh asked the UP government to complete all ongoing projects according to their timelines, while forging close coordination with investors to redress their grievances.
Meanwhile, Singh said that the cabinet note on the new defence manufacturing policy was ready and would be released next month.
Singh said that the State Government should maintain regular contact with investors and take prompt action on their issues. Singh also asked to speed up the work of land acquisition in Lucknow and Agra nodes.
Recently, Indian Navy had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) for setting up a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in the Defence Corridor to promote research and innovation in defence sector.
UP chief secretary RK Tiwari said that 6 nodes have been developed in Aligarh, Agra, Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Kanpur and Lucknow. Tiwari said that the state government has assigned 1461.0579 hectares land for the purpose, of which 1310.2532 hectare land has been acquired, which is over 90 percent of the assigned land.
Giving details of the acquired land, Tiwari said 1025.4672 hectares of land has been acquired in Jhansi, 95.9340 hectares in Chitrakoot, 47.8440 hectares in Aligarh and 141.0080 hectares in Kanpur has been acquired. In Agra, land outside TTZ is being explored, while in Lucknow the land around Ring Road is being considered. He also assured the minister that works would be expedited.
Meanwhile, UP additional chief secretary and UPEIDA CEO Awanish Kumar Awasthi informed the defence minister that the state had speeded up projects under the Corridor and new policies had also been framed, including Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing Employment Promotion Policy 2018.
He said Titan Aviation and Aerospace India Limited will invest more than ` 36,000 crore in Jhansi, for which the detailed project report (DPR) had been submitted. He said so far, 32 MoUs have been signed relating to the UP defence corridor the state has received proposals from investors based in South Korea and Ukraine.
Recently, German military and security hardware/technology major Rheinmetall had also evinced interest in the UP defence corridor.
Rheinmetall Group is Europe’s foremost supplier of defence and security ware, and is a partner of the armed forces of Germany and its NATO allies. It is gradually transforming into a global player with a series of acquisitions and setting up of foreign subsidiaries.
As part of the ‘Invest UP’ theme, UP investment promotion and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) minister Sidharth Nath Singh had recently held a virtual conference with Susanne Wiegand, CEO of Rheinmetall Electronics Division, and Fabian Ochsner, CEO, Rheinmetall Air Defence, in view of their proposed investment.
