Barely two months after the high-profile Uttar Pradesh Investors' Summit, if all goes well, a ground breaking ceremony is expected next month (May). Several MoU’s will be translated into reality in different parts of the state. To begin with, more than 50 units will start mainly in the IT sector, agro processing and MSME .
Outlining details of various projects, Industrial Development Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey said steps had been taken for the availability of land, local viability and interaction with related departments. Once clearance has been sought, Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath will be inaugurating the first project. This will set the tone and tenor of the pace of industrial development in the state.
UP has signed 1,045 pacts worth Rs 4.28 crore on the first day of the UP Investors’ Summit. The list can go on. But the underlying subtext in all this was realising the importance of the coming lok Sabha elections. BJP has decided to crank up development with a strategic partnership between the Centre and the state.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has the task cut out for him. He has made a determined start on the law and order front. Still, large private players are likely to adopt a policy of wait and watch to see the outcome of the lok Sabha elections. In the interim, it is a smart move to kickstart investments and gets some early wins with government projects. Meanwhile, the Ardh Kumbh of 2019 will be a good opportunity to both to provide the state with a facelift as well as showcase Yogi's administrative skills with BJP's core constituents.
“It is a matter of pride for the state that Fortune-500 companies are participating in this summit. I want to tell you all that till now we have signed 1,045 MoUs worth Rs 4.28 lakh crore. I have recently presented a budget of Rs 4.28 lakh crore and the figure of MoUs signed is the same. We are heading towards new UP,” Adityanath had said. He had added he would himself oversee that MoUs signed were executed and those coming to invest in the state got all the facilities.
The Aditya Birla Group will invest Rs 25,000 crore in Uttar Pradesh over the next 5 years. Similarly, Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani had also promised investment of another Rs10,000 crore through Jio in the next three years. He also vowed full support to the ‘Namami Gange’ project.
In the same line, the Adani Group will invest Rs 35,000 crore in Uttar Pradesh over the next five years in various sectors. Adani said energy, logistics, solar power, roads and agriculture were among the core sectors in which his group was working and showed interest in investing in those fields.
For the BJP as well as for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a lot is at stake in Uttar Pradesh. That explains the presence of 20 Union ministers (including six Cabinet heavyweights -- Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani), inauguration by the Prime Minister and closing plenary address by President Ram Nath Kovind. The signalling could not have been stronger as the Prime Minister, the Central government, party and the Sangh are all solidly behind Yogi and committed to the cause of Uttar Pradesh. With lok Sabha elections expected any time in the coming months, it is a very significant message for the people of the state, who have not experienced this kind of alignment between lucknow and Delhi for a long time.
While the 'big boys' provided the star quotient, the real bang came from Central ministers and public sector enterprises. The Prime Minister unveiled a Rs 20,000 crore Defence Corridor plan running through Bundelkhand with an employment potential of 2.5 lakh which is also the showstopper of the event. Piyush Goyal confirmed plans for two new railway factories, expansion of the existing one at Rae Bareli and starting one at Gorakhpur, besides fast-tracking the two railway freight corridors passing through the state.
If all this provides visible development, aerospace and defence are expected to be the two major game-changers. A full-fledged aerospace hub is being planned in Jewar, next to the international airport site. Defence hubs have been planned along Gautam Buddha Nagar, Agra, Aligarh, Chitrakoot, Kanpur and Varanasi.
Thereafter, if all goes well in the lok Sabha hustings, Uttar Pradesh and Yogi both will be all set for a take-off. It is a mission in which neither Yogi nor Modi can afford to fail.