Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has called a review meeting next week to discuss the final draft before it is placed for Cabinet clearance. (Express Photo by Pradip Das/Files)
WITH NINE ordinance factories (second largest after Maharashtra) and three manufacturing units of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) operational, Uttar Pradesh seems to be more than a random selection for one of the two defence industrial corridors in the country.
Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the investors summit, announced a defence industrial corridor in Bundelkhand, the state on Friday said it is set to announce the ‘Uttar Pradesh Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Policy-2018’, that will promise incentives for the new defence and aerospace industrial parks scheduled to come up in places like Kanpur, Varanasi, Aligarh, Agra and Gautam Budh Nagar.
The corridor is expected to have a capacity to attract investment worth Rs 20,000 crore and provide jobs to 2.5 lakh people. Officials said that while the draft of the policy has been prepared and changes are being made to accommodate suggestions made by the Defence Ministry during the summit, the state government plans to get it cleared by the Cabinet soon. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has called a review meeting next week to discuss the final draft before it is placed for Cabinet clearance. “The draft policy is almost ready and with some changes, it will soon be placed before the Cabinet for approval,” said Anoop Chandra Pandey, Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner.
Officials said the government plans to propose an aerospace park at Jewar in Gautam Budh Nagar, where an international airport is coming up. It plans to provide “plug and play” industrial infrastructure, allowing companies to focus on their core business.
Along with the manufacturing areas, such parks would have centres for testing hardware technology, technology innovation and housing and common facility. Further, officials said the government plans to provide extra incentives for units coming up in Bundelkhand and Purvanchal (eastern) in comparison to Madhyanchal (central) or Pashchimanchal (western) regions.
The new units are likely to get 100 per cent exemption on stamp duty on purchase of land along with a certain percentage of reimbursement of interest on loan taken to buy the land or building infrastructure. Along with subsidy for setting up of effluent treatment plants at the units, the government also plans to provide subsidy for providing in-job training and getting patents or quality certificates.
Considering the existing infrastructure, among the regions proposed for defence parks, Kanpur tops the list, to be followed by Aligarh, Agra, Varanasi and Gautam Budh Nagar, said officials.
At least five ordinance factories in Kanpur alone cater to different products like medium and high calibre guns, shell empties, spare barrels; leather and textile items; engineering equipment including those for mountaineering and parachutes among others.
The ordinance factory at Muradnagar in Ghaziabad deals with plain carbon and alloy steel casting for tanks, ammunition and steel forgings among others. Similarly, while ordinance factories in Shahjahanpur and Tundla areas of Aligarh cater to items including combat clothing and tents, the one at Korwa area of Amethi deals with production of carbines.
On top of it, UP has three manufacturing units of HAL — transport aircraft division in Kanpur, accessories division in Lucknow and avionics division at Korwa in Amethi. Officials said while Adityanath would personally monitor the projects, the government is in the process of setting up a special cell at the Chief Minister’s Office to digitally track the progress of files in regard to investment proposals the government had received at the summit.
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