UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

As the Centre announced a Rs 3 lakh crore credit guarantee to reboot micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME), the Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday said it would disburse loans worth Rs 1,600-2,000 crore to around 36,000 entrepreneurs belonging to the MSME sector in the state through ‘loan mela’ on Thursday.

Uttar Pradesh has one of the largest numbers of MSME units — around 90 lakh — in the country and the government claims that over three crore people are engaged in this sector in UP. The state also expects to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the MSME package announced by the Centre.

“At present, Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of MSME units in the country. We had started schemes like ‘One district one product’ to give a boost to this sector but it got hit because of the coronavirus pandemic. While we thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving boost to this sector, we plan to disburse about Rs 1,600-2,000 crore loan to nearly 36,000 tomorrow,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Wednesday.

While instructions have also been given to officials to make a work plan to prepare land bank for setting up of industries in the state, officials have also been asked to treat migrant labourers with respect following reports of incidents wherein some officials were seen misbehaving with the workers.

“The Chief Minister has instructed that a huge land bank could be prepared in the state as we have large amount of land in the form of government land that is lying vacant. He has instructed that such land should be identified whether it is with the revenue, irrigation or industry department and made available for those interest in setting up of industries,” said Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi.