In what can be seen as a major accomplishment, the Aligarh district in Uttar Pradesh has taken a steady lead, going on to become the first out of the 6 nodes or centres to get its first lease deed done in the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor project.
The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA), the state government-run nodal agency for the defence corridor project, has completed the first lease deed in Aligarh and allotted more than 55.4 hectares of land to 19 defence manufacturing companies, which would be investing more than Rs 1,245 crores in the district. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon lay the foundation stone for it.
Meanwhile, the work of constructing boundary walls, building a powerhouse, and a 4-lane road at a cost of Rs 10.21 crore has kickstarted in Aligarh, confirmed Avneesh Awasthi, the Additional Chief Secretary Home and Chief Executive Officer of UPEIDA.
Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh becomes the first district in the country to get its first lease deed
According to a Daily Pioneer report, the first lease deed was done with Aligarh’s Allen & Elvon Private Limited (drone maker). In Khair Tehsil, the officers of UPEIDA gave the company certificate of land on lease for 30 years.
Besides, Anchor Research Lab LLP, a strong player in the Defence and Aerospace Industry, has been allotted 10 hectares of land in Aligarh. The company will be investing Rs 550 crore in the district.
The UP Defence Industrial Corridor projects were announced in Aligarh in August 2018. Land for this ambitious project was set aside in Andla village in Khair Block in Aligarh District of Uttar Pradesh.
Defence Industrial corridor: BJP Govt’s ambitious step towards making country’s defence sector self-reliant
After opening up private investment and liberalizing foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence production, the BJP government, during the 2018-2019 national budget announced the establishment of two Defence Industrial production corridors. Indigenous Defence manufacturing is one of the key focus areas of PM Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiatives. The first Defence Production Corridor is planned to be established in Tamil Nadu and the second one in Uttar Pradesh.
The first corridor called as Tamil Nadu Defence Quad will extend from Chennai, Hosur, Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruchirappalli.
The second defence industrial corridor was announced on the occasion of the Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit 2018. At the summit, PM Modi had said: “of one of the two defence industrial corridors mentioned in the budget, one is proposed in the Bundelkhand region of the state which will bring an investment of Rs. 20,000 crore and generate employment avenues for 2.5 lakh people.”
The project envisages building land banks for defence companies to set up their production plants around six nodes in the state, notably in the backward Bundelkhand area too. The 6 nodes – Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Agra, Aligarh and Chitrakoot – will be connected to various upcoming expressways which would provide better connectivity to these places.
Since the announcement, the Yogi Adityanath government has been consistently working towards making the success in the state.
Until now, the world’s top defence manufacturing companies have stepped in to invest in Uttar Pradesh. It’s worth noting that the BJP government’s ambitious Defence Industrial Corridor running through Uttar Pradesh has garnered more than Rs 50 thousand crores worth of investments in pledges and commitments from both national and foreign private investors. The project was announced with the aim of spurring job creation as well as encouraging foreign and domestic companies to support defence manufacturing in India. Now with this accomplishment, India can be seen inching closer to becoming self-reliant in the defence sector as well.
Apart from UP, the central government had announced the second defence corridor in Tamil Nadu.