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Kalyan Singh girds UP for industrialisation

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

The Uttar Pradesh government is all set to roll out the red carpet for prospective investors to kickstart industrialisation.

Chief Minister Kalyan Singh has just finished giving last and final touches to the first-ever entrepreneur-friendly industrial policy. The state cabinet has already okayed it on September 19.

Out with unnecessary controls and irritants, they have vowed. Emphasis will be on a 'single-table' system. Which is different from the much-criticised and much-publicised single window facility.

Some time back, when CM Singh met with representatives of several countries in New Delhi, he got some useful feedback: the so-called single window system, they pointed out, only leads to many more windows.

Stung by such point-black criticism, Singh has decided to prove that he is really sincere and committed to smooth and swift industrialisation of UP. He has come up with a time-bound schedule for clearing project proposals.

So: decisions will have to be taken by the committees concerned at a single table within 45 days from the date of submission of a project.

Projects involving investments up to Rs 260 million will be cleared at the district level. Bigger projects will be handled in Lucknow. For the first variety, nodal agencies called District Udyog Bandhus -- or the district industrialisation friends -- have been revived. The idea was first tried out in 1980 under the reign of Vishwanath Pratap Singh.

The district- and state-level agencies will receive and process project proposals within a time-frame of 15 days. Objections, if any, will have to be raised by potential entrepreneurs within the next 15 days, following which the nodal agency will take another 15 days to clear (or reject) the project.

The state government has also attempted to understand why industrial growth was sluggish in the past. A long list of 23 hurdles and problems has been prepared. Factors that have made it to the 'illustrious list' include deteriorating law and order, unavailability and inflexibility of power, bureaucratic redtape, complicated and unattractive incentives, lack of integrated policy for manufacturing and trading sectors, lack of emphasis on exports, inadequate incentives for sunrise industries, inadequate presence at major industrial centres and lack of recognition for industrialists.

Complicated labour laws, trade procedures and pollution regulations have also been found to have worked as major disincentives.

The Kalyan Singh government will now set up three working groups to deal with these areas separately and suggest ways and means to simplify and rationalise them.

Government interference will stop, assured a senior official, pointing out that a changed political will is bound to change bureaucrats' attitude for the better.

Singh himself says the noose around criminal elements has been tightened. ''There has been a perceptible improvement in the law and order situation,'' he assures. One more assurance is full security to potential entrepreneurs and existing industrialists in the state.

Erratic and poor power supply will be a thing of the past. Or so say the officials. Efforts are on to ensure direct supply to all industries from dedicated lines.

In the electronics sector, Karnataka accounts for 19 per cent (Rs 28 billion) of national electronics production; UP has a 17 per cent share (Rs 26 billion), followed by Maharashtra with 16 per cent (Rs 24.5 billion). The government is determined to dislodge Karnataka from the top slot by offering fresh incentives like relaxation in trade tax, creation of venture capital and unidentified value added tax.

Other thrust areas identified are automobile industry, its ancillaries, and agricultural equipment. UP is India's largest holder of livestock and tops in milk production. These positions of strength will also be consolidated.

Five geographical zones have also been earmarked for intensive improvement of existing potential. These are the Meerut-Moradabad sector, Varanasi-Bhadshi sector, Agra-Aligarh-Firozabad sector, Lucknow-Kanpur sector and the Noida-Greater Noida-Ghaziabad sector. The idea is to further promote the investors in these areas rather than starting afresh in untested regions.

Udyog Bandhu executive director Rohit Nandan has ensured that information about as many as 103 projects is available on the Internet at an exclusive Website. And in order to bring all allied departments under a single nodal officer, the post of industrial production commissioner is being created.