E-Paper
UP’s trillion dollar economy goal: Next move on appointment of consultant likely soon
The Uttar Pradesh government had cancelled the global bids for the appointment of a consultant on March 22, 2021 after making a high-profile announcement earlier
The Uttar Pradesh government may soon take a call on making the next move about the appointment of a consultant to draw a roadmap to make the state a trillion dollar economy in the next five years.
The state government had cancelled the global bids for the appointment of a consultant on March 22, 2021 after making a high-profile announcement earlier. The decision to cancel the global bids came nearly four months after zeroing in on the selection of a bidder.
Those aware of the developments said the state government was in the process of holding discussions and a decision on the issue may be taken soon.
“Agriculture production commissioner Alok Sinha has convened a meeting to discuss the issue on July 13, 2021,” said additional chief secretary (planning) Suresh Chandra.
Although Chandra refused to elaborate on the agenda of the meeting, there are indications that a call on the issue will be taken after the meeting at APC’s level. The state government had decided to cancel the bids due to some lacunae in the process of examination/evaluation of bidders. No reason was, however, given for cancelling the bids in the notice issued by the special secretary (planning department) in this regard on March 22, 2021.
“The tender process is hereby cancelled with the approval of the competent authority. Fresh tender notice in this regard is likely to be published soon,” read the notice.
The consultant is expected to draw a five-year roadmap (2020-2025) to accomplish the task and the state government may have to rework the timeline as a considerable chunk of the given period has already lapsed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had floated the idea of making the state a trillion-dollar economy at the Uttar Pradesh Investors’ Summit 2018 here on February 21, 2018. Referring to his association with the investors’ summit as the chief minister of Gujarat and later with the UP Investors Summit-2018 as the PM, Modi said Maharashtra, too, had set a target to become a trillion-dollar economy.
“Can Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh compete with each other to become the trillion-dollar economy? Will the Uttar Pradesh government compete with other states? More the competition, the more will be the investment. This will result in the creation of more jobs and strengthen the concept of cooperative federalism,” he said at the UP Investors Summit here.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his team soon began working on the idea. After holding various rounds of discussions, the formal process of floating global bids for the appointment of a consultant began on June 19, 2020.
