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UP Budget of ₹500 crore for acquiring land in Defence Corridor
The UPEIDA is the nodal agency for acquiring land for the project. It has identified 5000 hectares of government and farmers’ land in Bundelkhand for rolling out the project. Small and heavy arms manufacturing units will come up in this corridor.
The Yogi government has allocated ₹500 crore for its prestigious Defence Corridor project in the Bundelkhand region through which it aims to generate around one lakh jobs in the region that faces subsequent droughts.
The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) will set the process in motion later this month.
The UPEIDA is the nodal agency for acquiring land for the project. It has identified 5000 hectares of government and farmers’ land in Bundelkhand for rolling out the project. Small and heavy arms manufacturing units will come up in this corridor.
The Yogi government has also invited international arms manufacturers, including Boeing Commercial Airlines of United States, to set up their units in the Bundelkhand Defence Corridor.
It was on August 11 last at the Defence summit in Aligarh that a based US company had offered to set up Boeing manufacturing unit in the Bundelkhand corridor. If the proposal is conceptualised then the unit is most likely to come up in Jhansi.
Till date, the industrial town in Kanpur houses almost all defence sector units in Uttar Pradesh, including government and private.
The PM had announced the defence corridor project for UP at the investors’ summit in the state capital on February 21 last year.
In the first phase, the project will be rolled out in Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Jalaun, and Aligarh. An area of 3000 hectares has been proposed for the project in Jhansi, 300 hectares in Chitrakoot and 100 hectares in Aligarh.
A senior state government official, who did not wish to be named, said: “The PM is likely to lay the foundation stone of defence industrial corridor project (in Jhansi) on February 17. The proposal has been sent to the PMO but we are waiting for consent.”
About one lakh people are expected to get jobs due to the mega project. Both Indian and foreign companies will manufacture weapons in units set up in defence corridor.
Initially, the state government will acquire 500 hectare land in Jhansi out of proposed 3,000 hectares and UPEIDA will start identifying land this month.
In Chitrakoot, UPEIDA will acquire only 250 of 300 hectares while in Aligarh, the project will initially be rolled out in 48 hectares out of the proposed 100 hectares.
According to industry experts, Jhansi and its adjoining areas are most suitable for rolling out defence projects in Bundelkhand region as the city is connected with all major cities of Uttar Pradesh through road and rail network.
Both the North-South and the East-West corridors pass through Jhansi, making it a unique city, they added.
