LIDA has no land bank of its own
LUCKNOW: At a time when the regions in the Uttar Pradesh are vying with one another under the one-district-one-product scheme to attract investment, the Lucknow Industrial Development Authority (LIDA) has been paralysed by a resource and staff crunch.
“We have no land bank of our own. We are trying to acquire some land, but there is a lot of resistance and the land owners have approached the Supreme Court,” says SK Singh, the man in-charge at LIDA.
That perhaps explains why LIDA has not been able to upload details of its land bank, along with a GIS map, on the upinvestorssummit.com unlike its six other counterparts like Noida, G Noida, Gorakhpur, Yamuna Expressway, Satharia and Bhadohi Industrial Development Authorities.
“But if LIDA doesn’t have land, it doesn’t mean the state capital will not attract investors. Already ITC has shown interest in setting up a unit on the Lucknow-Kanpur highway. They (ITC) will, however, buy the land directly from the owners and not LIDA if the project comes through,” he said.
Be that as it may, it was not very long ago that the development agency had written to the state government, highlighting its problems but so far no concrete on-ground steps have been taken to put the organisation back on the rails.
The development authority was conceived a decade ago with 84 villages on the Lucknow-Unnao
and Kanpur highway under its domain.
The region was declared an industrial belt because of its proximity to the Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport. It was supposed to be developed as a counter magnet to decongest the state capital. But thanks to official apathy, not much headway has been achieved in terms of real progress on ground. Of the total 84 villages, 45 villages are now part of Lucknow, thanks to the urban sprawl, and 39 villages are of Unnao district.
LIDA has its development blueprint, but it exists only on paper. The plan divides the area into three zones namely residential, tourism and industrial.
“We have been conferred the duties of facilitator, regulator and developer for the region, which has a strong potential for development. But of what use are these tags unless and until we have a proper office not to mention staff and paraphernalia required to run the agency,” said a senior official of the agency requesting anonymity.
With the stocktaking limited
to a customary board meeting every six months, the moribund organisation urgently requires a booster doze, feels the official.
“Our projects and plans have been hanging fire not merely because of the dearth of staff but also because the land under our jurisdiction lacks continuity. There are ownership issues over pockets of gram samaj and gram sabha land, which need to be resolved at the top level,” he pointed out. However, the mushroom growth of private and unauthorised townships in the region is a major cause of concern.
LIDA has set aside a huge chunk for mixed-land use related activities. It has allotted 26% area for residential, 21% for industrial, 20% for green cover and 16% for traffic and transportation related activities. It has also prepared a road network as proposed under the Lucknow master plan 2021.
Besides, a large swathe of land along the highway and railway track has been reserved for developing a bus rapid transit system and providing cargo related facilities.