The proactive approach of the UP govt. specially towards IT and infra development projects in recent times has come as a welcome change for everyone. The Samajwadi party, often seen as a political group that focuses on caste equations and minority votes to rule the state, is slowly undergoing change which is in sync with the times. After 3 years in power, Akhilesh Yadav seems to have started preparations for 2017 elections and thankfully it seems that development would be on the top priority of his electoral strategy. The young CM is making personal efforts to project the state as investment destination both for Indian and multinational companies and the collaborations with foreign countries on many projects is a clear indication that the efforts are yielding results.

The young Chief Minister has already embarked on Uttar Pradesh Development Agenda for the year 2015-16 will have great involvement of technology in it. With the formation of three member Project Monitoring Group to implement priority projects of the state government in a time bound manner, the CM has given a firm push for completion of ambitious projects. As many as 21 projects have been listed by the Uttar Pradesh Government that would be monitored by this group on regular basis. Some of the key projects in state capital include Lucknow Metro,  IT City Lucknow, Lucknow Cancer Institute,  Lucknow Haat,  CG City Lucknow, Jai Prakash Narayan International Convention Centre Lucknow and Lucknow Agra Expressway. The PMG is headed by Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan with Principal Secretary Finance as its member and secretary to Chief Minister Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma as its convenor.

Remaining high priority projects which would be monitored by this group include: Inner Ring Road Agra, Lion Safari Etawah, Trans Ganga Project, Battery Powered Motorcycle Rikshaw, Strengthening of dial 100 service, Centralised Mega Call Centre, Maitrey Project, connecting district headquarters with four lanes, Tajganj Project Agra, Construction of new medical colleges, construction of 100 beded hospitals cum trauma centres as well making new secretariat of chief minister functional.

Stress on IT Development

Construction of IT Park at Chak Ganjariya farms has already begun construction on the project.
Process for setting up similar parks in Agra, Meerut and Kanpur like IT Park project in Lucknow is also in the development oriented list of Akhilesh Yadav. At present the IT Park projects in these cities will be developed by Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). Three acres of land has also been identified for an IT Park in the Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority.

IT city and IIIT would be part of the upcoming city township being developed by the state government on the Sultanpur road, the 1000 bed super speciality hospital, Medanta Avadh would be a private hi-tech hospital in the area. The state government had signed an MoU with the investment arm of the HCL in June this year for setting up a 100-acre IT city which according to estimates would create job opportunities for 25,000 jobless and indirect jobs for 50000 others.

The IIIT, second in the state, is to be set up under the joint aegis of the Central and the state governments and an industry partner.

Udyog Bandhu

To become more investor friendly, Udyog Bandhu The Nivesh Mitra portal has liberalized and simplified the processes and will be working as the crossing point between the government and industry. There would be importance given to the feedback from industry for improvement. Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan talking on socioeconomic development and private investment stated that implementation of single-window system would be there to facilitate faster clearances and processes for industries.

Expressway planning

A flagship road project, 302-km Agra-Lucknow Expressway being funded by the state under the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) route, after the project failed to take off under the public-private partnership (PPP) model and the estimated cost of this is nearly Rs 15,000 crore. There would be flawless connectivity between state capital Lucknow and the National Capital Region (NCR) via the Yamuna Expressway from Agra to Greater Noida.

A similar expressway from Ballia to Lucknow, to connect the weaker eastern Uttar Pradesh with Lucknow and the NCR is also taken into consideration by the state government and Japan and China have shown keen interest in this project. Apart from this, Film City is also proposed to be set up soon which shall be given support by the Film Bandu through subsidies and tax benefits.

Further UP development agenda includes government is looking forward at public and private investment of about Rs 1,10,000 crore in power generation, transmission and distribution projects in the upcoming couple of years. There has been separate creation of the NRI department so as to effectively promote ‘Brand UP’, in association with industry bodies with some assistance of non-resident Indians (NRIs).

Airport projects

The Chief Minister has written a letter to Prime Minister to pursue the clearance from Union for international airport near Agra and international airport in Firozabad. Kushinagar Airport has been among the reason for the politics played by parties initially proposed by Mayawati government in 2008 as part of Buddhist Circuit and at that point of time project did not get environment clearance from then UPA government. Afterwards there were no developers ready to take the charge of this project as they thought the project lacked feasibility even after the approval was given. UP government has acquired about 550 acre land for the project.

Vision village

The use of technology and infra would not be limited to villages only. The samajwadi party has very strong rural base and the project “Vision village” is going to focus on governance in rural areas through use of technology. The government has planned to give hand-held Tablet PCs to about 43,000 grassroots level village officers across the state. However, Tablet PCs distribution to the students clearing Class 10 will not be carried out further despite this was included in the election manifesto.

Revival of two schemes is also lined up and will be taken by the SP government. These are Kanya Vidya Dhan Yojana and providing battery-operated rickshaws. However, instead of Kanya Vidya Dhan Yojana there would be monetary assistance given to meritorious girl students.

Among the  agenda includes centralised mega call centre to collect independent feedback from beneficiaries, cycle tracks in six districts including Chief Minister’s native village Saifai, launching state’s clean and green mission, Agriculture University in Azamgarh and Lakhimpur Kheri, and 5 lakh litre dairy plant in Lucknow, Etawah and Varanasi and 10 lakh litre capacity in Kanpur.

Results of Lok Sabha Elections in 2014 and subsequent state elections have given a clear signal to the political class that development is going to be the best electoral plank to win elections. The Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav seems to have understood this in time. By the time UP goes to polls after two years, Samajwadi Party hopes that the development projects would start to bear the fruits which can be reaped for political gains. The State stands to gain as well in terms of better opportunities for youth and better quality of life for the people.