Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) is contemplating providing deemed approval to the building plan of the units that are being planned over 25-acre plots within the defense industrial corridor and integrated manufacturing and logistics clusters (IMLC) that are going to come up along the expressways in Uttar Pradesh.The move is aimed at helping investors interested in setting up units there.The procedure is going to fast-track industrial activity along the five expressways that are slated to become operational from May 1 in the state.UPEIDA has approached the town and country planning department to find out whether deemed approval could be granted to the entrepreneurs planning units within the designated industrial corridors as long as the development takes place within a 25-acre area.In a gradual manner, the authority is planning to develop more than 5,000 hectares of land along the Lucknow-Agra, Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Gorakhpur Link and upcoming Ganga expressways in the state.UPEIDA has already initiated the process of awarding about 3,415 hectares of land along the expressways under the IMLC scheme at 18 locations, while plots allocated to 62 defense manufacturing units are also being developed across the five nodes (Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Aligarh, Kanpur and Lucknow). Under the defense corridor scheme, an additional 1,500 hectares of land has to be developed in the five cities.“We have gone through the investor-friendly steps being taken by states such as Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and realized industrial units are already being granted deemed approvals to commence commercial operations at the earliest. We have sought opinion from the experts from the town planning department as similar services could be offered in UP as well,” said a senior officer from the authority.Since UPEIDA has already prepared the zoning plan for the various clusters and finalized its building bylaws, granting deemed status to the certified building plans could be considered to fast-track industrial activity, the officer added. “We would take undertaking from architects that the building bylaws have been adhered to while planning the layout over plots up to 25 acres. The architect would be held responsible in case violations are detected during the inspections later on,” said the officer associated with development of IMLCs.
