Covid-19: UP plans special package to woo MNCs disenchanted with China

Adityanath govt has been planning a Global Investors Summit in Lucknow by 2021-end to position the state as an ideal international investment destination across sectors

The Uttar Pradesh government is looking to woo disenchanted multinational companies looking to shift their manufacturing bases away from China in the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath has directed top bureaucrats to work out a special package, which could be offered to such companies in addition to the existing incentives already in place to attract private sector investment.

“The chief minister has directed the industrial development and MSME department to formulate a package for these companies, which could be offered in the second round of our investment garnering exercise,” UP additional chief secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi told the media here this evening.

He said the state had taken cognisance of reports suggesting big companies were looking for alternative bases outside China.

Interestingly, the Adityanath government has been planning to hold a Global Investors Summit in Lucknow by the end of this calendar to position UP as an ideal international investment destination across sectors.

In February 2018, the state had organised its maiden mega UP Investor Summit, which had garnered total investment commitments to the tune of Rs 4.68 trillion, of which projects totalling more than Rs 1.25 trillion have already witnessed their foundation laying ceremony.

Meanwhile, the government has instituted 11 different committees headed by a cabinet minister each to draw the roadmap to tide over the economic and social challenges posed by the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.

These committees pertain to the segments of industry, construction, revenue, labour, education, agriculture, social welfare, rural development, urban affairs, water and handicapped welfare.

“Since the harvest of rabi crops has started, the state will ensure farmers dace no hurdles in selling their crops and getting the minimum support price (MSP),” Awasthi said. The government has allowed private agencies and farmers producers organisations (FPO) to procure wheat at the  doorstep so that social distancing norms are followed and the farmers do not face difficulties.

So far, the state has facilitated the reopening of over 5,200 industrial units engaged in the manufacturing of medical/health care supplies and essential commodities by resolving their issues pertaining to labour, passes, transport etc.

Besides, the committee headed by the infrastructure and industrial development commissioner (IIDC) Alok Tandon has interacted with the management of 30,500 companies and facilitated the payment of wages and salaries totalling more than Rs 420 crore to their labourers for the month of March 2020.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus ‘hotspots’ sealed for complete lockdown has touched 146 across 15 districts  viz. Agra, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Lucknow, Varanasi, Shamli, Meerut, Bareilly, Bulandshahr, Kanpur, Basti, Ferozabad, Saharanpur, Maharajganj and Sitapur.

Of the total 550 coronavirus cases identified in UP so far, 401 cases pertain to these 146 hotspots alone.

At the same time, the respective district authorities have additionally sealed 62 hotspots at the local level across 25 districts. These hubs account for 80 coronavirus cases.

The UP Police have lodged 16,572 first information reports (FIR) and booked 52,534 persons under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for defying the lockdown norms pertaining to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.