Industrialists eye farm land

Move initiated by a scarcity of industrial plots for new units in various industrial enclaves

With industrial plots for new units becoming scarce in the various industrial enclaves developed by the UP State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) in Agra, the industrialists are now eyeing agricultural land of villages outside the city limits to set up their units.

According to the UPSIDC sources, there were two industrial enclaves developed by the corporation in the town in the recent times, apart from the ones developed earlier in the trans-Yamuna area but all these enclaves were filled choc-a-bloc with industrial units and currently, the only space left in the town was at the Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP), where the industrialists were not willing to go, citing reasons like inaccessibility and lack of infrastructure and the industrialists that had been allotted plots were also not eager in setting up their units in the park.

This shortage of industrial land in the city has resulted in the UPSIDC searching for more land on the roads leading out of the town to develop new industrial areas though the efforts have not taken any positive turn and the scarcity of industrial plots is driving the industrialists out of the town towards the villages outside the city limits for their units.

According to the corporation sources, there were two projects planned by the UPSIDC, with a 300 acre industrial area on the Agra-Mathura road and another 2500 acres area on the Chhalesar road that were yet to be finalised.

Talking to Business Standard, Rajiv Gupta, president, National Chamber of Commerce, UP said earlier, ample land was available in the industrial enclaves of the UPSIDC for the industrial units of Agra but as the industrial activity of the city remained confined to the trans-Yamuna area, the industrial enclaves developed near Sikandra had few takers.

But as the trans-Yamuna area became replete with industrial units, the need for more land was felt by the industrialists who began a "mad rush" towards the two industrial parks near Sikandra and by the turn of the year 2004, the parks had virtually no space left.

Now, he said, the only land that was available for industrialists in these parks was through re-sale of already occupied plots as the UPSIDC had failed to develop another industrial area for the local industrialists and this paucity of land was forcing the industrialists to buy out agricultural land outside the municipal limits of the town instead of opting to enter the Export Promotion Industrial Park which was only restricted for export oriented units and was wrought with infrastructural problems.

He said that quite a few industrial units of Agra had shifted their industrial units to the EPIP a year back but apart from a few units that had remained there, all the rest had opted out of the park, including a number of footwear units that formed the majority of the export oriented industrial units in the town.

The UPSIDC came up with the new industrial projects outside Agra that had been planned earlier, this paucity for industrial land would continue to hassle the local industrialists, he added.