It’s now official that a new industrial estate encompassing an area of 1,700 acres would be set up at Sitarganj in the Kumaon region, which also happens to be the Assembly constituency of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna.
The government is to introduce a mega investment plan to attract industry players. Following the expiry of the hill-based tax incentives that industrialisation sluggish in Uttarakhand, the state government is planning to provide some sops to make industrial activity at Sitarganj lucrative.
The chief minister is to lay the foundation stone of a new industrial estate at Sitarganj on October 21 or 23, Rakesh Sharma, principal secretary, industrial development told Business Standard.
“We are going full steam ahead to develop the new industrial estate at Sitarganj, for which we have also hired a consultant,” said Sharma. The move is being seen as a gesture of thanks by Bahuguna to the people of Sitarganj for giving him an emphatic victory of nearly 40,000 votes in a by-election held in July this year against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate and former Assembly Speaker Prakash Pant. Under the new action plan, the government would launch steps to attract domestic and foreign entrepreneurs the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal (SIDCUL) Phase-2 industrial estate at Sitarganj, for which the National Projects Construction Corporation (NPCC) Limited has been selected as a consultant.
“We are aiming to attract investments worth Rs 500-1000 crore at Sitarganj,” said Sharma.
Significantly, the decision to develop the Sitarganj industrial estate has come at a time when auto companies like Volkswagen, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) and others have evinced interest to set up manufacturing plants at there. group Pawan Goenka, president of the automotive business of M&M, has met Bahuguna to seek 500 acres of land to set up an integrated industrial manufacturing unit.
The Sitarganj industrial estate would be developed by the government-owned SIDCUL, which is credited with setting up world-class industrial estates in Pantnagar and Haridwar, where companies like Tata Motors, Nestle and Hindustan Unilever Limited have set up shop.