UP Investors' Summit 2018: Union Cabinet heaps praise on Yogi govt

After defence corridor, Bundelkhand to benefit from railway project

Union Cabinet ministers continued to dominate the second and final day of the Uttar Pradesh investors’ summit, most of them praising Chief Minister Adtiyanath for the improved law and order situation in the state. 

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced the setting up of a coach-refurbishment factory in the drought-prone region of Bundelkhand and a rail ancillary park in Fatehpur. He said the capacity of the Rae Bareli coach factory would be tripled in the next three years.

“We shall produce 1,000 coaches next year, 2,000 the year after, and 3,000 in the third year,” Goyal said, adding that the Dudhwa-Lakhimpur metre gauge would be converted in to a “heritage line”. 

The announcement of expansion of the capacity of the Rae Bareli factory, however, was not a surprise, as the railway ministry has been working on it for the last few months. The railway minister also spoke about the upcoming electric locomotive shed in Gorakhpur, Adityanath’s hometown.

Giving further boost to the state infrastructure,Essel group which has announced MoUs worth Rs 180 bn on Wednesday said they were entering into the business of manufacturing electric vechiles for the first time. They would be bringing out 1000 E-buses from intrastate UP to the NCR region.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the infrastructure of about 15-20 cities would be improved in the next five years. He stressed on the improved law and order situation, indicating that the Centre was supporting Adtiyanath, whose government has come under the scanner for record “encounters” in the past year.

“Investors like to invest in a state that is corruption-free and has good law and order. In the past 11 months, the Adtiyanath government has proved its capability in this,” Jaitley said. 

On the first day of the investor summit, Prime Minister Narendra, too, had heaped praises on Adtiyanath and recounted the success stories of flagship programmes run by the Union government. 

This is the first time the PM and his Cabinet have attended any state investor summit, including those organised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments. Uttar Pradesh is a key state for the BJP, as it has the maximum Lok Sabha seats (80).

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman echoed her colleagues. She said Uttar Pradesh could contribute in reducing India’s arms import bill on the back of the proposed defence manufacturing corridor in Bundelkhand.

“The state always had strong fundamentals in the sector. Now, it needs the integration of the industry with the government so that our arms import bill can be substituted with domestic production as much as we can,” Sitharaman said. Uttar Pradesh has a vast defence manufacturing base in Kanpur, with six public sector units.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, who praised the Uttar Pradesh government for its initiatives for civil aviation and increased number of passengers from the state, however, asked the state government to work towards widening the base for air traffic. “The base is currently low and it needs widening,” Raju said. 

About 5,000 national and international delegates attended the summit, which had 30 sessions focussed on various sectors. The state government has claimed to have signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) worth almost ~4.3 trillion. President Ram Nath Kovind delivered the valedictory speech.