 "Sharp contrasts in two Industrial hubs: Noida flourishes, Ghaziabad falters")
The poll heat is rising in tandem with the daily temperature. However, 23-year-old Amit Kumar, an employee with a talent management firm, remains optimistic about both. While the rain on Tuesday brought some relief from the sweltering heat, Kumar’s optimism regarding Noida’s prospects is also sky-high.
Kumar works for Spectrum Talent Management, which hires workers for companies in the area. One of his company’s clients is Noida-based Dixon Technologies (India), an electronics manufacturing company.
“About 4,500 to 5,000 people are at work at any given time,” he says, standing outside one of Dixon’s Noida units that manufacture boAt headphones, waiting for some people who went inside the unit.
The likes of Samsung and LG have also set up plants in the city, giving direct and indirect job opportunities to youths like Kumar and those whom he hires for the company.
Several people attribute this surge in employment opportunities to the Centre’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme and the localisation push that has attracted investment in electronics manufacturing in this area of Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddha Nagar district.
While Dixon is yet to make smartphones in the city under the PLI scheme, Samsung is planning to start laptop manufacturing outside of the scheme.
More From This Section
“(The Centre’s) Make in India initiative has benefited us (the city),” says Sudhir Srivastava, vice-president of the Noida Entrepreneurs Association. He also lauded the goods and services tax regime and single window clearance system, saying that they brought transparency to business activities.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is playing up its industrial policies in the elections.
“In the past 10 years, we have established a $100+ billion electronics manufacturing industry... generating huge employment opportunities in this industry. We will consolidate our efforts and expand electronics manufacturing three times to become a major player in the global value chain,” its manifesto says.
On the other hand, the Congress, while addressing the issue of “jobless growth,” has also emphasised the need for India to become a “producing economy.” In its manifesto, the party vows to “support the private sector in its endeavour to create jobs and produce goods and services”.
Concerns, however, remain over issues like power supply and lack of public transportation in Noida.
Srivastava says one such demand is underground cabling of electricity wires to avoid power cuts due to storms and rain. “Also, the city employs about 1.4 million people. It needs good public transportation for them to safely reach workplaces.”
Despite these hiccups, Srivastava remains optimistic about the prospects of the city. He said high import duty on Chinese products has given a fillip to manufacturing products including electronics, light-emitting diodes, and toys. “It gives a boost to the allied industries as well,” he adds.
In the same vein, he said that India’s foray into semiconductor manufacturing would benefit the city’s industry.
Ghaziabad’s contrarian sentiment
The sentiment is quite opposite in Sahibabad, an industrial area in the adjoining district of Ghaziabad.
Waste-littered walkways and dusty roads paint a gloomy picture of the industrial area, which has about 2,200 small and medium manufacturing units employing over 200,000 people. The area is also home to production units like Havells India, ITC, Bisleri International, and Bharat Electronics.
The owners of the manufacturing units here complain of frequent power cuts and waterlogging on the roads.
“This is such an old industrial area that it lacks basic facilities even today. There is no sewer line while electricity lines are in a dilapidated condition,” says Charanjeet Singh, office secretary of Sahibabad Industries Association.
The adverse conditions have led to many factories getting shut down, leading to a lack of job opportunities in the nearby areas.
“Earlier, there were a lot of large factories. But many of them got shut,” says Radeshwar Pal, who lives in Maharajpur, a village near the industrial area.
Irrespective of this, Pal is of the view that the BJP candidate would win the Ghaziabad seat because of ‘Hindu’ votes. “Maharajpur is predominantly a Muslim majority village. But (voters of) housing societies are BJP supporters,” he claims.
‘No Registry, No Vote’
Back in Gautam Buddha Nagar, a different problem persists in a few places. Some residents in the area have decided to shun the elections this time.
Unhappy with the pending registrations for their flats, they said that they would not exercise their franchise if the registries were not done. Some residents have even put up large banners of ‘No Registry, No Vote’ on their society gates and balconies for politicians visiting their societies.
Reports suggest that 115,000 home buyers in Gautam Buddha Nagar are awaiting registration of their flats.
One of them is Dinkar Pandey, a resident of Ajnara Homes in Greater Noida.
Pandey bought a flat for Rs 47 lakh in 2018 but could not get it registered in his name to date as the builder of the society has not paid the complete amount of the land to the land development authority of the area.
“About 600 homebuyers are waiting for the registry in Ajnara Homes. We are suffering because of the builders. So, it (vote boycott) is a way to express our anger,” the 41-year-old information technology employee said.
Business Standard could not contact the builder of the society despite calls and messages.
Cases of incomplete projects, faulty construction, and bankruptcy proceedings against some of the real estate firms have led to delayed possession of the flats.
Abhishek Kumar, president of the Noida Extension Flat Owner Welfare Association, says that without a registry, it becomes difficult to mortgage the property. “Either the interest rate is too high or the bank outrightly declines for a loan.”
For some homebuyers, their property has become a liability.
“I know people who did not find buyers for such flats or had to sell the property for a lower price during the pandemic years,” says Pandey.
However, he knows boycotting the vote would not affect the candidates contesting from the seat. “For them, our 200,000-250,000 votes would not make much difference. No one has come to us so far asking for votes.”