Acres Of Land Idle In Sahibabad, Yet None Available For MSME To Fulfill The Vision Of “Make in India”!

Ghaziabad, March 22 (TNA) The oldest and most premier Industrial Area of UP, Site-IV Sahibabad Industrial Area, right next to Delhi, looks completely neglected and partially dead as an industrial hub. This industrial area was established almost 5 decades ago, when large industries in Delhi were forced to find bigger land close to the capital to establish their industry.

The stringent pollution norms for NCR have forced many industries out of Sahibabad resulting in a huge unproductive land bank lying idle. This huge land bank can kick start the MSME economy and generate employment if the subdivision policy of UPSIDA is made viable.

The current 2020 UPSIDA policy has been a complete failure towards industrial development due to the extremely restrictive clauses. In the last 50 years land availability and utilisation has seen phenomenal changes. Was there a concept of apartments, builder floors in residential areas 5 decades ago, absolutely not !

Similarly, in the industrial area the current need is for small land holdings to facilitate startups, IT sector, service industry, ancillary units etc.

The Sahibabad Industrial Association (Regd.) has been very active in communicating the industrial needs to UPSIDA. Subsequently, in December 2021 a draft policy was uploaded on UPSIDA website seeking public objections. Some of the clauses are once again making the policy unfeasible and the same has been objected at large by all the stakeholders.

Some of the major objections are as under :

• Allowing subdivision on only 50% of the land will once again make the policy highly unviable. This will lead to unnecessary blockage of land for people who don’t have that land requirement / who don’t want to run the industry after 4 decades of working.

• The MSME need is for small plots ranging from 250 sqm. to 450 sqm.

• The subdivision & transfer charges are very high.

• The industry has been demanding a workable policy for more than 4 years now. No subdivision of land has happened after the formation of UPSIDA in 2018.

The incoming BJP government should on top priority address the economic distress caused by the pandemic by amending the subdivision policy at the earliest.

- Atul Bhatia

(The writer is an industrialist, views expressed are personal)