Good governance, streamlining incentive disbursement priority areas, says chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Manoj Kumar Singh

CS Singh talks about priority areas and measures to ensure that the people’s grievances are resolved and Uttar Pradesh is made an even better destination for investors

Having taken over as the new chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Manoj Kumar Singh, a 1988-batch IAS officer, has spoken about priority areas and measures to ensure that the people’s grievances are resolved and Uttar Pradesh is made an even better destination for investors. Umesh Raghuvanshi spoke to the new chief secretary about the initiatives he proposes to undertake to ensure good governance and streamlining the payment of incentives to industry in Uttar Pradesh. Excerpts:

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Q: What steps do you propose to resolve people’s issues?

A: We would like to implement the concept of good governance in the right manner. We will work out a system to ensure that the public grievances at the district, tehsil, block and police station levels are properly addressed and disposed of.

Q: How?

A: I plan to pick up five complaints from the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS) randomly every day. We will see whether these five cases have been disposed of fairly by speaking to the complainant. Somebody will call the complainant to find out about the status of the complaint. We will make them a case study for the whole state. We will ensure that the complaints are disposed of not just for the sake of disposal, but the person concerned gets justice.

Q: What about the law-and-order situation?

A: We have a good law and order situation. Good law and order is the main point of attraction for the investors. We will work with the DGP to ensure better coordination between the district magistrates and senior superintendents of police.

Q: What more on the front of attracting investment?

A: We are also working on how to make the state a still better destination for investment. The process for releasing the incentives is quite complicated and time-consuming. Every payment of incentive, be it ₹1 crore or ₹100 crore (goes) to the cabinet (for clearance). Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has also given directives to streamline this. We are working out a system that only the payment of first and last instalment will go to the cabinet for approval while the rest will be done at the level of the empowered committee.

Q: What about the volume of incentives to be paid?

A: Giving incentives is a continuous process. We have several cases of incentives to be paid as per the provisions of the 2012 industry and investment policy. We will then have cases of the 2017 policy and the 2022 policy. Companies are entitled to payment of incentives once the projects are commissioned and commercial production begins. In eastern UP and Bundelkhand, we give an incentive of 300% for eligible capital investment made. The incentive is 100% in west UP. It’s 200% in central UP.

Q: Any other issues?

A: Another issue is holding of 10% incentive of the company. There is no point in doing so if the government has a long relationship with the company.

Q: What about allotment of land to new projects?

A: Land allotment to industry is another important point. An app has been developed and every industrial area is being surveyed to know which plot has been allotted to which industry and whether the industry is functional and if not whether the same plot of land can be allotted to any other industry. We hope the survey will be complete in three months. UPEIDA has acquired land on 30 land nodes. As of now 4500-acre land has been acquired. In Unnao and Bijauli (Meerut), more than 90% of the land has been acquired. We are beginning the process of land allotment to new industry there.

Q: Your priority areas?

A. Good governance, streamlining incentive disbursement. We are also working on better coordination with the industry.

Q: Will there be another groundbreaking ceremony?

A. We are reviewing land allotment, whether the same has been done. Senior officers of industrial development authorities along with the Udyami Mitras are being deployed with the investors to work as the industry’s liaison officers. Our idea is to ground 1000-2000 big projects before planning for another groundbreaking ceremony.

Q: Is the water seepage at Ram temple an issue of concern?

A: The report about the water seepage at the Ram temple in Ayodhya is not a case of any lapse. The temple is still under construction. Protection measures are taken only after completion of construction work. The state government, however, acted in cases of damage to roads. This was because the roads were complete and full payment was made to the contractor.