Virendra Singh Rawat / Lucknow
Targetting to become a $trillion economy in the next 4-5 years, Uttar Pradesh is mulling over developing a State Capital Region (SCR) to boost economic activities and attract investment.
The proposed Lucknow-SCR, modelled on the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), will comprise eight districts namely Lucknow, Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Barabanki, Sitapur and Hardoi.
The SCR will encompass an area of 34,000 sq km and a population of almost 30 million across the constituent eight districts.
The idea is to develop Lucknow and Kanpur as world class modern cities and spur economic development in the entire state. The government has started the process of selecting a project consultant for the same.
Lucknow-SCR is expected to act as a counter magnet to the Delhi-NCR, and attract private investment to the UP hinterland.
Moreover, it will decongest Lucknow and other major cities by generating job and self employment opportunities locally and thus curbing the migration of aspirational youth to big cities in search of employment.
At the same time, six regional development zones will be developed in the state viz. Meerut, Agra, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Bareilly and Jhansi.
While the UP chief secretary will be the chairperson of the SCR, the respective divisional commissioners will head the regional development zones.
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Since, the Yogi Adityanath government 2.0 is looking to boost the UP’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to the level of a $trillion in the next 4-5 years, such steps are expected to catalyse the ambitious transition.