LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has cancelled 72 industrial plots allotted to cabinet minister Rakesh Sachan 11 years ago in 2012-13 during Samajwadi Party rule when Sachan was the SP MP from Fatehpur and considered to be very close to late Mulayam Singh Yadav and the then PWD and irrigation minister Shivpal Yadav.
Cancelling the allotment of the plots on Monday, the UP Industrial Development department also recommended a probe into the role of five officials of the Fatehpur industry department who were instrumental in the allotment of plots.
Reacting to the development, Sachan, now the cabinet minister for MSME, said that he himself had got all the allotments made in his name cancelled.
Soon after assuming office as MSME minister in Yogi Adityanath's government, he had directed officials to cancel the allotment of such plots where industrial units were not set up, he claimed.
The process of cancellation was initiated after a complaint by Satyendra Singh, Chairman, Lagu Udyog Bharti of Fatehpur, a body of entrepreneurs. As per the complaint, the plots allotted to set up industrial units had been lying vacant for the last 11 years.
The complaint had also claimed that if the allotment of those plots would be cancelled, the land could be used to bring to life the intents of investment worth Rs 848 crore received by the district.
The state government had deputed officers of the rank of deputy commissioner, industries, and assistant commissioner to look into Singh's complaint.
The UP government has also started a campaign to identify such plots which were allotted for the installation of industrial units but were lying vacant in various districts across the state. The state government would cancel the allotment of all such plots and use them to realise the investment proposals
received during the recently-concluded Global Investors Summit in Lucknow.
The 72 plots were allotted to Sachan under different organisations -- Abhinav Sewa Sansthan and Seema Sewa Sansthan -- in 2012. The 10 per cent security money for the plots had not been deposited so far. A large number of plots were allotted to those who did not set up industrial units for decades and instead used the land for other purposes, according to officials of the industries department. These plots will now be declared vacant and re-allotted.
As per highly-placed sources, the state government has sent an assistant director of industries from Prayagraj to probe the allotment of industrial plots in Fatehpur district.
There are eight industrial areas in Fatehpur district, including Choudagra, Jagatsarai, Trilokpuri, Itrora, Chakhata, Sudhwapur, Surjahi, and Rampur, which were developed between 1987 and 1992. A total of 360 plots were developed in those industrial areas and 72 of them -- 32 in Chakhata and 40 in Sadhuwapur -- were allotted to Sachan in 2012-13.
As per the provisions of industrial policy, the industrial units on the allotted plots must come up within the next six months. However, in Sachan's case, the plots are still vacant.