UP cabinet okays 5,125 hectare land for Defence Corridor

The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Monday approved a proposal which identified 5,125 hectares of land for the ambitious Defence Corridor announced for the Bundelkhand region by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February this year, an official said. The land has been earmarked in Aligarh, Azamgarh, Jalaun, Jhansi, Kanpur and Chitrakoot districts of the state.

The cabinet clearance now means that the state government would purchase the identified land and hand it over to the companies that have shown interest in building the corridor. 

The cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, also okayed a proposal for empanelment of the Indian Institute of Kanpur (IIT-K) and the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) for technical support in the project.

The cabinet also gave a green signal to the allocation of Rs 1,070.65 lakh for running cruise boats in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Modi.

Officials also said that a Rs 1,400-crore investment has been made for the under-construction Jawahar thermal power plant and the Obra plant. While the former will be constructed by the Power Grid Corporation of India, the Obra one would be built by the Adani group.

Among the 16 proposals cleared by the cabinet, one includes giving performance incentive to the 3.75 lakh "Aanganwadi" workers in the state. Other than this, the state cabinet has also ratified a proposal of Rs 10 lakh financial compensation for the cleaning staff who die while cleaning sewers in the state.