In a landmark administrative decision, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has withdrawn the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) from the Industrial Development department and placed it under the Infrastructure department. This means all expressway construction and development works will now be under the direct control of the Chief Minister.
So far, all works related to UPEIDA, like the project, budget, and approval files, used to be routed through the Industrial Development department. But under the new arrangement, they will be directly cleared by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
The move is aimed at streamlining the distribution of work between the Infrastructure and Industrial Development departments and improving coordination between these two, speeding up decision-making, and reducing delays in the projects’ completion.
The Secretariat Administration department issued an order transferring UPEIDA to the Infrastructure Development department on the basis of a proposal submitted by the Industrial Development department.
According to Alok Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) of the Infrastructure and Industrial Development, the Infrastructure Development department had always functioned as a separate entity through a dedicated section in the government.
But it was noticed that an overlap had emerged between the Infrastructure Development wing and the section in the Industrial Development department handling UPEIDA.
Kumar says this move aims to remove this overlap and ensure greater administrative efficiency.
UPEIDA was virtually formed in December 2007 by the Industrial Development department to develop expressways and promote industrial growth along access-controlled high-speed corridors.
But in the course of time, the expressways authority’s primary role increasingly centred on creating large-scale infrastructure.
According to sources, the core objective of UPEIDA is infrastructure creation, which subsequently facilitates industrial development. The recent restructuring aligns the authority’s administrative control with its principal function.
However, political circles view it as a setback for Industrial Development Minister Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi,’ who reportedly interfered with transfers and postings, so it was shifted to the Infrastructure Department, which is directly overseen by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Sources indicate that the decision is also being linked to Nandi’s alleged ongoing tussle with Additional Chief Secretary Alok Kumar.
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