To facilitate smooth resumption of businesses and industries in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government has now accelerated the implementation of ease of doing business reforms at district levels.
All district magistrates have been directed to ensure effective implementation of ease of doing business reforms in their respective districts.
The 75 districts in the state will be ranked every month on the basis of percentage points earned on three parameters district-wise time-bound disposal of applications received on single window portal, Nivesh Mitra, for getting approvals or licences by entrepreneurs , 'satisfactory' feedback of Nivesh Mitra user, and timely grievance redressal status of the district.
It is noteworthy that the district magistrates who chair the district-level Udyog Bandhu meetings have been provided with user ID and passwords for the Nivesh Mitra portal to monitor the applications and their disposals.
UP Minister for Industrial Development, Satish Mahana, said that the government is confident that on the back of the district-level ease of doing business ranking initiative, the state would see an equally impressive entrepreneurs' facilitation at the grass-roots level in Uttar Pradesh.
"The state government is gearing up to transform the current challenges into opportunities of bringing in reforms for inclusive development. It is crucial that these reforms are implemented and visible on ground at all levels of governance, including in the districts," he said.
Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner, Alok Tandon, said that this step would encourage the spirit of business competitiveness among the districts, which shall further act as a catalyst in improving the business ranking for the state.
Principal Secretary, Infrastructure and Industrial Development, Alok Kumar, said, "Along with other initiatives, such as creation of new investment promotion and facilitation agency, appropriate policy interventions and timely implementation of ease of doing business reforms at the state level, it is imperative to ensure efficient execution of reforms at the district level to create a conducive environment for industries and investors."
He further said that the ranking of the districts has been conceptualised in two broad categories the first would include districts that receive more than 2,000 applications on Nivesh Mitra seeking clearances for setting up or running of units, while the second category will comprise the remaining districts.
According to the February 2020 data, there were 17 districts which received over 2,000 applications on Nivesh Mitra. These include Bulandshahr, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Muzaffarnagar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Agra, Saharanpur, Mathura, Bareilly, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Meerut, Hapur, Kanpur and Moradabad.
The single window portal of the state Nivesh Mitra is also part of ease of doing business reforms and 146 services of 20 departments are available on it.
( With inputs from IANS )