State-run Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has approached the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government with a request for allotment of land under the flagship Defence Industrial Corridor Project. The Central government had earlier announced the creation of two defence industrial corridors in the country, one in Tamil Nadu and the other in UP, in a bid to boost indigenous defence production.

The UP defence industrial corridor project is expected to significantly benefit the politically important but backward Bundelkhand region. It is expected that the ruling BJP would gain from the benefits that would accrue to the region from the execution of this ambitious project. The corridor’s alignment takes it through six districts namely Agra, Aligarh, Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Kanpur and Lucknow.

One of the major attractions in routing the corridor through these regions lies in the fact that the concerned districts have a good base of ancillary industries required to support production, while affording sufficient raw material. Importantly, there is no land constraint in the Bundelkhand region, which is a big positive for a high-profile project such as the defence industrial corridor.

BEL’s announcement is expected to pave the way for greater involvement from public and private defence manufacturers, with significant economic dividends for the region as a whole.