Industries in Uttarakhand face a considerable shortage of skilled manpower and to meet this requirement the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has recommended centres with better infrastructure facilities for skill training so that in five years about four lakh workers are trained to give thrust to industrialization here.
Further, the chambers has also proposed to organise a meeting in Dehradun later this year involving industrialists from across the nation to deliberate upon aspects of industrial development in Uttarakhand, said ASSOCHAM president Sandeep Jajodia.
He was addressing the media after meeting chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and jointly releasing a study report prepared by the chambers and Thought Arbitrage Research Institute (TARI) on sustainable action plan for the new government here on Wednesday.
Jadodia said that change of government in a state is an opportunity to reassess economic ground realities of that state and to make a fresh beginning to capitalise on the strengths and find solutions to nagging issues affecting progress. Uttarakhand has various strengths like scope for adventure and relaxing tourism apart from the fact that it is one of the few states where the agriculture is largely organic. He said, “The potential of the state in agriculture and other sectors has not been harnessed properly so far. If places like the Auli ski slope are developed with proper facilities, people will arrive here instead of travelling to Switzerland. Considering the large size of unskilled population, ASSOCHAM which has 10 skilling centres across the nation, has proposed to work in Uttarakhand towards skill development,” he said. Jajodia further informed that ASSOCHAM has proposed to organise a meet of industrialists from across India in Dehradun during June this year.
The report submitted to the chief minister further stressed that skilling centres should be set up, like for food processing in Rishikesh, handloom in Almora and tourism in Uttarkashi. A comprehensive policy of public private partnership (PPP) needs to be framed along the lines of Kerala, which has brought private investment and done wonders to promote tourism, stated the ASSOCHAM president.
The ASSOCHAM paper states that more investment is needed in building warehouses, cold storages and specialised transport vehicles for food processing industries.
More private sector participation should be encouraged to build tourism infrastructure. Various other aspects of industry and recommendations for improvement have also been stated in the paper. The ASSOCHAM secretary general DS Rawat, its food processing and value addition council chairman PK Jain and TARI director Kshama V Kaushik were also present on the occasion.