Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has claimed that efforts of the state government to make Himachal Pradesh a favourite destination for the entrepreneurs during last eight months have shown constructive results.
Presiding over the meeting of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) here on Friday evening, the chief minister said that Himachal was a power surplus state and was also open for tourism round the year. "The state was the biggest pharma hub of Asia. Developmental policies, single window clearances and persistent infrastructural development has helped the state in attracting the entrepreneurs," he said.
Thakur said the state had potential of generating 27436 megawatt hydro power and so far only 38 percent potential had been exploited. The state has invited the private sector for 27 power projects having capacity of 2144 megawatt. He invited the investors to invest in sectors like tourism, power generation, agriculture processing, industries and infrastructure development for which the government would provide all possible assistance. He added that the government was moving ahead in establishing cement projects in Sirmaur and Chamba districts.
The Chief Minister said that various issues concerning the industrial organisations had been settled during the last few months and despite political opposition, various important decisions had been taken to encourage investment in the state. He said Himachal was among the top states in social and economic indicators and there was negligible corruption.
Thakur said Himachal had tough geographical conditions and infrastructural development and connectivity were major challenges. However, after construction of 70 new national highways, expansion of helipads and completion of Chandigarh-Baddi and Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri rail lines would go a long way in improving the connectivity in the state.
Additional Chief Secretary, Industries R.D Dhiman in his presentation said that responsive governance, best social and welfare indicators, uninterrupted power supply at low rates, simple procedures and easy access to the Chief Ministers office make Himachal ideal state for investors.
Dhiman said 47,321 industrial units with investment of 28634.64 crores were functional in the state in which employment had been given to thousands of youth.
President of the CII, Northern region Sachit Jain said that Himachal Pradesh was progressive state in the industrial sector where congenial industrial environment encourages the investors. He stressed on making further infrastructural development, improvement in connectivity and taking more steps to facilitate the investors.
REPRESENTATIVES OF INDUSTRIAL HOUSES MEET CM
A one-to-one meeting between Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and officers of the state government and entrepreneurs was organised here regarding setting up new industrial units and expansion of the existing ones.
Managing Director of Vardhman group Sanchit Jain, Abhishek Munjal and Bhart Goel of Hero group, Chief Executive Officer of Saiman Rakesh Verma, Managing Director of Bulk Drug Rajeev Goel, Director Rahul Goel and Chief Commercial Officer Anjur Goel, President of IMT Industries Association, Faridabad PJS Sarna, Prerna Sonia and Shobhit Gupta of Agro Processing Sector, Chairman of Sor Panel Harish Aggarwal, Managing Director of Delmore and Awal group Amit Kapoor and Managing Director of Crimica Food Park SS Parmar held talks with the Chief Minister.
The representatives of these industrial houses discussed about expansion and setting up of new industrial units in the state besides the infrastructural facilities being provided by the government.