The outgoing British Deputy High Commissioner, Chandigarh, David lelliott, who made a courtesy call on Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal, on Tuesday, assured him of his full support to set up the proposed Indo-UK Institute of Health in Haryana over an area of 50 acres at a cost of ` 1000 crore.
A team from UK has already visited several places in Haryana to select a suitable site for the institute.
lelliott was accompanied by Andrew Ayre, who is taking over as the New British Deputy High Commissioner, Chandigarh. lelliott who has completed his four years term here will move to Sudan as Deputy Head of Mission later this month.
The Chief Minister congratulated lelliott for his new assignment and said that India and Haryana have enjoyed a strong bond with UK through him.
While introducing Andrew Ayre to Chief Minister, David lelliot said that the relations between Haryana and UK are in safe hands. On his and Andrew Ayre’s behalf, he assured full support and cooperation to the State Government.
The Chief Minister said that as sugarcane is grown in abundance in Haryana, the UK could assist the State Government in setting up of units for sugar production. At present 11 sugar mills are functioning in Haryana.
He said that special emphasis is being laid on the diversification of crops to encourage farmers to adopt horticulture and other cash crops instead of traditional crops of rice and wheat. For this, the State Government is implementing the peri-urban concept of farming, especially in the National Capital Region to cater to the needs of fruits, flowers, vegetables and milk of 40 million population, said Manohar lal.
Andrew Ayre said that he was quite impressed with what he had seen so far in Haryana and evinced keen interest in cooperation with Haryana in areas of mutual interest.
The Chief Minister said that two major agreements were signed with U.K during the Happening Haryana Global Investor’s Summit held at Gurugram last year. Apart from this, various leading companies of UK have set up their units in Haryana.
He said that Global Smart City Project in Gurugram, Industrial logistic Hub in South Haryana over 1200 acres of land, dedicated industrial corridor on both sides of 136 kilometer long Kundali-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway were among the key projects being implemented by the State Government.
He said that the State Government has also indentified Skill Development as another key area of development. Haryana Skill Development Mission has been set up and a University of Skill Development is being set up in Palwal. The building of the University would be completed within one year.
Apart from this, agro-based, food processing and allied industry, textiles, apparel, footwear and accessories, electronics and Information Technology, Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing and Renewable Energy are among the key thrust areas of the State Government, he added.