2 June,Dr. Avnish Jolly:The Government of Himachal Pradesh has accorded a provisional approval to 10 new medium and large scale industrial projects involving an investment of Rs 535.43 crore and generating employment to about 3,762 persons.These proposals include Coslight India Telecom which would invest Rs 367 crore on its project.
The state government is planning to create land banks in public-private participation (PPP) for industrial expansion and development of the lands with quality industrial infrastructure in the districts of Solan, Kanga and Una. This was revealed by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal at the State Level Single Window Clearance and Monitoring Authority meeting.
The Minister said that the state government would be associating the private land owners in the identified industrial areas of the Solan, Kanga and Una districts to create land banks so that after consolidation of the land, planned development of the industrial areas could be carried.
Dhumal said that state government would extend all possible help for the development and setting up a cluster of about 300 foot industrial units, preferably in district Sirmour. It would generate employment to about 16,500 persons initially with a vast investment estimated at Rs 10,620 crore and produce quality foot wear to meet the demand of the area.
Besides industrial expansion, the state government was also according priority to the cottage industry to generate self-employment avenues to the rural artisans. The state government is also planning to authorise the concerned executive engineers of state electricity board to issue power availability certificate to the prospective entrepreneur with a view to simplify the procedure and save the time of the applicants from visiting state headquarters.
The Chief Minister said that the state government was discouraging high power consuming, low employment generating and polluting industrial units with a view to optimally utilise the land, power, water and other industrial infrastructure. Referring to complaints of exploitation of the entrepreneurs at the hands of property dealers and people involved in sale and purchase of the land, he said that there had been pressing demand for making available industrial land to the prospective entrepreneurs at reasonable market rates and the proposal was a step towards achieving the objective.
Dhumal emphasized the need to attract more investment by multinational companies while encouraging small and medium units by diverting them to the less utilised industrial areas in Kanga and Una districts.