The Uttarakhand government has asked the industry to focus on the development of the hilly region with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) suggesting development of special tourism zones.

Interacting with a delegation of the CII here last night, chief minister B C Khanduri said that it was important to create livelihood opportunities in the hills to prevent the scourge of migration. He suggested that CII should act as a catalyst in facilitating industrial investment in the hills as per a report by Shishir Prashant in Business Standard

Dr S Farooq, chairman, CII Uttarakhand State Council, who led the delegation, welcomed the recent amendments in the hill development policy for industry, 2008. Dr Farooq said that the proposal to develop 11 industrial hubs would lead to planned industrial development in the hills and also address the issue of land availability. He also welcomed the proposals for strengthening the Single Window System.

Some of the other issues discussed at the meeting were promoting tourism and augmenting power availability in the state. Taking a cue from the planned industrial development model followed by the state, the CII suggested development of special tourism zones with community engagement and environment conservation at the core of the model. On the power front CII suggested exploring possibilities of gas based power plants, leveraging the presence of gas pipelines that are coming up in the vicinity of the industrial areas of Haridwar and Pantnagar.

On the occasion, the chief minister also released the CII report — “Investment Climate in Uttarakhand”. The report highlighted the positive investment climate in the state as reflected in its economic and social progress. As per the report the state has not only registered very high rates of economic growth, it also ranked first in terms of improvement in Human Development Index during the period 1996-2006. Later, the delegation also met Rakesh Sharma, principal secretary industrial development to discuss how CII could facilitate industry in the hills.

CII would be organising an interactive session with the principal secretary on December 12 for its members to increase awareness on the hill policy. CII would also be working on identifying entrepreneurs interested in setting up projects in the hills.