Shimla, Aug.13 (IANS): Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday said the industry has been badly affected due to the Covid-induced lockdown and migration of labourers.
Speaking at the inaugural session of a webinar organised by CII on 'HP Economic Summit-Getting the Growth Back', he said out of 3,636 coronavirus cases in the state, 800 were from industrial areas.
Thakur said efforts would be made to expedite the work on four laning of the road passing through industrial areas. For this, steps were being taken to persuade the Union government to ensure railway connectivity in Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh industrial area in Solan district would be strengthened.
The state offers attractive incentives under the Industrial Investment Policy to boost industrialization and make it more attractive and industry-friendly, he said.
For this, various policies like tourism, film, information technology, Ayush and affordable housing have been framed to attract investments.
He said the state has taken a holistic view to make Himachal Pradesh an industrial hub of the country.
He said private sector participation could be fruitful in areas like tourism, infrastructure and industrial infrastructure, including housing, power generation and software technology parks.
The coronavirus pandemic has adversely affected the world economy and the target set by the state after the success of the Global Investors Meet has been affected.
He said although the economy has reached the lowest ebb, the government was committed to revive it and achieve the target of investment set in the Global Investors Meet held in Dharamsala last year.
Thakur said the state was expecting that it would get one bulk drug park out of the three parks to be setup by the Central government.
Industries Minister Bikram Singh Thakur said the state was committed to provide all possible assistance for revival of the MSME in the state. CII Chairman (Himachal Pradesh) Shailesh Pathak said that the pandemic has caused a loss of over INR 30,000 crore to the state economy.