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| Orissa must focus on new age industries, says ASSOCHAM |
| BS Reporter / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar Mar 05, 2010, 00:01 IST |
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Citing lack of new age industries in Orissa, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) today called upon the Orissa government to focus on the development of IT, real estate and service sectors.
It also laid emphasis on the development of human resources to bridge the skill gap and improve the employability of manpower in the state.
In a study taken up by the chamber titled “Creating and sustaining growth momentum in Orissa”, it strongly pitched for the development of infrastructure, focus on sunrise industries like pharmaceuticals, small and medium industries, adequate importance on climate change and global warming, removal of regional inequalities particularly in KBK districts and connecting the ports with the industrial corridors.
Similarly, promotion of employment through cluster development, setting up of ancillary industries, linking industries to supply chain and creation of opportunities for self-employment need to be given priority. However, the report termed the implementation of various projects in Orissa as encouraging.
Releasing the study report here, Dr Swati Piramal, president of ASSOCHAM, said, more than 10 percent of the total investment announced by the public and private sector in the country, has come to Orissa. The state was able to attract investment of Rs 9,28,834 crore by March 2009, compared to Rs 88,71,867 crore for the entire country.
While the state’s share in public sector investment was 0.87 percent, it was able to get 13.29 percent of the private investment. The projects put to implementation in the state accounted for 32.6 percent of the proposed investments which is encouraging in the backdrop of the economic slowdown impacting the world economy during 2008-09.
The ASSOCHAM chief said, though Orissa is considered to be a power surplus state, there is power imbalance in the locations of capital intensive industries. Besides, high cost of sending goods to ports and infrastructural bottlenecks continue to be areas of concern even as there are improvements on this front during the last one year.
D S Rawat, the secretary general of ASSOCHAM, said, the problem of land acquisition isn’t confined to Orissa. It has become a national phenomenon and the chamber has suggested measure both to the Centre and the states to resolve the issue.
ASSOCHAM has suggested that the land acquisition need to be left to the buyers and sellers of land and the role of the state should be that of a facilitator only. The project proponents have a role to rehabilitate all those families being uprooted for a project.
On Orissa specific initiative, Rawat said, an Orissa Desk has been set up in Delhi to focus on the human resources development and the development of food processing industries. Berhampur University has been roped in as the partner for the purpose.
The desk is working on the growth of agriculture and food processing industries in the state and drafting Orissa Vision-2020 to provide a road map for the development of the state. An investment seminar called “Orissa Calling Investment”, is proposed to be held in Delhi in October this year to promote investment in the state, he pointed out.
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