No industrial estate developed in U'khand hills

Amid uproar and repeated adjournments in the Uttarakhand Assembly, the state government has come under fire over the slow industrialisation in the hills after it admitted that it could not develop any industrial estate in the mountainous region.

“We are in the process of developing industrial estates but we have so far not developed any of them in the hills,” said Parliamentary Minister Prakash Pant in the House, with the Opposition members seeking details of the status of industries and investments under the government’s integrated hill industrial development policy 2008.

The uproar began when the government said a total of 1,122 industries had set up new units, providing employment to 3,828 people in the hills in the new hill development policy. Soon, the Opposition members were on their feet claiming the government’s figures were not correct as the units which were being talked about were mainly those doing business in atta, chakki, dal, jam and pickle.

Congress member Pritam Singh asked the government to provide details regarding the total investments and industrial areas developed.

Replying to the question, Pant admitted that the government could not develop any of the industrial estates but said an investment of Rs 50 crore had been done.

This again led to adjournment amidst huge uproar in the House. Pant said all the figures were based on the projections given by the industries.