Putting Uttarakhand On The Development Road Map

Uttarakhand, one of the fastest growing hill states in the country, is looking at diversifying its industrial base by encouraging new sectors such as winery, defence production, wellness and adventure tourism, and developing locations for film shooting and production.  
 

The government also plans to ramp up broadband connectivity through the state, connecting every district to village with an information superhighway, to offer key citizen services, such as, income certificates, caste certificates, permanent residency certificate, solvency certificate, character certificate, among others.
 

The government is also looking at ways to step up industry-academia interaction to build on its pool of trained professionals coming out of world-class education institutes in the state.   
 

Addressing Business Standard Smart Business panel discussion, ‘Putting Uttarakhand On The Development Growth Map’ at Dehradun, Rakesh Sharma, chief principal secretary, Uttarakhand, said the state has over the last ten years seen massive growth in capital investment due to a conducive industrial policy and generous tax benefits. “Even after the incentives go away, industries are here to stay in Uttarakhand. Cheap power is a key driver of industrial development in the state,” said Sharma.  However, to expedite the development of the hilly regions – especially after the damage to physical infrastructure following the deluge that hit in 2013 – he stressed on the need to diversify into newer sectors such as winery, wellness and adventure tourism, and other eco-friendly industries. “The havoc caused by the deluge provides a unique business opportunity for re-development of the hilly regions,” said Sharma. 
 

According to Deepak Kumar, secretary, Information Technology, Uttarakhand, the state is looking at deploying high-speed internet networks as part of its e-governance initiative and offer key citizen services. 
 

Pradipta Banerji, director, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, stressed on the need for more industry-academia interaction to build on the huge trained manpower pool that the state enjoyed. Pankaj Gupta, president, Industries Association of Uttarakhand, said that industry, government and academic institutions could enter into a Memorandum of Understanding to foster projects that are helpful for growth of industry.