CII asks for 'business without barriers' in Himachal

The Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) has demanded that the Himachal Pradesh government remove barriers on state borders to facilitate business in the hill state.

The CII, over the weekend, handed over a wish list to the state government ahead of the state budget to be presented on March 5 here.

"The government needs to remove barriers set up for collecting taxes on the state borders. This is a major hindrance for business and wastes a lot of time," said Rajendra Guleria, chairman, CII state unit, here on Sunday.

"There should be surprise checks instead of checking every vehicle entering the state," said Guleria.

"The state government is collecting taxes of about Rs 35 crore at toll barriers, which can be made up by imposing taxes by other means. The state budget needs to be more friendly to industry by ensuring 'business without barriers'," he said.

On infrastructure, the chamber has called for a major thrust in the development of roads, rail and air connectivity to encourage investment and reduce transportation costs.

The CII said the new industrial policy should be a constantly evolving document made after discussions with industry, instead of changing it once in three or five years.

"Vocational courses need to change to cater to new industry and many outdated courses need to be deleted," said Ashok Tandon, technical education chairman, CII.

"To encourage the growth of information technology, a pool of talented professional is needed. As a first step, computer education should be introduced in schools along with English at the elementary level," said Vijay Arora, finance and taxation panel, CII.