Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth about Rs. 29,000 crore have been signed between state government and the potential entrepreneurs in different sectors. He was presiding over the progress review meeting of Global Investors Meet held here today with senior officers of the state government.The Chief Minister said that all the departments must ensure proper and constant contact and liaisoning with the prospective investors so that they could be motivated to invest in the State. He said that proactive communication must be maintained with leading business houses who have envisaged interest in investing in Himachal during the road shows held abroad as well as within the country.Jai Ram Thakur said that official website ‘risinghimachal.in’ and mobile based app ‘Rising Himachal’ have been developed which should be used to showcase immense investment potential available in the State. He said that Himpragati portal also has been developed for online tracking, monitoring and for providing assistance to investors. He said that an online land bank portal has been prepared and details regarding available private and government lands have been made available on the portal.He said that presently, about 1600 acres government land is available for industrial purposes besides 618 acres private land where entrepreneurs could invest. He said that all the departments must identify unutilized land and buildings which could be used by potential investors. He said that the government was also in the progress of approving several policies to facilitate the investors willing to invest in the state.
Jai Ram Thakur said that till date 253 MoUs have been signed which would provide gainful employment to over 60,500 youth of the state besides ample opportunities of self employment. He said that all the departments should fix targets to their field officers to identify potential entrepreneurs in their respective regions. He said that if required, nodal officer must be appointed to keep liaison with big industrial houses like Reliance, TATA, Mahindra, Godrej, Obrois, Club Mahindra etc. as they had shown interest to invest in the State during his visit to Mumbai and other places. He stressed the need to ensure follow up on B2G meetings that took place during domestic and international road shows.The Chief Minister said that efforts should also be made to woo Public Sector Undertakings to invest in the State. He said that he would also personally request the concerned Union Ministers to ask the PSUs under their control to explore possibilities of investment in the State.It was proposed in the meeting that two mini conclaves would be organized in Shimla and Kullu to facilitate the investors to sign MoUs in sectors such as tourism, health care and wellness, IT, education and skill development, real estates, power etc.Chief Secretary B.K. Agarwal assured the Chief Minister that all facilities would be provided to the potential entrepreneurs so that objective of attracting investments could be achieved.Additional Chief Secretaries Dr. Shrikant Baldi, Ram Subhag Singh, Sanjay Gupta, Manoj Kumar and R.D. Dhiman, Principal Secretaries Prabodh Saxena, J.C. Sharma, K.K. Pant and Onkar Sharma, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Sanjay Kundu, Secretary, Finance Akshay Sood, Director Industries Hans Raj Sharma and other senior officers were present on the occasion.