Hooda ready to set up more Gurgaons

By Haryananewswire

CHANDIGARH, AUG 26

The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has assured industry global standard infrastructure, offered to set up more Gurgaons in the state, and asked industrialists to come forward with proposals for setting up more  units.

 “Gurgaon is no less than Singapore and I am ready to create more Gurgaons in Haryana, if industrialists come forward”, he said while addressing the inaugural session of the CII Event-Invest North 2013, with focus on Haryana, in New Delhi, today.

          Creation of global standard infrastructure is our top priority. “We are constantly striving to improve connectivity, ensure adequate power and water supply and create social infrastructure like schools, hospitals, recreation centres etc’, Mr Hooda said.

The KMP Expressway, when completed, will provide Haryana seamless connectivity. Along its 135-kms route, theme hubs will be developed. Several metro rail projects have been undertaken, including extension of Delhi Metro to Gurgaon, Faridabad and Bahadurgarh.

The Regional Rapid Transit System Projects have been approved to connect Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar and Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat. Besides, there are other initiatives, including upgradation of national and state highways, new inter-city connectivities and intra-city transport etc.

     Industrial infrastructure is also being strengthened through development of new industrial model townships and industrial estates. To ensure manufacturing competitiveness of the local industry, cluster-based approach is being adopted. The state government has already launched a comprehensive State Labour Policy and is committed to maintaining industrial peace and harmony in the state.

            Referring to the progress made by Haryana, the Chief Minister said that from being primarily an agrarian state, Haryana has today emerged as one of the leading states of the country, with strong industrial base. Haryana today is a leader in the manufacture of a number of items and has become an ideal destination for industrialists and investors alike.

The maturity of the state’s economy can be gauged from the fact that the manufacturing and services sectors contribute about 83 per cent to the state’s economy. During the last seven years, 2005-06 to 2011-12, the growth rate of the state’s economy averaged 9.3 per cent, higher than the national growth rate of 8.5 per cent.

            On fiscal management, Mr Hooda said, Haryana is reckoned as one of the best states in the country the resource mobilization during the 11th Plan had been 192 per cent of the projections against the national average mobilization 92.5 per cent.  Progress of any state, he said, could be assessed from four broad parameters – per capita income, per capita investment, per capita plan budget and resource mobilization and Haryana leads on all these fronts.

The accomplishments of the state have been supported by independent studies as well. Haryana bagged the State Competitiveness Awards consecutively in years 2012 and 2013, in the category of ‘Innovation in Economy’, which were conferred by the Institute for Competitiveness and Mint of HT Media Group. Assocham Report of October, 2012 has also stated that 87 per cent of the total investments received in Haryana were from the private sector, which speaks volumes about the investment opportunities and climate in the State.

            Referring to power generation which is the basic requirement for the growth of industry, Mr Hooda said that during the last eight years, Haryana’s installed capacity of power generation increased from 1587 MW to more than 5300 MW. Growth of industry also requires the development of matching skill-sets and the state has taken steps for setting up such institutions. The number of technical  education institutions in the state has gone up from 161 in 2004-05 to  662, and the intake of students from 28,445 to about 1,50,000 students.

            On health, Mr Hooda said the state government is doing its best to provide quality healthcare to all its citizens. Haryana is also one of the states, which launched Food Security Scheme, under which beneficiaries would get rice, wheat and coarse grains at Rs. 3, Rs. 2 and Re 1 per kg, respectively. In addition, Haryana has launched Daal-Roti Scheme, under which 12.84 lakh BPL families will be getting 2.5 kg of daal at Rs. 20 per kg per month.

            Mr Hooda commended the efforts of the CII in serving the business community for decades. Such events, he said, not only gave us an opportunity to share our views regarding our developmental initiatives, but also to get feedback.

            Later, replying to questions of industrialists, Mr Hooda said Haryana had automatic clearance system and there were no pending proposals. However, if some suggestions are forthcoming, the state government would welcome them and take up for implementation. When asked about water shortage, Mr Hooda said this was not much of a problem. But with the completion of Renuka Dam, a national project, the water position will further improve.

            The welcome address was given by Chairman CII Northern Region, Mr Jayant Dawar. President CII, Mr S. Gpoalakrishnan, Chairman Invest North 2013, Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, Director General CII, Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Principal Secretary to CM Haryana, Mr Chhatar Singh, Principal Secretary Industries, Government of Haryana, Mr Y.S. Malik and a number of other dignitaries were also present on this occasion.