Land exhausted for industry, Himachal Pradesh scouts for more

Tribune News Service

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, February 2

With its land bank of around 35,000 acres getting almost exhausted, the Himachal Pradesh Industries Department has started scouting for more land to offer to investors, with some mega projects being in the pipeline.

With 1,500 acres allocated for a Bulk Drug Park at Una, 800 acres for a Defence Park and 250 acres for a Medical Devices Park at Nalagarh, the department is left with very little land at its disposal.

“We are looking for more land to build up our land bank which has nearly exhausted,” said R Prajapati, Director, Industries. About 500 bighas have been identified for the purpose at Adhwal, besides some land chunks in Una, he maintained.

Building up pool

We are looking for more land to build up our land bank which has nearly exhausted. —R Prajapati, Director, Industries

Involvement of forest land at places that are otherwise very suitable for setting up industrial estates impedes the process to replenish the land bank. The Revenue Department is also keen that the Industries Department exhausts its entire land bank before more land is allotted to it. Vardhman group wants 750 acres for a Rs1,600-crore project at Nalagarh. Almost 30 acres each is needed for three ethanol projects approved by the Centre. With around 10 lakh unemployed youths, Himachal Pradesh needs to expedite the pace of industrialisation to create jobs. Though successive regimes have tried to take industry to the interior and rural areas so that the entire population can enjoy dividends of industrialisation, inaccessibility and non-availability of raw material have proved to be major impediments.

As such, almost 90% of the industry in Himachal is confined to the fringes, primarily in the border districts of Solan, Una and Sirmaur.

Major allocations
1,500 acres for Bulk Drug Park at Una
800 acres for Defence Park at Nalagarh
250 acres for Medical Devices Park at Nalagarh

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