The state government would constitute a committee under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners to identify government as well as private land for setting up of industrial and other units in their respective districts.

This was disclosed by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur while reviewing the progress on ‘Him Pragati’ portal to ensure fast clearances and approval of various projects.

‘Him Pragati’, an online monitoring system was launched by the State Government to ensure that investment projects get necessary approvals and clearances at the earliest.

The Chief Minister directed the officers to ensure speedy clearances of various projects on which MoUs had been signed by the government. He said that targets fixed for key departments such as Industry, Power and Tourism should be achieved within stipulated time period.

He said that special thrust must be laid on time bound clearances of forest related issues. He said that the departments concerned must also ensure that potential entrepreneurs do not face any inconvenience in getting approvals from the Government for setting up their units.

He said that prior to the launch of Him Pragati portal, investors were facing a lot of difficulties in getting their projects approved and cleared. He said that the investors play a major role in development of the state, therefore it becomes duty of the government to provide them all possible help for expeditious clearance of their projects.

He said that ‘Global Investors’ meet was a big success in the state and now the state government would organise a groundbreaking ceremony on 27 December at Shimla on completion of two years’ tenure of the present state government.

Thakur said that as many as 709 MoUs have been signed to date which would attract investment of over Rs 93,000 crore. He said that as many as 78 investors and project developers have raised 200 issues on ‘Him Pragati’ portal, out of which 154 had been resolved.

He said the state government has ensured online approvals be accorded for cases under Section 118 so that they get time-bound approval. He said that it would save precious time for entrepreneurs and also make the whole process transparent.

The Chief Minister said that Him Pragati portal has ensured an effective online monitoring system of various industrial, tourism, power and other infrastructure projects, for fast clearance and approval of various developmental projects. He said that the investors and potential entrepreneurs could easily log on to this portal and can know the status of their projects.

He urged the potential entrepreneurs to raise their concerns on ‘Him Pragati’ so that these could be redressed and resolved at the earliest, and the projects could be taken for a groundbreaking ceremony.

Thakur said that nodal officers should be appointed for all major projects so that all the approvals required by entrepreneurs could be accorded within the stipulated time period.

The CM also directed officers to keep a personal touch with each and every entrepreneur who had signed MoUs, so that they could be motivated to start the work on their proposed projects at the earliest.

He also directed officers to ensure that the concerns raised on ‘Him Pragati’ were redressed on priority. He said that laxity in this regard would be viewed seriously.

The Chief Minister said that with a view to enhance the promptness of state government for investment and create an investor-friendly environment, the state government has revamped policies across sectors, undertook various measures to reduce physical touch-points, eliminated various NOCs as pre-requisite for approvals and reduced the procedural delays.