A delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Uttarakhand, led by its Chairman, Mr. Sanjay Agarwal, met with Shri Anand Bardhan, Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand, to formally introduce the newly constituted state leadership and apprise him of CII’s ongoing initiatives in the region.
The interaction focused on strengthening institutional collaboration between CII and the State Government with the objective of enhancing the Ease of Doing Business and fostering sustained industrial growth across Uttarakhand.
During the meeting, the delegation highlighted several key issues requiring policy attention. These included the need to expedite the expansion of piped natural gas (PNG) infrastructure to key industrial clusters in Sitarganj (Udham Singh Nagar) and Selaqui (Dehradun). The delegation also recommended increasing the solar net metering cap to 5 MW for industrial consumers, bringing Uttarakhand in alignment with progressive practices adopted by other states.
Further, CII emphasised the importance of rationalising power tariffs, including the provision of subsidised industrial rates for the tourism and hospitality sector. This assumes significance in light of tourism being accorded industry status in the state in 2017, thereby necessitating supportive policy measures to ensure sectoral growth and competitiveness.
In order to facilitate structured and continuous policy dialogue, CII proposed the constitution of a Joint Task Force on Policy Advocacy under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary. The proposed task force would comprise representatives from industry and senior government officials, enabling a coordinated approach towards policy formulation and implementation.
The meeting was also attended by Mr. Manu Kochhar, Past Chairman, CII Uttarakhand and Mr. Gaurav Lamba, Director and Head, CII Uttarakhand.
