Steps will be taken to make Himachal self-reliant: CM Sukhu

Shimla, Nov 26 Effective steps will be taken to make Himachal Pradesh self-reliant by 2027 and the most prosperous by 2032, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu said on Tuesday.

Presiding over a meeting to discuss the role of national resource management and agro-ecology towards achieving the motto of 'Samridh Himachal-Green Himachal' here, CM Sukhu said that to make Himachal a ‘Green and Clean’ state, the government was working towards judiciously utilising the existing natural resources.

He said to create opportunities for self-employment for the youth, medium and small-scale industries play a pivotal role and the government was serious about setting up such units in the state so that the youth could also contribute towards strengthening the economy.

The Chief Minister said drone technology can play an important role in the construction, agriculture, delivery of small logistics, medicines, food, etc., and can be adopted as a new mode for self-employment.

He said the government would support the drone-based enterprise development on a mission mode by providing technical training to drone pilots and all kinds of support needed.

"This will be a better option for the youth to start with government support as the drone courses would be started in state Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)."

He said 15,000 drone-driven services would be created in the future.

To harness rooftop solar energy and other renewables, the Chief Minister said every 100 solar rooftops on homes could create jobs for two individuals, besides saving and earnings for the households and revenue generation for the state. The target is to bring 10 per cent, i.e. 16 lakh sloping roof households and buildings under the Solar Rooftop Subsidy Scheme on a mission mode for which the exercise has been started. The youth can earn by selling excess electricity produced to the government for which the government mulls to raise the price of electricity purchase and facilitate bank loans.