Pravasi Divas: Haryana sets up two NRI cells to attract investors

The government announced a slew of measures to facilitate trade and investment, and ensure ease of doing business in Haryana at the inaugural event.

The Haryana government announced that it will set up two non-resident Indian (NRI) cells with dedicated teams and online interface to resolve problems of the Haryanvi diaspora at the inaugural session of Pravasi Haryana Divas - 2017 in the city on Wednesday.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar addresses the gathering at the inaugural event of Pravasi Haryana Divas at Kingdom of Dreams on Wednesday, 11 January 2017. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The government also announced a slew of measures to facilitate trade and investment, and ensure ease of doing business in Haryana. The announcements are aimed at attracting more investments to the state.

Addressing the inaugural session, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the Haryana NRI Cell has been launched for a focused facilitation of pravasis, and NRIs can contact the cell for business queries, investment interest and other suggestions. The grievance cell would handle the complaints of NRIs and it would be headed by a deputy inspector general of police rank officer. The cell would have presence in every district.

“We have a fully functional citizens’ grievance redressal system in the CM Window. It has a track record of disposal rate of 91%. The system for NRI Grievance Redressal will be seamlessly integrated with the existing system,” Khattar said.

The CM said, to facilitate better business, the Haryana government modified and changed more than 300 laws, rules and procedures, and brought the state among the top five states in the World Bank’s Groups’ ranking of Indian states on Ease of Doing Business.

To boost garment exports and manufacturing in Haryana, Union textiles minister Smriti Irani, who was the chief guest at the inaugural event, announced the setting up of a carpet cluster at Panipat and a hosiery cluster in Sirsa.

“The centre will set up a trade facility centre in Panipat and support major design initiatives to take the legacy of this city forward,” Irani said. She appreciated the contribution of Gurgaon in the garment export industry, which has attracted top fashion houses across the world to set their base in the city.

Both Khattar, and Irani urged the pravasi Haryanvis to be part of the Swa-prerit Adarsh Gram Yojana (Self-motivated model village scheme) and help in the development of rural Haryana.

Union steel minister Birender Singh in his address asked the government to give equal attention to manufacturing and agriculture as Haryana has a strong tradition of farming. “Indian farmers have excelled abroad and they must be invited to share their experience and skills so that the next phase of green revolution takes off,” Singh said.

Urging the pravasis to connect with their roots, Singh said their contribution would be of great help in the speedy development of the state.

Earlier, Haryana industries minister Vipul Goel had said the first Pravasi Haryana Divas would reignite the passion among pravasis to contribute in the development of Haryana. He said there was a time when people would leave the state to explore business opportunities elsewhere but now the entire country was watching the development of the state.

Vice-president, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Rakesh Bharti Mittal, said CII has been working closely with the state government to improve productivity, generate employment and improve the plight of the underprivileged sections of society. He also said this was the right time to invest in the state as there were a lot of opportunities.