By IANS
Chandigarh : The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Wednesday said that states in north India lag behind their counterparts in south India due to their diverse agenda, hindering the region's development.
The industry body asked the northern states to change their mindset and learn from their counterparts in south India.
"Each of the states here (north) is driven by its own agenda. We talk of having free trade with Thailand and Japan when we cannot achieve the same among our own states. The diverse agenda of northern states have become a hindrance to the development of this region," CII's northern region chairman Deep Kapuria said here.
In a statement, he said, "the states in the northern region are lagging behind their counterparts in the southern region. The main investments coming here are low cost ones. The northern states are performing lowly on the human development index (HDI). There is a need to pursue mindset change for the complete unification of the northern region."
The CII's outburst is not out of context. The states in the region are blaming each other for losing business and investments. The tax holiday for industry announced by the central government for Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir in recent years has led to industry shifting from neighbouring states.
Punjab and Haryana have shown reluctance to making a 15-km stretch of road that will reduce the distance between Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh's biggest industrial area of Baddi to just 25 kilometres.
Kapuria said that CII and the industry in this region wanted chief ministers of all northern states – Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chandigarh (both union territories) – to get together and work out a common minimum agenda for the growth of the region.
"We would love to bring all chief ministers together and sort out differences. Even on issues like implementing VAT (value added tax), we had to face so much difficulty," he added.
The industry body has demanded that main political parties should work out a solution so that continuity in policy is maintained even if the government in a state changes.
"It does concern the industry and investors," he added.