Industrial Profile of Bilaspur District

-  A brief overview.

District Bilaspur lies in the heart of Himachal Pradesh. It is bounded by Shimla District in the North and the state of Punjab in the south west. It lies on the banks of River Sutluj which is the only major river passing through the District. The high gravity Bhakhra dam as well as Kol Dam have been constructed over the river Satluj. Largest manmade lake Govind Sagar is identification mark of Bilaspur District. Shri Naina Devi ji and Shri Baba Balak Nath Shrine in Shah Talai are two famous religious places in the District which attract lakhs of devotees every year.

Infrastructure: Bilaspur District is on the path of steady development. The District is well connected with NH Chandigarh -Manali, Shimla-Dharamshala and Una-Juhu-Nerchowk roads. The work on Kiratpur Manali Expressway is in full swing which would make the connectivity very smooth. One AIIMS & a Hydro Engineering College have also been sanctioned for the District.

Industrial Areas:

There are two Industrial areas in the District, details of which are as under:-

Name of Indl. Area / No. of Plots / Area in (Bighas) / Plots Allotted / Vacant
No. of plots / No. of parties
Bilaspur / 83 / 98.6 / 83 / 75 / 0
Gwalthai / 143 / 686.0 / 103 / 98 / 40

Industrial Profile:

Category / No. / Investment (Rs. in lakhs) / Employment Generated
Micro & Small including Service enterprises
Large & Medium / 2
Total

In order to facilitate the Entrepreneurs at their door step, a Single Window Clearance Agencies (SWCA) office has been created at Gwalthai which is adjoining to Nangal town of Punjab. It is a big Industrial area and large number of plots of sizes ranging from 500 sq. mtrs to 2000 sq. mtrs are readily available for allotment.. One big Steel plant has been set up by M/s Him Steel Ltd in Gwalthai. There are about 25 industrial units set up in Gwalthai in small scale sector. There is huge potential of Industrialization in Gwalthai due to its locational advantage and availability of well developed land with Industries Deptt. Bilaspur District has high quality Lime stone deposits. M/s ACC Ltd. has put up 2 big Cement Plants in Barmana at a distance of 15 KMs from District Head Quarter.

Industrial Infrastructure:

All required Industrial Infrastructure has been provided to both the Industrial Areas. These Industrial Areas are fully equipped with Roads, Electricity, Water and Telecommunication facilities. A Common Facility Centre building has also been constructed in Gwalthai.

Investment Opportunities:

District Bilaspur provides investment opportunities in the following areas:

1.  Shri Naina Devi - Shahtalai Rope way: The road distance between these two shrines is 103 KM whereas air distance is only 15 KM which provides huge opportunity to the investors to set up ropeway project. It can be done by:

a.  Connecting the two sites through rope ways or

b.  Provide Ropeway facility from the hill top of Shri Naina Devi temple upto its bottom i.e. at Village Makri which would be appx. 3KMs. From Makri to Village Jaddu, it will be a water route in Govind Sagar lake of about 10 KMs, and journey will be performed through House Boats, Steamers, Shikara, Water buses, Jal Mahal (Mini Cruise) etc. From Jaddu to Deotsidh, it will be a road journey through AC buses. In this way pilgrims will enjoy all forms of rides i.e. in Jal-Thal-Aakash in a single trip.

2.  Para Gliding Project: Bandla heights provides excellent opportunities for Para Gliding. The specialty about the Banda Para gliding is that it provides almost 8 hours of flying time as against 3 to 4 hours maximum in Billing or Manali.More over, it has vast and safe landing grounds on the bank of Govind Sagar Lake at Luhnu Cricket Ground. From Training point of view, Bilaspur can be considered best in whole of the asia because there is hardly any site where there is huge lake just beside the landing site. Bilaspur already stands in world Paragliding Map. Govt. is giving financial Assistance to run Para gliding courses to Himachal Aero Adventure Institute Bilaspur.

3.  Water Tourism: Gobind Sagar reservoir is 56 kms long and it encompasses an area of approximately170 sq kms. It thus offers a variety of watersports activities like swimming,surfing,water-skiing,kayaking, river rafting. Water buses, Mini cruise, Shikaras as well as Water Runways can also be introduced to promote the tourism activities in surrounding areas.

4.  Other Sectors: There are also ample opportunities in setting up of Industries like Mineral Water bottling Plants, Cold Storage units, food & fruit processing, fish processing units, etc.

Gian S. Chauhan,

GMDIC Bilaspur

Distt. Bilaspur,H.P.

Ph. 01978-224248