Remote areas in HP to be linked by road

The Himachal Pradesh government today announced that the land-locked Dodrakwar area of the district would soon be linked by road, bringing the people of the remote area into mainstream.

Addressing a public meeting at Andhra in Rohroo, 140-km from here, Chief Minister Vir Bhadra Singh said the road to link Dodrakwar from Uttaranchal side was nearing completion and that "people would greatly benefit from it".

Laying the foundation stone of Kasturba Gandhi Residential School building at Andhra, Singh said himachal pradesh was all set to become the "pharmaceutical hub" of the country with all the big players in the field coming to the state.

"The pharmaceutical companies require skilled and trained manpower which would open new vistas of employment for the youth," he said, adding that his government had made a mandatory provision binding the new units coming up in the state to recruit at least 70 per cent of local populace and that this provision was being "strictly implemented."

Maintaining that he was aware of the "growing unemployment problem" in the state, the CM said he would soon recruit 35,000 people in various government departments while about 2.40 lakh job opportunities would be created in industrial units coming up in the state.

On the issue of manpower in pharma units, Singh said the state government had started a pharmacy college in Rohroo while many other pharmacy courses were being run by several institutions under state council of vocational training to meet their manpower requirements.