Himachal Pradesh: Mega investors' meet at Dharamshala likely to get postponed

DHARAMSHALA: A mega investors'meet scheduled at this hill destination in February is likely to get postponed due to winter session and parliamentary elections ahead. The meet was expected to witness the movement of top corporate honchos from Asia.

The move of postponement of the event has started after few officials had raised the issue of short time to make arrangements for this mega event. Invitations were to be sent to prime minister and other senior Union minister to make this event successful.

Industries minister Vikram Thakur told media persons that it was at thelast cabinet meeting that the issue of postponing this event was discussed and things were under consideration.

Chief secretary of the Himachal government BK Aggrawal said that this meet was to be organised on the larger scale for which time is very short. “The matter of postponement is also being considered,” he said.

The development has dejected the hope of the hoteliers and other stakeholders of this region. It was expected that meet could have attracted an investment of around 20 crores to develop the hill town as host for corporate houses.

“February is an off season and this meet could have brought business to various sectors of the town. Not only this, but the investment for a facelift of the town was also an essential component for the development of the area,” said Munish Kumar, a hotelier of Dharamshala.

This year the visitor movement has decreased in the hill town due to closure of the hotels following direction of the court. Also, no big teaching of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was organised here which is the major source of income to the tourism industry of this town.