Extortion racket fuelling industrial exodus, alleges former CM Jai Ram Thakur

Arvind Kashyap Solan, Oct 5 (UNI) Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Monday launched a scathing attack on the ruling Congress government, alleging that an "institutionalised extortion racket" is driving industries out of the state's premier Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial belt. Addressing media persons at Baddi after a felicitation ceremony for newly elected grassroots representatives, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader warned that alleged bureaucratic harassment, regulatory pressure and political interference had pushed the state's pharmaceutical hub towards an "existential crisis". Thakur alleged that the Congress government's much-publicised promise of "Vyavastha Parivartan" (systemic…