The Chhattisgarh Government is busy counting its blessings with loads of grants and permissions offered even as BJP-led NDA coalition at the Centre completes two years in power at the Centre on Thursday ( May 26).
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday while recounting the key incentives offered by the Centre to his Government said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi first came to tribal-dominated Bastar division on May 9, 2015 and sanctioned projects worth Rs 24,000 crores to industrialize the backward region.
The Prime Minister toured Chhattisgarh again on February 21, 2016 this year and launched 'Subke liye Awaas Mission', Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) at Naya Raipur, RURBAN mission at Rajnandgaon, Dhamtari, Kabhirdham (Kawardha) and Bastar (Jagdalpur) to provide urban facilities in semi-urban and rural settings, he said.
The Centre had been transparent in providing licenses to excavate minerals. Chhattisgarh had been sanctioned an extra Rs 250 crore to the District Mineral Region Development Fund. The amount will be utilized for the development of the district, Singh said.
The Chief Minister expressed his happiness and satisfaction over the completion of two years of BJP-led NDA regime at the Centre on May 26 this year .
He congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Government on the successful completion of two years in power on behalf of the citizens of Chhattisgarh.
A new environment of development and trust had been developed in the entire nation and people are having huge expectations from the BJP-led NDA Government. India had scaled new heights in global diplomacy and stature in the eyes of the world, Singh said.
Singh in a congratulatory message mentioned that several new policies and programmes had been implemented for the welfare of the poor, farmers and villagers and there is a wave of positive energy flowing across the nation.
Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana, Jeevan Jyoti Bheema Yojana, Prime Minister Mudra Yojana, Crop Insurance Scheme, Prime Minister Agriculture Insurance Scheme, Prime Minister Awaas Yojana for one crore rural families in the next three years, Prime Minister Skills' Development Schemes to name only a few. About 25 lakh poor families in the B.P.l. category will be provided with domestic gas connections on a nominal rate of Rs 200 under the Centrally-sponsored 'Ujjwala' project in Chhattisgarh.
The women will be freed from the burden of cooking in smoke and painful domestic conditions. Make-In-India had been launched to provide employment to crores of youth, he said.
The Chief Minister said that Chhattisgarh is in the list of rapidly developing States in the entire country after the formation of BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. The Prime Minister had toured Chhattisgarh twice in the last two years and the State projects had been sanctioned instantly, he said.
Singh expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the sanctioning of Central Plastic Engineering Institute, International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) , Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), and other institutes of higher learning to Chhattisgarh.
It may be mentioned here that Union Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar had dedicated Union Plastic Engineering Institute building on April 22 Union Minister of State for Energy Piyush Goyal had dedicated huge building premises of the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Naya Raipur on June 23.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh is all set to get new national highways (NHs) with roads totalling length of 1367 kms, inform officials.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has assured of initiating necessary steps in this direction, they informed.
The assurance came during a meeting held between Chhattisgarh Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Rajesh Munat and Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi recently.
The Chhattisgarh Government will take up construction of 63 long-span bridges under ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ (PMGSY) in different districts of the State, officials informed.
On the other hand, as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary ‘Setu Bharatam Yojana’, the State Public Work Department (PWD) has initiated efforts for construction of over-bridges and under-bridge at railway crossing across the State for ensuring smooth and accident-free vehicular movement, officials stated.
The Union Ministry of Railways has included the 270 kms ‘Dongargarh-Kharigarh-Kawardha-Bilaspur’ railway track project in Chhattisgarh falling under South East Central Railway (SECR) with an outlay of Rs 2500 crore among 13 key projects in the country which are proposed to be taken up on Joint Venture model, officials informed.
The role of Joint Venture Company, inter alia, is to choose projects, identify and collaborate with its stakeholders, mobilise resources, form project specific Special Purpose Vehicle (if required).
The Joint Venture can mobilize resources in the form of debt from banks/multi-lateral agencies/ Financial Institutions as debt funding by leveraging the equity or in the form of financial support from various stakeholders of the projects through the formation of project specific Special Purpose Vehicle, they stated.
The 2x500 MW Madwa Thermal Power Plant (TPP) in Janjgir Champa district of Chhattisgarh had been accorded ‘bridge linkage’ by Union Coal Ministry for coal supply with 19 other thermal power plants in the country, officials informed.
Notably, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on March 31 this year had informed in the State Assembly that the power generation from one unit of 1000 MW under construction Madwa Thermal Power plant commenced commercial production on March 31, 2016 in Janjgir-Champa district after necessary technical checks.
Central public sector undertaking Container Corporation of India (CCI) is in the process of developing a 'logistics Hub' on over 100 acres of land in the new capital, officials stated.
It may be recalled that China has also expressed keen interest in extending support to Chhattisgarh government for developing India's ‘logistics Hub’ in the State.
Notably, State Commerce and Industry Minister Amar Agrawal in the month of January this year had suggested Consul General of People’s Republic of China MA Zhanwu who was on a visit to Chhattisgarh that owing to its location in the heart of the country, Chhattisgarh State can be developed as 'logistics Hub of India'.
The project for doubling of Railway line between Kirandul and Jagdalpur in Chhatisgarh’s insurgency ridden Bastar region is expected to be complete by January 2019, official sources informed.
Notably, NMDC ltd — the country's largest iron ore producer and exporter had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Union Ministry of Railways on December 21, 2012 and the aforesaid project would be helpful in significantly augmenting evacuation capacity of NMDC’s Bailadila Sector mines by rail from the existing 28 MTPA to 40 MTPA of iron ore.