‘Railway lines can make or break the future of a State’

The scorching heat wave could not deter Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Principal Secretary Aman Kumar Singh, Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand and elected representatives from visiting Sukma, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Dantewada and Bastar, the five most naxal-infested districts of the State. As the accompanying 30-year-old Collector of Dantewada Saurabh Kumar aptly put it, “This is the first time a Chief Minister has reached Baasing village in remote Abujhmaad of Narayanpur district, a hotbed of naxal activity.”

Amidst the tiring schedule, Raman Singh, who won the Chief Minister mandate for three consecutive years, interacted with BusinessLine on his vision and mission for the State. Excerpts:

In last five years, have demands by the people gone up in naxal-infested areas?

Definitely. Earlier, they were scared even to meet government officers due to the naxal threat. Today they are demanding schools, electricity, road connectivity and mobile connections. They see their next door neighbours going to school and getting placed.

Their aspiration grows when they see village boys who work in bigger cities come back during holidays with fancy mobiles. They want good road connectivity and hospitals at a reachable distance. Besides hospitals, we are also building transit hostels for doctors, nurses and teachers to get the right talent.

Has naxal activity reduced with the development over the last 12 years?

I believe it has come down in Surguja district. You can roam around at midnight at Dhantewada, Sukma and Narayanpur. Earlier, nobody used to think of coming to Bijapur and Dhantewada. Today, the entire government machinery visited Abujhmaad (the worst hitarea).

Nobody would even dream of visiting these places. To top it all, we are executing road projects worth ₹3,500 crore in these places. About 17,000 students are studying in portable cabins here.

Earlier, they did not even dream of becoming more than a teacher, but today they are going to NIIT, IIT and IIM, aiming to become collectors and DSPs. This development and education will bring down more Naxal activity in three years.

Do you think foreign NGOs work against the development of the State?

I believe we both work in parallel. They are also part of the system. We have been facing them for 13 years and will continue doing so. We have no issues as long as they do good for the people.

How was the response to your China visit?

It was very positive. Senior officials from the government, including the Chief Secretary and Industry Secretary, had meeting with about 50-60 different companies that showed interest to invest in electronic manufacturing cluster.

They also signed memorandum of understandings worth ₹18,000-20,000 crore. Their main focus is to tap into the low cost opportunity and ease of doing business.

Cost of power is lowest among other States. They were impressed as the State is located in the centre of the country and can facilitate trade with other States. We have promised land on priority for those who come with huge investments.

Have they shown interest in mining?

We have a well-defined mining policy. We recently auctioned a gold mine that was won by Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta (Resources). We will start auctioning limestone soon.

We have already started getting ₹900 crore per annum from the mineral development fund, and we plan to invest ₹2,700 crore over the next three years in 16 districts. We have also benefited from auctioning and royalty, which is expected to go up in future. I believe the mineral development fund will be a major boon for this State.

Do you think downtrend in power and metals will impact cash flows?

We are not focusing on revenue from power and metals. We want to diversify and focus on solar projects, electronics and food processing. We are putting up food parks and electronic clusters. Downstream, we are considering an aluminium park close to where aluminium is produced. The park will produce value added aluminium products.

In solar, we will set up dedicated parks to produce everything related to solar right from wafer to photovoltaic cells.

Is there any focus on improving infrastructure?

We will lay new roads worth ₹42,000 crore in next three years and add 760 km of railway connectivity. In 60 years, the Railways has constructed 101 km of railway line in the State.

In the next five-six years, we want to put up 1,200 km railway line. We are also laying six airstrips across the State. If you see the growth in China, it has happened because of the best road and railway infrastructure.

Railway lines can make or break the future of a State. The investment in roads, railways and airstrips will change the face of this State. The first time I took over as Chief Minister, I was planning for 20 years. Today, I plan for the next 30 years because our foundation is getting stronger. We want regions like Dantewada and Sukma to participate in this growth as well.