Chhattisgarh: Heralding the Prime Minister’s Initiatives

CHHATTISGARH HAS A SPECIAL PLACE IN its heart and agenda for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Government of Chhattisgarh, under Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh, has worked with a single-minded focus to achieve the overall objectives of the Prime Minister. The State Government has been proactive to roll out the various schemes announced by the Centre. It is against this backdrop that the State opened its arms and heart to welcome PM Narendra Modi for his second visit to Chhattisgarh. After the highly successful presentation of the strengths and opportunities in Chhattisgarh at the Make in India week in Mumbai, the State is all set to roll out schemes and policies for inclusive growth and development. The Prime Minister inaugurated several schemes on 21st February 2016, special mention must be accorded to these:

RURBAN MISSION

The ambitious Shyama Prasad Mukherjee RURBAN Mission is a scheme from the Central Government to provide urban facilities in villages. This will stop the migration of villagers from rural to urban areas for better work opportunities and facilities. This scheme was approved by the Central Government on September 15, 2015. Model centres have been identified where this scheme will be implemented. The RURBAN Mission in Chhattisgarh has been launched by the Prime Minister at Kurrubhat village (Dongargarh) of Rajnandgaon district. Speaking at the inauguration, Shri Modi emphasised that RURBAN will bring the rural and urban categorisation to an end. Development and all-round growth should be such that the soul will be the villages and the cities the body. The mission will reduce the pressure on cities and, at the same time, provide new avenues and opportunities for villagers. It is for the first time that villages are being developed in this way. Translating this into targets, the mission will set up around 300 ‘urban growth centres’ around the country as proper economic development centres.

In Chhattisgarh, the RURBAN Mission was inaugurated by the Prime Minister with a Bhumi Pujan and laying of the foundation at Murmundra village cluster for this mission, in Kurrubhat (Dongargarh). Under this mission, smart villages will be developed on the lines of ‘smart cities’. In the first phase, four districts of Chhattisgarh, namely Rajnandgaon, Dhamtari, Kabeerdham (Kawardha) and Bastar (Jagdalpur) will be included under this scheme. In these four districts, four clusters of villages will be formed and all-round development will be ensured. Nearly Rs 120 crore will be spent under the mission in three years. This cluster of the RURBAN mission includes 16 Gram Panchayats namely Bhagwantola, Bhandarpur, Haransinghi, Jamri, Jatkanhar, Khallari, Kurrubhata, Matekata, Medha, Mudpar, Murmunda, Nagtarai, Pinkapar, Pipariya, Rajkatta and Raka.

SWACHH BHARAT MISSION

The face of Swachh Bharat in Chhattisgarh can be called Kovarbai, a 104-year-old woman who sold her goats to build a toilet in her house. With such zeal to fulfill the objectives set by the Centre, the campaign is sure succeed. The Prime Minister also declared two development blocks of Rajnandgaon – Ambagarh Chowki and Chhuriya – as ‘open- defecation free’ development blocks. Chhattisgarh has built the second highest number of community and public toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission. Several innovative methods are being adopted by panchayats to ensure compliance; for instance, in Ambagad village in Rajnandgaon, a tax is levied on open defecation, while in Bastar Nagar, those households not constructing a toilet would be denied ration under PDS.

HOUSING FOR ALL – PRIME MINISTER HOUSING SCHEME

The Prime Minister also presented affordable houses to 40,000 families of EWS and LIG section, in Naya Raipur, under his pledge to provide ‘houses for all’. Further, he laid the foundation for housing schemes for construction of 40,000 affordable houses in Naya Raipur. These houses will be constructed by the Chhattisgarh Housing Board under the Chief Minister Housing Scheme. This will include EWS and LIG houses worth Rs 6.5 lakh and LIG houses worth Rs. 9.5 lakh, which will be available for families in a subsidised manner. The EWS category houses will be provided to families with an annual income of up to Rs 3 lakh. The annual income limit for beneficiaries to purchase LIG houses is Rs 3-6 lakh.

ELECTRONIC MANUFACTURING CLUSTER

The State Government is laying emphasis on bringing investment into the State. An Electronic Manufacturing Cluster is coming up at Naya Raipur for which the foundation stone has been laid by the Prime Minister. The EMC will be spread over 70 acres, where electronic device manufacturing industries will be set up. This project is likely to attract capital investment of Rs 2,000 crore from private sector entrepreneurs . Around 61 industries are to be set up here and are likely to create employment for nearly 4,000 people. Till date, 11 investors have signed an MoU with the State Government for setting up industries in this cluster, which will lead to an estimated capital investment of Rs 938 crore. The PM will also unveil the State Government of Chhattisgarh’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Policy, under which a core incubator- cum-accelerator will be established in state. This policy will emphasise economic development and employment opportunities and will also promote innovative start-ups related to information technology.

To make good quality medicines available at reasonable prices, the PM also inaugurated opening of 100 generic medical stores for providing medicines to needy patients. This project will be executed by the State Government, with the support of the Central Government, under which Jan Aushadhi Kendras will be opened in Government District Hospitals and Community Health Centres in Chhattisgarh. In these medical stores, more than 400 generic medicines for diabetes, heart disease, blood pressure and other diseases will be available for patients at reasonable prices.

The thrust of all these activities is to promote inclusive growth and development in the State to make it equitable and fair for everyone. Chhattisgarh is being built on the premise of social and economic prosperity for all.

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