Madhya Pradesh: Armed with surplus power, vast land resources and progressive policies, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on Wednesday vowed to create the country’s “new Bangalore” in his state.
“Let us face it, Karnataka is no match for us if you remove Bangalore,” he said in his address to industry representatives at an interactive session ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Global Investors’ Summit, scheduled to be held in Jabalpur from October 8 to 10.
Chauhan promised potential investors a “single-window clearance” mechanism for approvals. He extolled the law and order system in his state, assuring investors that there are no dacoits anymore in the notorious Chambal area. “They were making movies about Chambal dacoits in Mumbai, but there are none left now,” he said.
The Power Game
Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary Anthony De Sa said the state has round-the-clock power supply, with a capacity of 14,000 MW and usage of only about 9,000 MW.
“Our real success has come from the agriculture sector, where our growth in 2013-14 was 24 per cent, the highest in the world. We overtook Haryana in the production of wheat two years ago and we are confident of surpassing Punjab this year,” De Sa said.
As the state aims to move from an agriculture-based economy to an industry-driven one, De Sa said Madhya Pradesh has a land bank of 20,000 hectares available for investment. “We have also set aside 900 million cubic metre of Narmada river for industrial use. In terms of infrastructure, we have laid roads for $5 billion under public-private partnership,” he added.
