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Journalism of Courage
Haryana’s ministers and babus, like those anywhere in India, have a weakness for foreign travel. But times are hard and, with little foreign investment coming in, there’s a bar on official trips abroad.
But the travel bug has bitten deep, so the VIPs are doing the next best thing: going on an extensive domestic tour.
Minister for Urban Development Subhash Goyal has initial charge of the 40-day tour, with Harbaksh Singh, Managing Director, Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation, and Niranjan Lal Bansal, Chairman, Haryana Warehousing Corporation keeping him company.
Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala will join the trip at some stage, according to the tentative schedule.
When contacted in Indore, Goyal told The Indian Express, ‘‘Bhai hum apne bhai bandhuon ko bulane nikle hain. Target kaisa? Apno ke liye bhi koi target hota hai. Jo ajeyga sath chal pare ga’’. The team would visit several state capitals, including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, and also visit Siliguri, Bhutan, Sikkim, Guwahati and Darjeeling.
After a dozen-odd foreign tours by Chautala and his ministers in 2000 brought in little direct foreign investment, last year saw no trips at all.
This year, Goyal said, they would tell domestic industrialists of Haryana’s ‘‘excellent infrastructure’, especially in Gurgaon.
