Jogi asks experts how to tap mineral stock, push progress

Jogi met the experts in New Delhi along with his select team of senior ministers and top government officials to appraise them about facts and the direction that he proposes to take. At the meet, the state’s leading industrialist, Naveen Jindal, and half a dozen other business groups were present.

‘‘We are a state larger than Tamil Nadu and Bihar. The impression we are a small state should go,’’ he said. Among those present were JNU’s Prabhat Patnaik, National Dairy Development Board Chairperson Amrita Patel, ICRIER’s Isher Ahluwalia, IIT Mumbai’s Ashok Misra, CII’s Omkar Goswami, and Jammu and Kashmir Bank Chairman Yusuf Khan.

Jogi used Chhattisgarh Economic Advisory Council as a forum for the meet. He said he wanted investors to come and set up industries based on local raw materials such as minerals and forest produce. No incentives or concessions, however, would be offered.

‘‘We are committed to good governance and good infrastructure. We believe short term concessions can’t be an alternative to an efficient government.’’ Availability of raw materials and favourable industrial climate makes the state a favourable business destination, he said.

He cited the example of Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), flagship unit of SAIL, that earned a profit of Rs 600 crore though most SAIL units were suffering losses between Rs 600 crore and Rs 1,000 crore. Chhattisgarh with surplus power was selling it to Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat and Karnataka.

Through a legislative measure, the government had made it binding on itself to clear new industrial projects within a stipulated period, the Chief Minister said.

Almost Rs 500 crore was being invested to develop North-South and East-West corridors across the state as a first step to build infrastructure. ‘‘The state has 85 per cent of the country’s coal and limestone, beside some rare minerals such as tin and alexandrite,’’ Jogi said.