Marandi borrows to beg for investment

The fund is meant for emergency purposes. However, since there is no budgetry provision for foreign trips, Chief Secretary G. Krishnan deemed it fit to draw a loan from the fund to finance the tour. ‘‘The loan will be paid as soon as possible,’’ assured Krishnan.

Asked if the trip was necessary, an IAS officer, not wanting to be named, said: ‘‘A Malaysian company has shown interest in financing the state capital project. We are going to check out its expertise.’’

But going by the state government’s record, businessmen would rather wait for an investor-friendly environment. Jagjit Kumar, owner of the Jamshedpur-based Rani Sati Tubes and Pipe manufacturing company, submitted an application to the Adityapur Industrial Development Authority (AIDA) on March 11, 2001 seeking land to set up a factory. AIDA allotted him a plot after he paid Rs 25 lakh. One and a half years later, state Industry Minister P.N. Singh, in his October 29 letter to Marandi, wrote that the factory couldn’t be set up because the land has an electric pole which the State Electricity didn’t remove despite several requests.

After Marandi held a road show in Mumbai on September 2 to invite investment, the Jharkhand Industry department received 18 proposals. These included Ludhiana-based Ballabh Steel Ltd’s plan to set up a sponge iron plant at a cost of Rs 150 crore and Mumbai-based Shri Raj Suri Hospital Ltd’s Rs 90-crore hospital. Kolkata-based Govind Impex Private Ltd wanted to set up a rolling mill at a cost of Rs 130 crore. No one has got land till date.

Roads built as recently as the second establishment function held at the Morahabadi maidan in Ranchi on November 15 have developed potholes. The white paint on road dividers near the Governor’s house is already fading.

Randhir Jhunjhunwalah, a Ranchi-based industrialist, said: ‘‘There is no guarantee of continuous power supply. No file in the secretariat moves without money. Who will invest?’’

But there is no dearth of ambitious projects — rural technology parks, planetariums and fossil parks to take science and technology to the grassroots. No one knows where the money — Rs 117 crore for 2002-2007 — will come from.

Against the target of Rs 4,800 crore, the state government managed to collect a revenue less than Rs 1,892 crore till November 30. Not all politicians oppose such trips either. ‘‘The trips are necessary for legislators to know more about the world,’’ said Assembly Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari.