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(BiharTimes) I have been advocating for some railway projects that can bring Bihar on the map of industrial India. At Harnaut in Nitish’s constituency, the Indian railway is building a coach maintenance plant. Nitish as railway Minister had initiated that. As per report, ‘the cost of the project, which was initially Rs 98 crore, has jumped to Rs 224.51 crore’. If the railway handles the project professionally keeping a good future plan, the project will have a good potential for employment and skill development.
I wish Nitish’s government gets some infrastructure facilities in Harnaut that can make it an industrial town worth living for even the senior employees and executives of the workshop. The state can get some good private schools in Harnaut. It must set up an industrial skill training centre that will cater to the requirement of the workshop. It should also encourage a satellite residential facility that can attract people from the hinterland and help in urbanization of Bihar.
With expansion of the workshop, many other ancillary industries with potential investment and employment may also get in the town. And that will improve the economy of the region.
Bihar and its ministers in cabinet of the country had been focusing on the expansion of railway linkages. I believe the thrust in modern era must be on roadways. Railway connectivity is better for already industrialized region, while roadway connectivity improves the economy of the far flung unindustrialized region much better.
I wish Nitish uses his clout with Mamta and railway ministry to expedite the setting up of already approved Diesel Engine plant at Marhowrah and Electric Locomotive workshop at Madhepura.
The manufacturing plants in Bihar will usher a new hope of industrializing Bihar with huge number of ancillary units getting set up for the projects. However, the Bihar government will have to change its industrial policy to become more entrepreneur-friendly. It must reform the labour laws in line with those prevalent in SEZs of the country to attract the industrialists. It is obvious that Bihar must present some lucrative incentives for making it an attractive destination for investment.
Nitish has certainly brought about many improvements in Bihar, but it is still to take effective steps to get investments in the state. It must look into the reasons why even the big players in education sector are not coming to Bihar even though the students of Bihar are the biggest source of revenue for professional institutes all over India. Bihar website has proposals of, as reported, more than Rs 1, 00, 000 crore, but I doubt the quality of the projects and the seriousness of the entrepreneurs after going through the big listing.
The views expressed by the author are personal.
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