Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today sought cooperation from all sections of the society, including opposition parties, to give more impetus to the ongoing development process in the mineral-rich state.
Laying the foundation stone of nine road and bridge projects worth Rs 255 crore at a function organised near Domuhani, a confluence of rivers Kharkhai and Swarnarekha here, Das said, "Even though we are majority in the state Assembly, we would appreciate support from the opposition camp to give more impetus to the development process."
"We intend to establish 'samvad' (interaction) with the opposition parties or any section of the society to achieve all-round development of the state and do not want any controversy," he said.
Das, however, warned that the government would not tolerate if anyone tried to stall the development process by launching agitation and blocking roads.
The government will not compromise on the issue of development and is ready to solve problems, if any, amicably across the table, Das said, assuring that inter-district/state road network will be developed in the next couple of years.
Stressing on the need for development of infrastructure in rural areas of the state, the Chief Minister flayed the previous governments for neglecting rural pockets in the six decades since independence of the country.
"We want to link people by developing road connectivity but some forces are at work to break the prevailing social fabric," he said and appealed to the people to keep a distance from such forces.
Das said improving inter-district/state road connectivity was the need of the hour as it would not only save travelling time but was also necessary for development of various sectors like including industry, tourism as well as generating employment.
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Das said the Tata Steel has increased its capacity to
10 to 11 million tones and likely to enhance it further to 14 to 15 million tones as indicated by the Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry during a meeting recently, Das said.
Though the government has already approved the company's proposed Eastern Corridor project in the steel city but it could not yet take off as the position of the company was not very good currently due to prevailing market conditions, he said.
Besides, the road projects would help enhance steel and cement consumption, which would improve the performance of the two sectors as well, he said while appreciating the team work exhibited by the ministers, government officials etc in carrying out the development process in the state.
Emphasizing the need for rural road development, the chief minister said Rs.2300 crores has been earmarked for the proposal in the budget as the government was committed to provide quality roads in the rural areas of the state.
All the MLAs irrespective of the party affiliations have been asked to recommend for improvement of 35 kms of road in the rural pockets, he said.
As far as Yojana Banao campaign that had been launched by the government to prepare popular budget this year, Das assured that all the proposal made by the villagers would be implemented particularly in the agriculture sector by April.
The state government was focusing on Agriculture, Industry, IT and Tourism, among other sector.
Speaking on the occasion, Jharkhand Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affair Minister Saryu Roy has demanded for setting up of a Park near Domuhani river and promote water sports to attract tourists.
Criticizing the opposition parties move to stall the development work, Roy said the present dispensation was even ready to give credit to it but appealed them to allow the government to carry out the development process.
The principal secretary of Road Construction department, Rajbala Verma said only those road and bridge projects were approved which are ready to start construction work from the next day of laying foundation stones.
