Industrialisation issue awaits inclusion in top political agendas in Chhattisgarh

In the Naxal heartland of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, industrialisation is not an election buzz despite major projects waiting to take shape for last many years.

Bastar, where Tata and Essar are proposed to come up with steel projects, would go to the by-polls on Sunday. The mid-term election in the Lok Sabha constituency was necessitated following the death of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Baliram Kashyap.

Punnulal Markam, a youth in his early twenties in Lohandiguda, had been waiting for the Tata’s project to take off. For, the 5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant would bestow him a job besides helping in improving the socio-economic condition of the region that has a larger area under the sway of Naxalites.

Markam is not the only one dreaming another world in the Naxal heartland. The youths, who have been “misused” by the rebels by taking advantage of their unemployment, have been waiting for major industrial projects to come up.

Tata and Essar signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the Chhattisgarh in June 2005. Almost six years had passed while the state government had failed to execute both the projects. “Had the MoU not been signed, the expectations of local people would not have been so high,” Markam said.

But interestingly, the ambitious projects are not finding place in the election manifesto of neither the ruling nor the opposition party. Markam said they had expected that the issue would be top in the agenda as it would change the shape of Bastar. Unfortunately, it did not happen so.

“Yes, the issue of industrialisation and Tata-Essar projects did not figure in the election campaign as good governance of BJP in last seven years had been the prominent issue,” BJP state general secretary Shivratan Sharma told Business Standard.

The opposition Congress leaders too admitted that the issue was not raised in the way it could have been. “Only one of our senior leaders Motilal Vora took up the issue in Bastar, but it could not get wider publicity,” Congress state general secretary Ramesh Varlyani said.

It was a big failure of Chhattisgarh government that it could not execute Tata project, Varlyani said, adding that the state government should have pressurized Tatas to speed up the work.