If foundation stones were a commodity listed on the stock exchange, their prices would have sky-rocketed, judging by the frenzied pace at which Union ministers have been laying foundation stones for various projects across the country.
There is good reason for this rush. Once the Election Commission announces the schedule for the general elections — it is expected to in a few days — the model Code of Conduct kicks in immediately. The code prohibits, among other things, the inauguration of new projects.
Thus, in the last 10 days, Minister for Chemicals, Fertilisers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan has laid foundation stones for one steel processing unit each in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, a new pharma manufacturing facility in Gurgaon and ayurvedic drug stores in Gurgaon, Mohali, Panchkula and Delhi.
The minister also re-launched an old company taken over by Steel Authority of India, Malvika Steel, in Amethi today.
Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes will have to make it to four states in three days between Friday and Monday, after spending the entire day in Parliament on Thursday. He has to lay foundation stones for four Employees State Insurance Corporation medical colleges in Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The ministry of labour is not willing to say whether foundation stones for all 28 medical colleges that are supposed to be operational in 2009 will be laid before the elections.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has been the fastest and most furious of the lot. In seven days, he laid foundation stones for eight “integrated terminal buildings for airports” in eight cities in eight states. Of these, seven cities were covered in just two days.
More From This Section
The stone rush began for Patel on February 14, with the stone-laying for the new building for the Srinagar airport. He presided over the ceremony that was attended by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chavan.
Patel attended another launch in Kashmir on the same day for the inauguration of the new railway line from Maazham to Baramulla. This time, it was the railway minister who hefted the stone. On February 20, Patel laid the stone for airport buildings in Indore in Madhya Pradesh at 11 a m, followed by Bhopal at 1 p m, Raipur in Chattisgarh at 3 p m and then in Ranchi in Jharkhand at 4.30 p m.
A day later at 10 a m he laid the foundation stone of a new terminal building for the Goa airport, at noon he unveiled plans for the airport building at Vishakapatnam and two hours later he was at Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, doing the same thing. Food Processing Minister Subodh Kant Sahay has laid the foundation stones for mega food parks all over the country. Each park, which will have food processing centres, cold storage and so on, means livelihood for 30,000 people and an investment of Rs 300 crore.
Another minister who has programmes that can translate into foundation stones is Arjun Singh. So far Singh has laid stones for two central universities and an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Indore in his home state of Madhya Pradesh. More are expected. At least 12 central universities and a couple of IITs can be expected to be unveiled, say sources. “The selection of the vice chancellors of these universities is almost over and names are likely to be announced soon. So why shouldn’t foundation stones be laid,” asks an official.
Other ministers laying foundation stones are Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anand Sharma, Home Minister P Chidambaram (who inaugurated a Bhagat Singh memorial in Punjab) and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherji launching a Metro link in Kolkata.