Kalyan Singh with his colleagues: On overdriveFifty years ago, Uttar Pradesh was among the top four industrialised states in the country. Since then, eight Five-Year Plans and 25 governments have come and gone but the state, which is home to 160 million people - 17 per cent of the country's population - still finds itself struggling.Last week, as his Government prepared to celebrate its first year in office, Chief Minister Kalyan Singh seemed determined to pull the state out of the morass it was sinking into. He coined a new slogan Hamare Sapne, Hamara Sankalp (Our dream, Our determination) and took a new vow: to change the face of Uttar Pradesh. "I spent 365 sleepless nights to prepare a blueprint for a better tomorrow and my Government has laid a strong foundation for it," he says. "Now the state is ready to take off." Ordinarily such resolves would have been dismissed as just another round of political gimmickry. But the chief minister's aides swear he really means what he is saying. "He is restless," says one of them. "Even at night, he gets up and jots down ideas that flash in his mind."As a result, the recent months have seen thousands of kilometres of new roads, greater power generation, a check on communal clashes and improving law and order situation. The implementation of a new scheme, the Udyog Bandhu (Friends of Industry), has been very encouraging for entrepreneurs. The programme, in which the problems of entrepreneurs are sorted out at a single point, is headed by the chief minister at the state level and a minister at the district level. Information Technology (IT) has been identified as a thrust area for development. The Government will soon launch an IT mission. Chief Minister Kalyan Singh admits his plans are only the beginning of a long campaign.Besides, there are also plans to set up a separate Directorate of Information Technology, software technology parks at Noida, Dehradun, Agra, Lucknow and Varanasi and Indian Institutes of Info-Technology at Allahabad and Kanpur.The other major infrastructure plans include:.preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}Setting up a World Trade Centre at Noida and an export-oriented Toy City in Greater Noida; developing Agra into an electronics city and Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Lucknow into science cities.Establishing an Electricity Regulatory Commission to strengthen the power system; an Infrastructure Initiative Fund; and a road development policy for the construction and maintenance of roads.Providing Rs 1,365 crore for road development.Starting six new power projects to generate 2250 MW of power. Revive the Maneri Bhali, Lakhwar Vyasi, Obra, Harduaganj, Tanda and Rihand thermal and hydel projects.Liberalising the tourism policy.Sprucing up Lucknow under a Rs 339 crore beautification plan."This is just the beginning," says Kalyan Singh. "It will take time, but then even Rome was not built in a day."Published By: AtMigration Published On: Sep 28, 1998--- ENDS ---
