The authorities at Naya Raipur are trying their best to make sure that more people come and live in the city. To this end, the Chhattisgarh Housing Board (CGHB) is offering a discount of 15% on houses and flats being purchased in the region. The offer is open until 31st December, 2016. Some people had already been allotted houses in the city as part of the self-finance scheme, and were expected to receive a discount of 50% on penalty payment if they were able to pay the pending amount before 31st October.
People with HIG and MIG houses as part of the Mukhyamantri Jan Aawas Yojana will receive a discount of 12% on the total payment that they make within a span of 60 days. Similarly, people with EWS and LIG flats will receive discounts of 13%. This scheme will be operational until 15th December.
What is the CGHB doing?
The CGHB has already provided its approval for constructing almost 10,497 houses. Over 4552 of these houses are to be for people belonging to the EWS group, 5448 will be for LIG, 709 for MIG, and 238 for HIG. The houses are supposed to be built at the following locations:
- Sejbahar Raipur
- Pandaripani Jagdalpur
- Kamal Vihar
- Ashanagar Rajnandgaon
- Boriyakala Raipur
- Hasdeo Vihar Bilaspur
- Hatkeshar Dhamtari
The board of directors of CGHB has also provided its approval for a residential colony spanning 19.835 hectares to be developed at Daldalseoni. The labourers of the state’s Labour Department are expected to have a residential colony of their own. At a recent meeting, the board has also approved 12.5% relaxation for its pensioners and opted to revise the rates of dearness allowance provided to the government employees.
Developments at the Swami Vivekananda Airport
Meanwhile at Raipur, the Swami Vivekananda Airport has seen a jump in the cargo traffic. It has gone up to 4000 tonnes from 1600 tonnes in 2014-15. The SEZ at Chhattisgarh had exported goods worth INR 1.83 crore in 2013-14, a figure which went up to INR 3.19 crore during 2014-15.
Economic development in the state
The Export Promotion Council for EoUs and SEZs (EPCES) is making several efforts to ensure that the export volume increases, and the concerns pertaining to SEZs and EoUs are properly addressed. As the officials have stated, the central government, too, is taking steps in this regard based on the suggestions and inputs they have received from EPCES.
The authorities are presently in the process of developing two SEZs and it is expected that this will add significantly to the industrial development in the state as well as add to its exports, thus benefiting the overall economy. Lanco Solar Private Ltd is developing a solar SEZ at Rajnandgaon. It is supposed to span an area of at least 250 acres on land and benefit the industry for manufacturing solar equipment. Lanco has already started to operate a polysilicon- and water-manufacturing facility with a capacity of 100 MWpA. The Naya Raipur Development Authority (NRDA) is developing an SEZ for IT/ITeS in Naya Raipur. It is expected to be a multi-sector complex.
This SEZ is supposed to house the latest and the best facilities for service providers and manufacturers that are focusing on electronics, IT, and ITeS. The state is already blessed with SEZs in the following domains that have come up in the last five years:
- Food and agro
- Footwear and sports goods sector
- IT/ITeS
- Electronic
- Automobiles and auto ancillaries manufacturing
- Hardware and software services
- Leather
- Textiles sector
These sectors have done well by way of exports, too.
The new hi-tech capital
This is the role that Naya Raipur is expected to play in the context of Chhattisgarh. It is also supposed to get an integrated freight complex that will cover an area of 130.67 hectares. If a proposal made earlier this year by Suresh Prabhu goes as planned, a cargo hub could be developed in the city as well. As has been stated by the Union Railways Minister, if the state government can provide the land the costs of development will be borne by the railways. In fact, Raman Singh, the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, had already met Prabhu in New Delhi and assured him of the land needed for the project to go through.
Infrastructural developments
The state government has already started the process to improve its infrastructural facilities in order to provide greater impetus to export and import activities from the Inland Container Depot (ICD) that is at Kapa, Old Raipur. It is said that the entire project is going to cost the state government INR 3.10 crore. The project is being done under the aegis of a programme named ‘Developing Export Infrastructure & Allied Activities’ (ASIDE) conceived by the national administration. The Container Corporation of India (CCI) is expected to develop a logistics hub spanning more than 100 acres in Naya Raipur.
Recognition on the way
The Indian Building Congress (IBC) has recently decided to confer the award of best office building to Paryawas Bhawan, a five-star green building in Naya Raipur. The award was received by Salil Shrivastava, Chief Engineer, NRDA, from M Venkaiah Naidu at a recent function held in the national capital. The building was selected from entries from various states because of its better construction and design, the ability to maintain an environment-friendly construction, and its adherence to green building standards.
It is located at North Block, Sector 19 and has the offices of NRDA, the state environment protection board, and CGHB. It was built for an amount around INR 59.56 crore and has five storeys. It is built over an area of 15,000 sq metres and has 430 rooms, alongwith six conference halls. A hall with space for 220 seats is in the works as well. The building has detailed arrangements for harvesting rainwater as well as a solar power plant with the capacity of 220 KW. It has already received a five-star rating from Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA).
A herbal garden for awareness
The state government is expected to develop a herbal garden in the city so that there could be greater awareness regarding ancient medicines among the common people. The state government is also expected to start an award commemorating Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya on what is his birth centenary. This award is expected to be provided to students of Ayurveda. The three prize categories are of INR 20,000, INR 15,000, and INR 10,000. The Chief Minister has already stressed that the state is blessed with significant reserves of trees with medicinal properties that need to be taken proper care of and nurtured. He has also called for a website to be built and a booklet to be launched so that people could be educated further. The state government has already sent a team of ayurvedic doctors to Kerala in order to improve their knowledge.
Sporting excellence
The state’s cricket team, which has been accorded first-class status this year, is starting to show signs of what could have been had it received this recognition earlier. Ever since it was created from Madhya Pradesh, the state has lost plenty of good cricketers to its earlier parent state. However, now under the guidance of Sulakshan Kulkarni – a former Ranji player from Mumbai – and Mohammad Kaif – a former India star – the team is showing promising signs. It has already performed well in the preparatory tournaments and done creditably against much stronger opposition in its Ranji sojourn so far.
Connectivity problems in Naya Raipur
However, not everything is hunky dory in Naya Raipur. Residents here are already facing telecommunication problems. The problems are emanating primarily from sectors 27 and 29. NRDA had signed a MoU with BSNL to set up these services during March 2012 but till date, evidently, not much has been achieved. The agreement with BSNL has meant that private service providers have not been able to enter the fray. The NRDA has recently reduced the lease rates, but that hasn’t helped much. The civic body has now decided to terminate the contract with BSNL for its failure to provide world-class telecom infrastructure in the last four years. It has already notified the government operator of the same and is now supposed to invite tenders from private service providers. It is expected that the situation will improve by December-end.
