Madhya Pradesh woos trade and industry

New Delhi, Dec 3: Inviting captains of trade and industry to invest in the state’s social sector, Madhya Pradesh government said on Monday its new economic development policy will focus on intensifying efforts to achieve development in both economic and social sectors.

Releasing the state’s new economic policy at the India Economic Summit, chief minister Digvijay Singh told reporters, “The economic development of the state cannot be restricted to mere cold statistics. The state government will now focus on private, state partnership in areas of education, health apart from roads, power, information technology, biotechnology and agriculture.”

The chief minister said, under the new policy, the state will lay special emphasis on scientific and educational institutions especially in the field of IT and biotechnology parks.

Cities like Bhopal and Indore will soon be having bio-technology parks, he said.

MP would offer an attractive and competitive incentive package for biotechnology and related sectors and is also in the process of drafting a special incentive package, he said.

The policy also envisaged a holistic approach to family welfare programmes and active involvement of stakeholders in achieving population stablisation, he said, adding the government was also committed to decentralisation of authority in resource mobilisation and delivery of health care.

On his government’s efforts at restructuring the power sector and rationalisation of subsidy burden in order to address some of the deficiencies in the sector, Mr Singh said the state electricity board would be reorganised on a functional basis and its successor entities would be registered as companies.

The state would rationalise its subsidies burden in a phased manner and at the same time ensure that subsidies were better targeted at the weaker section, he said.

Madhya Pradesh would also constitute an economic development board as a nodal agency to monitor and facilitate implementation of key projects and initiatives crucial to the state’s economic development.

The government would also leverage IT to increase its responsiveness and efficiency and to bring about transparency in its system, the chief minister said adding all departments of the state will prepare an IT sub-plan from the year 2002-03.

Diversification into agricultural allied sectors such as horticulture, dairy and animal husbandry, inland fisheries and minor forest produce for improved returns and greater work opportunities apart from promoting maximum integration of private initiative in the agri sector to improve availability of funds and expertise will also be focussed.

Mr Singh said the state provided a conducive investment environment and the government was willing to interact with commerce and industry captains to constantly innovate and to create such atmosphere in the state. He assured the industry of simplified rules and procedures with single agency system where one officer of the industry department was legally empowered to give clearances for over 11 departments.

— PTI