Chhattisgarh has made tremendous progress in the areas of health and road-rail connectivity, Chief Minister Raman Singh said here today.
The chief minister also said there should be an analytical study about fast growth achieved by Chhattisgarh after its formation in 2000.
Chhattisgarh has made tremendous progress in health indicators like IMR (Infant Mortality Rate), MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) and malnutrition as well as in road and rail connectivity, Singh told reporters here.
Earlier this week, Kant had said: "Eastern part of India, particularly states like Bihar, UP, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, is keeping India backward especially on social indicators. While we have have improved on ease of doing business, we have remained backward on human development index. We are still 131 out of 188 countries in HDI."
Yesterday, Kant said India's eastern states have done remarkably well on ease of doing business index, but stressed that they need to repeat their progress on the human development index as well.
Raman Singh also met Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in the national capital to discuss various matters related to the development of his state.
The Centre today approved road development and expansion projects worth over Rs 3,000 crore in Chhattisgarh, according to a statement issued by the state government.
During the meeting, consent was given on construction of an inter-change flyover worth Rs 95 crore at Raipur's busiest Tatibandh Chowk, where five roads intersect, Singh said.
"Proposal of constructing four-lane from Raigarh to Dharamjaigarh was also discussed at the meeting and the Union minister assured that the work for the same will start very soon," the statement said.
The chief minister drew the attention of Gadkari towards pending proposal of constructing bypasses in 17 cities of the state and stated that these will help in easing traffic.
Gadkari instructed senior officials of his ministry to look into the matter, the statement said.
The road transport minister also gave instruction on including the 210 km-long Rs 6,600 crore Purur-Jhalmala-Kusumkasa-Sherpaar-Mainpur NH 930, Bilaspur-Mungali-Pandariya-Ponda NH 130 A and Abhanpur-Rajim-Gariyabandh-Devbhog Marg NH 130 C in Annual Plan 2018-19.
Singh apprised the union minister about construction of a 36 km-long stretch between Bhopalpatnam and Tarlaguda in NH 202 crossing Chhattisgarh's most Naxal-affected region.
In his meeting with Paswan, Raman Singh raised various issues including decentralised paddy procurement and transport expenses.
The Union Food Ministry will soon address the issue of transport expenditure amount spent by states on paddy procurement, the statement said.
"The chief minister informed the union minister that there is extra burden on Chhattisgarh as over Rs 1292 crore spent on transport expenditure for paddy procurement has been pending since last 10 years due to lack of decision," it added.
Singh also met Union Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar here.
The chief minister said Chhattisgarh is the first state in the country to construct more than 6 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana.
On the chief minister's demand, the union minister assured him that sanction will soon be given for constructing three lakh additional houses under the scheme.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)