With an eye on the upcoming assembly polls, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday laid the foundation stone for three key projects — a commercial hub, Aerocity and a martyrs' memorial, in Nava Raipur.
The commercial hub is aimed at promoting investment, settlement and commercial activities in Nava Raipur, while the Aerocity will promote passenger facilities and commercial development near Swami Vivekananda Airport here, officials said.
Addressing the bhoomi pujan function for the projects at Sector-35 of Nava Raipur Atal Nagar, Baghel said it is the government's responsibility to create a conducive environment for every section of society to flourish and his government has done this.
"Chhattisgarh is an agriculture-dominated state and first of all our government created a supportive environment for farmers. At present, Chhattisgarh is the only state in the country where farmers have been getting maximum returns for their produce," the chief minister said.
Secondly, an environment was created for the children and Swami Atmanand government English medium schools were set up. Similarly, various works have been carried out in the health sector and for promotion of culture, he said.
“As far as the business and industry sector is concerned, I spoke to traders and businessmen after the Congress was elected to power (in 2018) and told them to bring better industry-friendly provisions from any state of the country assuring to include those in Chhattisgarh's industry policy. The same was done and the business sector grew in the state," Baghel said.
He further announced that commercial plots would be allocated to businessmen in the commercial hub at Rs 540 per sq ft.
The commercial hub will be developed on an area of 1,083 acres in Sectors 23, 24, 34, 35, and 40 of Nava Raipur, it was stated.
In the first phase, 1,000 wholesale shops related to 20 different businesses including grocery, incense sticks, gunny bags, pulse mills, paper trade etc., will be set up, a government official said.
The state government has provisioned Rs 5 crore for the development of the commercial hub in the financial year 2023-24. The infrastructure will be developed for Rs 195.51 crore under the first phase, he said.
The land identified for the hub is near National Highway No. 30 and the Bharat Mala project. The hub has railway connectivity and Swami Vivekananda Airport is just 12 km away from the project site, he said.
Similarly, the Aerocity will be developed on 216.63 acres in Baroda and Ramchandi villages near the Airport, he said.
Commercial establishments, shopping complexes and hotels will be constructed in the Aerocity to promote passenger facilities, commercial development of the airport area and employment generation, he said.
The third project 'Shaheed Smarak' will be established on 13 acres in the VIP battalion in Parsada village in Nava Raipur, he said.
Under this project, walls will be constructed on 7 acres of land in which names of 2,700 martyrs will be engraved and Chhattisgarh Amar Jawan Jyoti will be built on around 6 acres of land, he said.
A memorial museum, parade ground, spectator gallery, special guest gallery and barracks for soldiers will also be constructed there, the official said, adding that the state government approved Rs 47.75 crore for the project.
-With PTI Input
