By IANS,
Kolkata: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Saturday here hoped that Maoist violence-hit Bastar district in his state will witness development after the commissioning of a Rs.10,000 crore steel plant.
The three million tonne per annum capacity steel plant of the state-run National Mineral Development Corporation is expected to start production 2014.
“After the full fledged development in the Maoist-hit area in the next 10 years, we will double the state’s economic growth,” Singh said at the PanIIT Global Conference, 2012.
He said the Surguja district, which was also affected by the Maoist violence is now “100 percent peaceful” while his government has stepped up development in Bastar region.
Singh said Chhattisgarh – carved out of Madhya Pradesh Nov 1, 2000, has been enjoying more than 10 percent growth in the GDP for the last three years.
West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra, who also spoke at the meet, said intelligence-based police action and economic development in his state’s Junglemahal area – West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts, have checked Maoist violence there.
He claimed not a single Maoist-related casualty has occurred in West Bengal’s Junglemahal this year.