Epic: Nitish and Modi Sharing Same Podium.

How many times have you seen Shri Nitish Kumar, Hon’ble CM of Bihar and Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble PM of our country sharing same podium and attending same mob one after another? Well for me it was the first time.

Flashback.

Shri Nitish Kumar is CM of Bihar, belonging to JDU is sitting on chair since 2005 if we leave 9 months Manjhi debacle. BJP and JDU jointly ruled the state for 8 years. As known, Nitish is strictly anti-modi and broke the decade old tie-up with BJP 2 years ago when Modi was elected as PM candidate. The agony was so high that Nitish Kumar resigned from CM post when BJP won the parliament election and Modi was elected as PM of country.

What’s special? – Speech?

Well it is only possible in democracy that you will get a chance to see two arch rival sharing same podium and give speech one after another with full respect showing to each other. So what was special in it? Was it only a speech for which our PM known for?  Modi is known to be Magician of Words when it comes to attend a crowd of thousands of people. The words come so perfectly knitted, with the mixture of enthusiastic voice that it energizes the people standing before the stage. Nitish hold different characteristics when it comes to speech. Nitish talks more on figures, practical approach and historical facts. He tries to tackle minds by showing the willingness he carries to serve people through his figurative and practical knowledge. It was very special to listen two arch rivals of Indian politics sharing same stage and give speech one by one when they are still opponent. But the specialty was not the speech, it was the effect on development activities running by state government and central government within the state border. How? It will be explained after listing some of the facts on ongoing projects in Bihar.

Ongoing projects in Bihar by State and Centre:

IIT Patna: Incomplete. It should have been completed few years back.
NIT Patna: Running in an old college (Bihar Engineering College) premises which later on given different name i.e. NIT. Lack of interest in providing Land is major cause.
Additional Airport for Patna: Project is still in air due to unavailability of land and proper location.
Digha – Pahleza Rail-cum-Road Bridge: Incomplete. Land and fund are major issue. Lack of understanding between Railway, State Government and NHAI is playing rest of the role.
Patna – Buxar NH(4 Lane): Still on paper from years. Tender has been once cancelled. Availability of land is major issue.
Bakhtiyarpur – Rajaulli NH(4 Lane): Still on paper. Recently state government withdrew from the project due to Forest Department objection.
Patna – Gaya – Dobhi NH(4 Lane): Still on paper. Land and fund are issue.
Barauni Power Plant: Incomplete. Work has been undertaken by BHEL who has postponed the inauguration date 13 TIMES.

These projects require equal effort from both State and Centre. There are uncountable pending projects other than those which are mentioned above. Some of them are AIIMS Patna, North Bihar Central University, South Bihar Central University, Madhepura Greenfield Locomotive Unit, Madaura Diesel Locomotive Unit, many railway lines, Kendriya Vidyalayas, NH, etc.

Cause:

All these projects are pending due to many causes like lack of fund, lack of interest, unavailability of land, lack of mutual collaboration between State and Centre’s Ministers and Bureaucrats. One more reason could be the different government in State and Centre as it creates lack of faith and interest between Ministers and Bureaucrats in meeting each other for resolving issues.

Effects:

The projects mentioned above and the many which are not mentioned here have been undertaken by State and Centre’s controlled agencies and requires equal participation and interest from both sides so that they can be completed, if not on time then as soon as possible. How politics badly hampers development works can be known by the fact that the new train between Biharsharif and Daniyawa shown green signal by PM on the newly built rail route would have started 12 years back in 2004 if then parliament election had not taken place 6 months earlier. After the election BJP lost to Congress followed by closing or slowing down of earlier government projects. Another example which could be argued as the biggest one to get affected due to politics is Digha – Pahleza 4.6 KM long Rail-cum-Road Bridge, which is under construction from more than a decade.

So What’s Special? – The Underlying Remedy.

The specialty was the eagerness shown by both the ministers on fast-tracking delayed projects and solving each other’s issues. Yeah you can’t tell whether it was a showcase or it will change the things now on. But such kind of eagerness and collaborative effort is needed if we want any state to develop fast otherwise figures are there to talk more.