NEW DELHI: It was the States' tryst with overseas Indians at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations here on Monday.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi described the Narmada dam as an important milestone while Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit projected the metro rail and CNG-fitted public transport as her achievements. Madhya Pradesh highlighted public-private partnership in infrastructure and Haryana boasted of its industrial growth.

Mr. Modi said that with the raising the height of the Narmada dam to 121.92 metres on December 31 power of 1,450 MW would be generated by this month-end making the State energy surplus. Gujarat was the only fully electrified State that had 24-hour power supply. Gujarat was `number one' in terms of actual investment received in industrial projects with over 16 per cent share. "Gujaratis understand the language of business better than most other communities of the world. This is precisely the reason why one finds Gujaratis forming the largest proportion of the Indian diaspora in prominent business activities. "We are clear in our approach. Our progress is policy-driven, our policies are reform-driven and our reforms are people-oriented," he said.

Speaking about her dream of making Delhi one of the major tourist destinations of the world, Ms. Dikshit, however, admitted that while the energy demands of the city would be met with in the near future, water supply and drainage were areas of concern. "Water is an issue globally but Delhi's system too is archaic with the distribution system far from satisfactory.''

Ms. Dikshit sought the cooperation of the overseas Indians in cleaning the Yamuna. "Yamuna is an area of concern and it is becoming dirtier by the day. Therefore, anyone from outside India dealing with the cleaning of rivers is welcome to give ideas. The Centre is equally interested in it."

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said his State had been put on the fast track of development in all spheres. The growth of industry and industry-related infrastructure during the last couple of years was particularly phenomenal. The new Industrial Policy-2005 initiatives had started showing encouraging results. "The State has witnessed an unprecedented flow of investment to the tune of Rs.10,000 crore ever since this policy was announced. Projects with an investment of more than Rs.40,000 crore are also in the pipeline which include foreign direct investment proposals of Rs.1,380 crore."

Private-public partnership

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan said the State in the last few years had transformed its developmental challenges into opportunities. "Partnership for us has never been a project-specific issue. Rather, it is now becoming a working ethos in the Government." Mr. Chauhan said 12 lakh hectares of agricultural wasteland had now been made available to the private sector at notional cost and liberal terms.

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