Bhopal: Even as Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had promised to make Singrauli another Singapore, the list issued by NITI Aayog on country’s most backward districts figures Singrauli.
Singrauli is amongst the eight districts of the state which have been termed as most backward. Not only this, Singrauli has been named as the third most backward district in the country. Singrauli district, despite having immense potential of industrialisation, is continuously showing a southward trend.
The district is going to complete its ten years of existence on May 24. It came into existence in May, 2008 as the 50th district of the state after joining three tehsils of Sidhi district. Two more tehsils were included in Singrauli in 2012.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, during Lok Sabha by-polls in Sidhi in 2007, had announced making Singrauli another Singapore. Chouhan also announced during Assembly elections to develop Singrauli as industrial city of the state. He in 2014 announced to develop Singrauli as energy city.
Singrauli’s former collector SN Singh Chouhan maintains that reason behind Singrauli’s backwardness is lack of attention. He said the revenue generated from mining in Singrauli is more than one-third of the total revenue from mining generated in the state. Despite of this fact, no attention has been paid to developing basic amenities here. He said that during his brief stint he tried his best to develop Singrauli.
Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh maintains that no announcement made by Chief Minister on Singrauli has been fulfilled so far. Singh said there are two types of people in Singrauli. One who works in coal fields and came from other places and the second type of people are those who are domiciles of Singrauli and no one is paying attention to them. Singh said Singrauli was better off when it was not separate from Sidhi district.
On the other hand, Singrauli MLA Ramlallu Vaish has challenged the report of NITI Aayog. Vaish said the survey report of the Aayog claiming Singrauli as the third most backward district, is faulty. Vaish though admitted that developmental work could not be done in the district. He said Rewa-Singrauli national highway could not be completed in five years. The announcements of CM on mining, college, and airport have not been fulfilled. We are trying to work in education and health sectors but our demands get stuck in the government.
