No state govt officials came on record on coordination gap between the state and Centre, but ground reports suggest there are pockets where all is not well.
ET Bureau
Very soon, teams of veterinary doctors will scout for a desi elite cow breed named Gangatiri in the villages of eastern Uttar Pradesh. Their mission: to purchase 100 such cows, as part of a cow conservation project launched by the Union agriculture ministry last year in Varanasi’s Shahnshahpur village. Housed in a state government dairy farm established way back in 1950, the Gangatiri Cows’ Conservation and Development Center has added new infrastructure — a water tank, a veterinary dispensary and a huge cowshed to accommodate the 100 purebred Gangatiri cows. “The purchase committee has already been formed. The fund is ready. But the challenge is to spot pure Gangatiri cows (as against crossbreeds). Our doctors will look for the cows in the villages of Varanasi, Allahabad, Ghazipur and Balia,” says farm manager Sarvjeet Singh. He goes on to share the characteristics of this desi breed, its cost, milk yields and fat content, and why there is an urgent need to conserve this rare strain found in the eastern belt of UP.
All Roads Lead to Varanasi
Welcome to Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since May 2014. Thanks to its VVIP nature, the constituency has succeeded in wooing Central ministry projects of varied size and scale — from cow conservation of the ministry of agriculture to the building of a multi-modal terminal for cargo ships under the ministry of shipping; from laying underground cabling in the temple and ghat areas under the Union power ministry’s mega project to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) picking up a 2003 state government road project with a fresh deadline of May 2017, two years ahead of the next Lok Sabha poll.
The list of projects driven from Delhi is long. The ministry of textiles, for example, has begun work on a five-storey (13,799 sq m) office complex that will eventually turn into a one-stop shop for all textile stakeholders — weavers, exporters and marketing agencies.
Then, the ministry of tourism in collaboration with the Inland Waterways Authority of India, an agency under the ministry of shipping, has facilitated a luxury cruise service up to the city of Varanasi (starting from Patna). Even the ministry of railways is well on track in doling out projects for the PM’s constituency.
Apart from undertaking a 25% expansion of the existing diesel locomotive works at Varanasi at a cost of Rs 266 crore, Indian Railways last year set up what it calls the Malaviya Chair in IIT-BHU, in memory of the institute’s founder and Bharat Ratna Madan Mohan Malaviya. The objective is to research on and develop new materials for railway wheels, bushings, exhaust fans and the like with better longevity. The project costs, however, vary from one ministry to another. In terms of size, the ministry of road transport and highways is by far the topper. Nitin Gadkari’s ministry is executing seven road projects connecting Varanasi, the total project cost being Rs 7,100 crore. Piyush Goyal’s ministry of power has earmarked Rs 572 crore for Varanasi alone (out of Rs 1,067 crore for Uttar Pradesh) under the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS). The Central fund under this scheme is being used for underground cabling in areas around the temples and ghats, to upgrade the electrical assets at sub-centres, lines and distribution transformers, and to also install roof-top solar panels in government buildings in the city.
Centre vs State Early this week, this writer visited six such project sites in Varanasi to get a first-hand account of the physical progress, bottlenecks and coordination issues that usually crop up between BJP’s Central government and Samajwadi Party-run Uttar Pradesh sarkar. There are instances where the Centre has taken over state projects to expedite them and make the PM’s constituents feel the difference on the ground well before it is time for a fresh electoral mandate in 2019. No senior state government officials came on record on the coordination gaps between the state and the Centre, but ground reports suggest there are pockets where all is not well.
For example, work is at a standstill at the NHAI-managed Varanasi bypass (ring road) project (phase I ) when this writer reaches the site. The fund, of Rs 261 crore, is ready. The deadline is May 2017. The physical progress, as provided by Varanasi’s District Magistrate office, as of August 31, is just 26%. Where’s the problem? “The farmers stalled work, demanding better land compensation. There are some legacy issues too. Earlier, this was a state government project and some farmers were left out (from getting compensation). The issue is almost sorted now and the work will commence soon,” says an official connected with the project, requesting anonymity.
Another roadblock to several projects is a 7-km-long tortoise sanctuary in the Ganga from Ramnagar Fort to Malviya Bridge in Varanasi. The Wild Life (Conservation) Act 1972 restricts the movement of vessels there, which puts a question mark on the very existence of the National Waterway No. 1, west of Varanasi. Cargo vessels are not allowed to move between Varanasi and Allahabad as they will have to pass through the tortoise sanctuary. Nor can big cruise ships move beyond Malviya Bridge, which puts paid to the prospect of extending the cruise till Allahabad, a popular religious spot north-west of Varanasi. Even the cleaning of the Ganga with the help of big vessels was objected to by the sanctuary authority, which comes under the forest department of the UP government.
The officers concerned are tight-lipped about the strategies being adopted to bypass the tortoise sanctuary. ET Magazine has learnt that a proposal of partial de-notification of the sanctuary, which has been operational since 1989, has moved from the state to the Centre, a piecemeal solution that may address some bottlenecks.
The people in Varanasi are hopeful that they will see a new city in the years to come. They have heard about Varanasi’s pact with the Japanese city Kyoto, under which projects on solid-liquid waste management and transport management, have been undertaken. But, for the city administration, the efforts are as much for its 1.2 million citizens as for the 5.5 million tourists that arrive in this holy city every year.
“Varanasi can’t be developed with skyscrapers. It must retain its ethnic characteristics as tourists come here for spiritual experiences. What we have been doing here is to improve its amenities” says Nitin Ramesh Gokarn, Varanasi’s divisional commissioner, emphasising that there is no coordination issue between the state and the Centre as far as execution of development projects is concerned.
In additional to rolling out big-ticket projects, the Central ministries need to take care of the grievances of the PM’s constituents. As the people of Varanasi can’t meet their MP, who is also the country’s prime minister, many of them land up at the PM’s Jansampark Karyalaya (public relations office) in Varanasi’s Ravindra Puri area and narrate their problems to the off i c e i n - c h a r ge Shivcharan Pathak, a man with RSS background. They expect Pathak to call up the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and solve their problems immediately. The expectations are natural. As many as 5,81,022 people (about 56% of the total votes cast) voted for the man who became prime minister.
Mini PMO This writer meets a few complainants at Varanasi’s “mini-PMO”. And their problems range from getting a gas connection and a railway ticket confirmed to relatively complicated ones such as police atrocities and land encroachment.
Pathak, of course, does not need to call up the PMO to address most of these woes. If it is a problem pertaining to gas connection, he calls up a nodal officer in the Union petroleum ministry, and if the problem is a state subject, he forwards it to the district magistrate or divisional commissioner, and then follows it up over the phone. For their part, a bunch of Central ministers visit the office, and spend time there to hear out the complainants. “On the first Saturday of every month, Mahesh Sharmaji (MoS for culture, tourism and civil aviation) meets people in this office. On second Saturdays, Manoj Sinhaji (MoS, telecom and railways) comes here. When Central ministers come, the number of people increases and many of them have to stand outside,” says Pathak.
Congress MLA Ajay Rai, who came third in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Varanasi (Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was second), says the PM’s office in Varanasi is at best like a “post office”. “People come and lodge their complaints there. The question is how many of them get results? And once it became the PM’s constituency, the local BJP MLAs have stopped working altogether. They now wait for the PMO to act,” says Rai.
The people who come to Modi’s Varanasi office are hopeful of solutions. For example, Pappu Gupta, a resident of Samne Ghat, has been knocking on the doors of UP government offices to avail of benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, a scheme launched for the economically weaker sections where the beneficiary gets interest subsidy on the purchase or construction of a house. “I have come to this office of the PM for guidance after my form for a loan under the scheme was not processed by the state government office concerned. Now, it will go from this office. And my work will be done,” Gupta told ET Magazine.
Meanwhile, the massive infrastructure projects being undertaken in and around the city may well be ready before Modi seeks re-election from Varanasi in 2019, as most project deadlines are at least a couple of years ahead of the polls. But the real challenge that the PM faces today is the sense of hopelessness among farmers in his own constituency, particularly after the last month’s flood washed away their crop. And there are systemic flaws in which flood relief may not technically reach the farmers who lost the most. Consider the plight of Pawan Kumar Singh and Jagdish Singh, two farmers in Shahnshahpur village, 30 km from the main city. While Pawan took 20 bighas of land on rent, his neighbour Jagdish opted for 40 bighas, again on rent (a little more than four bighas equal one acre). For one bigha, the current annual rent in the locality is Rs 10,000-12,000.
The rent needs to be paid in advance to the landowners. Both Pawan and Jagdish cultivated chilli, beans and tomato, but the flood damaged all their crop. “In this locality, farmers have lost money, from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, because of last month’s flood. No one has received any compensation yet”, says Apna Dal general secretary Neel Ratan Patel, blaming the UP administration for its lackadaisical attitude. Apna Dal is an alliance partner of the BJP at the Centre, and the party’s Anupriya Patel is a minister of state in the Modi government. Jagdish is not counting on flood compensation reaching his village. “I have already paid the annual rent. If there is any compensation, who will get it — me or my landlord?” Singh asks. Ghat pe charcha, anybody?
Ministry of Shipping Ground Report When ET Magazine reaches Ralhupur village in Varanasi’s Ramnagar locality, a couple of engineers are present at the site. The engineers are from AFCONS Infrastructure, the company that received the contract. They say that the soil investigation and surveys have been done, and the design of the terminal is under process. The actual work on the site, which includes building a ship-berthing platform of 200 metres by 35 metres, will begin latest by November. The design of the terminal has factored in the highest flood record in the area, which is 73.9 metres above sea level. The berthing platform will therefore be built 1.1 metres above the high flood level.
The newly built terminal will have a permanent structure where two ships can be simultaneously loaded or unloaded (earlier loading and unloading facilities — for cargo like power equipment that shipped via the Ganga —were built temporarily). The terminal will be connected by road and rail.
Ministry of Railways R&D Project at IIT-BHU
COST: Endowment Fund of Rs 5 crore Aimed at developing new materials for rails, wheels, bushings, exhaust fans Ground Report
ET Magazine visits IIT-BHU in the heart of Varanasi. Professor Pradip K Jain, dean (research & development), informs that three groups of professors and research scholars are working on developing new materials that will have a longer life. For example, rails and wheels used by the Indian Railways corrode faster than those with international standards.
“But we can’t give suggestions in isolation. Our research has to keep in mind whether the current suppliers can produce those materials. So, we have to be practical too,” he says.
The institute has so far supplied sample materials to the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), an Indian Railways-owned agency, to test whether these can be used for braking shoes, bushings and the like.
However, this R&D initiative, christened the Malaviya Chair, is facing fund constraints, as the interest amount of the endowment fund comes to just about Rs 35 lakh annually, not sufficient to purchase machinery according to the demands of the researchers.
IIT-BHU is looking for a larger railway project under which it can develop exclusive laboratories to develop alternative railway products.
The Railways has a large ongoing project in Varanasi — expansion by 25% of the existing diesel locomotive works in the city. The cost: Rs 266 crore.
Ministry of Textiles Integrated Textile Office Complex (ITOC), Varanasi
PROJECT COST: Rs 64 crore
LAUNCH: December 2015
DEADLINE: December 2017 Located at the Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT), Varanasi, this 13,799 sq metre complex will house the Weavers Service Centre, Central Silk Board, NITRA Powerloom Service Centre and NIFT extension centre It will act as a common platform for all stakeholders including weavers, exporters and marketing agencies.It will facilitate the necessary approval for starting BTech in handloom and textile technology at the IIHT’s Varanasi campus.
Urban Development Ministry Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY)
PROJECT COST: Rs 89 crore
THE PROJECT INCLUDES: 24 roads being built by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) STATUS: Work in progress in 9 of 24 roads 10 roads being built by the Varanasi Municipal Commission STATUS: 50% completed.
Ministry of Tourism Cruise Services to Varanasi
LAUNCHED: August 2014
Ground Report ET Magazine takes a motor boat from Varanasi’s Khirkiya Ghat to reach ABN Rajmahal, a luxury ship with 22 air-conditioned cabins, anchored in the middle of the Ganga. The ship is on its way to Patna, a journey that is covered in seven nights. The ticket charge per tourist is $1,365 (roughly Rs 90,000) on twin-sharing basis. Cruise manager Kunal Singh tells this writer that it has a near-full occupancy with European, Australian and Japanese tourists. “About 80% of our guests are retired people who are not in a hurry to go back home,” he says, adding that two women tourists had a 22-day-long cruise journey from Kolkata to Varanasi last month. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served on board. Guests have a choice of wine, spirits and beer.
The ship is owned by the privately held Assam Bengal Navigation Company; the ministry of tourism and the Inland Waterways Authority of India, an agency that comes under the ministry of shipping, facilitate its navigation. The Union tourism ministry has undertaken another Varanasi-centric project —a laser show on the ghats.
The cruise and cargo ships face a stumbling block — a 27-year-old tortoise sanctuary on a 7-km stretch of the Ganga near Varanasi. The sanctuary virtually stops navigation between Varanasi and Allahabad (National Waterway No. 1 ends in Allahabad). The files have moved from Lucknow to Delhi for partial de-notification of the sanctuary though no official comes on record on this apparently sensitive environment issue.
Ministry of Agriculture Gangatiri Cows’ Conservation and Development Center, Shahnshahpur, Varanasi
PROJECT COST: Rs 4 crore
Ground Report A year after Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh inaugurated a centre for the conservation and development of an indigenous cow breed called Gangatiri, ET Magazine reaches Araji Line at Shahnshahpur, 30 km from the main city. This centre is developed at a 66-year-old dairy farm spread across a sprawling 195 acre campus. The farm has 249 Gangatiri breed of cows, one of the 40 elite desi cow breeds recognised by the government. Farm superintendent Sarvjeet Singh says that each of the farm’s top 10 cows yields 8-10 litres of milk every day, but there is scope for improvement for the rest of the milch cows. The average milk production per cow per day is a meagre 4.8 litres.
Under the Government of India project, new infrastructure — a cowshed, a water tank and a veterinary dispensary — is being added to the campus. But the challenge lies in spotting 100 more Gangatiri cows, which the centre plans to purchase and conserve.
While the cow conservation project is on track, the villagers of Shahnshahpur are not a happy lot. Pratima Devi and six other women are replanting chilli seedlings on the banks of the river Ganga where floods damaged the earlier crop only a fortnight ago. Two farmers, Pawan Kumar Singh and Jagdish Singh, narrate their misery after the flood destroyed their crop of chilli, beans and tomato. “I took about 20 bighas (a little more than four bighas equal one acre) of agriculture land on rent, which I had paid in advance. None of the villagers has received any compensation,” says Jagdish.
What’s worse for Jagdish, and farmers like him, is that he is not even entitled to flood compensation. Reason? “I don’t own any land,” he says.
ET Bureau
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