Bihar’s speedy and far-reaching development will become smoother if the state was accorded a special category status by the Centre and its perennial flood crisis was resolved with Nepal’s cooperation, said chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday.
Speaking at the opening ceremonies of the three-day “Global Summit on Changing Bihar: Forging Partnership for Development” conference, Mr Kumar and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi told about 1,000 policymakers, investors and economists from about 24 countries that the state had achieved rapid progress to become an attractive investment destination.
Nepal Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who inaugurated the summit, showered praise on Mr Kumar and his NDA government, saying Bihar had become “a role-model for development with economic and social inclusion”. Mr Bhattarai was visiting Bihar for the first time as PM of the Himalayan republic. He was accompanied by a high-level delegation of 17 officials from his country.
Mr Kumar said Nepal and Bihar should get together to develop a joint system to prevent the losses from floods caused almost every year by rivers flowing down from Nepal to Bihar.
Referring to Bihar’s growing GDP and the his government’s efforts to improve the state’s human resources capital, Mr Kumar stressed that the Central government should grant Bihar a special status. “The Central government may not give any financial package to Bihar. What we want is that the Centre accord a special state status. It will pave the way for further development and investments,” said Mr Kumar.