The follow up of the investment proposals received by the state government during the Partnership Summit 2012 has been turning into a farce.
More than a month after the meet, chief secretary Pankaj Dwivedi has issued orders appointing nodal officers for the speedy implementation of the projects with investment of `5,000 crore and above.
The idea behind appointing nodal officers is that they dedicate their time and energy in pursuing the proposal with the respective investor on one hand and various government departments on the other.
The nodal officers will have to facilitate clearances from the government departments, liaison with government and other agencies, arrange field visits and follow up various stages of implementation.
“This special task shall not be affected because of their routine work,” a senior official pointed out.
“The ideal decision could have been appointing one IAS officer for each project as nodal officer to ensure that they fulfill the task without getting bogged down by the routine work,” the official said.
However, the senior bureaucrats appear to be unwilling to lose control over the proposals and informed the government of their keenness to act as the nodal officers for several projects.
For instance, principal energy secretary Dinesh Kumar will be nodal officer for a whopping 11 power projects including GVK, Meenakshi, East Coast, Kineta Power and NSL Andhra Power with an outlay of `one lakh crore.
The industries principal secretary will follow up refineries worth Rs one lakh crore proposed by Al Qebla Al Watya, BR Shetty group and GMR Holdings.
The industries commissioner will be the nodal officer for half-a-dozen projects including a refinery by Amerind worth Rs 9,950 crore, a solar photovoltaic manufacturing pla-nt by Birla Surya worthRs 22,000 crore, VBC Ferti-liser’s urea plant worth Rs 7578 crore, another urea plant by Oswal Chemicals of costing Rs 7,000 crore, a pulp and paper project by ITC worth Rs 6,000 crore and NSL group’s urea plant worth Rs 5,500 crore.
All the three port projects proposed by Nava-yuga in two locations and Adani group with Rs 5,500 crore investment each will be looked after by the director of ports alone.