CECB

	FLY ASH "NO MORE A WASTE"

CHHATTISGARH STATE

	Chhattisgarh, a 21st century State, came into being on November 1, 2000.
	It extends from 17^o46'N to 24^o5'N (Latitude) and 80^o15'E to 84^o20'E (Longitude) having total geographical area 135000 Sq.Kms.
	This State has 16 Revenue Districts, 96 Tahsils, 146 Development Blocks, and 85 Tribal Development Blocks.
	It has 97 Towns, 20379 Total Villages (19720 Inhabitate Villages)
	16 District Panchayats, 146 Janapad Panchayats, 9129 Gram Panchayats, 10 Municipal Corporations, 28 Municipalities, 71 Nagar Panchayats.
	The Population of State is 20.8 Million (Provisional) as per 2001 Census.
	One third of Chhattisgarh's population is of tribes, mostly in the thickly forested areas in the North and South.
	The plains of Chhattisgarh are known as the "Rice Bowl" of Central India.
	Bastar is known world over for its unique and distinctive tribal heritage. The 'Bastar Dashera' is the traditional celebration of the gaiety of tribals.

LAND UTILIZATION PATTERN

A	Land Non-Agricultural use	:	673 Thousands Hectare
B	Barren and uncultivable land	:	352 Thousands Hectare
C	Permanent pastures and Grazing land	:	870 Thousands Hectare
D	Land under Misc. trees and groves	:	001 Thousands Hectare
E	Cultivable waste land	:	329 Thousands Hectare
F	Fallow land (current)	:	234 Thousands Hectare
G	Old fallow land	:	219 Thousands Hectare
H	Gross cropped area	:	5644 Thousands Hectare
I	Net Cropped area	:	4824 Thousands Hectare
J	Area sown more than once	:	820 Thousands Hectare

INFRASTRUCTURE

	Chhattisgarh has a strong railway network of over 1300 Kms linking Eastern and Western regions. Raipur is at centre of the rail and road routes between Mumbai and Kolkata, and is well connected to Delhi and Chennai. Bilaspur's Railway Division is the most profitable Railway operation in the Country, contributing 17% of the revenues of Indian Railways.
	A fairly good network of National Highway, State Highway etc are in the State joining other States as follows: * National highway -- 1827.30 Kms * State highways -- 2073.78 Kms * Major district roads -- 3094.86 Kms
	To improve internal connectivity, high-speed road corridors are being created and expected to be in place by November 2003. These will include two North-South and four East-West Road corridors, which are already under implementation.
	Extensive repairs and widening of highways are under progress.
	There are six major cities-Raipur, Bhilai, Durg, Bilaspur, Korba and Rajnandgaon. In addition, there are large towns like Raigarh, Jagdalpur and Ambikapur including 28 municipalities.
	A new capital is planned near Mana Airport, and the urban agglomeration of Greater Raipur including the proposed and the new capital and the existing cities of Raipur, Bhilai and Durg would have a population of over two million.
	The Government is paying attention to all aspects of urban infrastructure, including Urban transport, drinking water, sanitation and sewerage, solid waste management, street lighting, parks and recreation areas, leisure infrastructure, and integrated traffic flows.
	Freight and Container traffic is well-connected with Mumbai's ports, which channel most of Chhattisgarh's foreign trade. A Dry Port (Container Freight Station), 8 Kms from Raipur, has been set up by Central Warehousing Corporation; another dry port from CONCOR is in the pipeline.
	Chhattisgarh is also linked to Paradeep port on the eastern seaboard, Freight operations in Chhattisgarh are one of the most profitable for the Railways, and thus Bilaspur has a full-fledged Railway Zone.
	Telecommunications infrastructure is at par with the best.
	All the districts of Chhattisgarh are linked with optical fiber cable, and all tahsils have internet facilities.
	All villages of the State will be provided telephone connectivity within few months by BSNL.
	An international gateway hub is now operational at the new Software Technology Park set up by STPI. Incubator services are available and Bhilai has highly skilled IT manpower at comparatively lower costs.
	State has good under ground as well as surface water sources. Mahanadi, Shivnath, Hasdeo, Mond, Arpa, Kharoon, Indravati, Rihand, Eb, Kanhar and Sabri are the main rivers which flow through the State

INDUSTRIAL GROWTH CENTERS IN THE STATE

	The Industrial Growth Centre in Urla, in Raipur City, is spread over 815 hectares. It has 45 kms of asphalted roads, and a water supply system of 1 MGD.
	Siltara's Growth Centre is 13 kms from Raipur on NH200. It has an area of 1260 hectares out of which 400 hectares is available for allotment. Its water supply scheme is being upgraded from 1 MGD to 3 MGD.The infrastructure here includes 23 kms of internal roads and two petrol pumps, besides all other amenities.
	Bilaspur district has an Industrial Growth Centre in Sirgitti, which spread over 430 hectares. Land available for allotment is 30 hectares within the centre and 285 hectares outside the Industrial Park.
	Borai Industrial Growth Centre is located next to Durg by- pass and the by-pass is now converted into NH6. A railway station is just 500 meters away. The Growth Centre sprawls over 437 hectares and 80 hectares is available for allotment at present. 13 kms of internal roads have been constructed. A 30 MLD water supply scheme is already in place, which will be augmented to 180 MLD.

RESOURCES

A. FORESTS

12% of India's forests are in Chhattisgarh, and 44% of the State's land is under forests.

Identified as one of the richest bio-diversity habitats, the Green State of Chhattisgarh has the densest forests in India, rich wildlife, and above all, over 200 non-timber forest products, with tremendous potential for value addition.

B. MINING

Chhattisgarh is the richest State in terms of mineral wealth, with 28 varieties of major minerals, including diamonds.

Chhattisgarh, along with two other Indian States has almost all the coal deposits in India, which has led to its 'power hub' strategy.

All the tin ore in India is in Chhattisgarh.

A fifth of iron ore in the country is here, and one of the best quality iron ore deposits in the world is found in the Bailadila mines in South Chhattisgarh, from where it is exported to Japan.

Rich deposits of Bauxite, Limestone, Dolomite and Corundum are found in the State.

A few major mineral deposits:-

1.	Coal	35000 million tonnes
2.	Iron ore	2336 million tonnes
3.	Lime stone	3580 million tonnes
4.	Dolomite	606 million tonnes
5.	Bauxite	96 million tonnes
6.	Cassiterite	29 million tonnes

There is a great scope for private participation in the mining sector in Chhattisgarh. The State's Mineral Policy, 2001 has created a conductive business environment to attract private investment in the State, both domestic and international.

The State's Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC), singly or in joint venture's' undertakes scientific exploration, commercial exploitation and viable trading of minerals in the State.

C. POWER

Strategically located in central India, Chhattisgarh's power can be easily transmitted without losses to any of India's four grids.

Chhattisgarh is in the chronically deficit western grid, and is linked to the southern and northern grids.

A special high tension line is being laid between Raipur and Rourkela, in the Eastern grid.

With its 'Power Hub' strategy, the State will remain power surplus for all times to come. Hence it would be the preferred destination for all power intensive industries.

Korba in Chhattisgarh is really the Power Capital of India. NTPC's Super Thermal Power Plant in Korba is working at 90% Plant Load Factor (PLF), and the plants of the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB) are also highly efficient.

On March 3, 2001, in the meeting of Chief Ministers on Power Sector Reforms, the Prime Minister welcomed Chief Minister's offer of Chhattisgarh becoming the Power Hub of India. This offer is now becoming a reality; NTPC has already started construction on its 2640 MW Sipat Super Thermal Plant and CSEB has taken initiation for installation of 500 MW plant in Korba.

Government of Gujarat is putting up a 500 MW generation plant in Korba.

Power will be wheeled to the respective States. Private sector MoUs total another 1500 MW, and more projects are in the pipeline.

Non conventional energy sources have been accorded very high priority. A special agency called CREDA (Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency) has been set up, and over 1200 villages in dense forests are being electrified using off-grid energy.

Micro-Hydel power potential is also being tapped in a big way, and several projects have been identified for viable private investment.