Patna, March 22: Exuding confidence that the future was bright for the state, industrialists and entrepreneurs have termed the state government’s Bihar Divas Celebrations as its brand-building measure to create a conducive atmosphere for its overall development.

Welcoming the government’s decision to hold such a programme, Bihar Chamber of Commerce president and industrialist O.P. Sah told The Telegraph: “Given the NDA government’s track record of the past five years, it has done a lot of things for the state’s overall development, especially in creating conducive atmosphere in terms of law and order and other measures for economic development. Such measures have rekindled hope among the state’s entrepreneurs who are now preferring to invest in Bihar instead of other states.”

Sah suggested the state government to carry out work on infrastructure building particularly in the power sector.

“The government is sincere in its efforts to set up new power plants in the state. If these plants are commissioned in the next two-three years then the state will be making progress in leaps and bounds,” the chamber president said.

The chamber would be taking out a tableau depicting the state’s rich cultural traditions on the occasion of Bihar Divas starting from Malsalmi before culminating at Mangal Talab in Patna City, he said adding chief minister Nitish Kumar would also grace the occasion.

Industrialist Sanjeev Choudhary, managing director of Gangotri Iron and Steel Company (Gisco), termed the entire exercise as “brand building effort” of the government.

“Considering the initiatives and efforts taken by the state government, the future of the state is bright. But the only problem is that the government should also include industries in its agenda of brand building. The way Bihar is progressing, I hope that Bihar will leapfrog to second or third place surpassing all other states in the next five years in the country.”

Another entrepreneur Satyajit Singh, promoter of Shakti Sudha company, which processes makhana, said:

“Higher education sector and tourism has the potential to bring prosperity in the state. If the state government builds medical and engineering colleges, the outflow of money of around Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 crore could be stopped. Similarly, if we could hold the tourists, whose numbers are surging, for some more days it could generate revenue to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore.”