In an oblique reference to the erstwhile Rashtriya Janata Dal government, Bihar Governor Buta Singh Thursday admitted that the state had missed "good governance" and reaffirmed the newly installed National Demcocratic Alliance regime's commitment to ushering in a new era of development with a "humane face".
"Bihar missed good governance. People were fed up with kidnapping, extortion and violence in rural areas. A large number of businessmen and entrepreneurs had to wind up their activities and new investment was not forthcoming," the governor said in his address to the joint sitting of the two Houses of Bihar legislature.
Stressing the need for re-establishing the "rule of the law", the governor said, "A slack and casual administration cannot achieve this goal and the new government will accord top priority to revitalising the administrative machinery."
In his five-page address, Singh said the government did not only aim at achieving "physical development, but development with a humane face for which it is important to link development to social justice. It is important for the light of development to reach all sections of the society".
He said the depressed sections, the socially and economically deprived among the minorities and women would get fullest attention of the government in development.
Amidst a walkout by the two-member Samajwadi Party legislatature group, whose leader Deonath Yadav accused the governor of having "murdered democracy" by getting the 13th Assembly dissolved, Singh reaffirmed the government's commitment to infrastructure development.