Ranchi: With the second anniversary of the creation of Jharkhand around the corner, Chief Minister Babulal Marandi has his hands full after inheriting primitive infrastructure and a poor work culture to make good his promises.

"Thoda bahuto Bihar ki work culture hai, lekin dou sal mein bahut sudhar hua hai (There is some amount of Bihar legacy still left, but things have been changing in the last two years)," Marandi said in an exclusive interview.

"Our state is rich in minerals and has tourist destinations aplenty, but we were bequeathed a state neglected by successive governments in Bihar since Independence," he said.

"I have vowed to make Jharkhand a model state in education, energy, irrigation, roads, science and technology, besides IT," he said.

His biggest achievement, according to him, was in controlling extremism.

When the state was created the morale of the police was very low. But the force has revitalised and busted hideouts and clandestine training camps of Naxalites, he said.

To buttress his claim, the Chief Minister said that the People's War had acknowledged as much in its website by saying that the Jharkhand government was increasingly coming in its way.

"Farmers, who earlier were afraid to sow seeds and till their land, now go about their work fearlessly because of our success against militants," Marandi said.

Union Home Secretary N Gopala Swami, who chaired the nine-state co-ordination meeting on the Naxal menace, had on November 8 also praised Jharkhand for doing well in tackling extremism.

The Chief Minister said that he had introduced many self-employment schemes, such as giving buses, for the youth to prevent them from being tempted to join the militant fold.

He had also started a crusade against corruption, but expressed regret that the people were not exposing tainted officials.

"I want a corruption free government," Marandi said, adding that 103 corrupt officials had been caught red handed by vigilance sleuths.

He also nursed a secret ambition. "Deep within my heart I nurse an ambition to top the literacy chart in the country. I have set 2010 as the target year to fulfil the goal," he said.

About feeling the pulse of the people, he said, "I get feed backs from the people about my functioning from time to time. Till now they are appreciative of my endeavour in making Jharkhand infrastructurally strong and in taking up development projects."

PTI