Winning Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket in 2009 and 2014 from Dhanbad, he hopes to complete a hat-trick in 2019 despite the dreaded anti-incumbency factor.

Pashupati Nath Singh, who will turn 70 in July, has donned a number of hats in active politics spanning nearly half a century. A three-time Dhanbad MLA, two-time MP, the state BJP party chief and state cabinet minister in the past, he’s also won a number of municipal and student elections in his youth.

In 2019, which promises to be a litmus test of his long political career spanning nearly five decades, Singh hopes his winning streak will continue despite murmurs of his “ineffectiveness”. Did the BJP give him the prestigious ticket of the coal and industrial hub for lack of options? Soft-spoken Singh firmly disagrees.

“People have confidence in me,” he told The Telegraph in an exclusive chat on Saturday.

TT: What are your achievements as an MP?

PNS: I won’t speak much about my first term between 2009 and 2014 when most proposals from Dhanbad could not take shape due to lack of UPA support. But my last five years, from 2014 to 2019, is deeply satisfying. ISM-Dhanbad has been upgraded into an IIT, a Rs 6,500 crore fertiliser factory at Sindri has come up, Bokaro has a passport office, a CNG station and natural gas pipeline and its commercial airport is almost ready. In Dhanbad, we have launched a Rs 1,000 crore rural water supply scheme, we have laid roads all across the district, we have set up the Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University, built a bridge over river Damodar and an overbridge in Kumardubi. Dhanbad is electrified. My constituency has two new power grids (in Chandankyari and Govindpur).

What about lack of new investments in Dhanbad?

That’s baseless. Investment priorities are decided according to state government surveys, and areas deprived of industries get focus. But, many investment proposals were made for Bokaro which falls under my LS seat.

Why did Dhanbad not get AIIMS? Deoghar did.

I welcome AIIMS at Deoghar. Santhal Pargana (Deoghar is one of its six districts) was devoid of any major government or private hospital. Patients from Santhal Pargana districts such as Jamtara, Dumka, Godda and Pakur had to visit Dhanbad’s PMCH.

It is said you were not very active in pushing the issue of an airport in and around Dhanbad city.

Again, like in the case of hospitals, one must understand the requirement of each proposal. Bokaro had a better airstrip (the BSL airstrip) with vacant area surrounding it. So, the Bokaro airstrip could be converted more easily into a commercial airstrip. The airstrip at Barwaddah in Dhanbad lacks space. But, a new airport is set to come up in Dhanbad at a new site.

What about rehab of underground fire-hit people?

Willingness of people in fire-hit areas to shift to safer places is crucial. Rehabilitation is a complex issue and can’t be forced on anyone. Of1 lakh families living in the fire affected areas, half are BCCL employees. So, their onus is on the BCCL. I also think rehab will speed up with monolithic construction technologies with which houses are built faster

You are accussed of inaction on the closure and resumption of train services on the Dhanbad-Chandrapura railway line. Is it true?

Not at all. The decision to close the railway line was purely a technical one, based on DGMS report that spoke of risks in continuing with railway traffic close to the underground fire. We met railway minister Piyush Goyal immediately after the closure and he said passengers safety was of top priority. A later survey of DGMS and railways, carried out as part of our government’s effort to explore the possibility of relaunch of train services on this line, suggested train services could be relaunched with intensified monitoring of tracks in the fire zone.

Are you facing anti-incumbency?

Baseless presumption. My winning margin has increased with every election. I defeated Congress candidate Chandrashekhar Dubey by 58,000 votes in 2009 and Congress candidate Ajay Dubey in 2014 by over 2.5 lakh votes. The BJP allots tickets to candidates after a survey. Even this time, the party had no second thoughts about my candidature. My name was announced in first list of 10 candidates.