Mail News Service
Ranchi, September 12: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren will take part in an important meeting with NITI Aayog officials at Ranchi on September 15 to discuss out contentious issues between Central and state government.
Sources in the chief minister’s office revealed that the issue of auto debiting of outstanding dues of DVC from Jharkhand’s account in RBI, outstanding dues of thousands of crores of rupees on central government undertakings will feature prominently in the meeting.
According to the information, a framework is being prepared by the state government for discussion with the team of NITI Aayog on all those subjects, which are necessary for the progress of the state and for the convenience of the people.
The tripartite agreement with DVC will be discussed during the meeting. After the decision of the the state cabinet, the government pulled itself out of the tripartite agreement (between state government, Union power ministry and RBI), yet the outstanding dues of DVC have been deducted from the government’s RBI account.
Notice has been given only under the tripartite agreement to clear the new dues of Rs 2100 crore which would otherwise be debited from state account in RBI in September and December. The outstanding dues were for the tenure of erstwhile BJP government led by Raghubar Das while the Hemant Soren led government claims to pay every month the dues to DVC.
The meeting to be attended by six officials of NITI Aayog will also discuss the issue of Rs 1.5 lakh crore dues on account of Coal India Limited to the state government and also discuss less royalty received by Jharkhand for coal extracted from mines in Jharkhand.
Along with this, talks will also be held on the release of Rs 312 crore approved for supplementary nutrition for Jharkhand from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, an extension of Namami Gange scheme in Jharkhand, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana.
Among other points of the meeting, the issue of sewage treatment plants in Dhanbad and Ramgarh, GST compensation, Rs 200 crore for Swarnrekha project, increasing central assistance for 631 crore Palamu irrigation project and approval to build an intake well in the Northern Coal project will also be discussed. The topic of starting flights at various airports in the state and reducing the VGS gap will also be discussed.
On behalf of the state government, Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon will be present along with Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh, besides secretaries of related departments. A demand will also be placed to provide one crore COVID vaccine doses to the state and reduce the quota of private hospitals by 25 percent.
Other issues which are likely to be put before the NITI Aayog officials are increasing in Central assistance for aspirational districts and Naxal-affected areas proposed assistance for setting up skill centres at Ranchi and Dumka and increasing funding in NHAI projects.
