Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide additional economic resources to Chhattisgarh and sought a special package to develop industry in the forested, tribal-dominated and mineral-rich state.
Speaking at the sixth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog held under Modi's Chairmanship, Baghel called for cooperation from the Centre for the Bodh Ghat multi-purpose irrigation project, again called for lifting of more rice from the state and spoke against plans to disinvest the Nagarnar Steel Plant.
The Chief Minister pressed for subsidy on vermi compost made from cow dung.
He said a coal block should be allotted to Chhattisgarh's public sector unit as the state has large reserves of mineral coal. He also called for a revision of royalty rates on minerals.
Baghel sought approval to set up a cargo hub in Raipur and to provide port facilities to promote exports and develop industries. He said Chhattisgarh should get inland transportation grant for industrial activities to ease transportation cost as it is landlocked.
The Chief Minister said Chhattisgarh should be allowed to produce ethanol from surplus paddy. This will save India foreign exchange. He said transportation and milling costs would be saved if ethanol production was allowed from paddy instead of rice.
Pointing out that 92 lakh tonnes of paddy have been purchased from over 20 lakh farmers at support price, he told the Centre to take the pending 16 lakh tonnes of rice from the state for the Central pool.
The Chief Minister sought assistance from the Prime Minister for the Bodhghat multi-purpose irrigation project on Indravati river proposed by the state government.
The Prime Minister was requested to provide subsidy to vermi compost producing farmers of the state like it is done for chemical fertilizers. Baghel said Chhattisgarh was moving towards organic farming by promoting vermi compost.
He said that in-principle approval for works worth Rs 392 crores have been given to build roads and culverts in phase 3 of RPLWE scheme in Naxalite areas. But the Rural Development Ministry says this will be approved only on completion of 50 percent of the sanctioned works.
Pointing to security considerations, the Chief Minister called for a relaxation of the conditions.
The Chief Minister said the state is yet to get Rs 3,700 crores from the Centre as GST compensation. An additional levy of Rs 4,140 crores on coal is pending from private coal mines operating in the state before 2014. Also, Rs 5,600 crores of rice have not been received under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana for PDS.
He said the existing excise duty should be retained as the imposition of agriculture infrastructure development cess in the Union Budget was likely to cause an additional loss of Rs 900-1,000 crores to Chhattisgarh.
Baghel suggested that in the monitoring indicator of the transformation of Aspirational District Programme, education in local dialect, reduction of malaria and anemia, purchase of forest produce on support price, promotion of folk art, folk dance and archeology, organic farming as well as forest rights lease should be included.
