On Saturday, Bhupesh Baghel, the chief minister of Chhattisgarh, requested a refund of Rs 19,000 crore that had been deposited in the New Pension Scheme and asked the Centre to devise a “permanent arrangement” to make up for the income loss experienced by states as a result of the GST system.
The requests were made by the chief minister at the eighth meeting of the NITI Aayog’s board of directors, which was presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Baghel requested that the 4,170 crore extra levy from minerals be sent to Chhattisgarh at the meeting as well. According to a statement released by the state administration, the senior Congress leader said that the Chhattisgarh government has filed a civil complaint in the Supreme Court in this subject and he urged the Centre to respond promptly and settle the dispute.
In addition, the chief minister urged that his state revise the royalties it pays on coal and other important minerals. According to Baghel, the state’s financial interests are suffering as a result of the lack of modification. According to the statement, the chief minister of Chhattisgarh pleaded with the federal government to cover the state’s share of the security expenditures associated with the deployment of central troops, which came to Rs. 11,828 crore.
During the meeting, he brought up the concern of the reimbursement of the Rs 19,000 crore put in the New Pension Scheme, it was reported. In the previous year’s budget session of the Chhattisgarh Assembly, Baghel had said that his administration will bring back the OPS. Later, his administration demanded a reimbursement of the funds put in the form of employee and government contributions to the NPS since November 2004 in a letter to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.
Baghel also asked for compensation for the losses the states had endured as a result of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime at the NITI Aayog meeting. He was heard stating during the discussion that “a permanent arrangement should be made at the earliest to compensate for the revenue loss.”
Baghel said that the state’s portion of federal taxes was decreasing and demanded that the state be given Rs 2,659 crore this fiscal year. Chief Minister Baghel said that one of the items on the meeting’s agenda was the importance of the states in preserving the country’s unity and integrity.
According to him, the federal government must uphold the rights of the states and improve the mechanism for allocating its fair share of resources. The chief minister, who placed special emphasis on MSMEs, said that the Rural and Cottage Industrial Policy 2023–24 was issued with the intention of encouraging entrepreneurship in the state’s rural regions and making local use of the area’s resources.
Only 25 to 30 percent of iron ore, according to Baghel, is sent to the state’s units by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC). He pleaded with the Centre to provide enough iron ore for the state’s units. He said that despite the state’s demands, South Eastern Coalfields Limited has not been providing coal to Chhattisgarh’s MSME companies for the last two to three years, and he urged the Centre to intervene to protect the state’s interests.
During the meeting, Baghel emphasised that memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for capital investment of around Rs 9,000 crore had been inked in the last four years to boost industrialization in the tribal area of Bastar. Three million tonnes of iron ore will be needed each year, he said, for the steel factories.
Baghel recommended that iron ore be prioritised and maintained in reserve in accordance with the steel mills’ output capability. He also asked that NMDC provide a 30% reduction on the price of iron ore as part of a special incentive.
He also recommended introducing MNREGA in towns with less than 20,000 inhabitants. According to the statement, he advocated for the appointment of a nodal person to oversee the coordination and early launch of international aviation service out of Raipur airport.
Baghel requested exemption from forest diversion under the Forest Conservation Act, as well as the construction of solar power plants up to 5 MW in 10 aspirational districts of Chhattisgarh. These demands were made at the meeting.
According to the chief minister, all projects for the welfare of women and children should be supported by an integrated MIS system. Additionally, he advocated for raising the ratio of Center-State spending for centrally supported programmes to 75:25. The goal of the eighth meeting of the NITI Aayog’s governing council is for India to become a developed country by 2047.
