24-05-2025
Hemant seeks pending mining dues, special assistance for state at Niti Aayog meet
Ranchi: Reiterating Jharkhand's demand for clearance of the state's dues related to mining, chief minister
Hemant Soren
on Saturday stressed the need to modify the fund devolution mechanism in the country during the 10th governing council meeting of the Niti Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Hemant also sought special financial assistance for over a dozen districts in the state which are battling developmental challenges.
"The vision of Viksit Bharat can only be achieved by taking development to the villages. The vision begins with a developed state, which necessitates connecting developed villages. My govt is continuously working towards that mission," the chief minister said.
Raking up the issue of dues owed by different mining companies, he said, "Outstanding funds amounting to around Rs 1.40 lakh crores should promptly be paid by the mining companies for taking over the state's land for mining-related activities.
While Jharkhand is rich in mineral resources, it has to pay the price of displacement and pollution concerns."
He also sought the amendment of The Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957, under which mining companies must return land to the state govt after their activities. "Companies should be held accountable for unauthorised mining in the state," he said and called for imposing new mandates on the mining companies.
by Taboola
by Taboola
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"The state has abundant coal-based methane gas, which can be utilised for energy production. Mining companies should be allowed to set up captive plants and 30% of total production should be used within the state to increase employment. However, forest clearances delay such infrastructure development and should be resolved as done in northeastern states which have comparable forest areas with Jharkhand," he said, citing how the age-old tenancy laws in the state are hindering enterprises.
The chief minister also demanded special assistance for Jharkhand similar to the northeastern states. "There is a need to implement special central assistance in 16 districts. The state govt bears the retention fees for central armed protection forces' (CAPFs) deployment to address the issue of extremism, which should be completely abolished under the principle of cooperative federalism. Even though the Naxal issue is restricted to only two districts now vis-à-vis 16 districts in 2014, the Centre must implement special central assistance in all 16 districts," he stressed.
Laying stress on modifying criteria of central schemes, Hemant said, "Jharkhand govt has formulated several social security schemes, including pension schemes, Maiya Samman Yojana and Abua health scheme, among others, and therefore, central schemes should be implemented only in accordance with the state requirements," he said.
Ahead of the scheduled visit of the 16th Finance Commission team to Jharkhand later this month, the CM called for the establishment of necessary procedures for revenue sharing between the central and state govts.
"The vertical devolution of revenue needs to be increased from 41% to 50%. Currently, the divisible pool is assessed by the central govt, excluding all cesses and surcharges. No portion of this is included in the divisible pool. Since the implementation of the GST Act in 2017, manufacturing states like Jharkhand faced adverse impacts on revenue collection compared to the previous VAT system. For the initial five years, the state received compensation according to 14% protected revenue.
Since June 2022, the absence of funds resulted in the state facking revenue losses amounting to thousands of crores," he underlined while demanding the expansion of rail operations in the state and the integration of CSR and DMFT funds into the state govt's priorities to address regional imbalances.
State chief secretary Alka Tiwari, CM's additional chief secretary Avinash Kumar, resident commissioner (Delhi) Arwa Rajkamal, and planning secretary Mukesh Kumar accompanied Hemant at the meeting.
