CM Bhupesh Baghel writes letter to union finance min, demands center to pay grants and compensation amount soon

Raipur: Chhattisgarh chief
minister Bhupesh Baghel has written a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman asking funds for state demanding grants and compensation from the center.

In his letter, the chief minister
said that there has been a big reduction in the income of the state due to Covid.
Money is needed for the welfare schemes being run for the people. Therefore,
the funds from the Center should be continued.

Mentioning that some
funds are yet to be released from the center, the chief minister has demanded to
release them at the earliest.

Baghel has mentioned the revenue deficit grant in this letter. He said that due to the discrepancies
of Covid and GST, there has been a decrease in revenue for the state. After the
implementation of GST, the states have lost revenue, only by June 2022; the
Center will give a grant in return. We want this to be continued for 5 years
even after June 2022.

He further stated that
after the cancellation of 215 coal mines, penalty was given by the companies at the rate of Rs
295 per tonne to the central government. The chief minister has
demanded in his letter that this amount should be given to the states, due to
which Chhattisgarh will get about Rs 4.140 crores. He said that the amount
should be released soon.

The chief minister has
demanded permission to make bio fuel from paddy soon, buy 24 lakh metric tons
of rice from Chhattisgarh, reduce the cess in petrol diesel, and increase the
share of schemes from the center.