CM Bhupesh Baghel demands extension of GST compensation period for the next five years
Raipur:
Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has demanded centre to release GST
compensation, Rs 4140 coal levy and make provision for reimbursement of
expenditure of Rs 15,000 crores on central security forces deployed for Naxal
eradication in a pre-budget meeting held under the chairmanship of union
finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi today.
He
laid out laid out suggestions related to the state’s expectations regarding
union budget besides suggesting multiple important proposals interests of the
state during the meeting.
“Covid-19
pandemic has adversely affected the economy of states with the disruption of
economic activities. On receiving the amount from the center timely, the state
government will be able to effectively implement and spend in the developmental
programmes and schemes” Baghel said.
He
suggested extending the GST compensation period for 5 more years even after
June 2022 saying that “the states have faced a drastic revenue loss due to GST
implementation and the Centre has not yet made arrangements to compensate the
loss of revenue of about Rs 5000 crores to the state in the coming year. Chhattisgarh
has received less share of central taxes by Rs 13,089 crore in the Union Budget
of the last three years. In the coming budget, the share of central taxes
should be given to the states completely.”
He
demanded to transfer Rs 4,140 crore deposited with the center at the rate of Rs
294 per tonne on coal mining from the coal block companies to Chhattisgarh at
the earliest. He also asked to make a special provision in the next budget to
reimburse the state’s expenditure of Rs 15,000 crore on the central security
forces deployed in the state for Maoist eradication.
He
said that there would be reduction in the amount of the state’s share and also
revenue from VAT due to the reduction of Central Excise Tax on petrol and
diesel, therefore, in the future; cess should be reduced instead of excise tax.
Baghel
also demanded to increase the premium limit of Rs. 1100 per family for the
states doing better implementation of Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya
Yojana saying that this would increase the number of beneficiaries and maximum
population will be able to avail its benefits. He also suggested including the
families eligible under National Health Insurance Scheme in the Pradhan Mantri
Jan Arogya Yojana.
He
said that the share of states in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Jal Jeevan
Mission should also be reduced and the share of the Center should be increased
to 75 per cent.
Apart
from this, he has also demanded to include proposals of International Cargo
Terminal at Raipur, a campus of Central Tribal University, shifting of NMDC
Headquarters to Chhattisgarh, Regional Office of University Grants Commission
to be opened in the State, Regional Office of NAAC in Raipur and establishment
of marketing centers for local products under Vocal for Local scheme in the
next Union Budget.
In
addition, Baghel suggested to give generous amounts to the farmers and laborers
through various schemes, to make the wage rate of MNREGA at par with the labor
commissioner’s rates and to give special incentives for pulses and oilseeds
production.
The
Chief Minister urged the Union Finance Minister to set a target of taking at
least 23 lakh metric tonnes of parboiled (Usna) rice from Chhattisgarh to the
central pool by FCI in the current Kharif marketing year 2021-22. He said that
this year 61.65 lakh metric tonnes of rice would be taken by the Food
Corporation of India, which would be 100 per cent ‘Arva’ rice. This provision
will lead to the closure of parboiled rice mills in Chhattisgarh and the
laborers working here will be left unemployed.
He also requested reimbursement of the actual cost of gunny bags for
procurement of paddy on support price and permission to procure paddy in old
gunny bags.
Baghel
also urged Union Finance Minister to grant permission for producing ethanol
from the surplus paddy available in the state besides urging to make concrete
permanent arrangements to ensure availability of financial resources for the
welfare of scheduled classes in the budget for the year 2022-23, to increase
the amount allocated to the states in the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, to allow
maintenance expenditure from the allocated amount under Pradhan Mantri Gram
Sadak Yojana, and to fix the share of center and state as 90:10 under Pradhan
Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural). Chhattisgarh Finance Secretary Alarmel Mangai D.
was also present in the meeting.
