J'khand raises DVC, Coal India issues at meeting with NITI Aayog

The Jharkhand government on Monday sought the Centre's intervention for clearing the dues owed to the state by Coal India Limited, an official said. It also raised with the NITI Aayog the issue of funds being auto-debited from the RBI account for the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC).

At a meeting with NITI Aayog officials in New Delhi, a delegation from the state headed by Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh drew their attention to issues related to various departments.

The officials also stressed on the need for separate tribal-centric policies for the betterment of Scheduled Tribes and setting up mineral-based industries in the state.

''Discussions were held to resolve issues pertaining to Coal India dues, Damodar Valley Corporation, GST, highways, irrigation, railways, civil aviation, tribal affairs, malnutrition etc,'' the official who participated in the meeting said. On the GST dues, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had earlier urged the Centre to make a payment of Rs 1886.77 crore, the compensation that is due for financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Soren had also requested the NITI Aayog to ensure there are no further deductions of funds by the Centre as Jharkhand is struggling with a resource crunch and many central public sector enterprises owe a huge amount of money to the state.

The chief minister had in September objected to auto-deduction of Rs 2,845.50 crore from the consolidated account of the state government being maintained by the Reserve Bank of India by the Ministry of Power under a tripartite agreement. The money was transferred to the DVC as payment for electricity. ''The tripartite agreement was invoked without taking the consent of the (present) state government. This was invoked during Covid times when resources of the state were under stress,'' Soren had said.

The state cabinet had in January 2021 decided to exit from the tripartite agreement signed by the Union Ministry of Power, Government of Jharkhand and the RBI, saying the Centre was diverting funds meant for welfare of poor tribals.

The then BJP government of Jharkhand had in 2017 made a deal with the Centre and entered into the tripartite agreement. The pact was a payment mechanism for clearing outstanding power bills of the DVC and other PSUs supplying electricity to the state. It had a clause of auto-debit if the state failed to pay its power bills against the purchase.

The Jharkhand government had earlier told the NITI Aayog that it is not in a position to pay the dues to the DVC for purchasing power as central government departments and undertakings owed a huge sum of Rs 1,386.76 crore to the state towards consumption of electricity.

In addition, the coal companies owed a huge sum to the Jharkhand government in the form of cost of government land and royalty for washed coal, it had said.

During the last assembly session in September, Soren had said he can stop the functioning of Coal India Limited (CIL), which owes Rs 1.5 lakh crore to the Jharkhand government, in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)