Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed among others the Naxal situation in the State in detail.
“I also told him about how state government schemes for employment for women, agriculture, etc are making an impact,” Baghel told reporters after the meeting. On his part Modi promised to visit the proposed Millet cafe in Raipur when it takes shape.
Baghel called on Modi a day after Chhattisgarh decided to introduce the Old Pension Scheme for government employees by giving them the option to choose between it and the new pension scheme after the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority repeatedly rejected the state's demand for return of funds deposited as part of the National Pension System.
Baghel also raised other issues pertaining to the state, including coal supply to industries, pending GST and coal royalty dues worth over Rs 5,000 crore that is needed to carry forward pending developmental work.
"Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel met Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” tweeted the PMO.
The Chhattisgarh CM also apprised PM Modi of the implementation of several government schemes, including the Millet Mission. He talked about the country’s first millet bank which was started in Chhattisgarh and where 22 types of millets are produced.
Modi urged Baghel to start and promote a millet café in Raipur that sells food items made from millets, seen as healthy options for fitness enthusiasts. The Prime Minister also promised that he would visit the cafe.
“After getting to know about the passing away of Modi-ji’s mother I sought to postpone our meeting date. But I was informed by his office that our meeting will take place as scheduled. By doing this he (Modi) has set an exemplary example,” Baghel said addressing the media.
Talking about the issues discussed during the meeting, Baghel said, “First thing I requested from him was our GST collection dues of over Rs 1,300 crore that is stuck (with the Centre).
The second issue was coal royalty of approximately over Rs 4,100 crore, which has not been given to us. The third issue was related to coal transport done from Chhattisgarh this year using a railway route due to which 30 to 35 passenger trains got cancelled. I appealed to him that it must not happen in future.”
“Another issue was that our coal-based industry has not received coal for the past few months.
“The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is not providing them coal which is affecting production. I demanded that coal must be provided to us appropriately,” said Baghel.