A slew of decisions were taken in the State Cabinet meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Raman Singh at the Mantralaya on Monday.
The Cabinet while taking up the issue of distribution of sugar to the Ration card holders through the Public Distribution System (PDS) decided that the supply of sugar in the fair price shops be made on a priority basis through the State Government’s three co-operative sugar units.
The Cabinet decided that the sugar supply be made from Bhoramdev Co-operative Sugar factory, Kabirdham, Maa Danteshwari Co-operative Sugar factory, Balod and Ma Mahamaya Co-operative Sugar factory, Surajpur.
It may be noted that the total production capacity of the three co-operative sugar units is 65,000 metric tonnes.
The Government is expecting the combined output to reach one lakh tonne in future while the total annual requirement of the sugar units in the fair price shops is 57,500 metric tonnes.
The Central Government allocates 56,000 metric tonnes of sugar to Chhattisgarh annually. However, currently, a much large quantum of sugar production takes place in Chhattisagrh at 65,000 metric tonnes.
This way, Chhattisgarh had become self-reliant in sugar production in the State.
Keeping this in mind, the State Cabinet have decided that the sugar purchase for the fair price shops in the State be made from the three state-owned Co-operative sugar factories in the State.
The Government believes that the move would help the sugarcane farmers get a fair price for their produce and the consumers are able to get the sugar manufactured in their own State.
Among other issues taken up in the meeting, the Chief Minister endorsed the proposal for compensation to be paid for the houses and land to the residents of five affected villages which are coming under submergence due to the construction of the Kelo Irrigation Project as a special case.
The villagers affected by the aforesaid projects would receive an additional compensation amount a total of more than Rs5.86 crore. The villagers of lakha, Danaut, Gerwani, Ujjawalpur and Chindbhauna affected by the Kelo Irrigation Project would receive compensation of more than Rs13.67 crore.
It may be mentioned that the irrigation project on the Kelo river was taken up in 2006 and an administrative approval of a sum of Rs599 crore was offered in 2009.
The construction of the ‘Nullah Closer’ and the dam was completed in June 2012 which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Raman Singh.
The earmarked irrigation capacity of the Kelo Project is 22,810 hectares. This years, the Government expects to provide irrigational facilities on 10,000 hectares of land from the project.
The Government had been developing basic services in the partially submerged villages and Danaud from the project. The project affected from the five villages had demanded additional compensation from the Government.
During the meeting, the amendment to the Chhattisgarh Co-opeartive Societies Amendment) Ordinance was also endorsed.
After the introduction of the Ordinance, the responsibility of holding polls for the government co-opeartive committees would be vested with the State Election Commission.
Among other decisions taken in the meeting, the Government decided to provide a ‘free bank guarantee’ to the Chhattisgarh State Co-operative Bank (Apex Bank) for providing loans to the farmers totalling Rs1,000 crore.
The aforesaid amount would be taken by the Apex Bank from NABARD at the rate of 4.5 per cent rate of interest and later it would be allocated to a total of six district co-operative central banks in the State mainly—Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Ambikapur, Rajnandgaon and Jagdalpur.
Through the aforesaid banks, the distribution of fertilizers, seeds and cash would be made to 1,333 primary agriculture co-operative committees in all the 287 districts at the rate of one per cent per annum.The Government had set a target of advancing loans worth Rs3,000 crore to the farmers through the committees for agricultural purposes.
The Cabinet also decided to fill the 380 vacant posts of observers under Woman and Child Development Department by selecting eligible candidates among Anganwadi workers.
The posts would be filled through promotions for backward areas such as Surguja and Bastar besides the districts under Surguja Revenue Division.
It may be mentioned that despite the direct recruitment process adopted for filling up the 1750 posts of observers under Woman and Child Development Department, there are still 380 posts vacant in the State.
The Cabinet also decided to make this provision only for Bastar and Surguja region through the special powers entrusted with the Governor.
Moreover, the Cabinet decided to maintain the 8.7 interest rate on the General Provident Fund for State Government employees at par with the 8.7 per cent interest rate offered by the Central Government for financial year 2013-14.
This apart, the Cabinet also endorsed the reduction of VAT rates from 14 per cent to 5 per cent on Bitumin Emulsion for road construction.