Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and invited him to lay the foundation stone of the ambitious Narmada-Gambhir link project. He informed Modi that the Narmada-Kshipra project launched earlier has been successful. During his meetings with the Prime Minister and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Chief Minister urged for a Rs5963.22 cr package for natural disaster relief.
The Chief Minister held point-wise detailed discussions with the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Minister. The Chief Minister said that the State's share in income tax should be increased. The crop insurance scheme should be chalked out in a manner that it provides maximum benefits to the farmers.
He made a special appeal to give permission to construct permanent structures under the MNREGA so that development will be accelerated, apart from improvement in infrastructure. Chouhan called for 50-50 sharing of Centre and state in MNREGA. Chouhan said that the state should have a unified fund, which can be used in case of disaster or contingency.
Chouhan urged the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Minister for a Rs 5963.22 cr package towards natural disaster relief. He also handed over a letter in this regard to Modi and Jaitley. The Chief Minister said that for the moment the state government should be immediately provided Rs 2150 cr which was spent from its own sources.
The Chief Minister informed the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Minister that the rabi crops in the state had suffered extensive damage due to excessive rains and hailstorm in March 2014 in 49 out of 51 districts of the state. The natural calamity badly affected crops in 29.19 lakh hectare and 31.46 lakh farmers. large-scale loss of lives, money and animals was witnessed.
The Chief Minister informed that the state government had sought Rs. 5963.22 cr special package from the Centre for relief to the affected people. After inspection of the Central team, the Centre had sanctioned Rs 494.95 cr. Of this, only Rs 240.21 cr was released. Without waiting for any Central assistance, the state government provided Rs 2150 cr to the affected farmers from its own sources. This amount was deposited directly into the farmers' bank accounts.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by Principal Secretary SK Mishra and Secretary Vivek Agrawal.