An important decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday. As per Cabinet decision, now before appearing for questioning on the summons of central agencies, the officials of the State will have to inform the cabinet through the concerned department. After this the cabinet will decide whether the official will appear before the agency or not. This decision of the Hemant government is being seen as an attempt to build a defence against central agencies including ED. At present continuous action by agencies like ED, CBI and IT is going on in Jharkhand. ED is investigating MGNREGA, mining and land scams in Jharkhand.
In a letter issued to this effect, the government said that many such cases have come to notice where investigating agencies outside the state issued summons to the officials and called them for questioning without informing the competent authority of the state government. Sometimes agencies also demand government documents or records. Officials hand over government documents or records to the agency without informing their senior officer or departmental head (secretary, director), which is not as per the rules. This creates confusion in the concerned department. Government work is disrupted. There is also a possibility that the information provided may be incomplete or inconsistent. It also affects coordination. In such a situation, a certain process is needed.
The Government said that there is Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) for prompt action in corruption cases in the state. Its administrative controller is the Cabinet Secretariat and Monitoring Department. Now the Cabinet Secretariat and Monitoring Department should be designated as the state government nodal department for cooperation in lawful action. Now, if any officer is summoned, he will inform the department head. The departmental head will inform the nodal department about this. The Cabinet Secretariat and the Monitoring Department will provide legal advice. Only after this a decision will be taken. After this government will cooperate with the agency in the investigation.
The ED has recently summoned Sahibganj Deputy Commissioner Ramniwas Yadav in the mining scam case. He has been asked to appear at the zonal office in Ranchi for questioning on January 15. According to the decision, now the Deputy Commissioner will have to inform the cabinet through the department about the summons. The next step will be decided only on the instructions of the cabinet. Before this, ED has interrogated the then Mines Secretary Pooja Singhal in Jharkhand in May 2022, former Ranchi DC Chhavi Ranjan and DSP Rajendra Dubey in April-May 2023. Chief Engineer of Rural Works Department, Virendra Ram was also interrogated by ED. All three are currently lodged in Ranchi's Hotwar Jail. ED has also summoned Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the land scam case.
In the Cabinet meeting today 34 proposals were approved in the meeting. Some of the important decisions are approval to the proposal of giving 6 acres of land for Taj Hotel in Ranchi, the land will be given in Core Capital Area 2.
Rs 44 crore has been sanctioned for Koyla Mod-Chhota Mohanpur road. Rs 36 crore has been sanctioned for Pakur bypass. A four-lane road will be built from Namkum to Doranda for which Rs 126 crore was sanctioned. Approval of Rs 86 crore has been given for the Garhwa Hur turn to Daltonganj road. Rs 36 crore has been sanctioned for Khunti-Kolebira road of Gumla.
Sanction of Rs 61 crore was given for Vikramganj road of Pakur. Cabinet Secretary Vandana Dadel told which proposals were approved in the meeting. Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Primary Health Center Ormanjhi has been dismissed from service. He was not in service unofficially since June 2017. Along with this, approval of Rs 456 crore has been given in the meeting for Palamu pipeline facility. The food allowance of NCC cadets has been increased, now food allowance of Rs 150 will be given per day.