Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmed attended the East Zone Council meeting held in Kolkata on Wednesday, holding it a matter of great privilege. The last meeting was held in 2005. Ahmed hoped for fruitful deliberations for further cooperation and development of the member States.
Stressing on the common heritage of the region, the Governor pointed to several common problems too — deficient infrastructure, poverty and illiteracy, laggard growth, unemployment and migration and a massive burden of natural calamities.
The Governor noted that Jharkhand being a land-locked State, improved road connectivity within and without the State was a basic requirement for sustainable access to primary resources, utilities and transportation of industrial goods.
Ahmed said, “We suggest taking up of four-laning/widening of the 18-km Bahragora-Jharpokharia National Highway (NH) 6 and the 81-km Jharpokharia–Baleshwar NH5 stretches for port connectivity to Dhamra in Odisha.”
He added, “The 47.7 km Barhi-Rajauli stretch of NH-31, NH 32, NH-75, NH-75, 13.2 km missing link of NH-80, a bridge over river Ganges between Sahebganj and Manihari (Bihar) are also needed for improving connectivity among member States and the nation.” The Governor urged for support of fellow participants for persuading MoRTH/NHAI for taking the projects up.
The Governor also deliberated upon environmental issues and said shared problems and issues concerning environment and related clearances for developmental projects.
The next issue which the Governor put before other participants related to mutual cooperation in the area of tax administration. He added, almost all the States in this region have inter-state border check posts for collection of taxes hence I suggest that instead of constructing check post on either side of the state boundary, by both States, we should construct common check posts on fund sharing basis and share the infrastructure so that public money is best utilized.
Ahmed said another area of mutual cooperation is prevention of interstate illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Mechanisms are needed for regular interaction between police, excise department and Narcotics Bureau is required for States of this zone.
Disaster management requires cooperation not only among the member states but also support from the Union Government.
Emphasising on close cooperation among member States, the Governor suggested formation of a common body for eastern states to meet any eventuality to utilize the resources to its fullest and said the NDRF should work in tandem with SDRF.
Highlighting issues concerning Jharkhand and other States, especially Bihar he said the state reorganization issues are yet to be settled after 13 long years therefore I urge Chief Minister, Bihar to settle them, the important among them being transfer of assets and liabilities of State Road Transport Corporation located in Jharkhand and transfer of cadastral maps of villages in Jharkhand but lying with Government Press at Patna.
He continued, the ongoing rail line project between Koderma to Tilaiya is stuck due to non-clearance of forest land lying on the Bihar side of the border hence urged the CM of Bihar to fast track the clearance.
Although, on the request of Government of West Bengal, a survey of 48 Mauzas was conducted with the consent of both the state, the Governor said, he has been informed that the officials of the West Bengal are not signing the joint survey report.
Highlighting the importance of urban water supply project at district headquarter of Pakur, the Governor said the water will be drawn from Ganges at Farakka, thus land is required in district Murshidabad for establishment of small infrastructure such as intake jetty, power unit, pump house, etc and is being monitored by the Jharkhand High Court, Ranchi. He requested CM of West Bengal for her cooperation in this matter.