Following the mass cancellation of the coal blocks allocations done since 1993 by the Supreme Court, the Jharkhand Government has appealed to the Union to review its mining policy.
State Chief Minister Hemant Soren, referring to the Supreme Court verdict on declaring 153 coal blocks as illegal, said that the mineral rich State was not benefitting from its mineral resources. He went on to add that the royalty from coal resources has not been adequate and the people of the State are still facing poverty.
Talking to the newsmen at the local Circuit House, Soren said: “We are going to write to the Union Government seeking a review of the mining policy. There should be a debate in the country and in Jharkhand on richness of mineral resources. Jharkhand has paid heavily for mining”. Soren also inaugurated the new building of the Commercial Tax Department, Jamshedpur and Adityapur division at Sakchi.
During the inauguration, he announced of giving sanction for exemption of two-wheelers from paying toll at Adityapur toll bridge, one time promotion for Government department staff and twice-a-year India tour for the State Government employees.
“ Adhering to the demands of the people, the industry department has given sanction yesterday exempting two-wheelers from paying tolls on Aditayapur toll bridge and the decision would be sent for cabinet approval soon paving way for two-wheelers,” he said.The ambitious Adityapur Toll Bridge was inaugurated on July 17,2011 by Arjun Munda, the then Chief Minister of Jharkhand and H M Nerurkar, then Managing Director, Tata Steel. This is the first of its kind infrastructure development project in the State.
“We are working hard to bring development on the track. We want to develop industries in the State. We have also decided that Government employees will now be eligible for all India tour twice a year at the expense of the State Government. This would improve their work culture,” opined Soren.
The Chief Minister also announced that in view of long pending issue of vacancies in different department they have decided for giving one-time promotion to Government employees.During the inauguration of Commercial Tax Department secretary-cum-commissioner commercial tax Jharkhand , M R Meena said that Jamshedpur commercial tax division which is second in state in terms of revenue collection (Rs2,105 crore for 2012-13) will benefit from the building.