“It’s a veiled conspiracy by the Union Govt,” Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren said in response to the union power ministry’s letter to the RBI to auto-debit four installments from the state’s account.
File photo of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren (Photo Credits: PTI)
Jharkhand government and union power ministry’s row further intensified on Thursday. The union power ministry has written to the RBI to auto-debit four installments of Rs 1,417 crore each from the Jharkhand government’s account.
“It’s a veiled conspiracy by the Union Govt to provoke and trap the State Govt to increase its borrowing from markets and other instruments in these times of economic instability & fiscal difficulties being faced by the state,” a statement issued by CM Hemant Soren’s office said.
Responding to the power ministry’s decision to invoke the tripartite agreement, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s office further added, “The previous BJP ruled Raghubar Das led Govt in Jharkhand through the TPA signed in 2017 laid the foundation stone towards destroying the basic edifice of cooperative federalism.”
He went on to add that the Centre still owes Jharkhand thousands of crores of royalty against the use of land acquired for mining. Chief Minister Hemant Soren also mentioned the Rs 3,000 crore owed to Jharkhand as GST compensation on the same day Union Finance Minister agreed to the demands of opposition-ruled states in this regard.
In its letter to the union power ministry, the Jharkhand government had said the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) itself did not pay for the coal. The Jharkhand government had further requested the union power ministry to adjust the outstanding amount from the DVC’s unpaid bill instead of invoking the auto-debit clause which would allow the Centre to claim the dues from the state’s account in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
DVC or Damodar Valley Corporation was formed in 1948 as the first multipurpose river valley project of Independent India.
The government led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren also criticised former CM Raghubar Das. It was under Raghubar Das’ term as chief minister in 2017 when a tripartite agreement concerning DVC. The Jharkhand government had agreed at the time that if it ever fails to settle dues of DVC for power purchase, the Centre could realise that payment from the state government’s RBI account using the auto-debit feature.
However, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said on September 3 of this year that the Centre owes the state close to Rs 1 lakh crore. This, Bhattacharya claimed, included Rs 65,000 crore from royalties on steel and coal and another Rs 24,000 crore as cess.