Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said he was disappointed as the challenges and limitations faced by the Centre and state were not discussed in the video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the coronavirus issue.
Gehlot's remarks came after he attended the second day of the discussions held by the PM with chief ministers over the issue. "All states by now know the best practices to deal with COVID-19. Disappointed to see that in today's VC with PM, challenges and limitations of Centre and state have not been discussed," Gehlot tweeted.
The chief minister said how the Centre will help states overcome hardships after the lockdown should have been discussed at the video conference. The Rajasthan chief minister attended the second day of the PM's VC on Wednesday.
Gehlot, in a letter to the Prime Minister, said the country's economy is going through a deep crisis and most industrial and commercial units are able to produce much less than their capacity. In such a situation, the central government should focus on measures to increase demand. For this, he said, direct funds should be transferred to the needy families, which would increase their purchasing power and at the same time provide financial assistance to the industries suffering from recession for payment of wages of workers.
Gehlot stated this in his suggestions sent via the letter after a video conference with Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday. He said that in order to combat the coronavirus pandemic, states have to spend extra for medical resources. The central government should provide additional support for this, he said.
The chief minister said in the letter that more than 53 lakh workers are currently employed in the MGNREGA scheme in Rajasthan. The eligibility for 100 days of employment of most of these rural families will be fulfilled in the coming month. In such a situation, an additional 100 man days should be created to save them from unemployment.
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This will benefit 70 lakh rural families of the state. Gehlot has said that due to adverse impact on revenue receipts, the states are not able to provide financial resources for the schemes run by them. In such a situation, it is very difficult for them to arrange the state's share amount for centrally-sponsored schemes. In such a situation, the Government of India should bear 100 per cent contribution for the financial year 2020-21 for the operation of centrally-sponsored schemes.
He said additional expenditure is being incurred by the states to meet the challenge of COVID-19 so central assistance is also necessary for it. The chief minister said the outstanding GST compensation payment of about Rs 961 crore for the financial year 2019-20 should be released soon. He said the industrial and business activities remained closed due to the pandemic in April and May of this financial year. Due to this, the GST compensation payment for these two months will be around Rs 4,500 crore. The Centre should also make this amount available soon, Gehlot said.
He also reiterated the demand for Rs 1 lakh crore as a one-time grant to the states to revive the economic activities of the coronavirus-affected cottage, small and large scale industries as well as service sector. He said about 1 lakh 90 thousand hectares of agricultural area in 29 districts has been affected by locusts this year.
According to the latest report of the World Food and Agriculture Organization, there may be a large number of locust attacks from Iran and Africa in June and July. In view of this, the central government should make proper arrangements to protect the farmers from crop loss, the chief minister said.
At the beginning of the VC, the Prime Minister and the chief ministers observed a two-minute silence to pay tributes to the Indian soldiers who were killed in a clash with Chinese troops in Ladakh's Galwan Valley on Monday night.
PTI report
