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Help Madhya Pradesh get its due: Chauhan

Itarsi: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on Sunday urged the Union Ministers belonging to the State to exercise their influence to “end the discrimination” faced by the State in allotment of coal and foodgrains and in other fields.

On the second day of his ‘Nyay Yatra’ (March for Justice), Mr. Chauhan said he would also be writing separate letters in this connection to all the four Central Ministers — Arjun Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kantilal Bhuria and Kamal Nath — belonging to the State.

Mr. Chauhan, who said his yatra was to highlight discrimination by the Centre on the issue of coal allotment, reduction in foodgrains quota for BPL families, lesser allocation of funds under Indira Awas Yojna and lack of assistance for drought-affected areas, charged the Centre with “doing injustice to my State and its people for the past one and a half years.”

He said the State required 1.75 million tonnes of coal for its three thermal power plants and this has also been accepted by the Central Electricity Authority but the quota for the State was fixed at 1.35 million tonne by the Coal Linkage Committee.

Out of this, he said Madhya Pradesh was getting just 1.1 million tonne coal and had to purchase power worth Rs.150 to 200 crore (Rs.1.5 to two billion), on an average, every month to fulfil the demand of power required by the farmers.

“Similarly, the Centre was also discriminating against the State in providing foodgrains for BPL families. Against 61 lakh BPL families, it was providing foodgrains only for 41 lakh BPL families. Also, not a single paisa was received for drought relief though the State distributed relief worth Rs.500 crore from its own resources.”

The Railways Ministry too was not heeding the state’s request for providing rakes to transport water to Ujjain and Dewas despite several requests to Railways Minister Lalu Prasad, Mr. Chauhan alleged. — IANS

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Help Madhya Pradesh get its due: Chauhan

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