Vasundhara Raje seeks PM's intervention for more coal for Rajasthan

New Delhi, Feb 12 (UNI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought his intervention for release of adequate coal supply for thermal power projects in the state.

Talking to mediapersons, she said she had pointed out that the State Government had asked for 11 Chhattisgarh coal blocks for Rajasthan two years ago but the Coal Ministry had not sanctioned any till date. It was also pointed out that going for coal blocks in Orissa and Jharkhand would be very costly for the State which was spending nearly Rs 1800 crore for buying the fuel, besides the hefty freight charges of nearly Rs 1500 crore per year.

MS Raje informed the Prime Minister that the state had undertaken 13 mega projects, embarking upon doubling its power generation capacity from the present 2,500 mw within a year and targeting to make Rajasthan a power surplus state by 2011.

The Prime Minister, who is also handling the Coal portfolio, assured her that he would look into the matter and ensure that the state's requirement was met, Mrs Raje said.

The Chief Minister also drew the Mr Singh's attention towards the unprecedented floods faced by the state last year in which 16 districts were badly affected. She said the state had sought central assistance to the tune of Rs 32,000 crore but as little as Rs 100 crore had been given to the state from the Prime Minister's calamity Relief Fund.

She pointed out that the relief formula from the NCCF had become irrelevant as giving Rs 800 for repairs of semi-damaged houses and Rs 1000 to Rs 1500 for fully damaged houses was too little an amount for rebuilding the House. "It is therefore requested that Rajasthan be given enough compensation to meet the situation," she told the Prime Minister.

Besides, the chief minister also drew the Prime Minister's attention to the discrimination meted out to the state in the implementation of the National Employment Guarantee Scheme. She pointed out that only six districts of Rajasthan had been covered under the scheme as compared to districts covered under the scheme in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, who have much higher per capital income than Rajasthan. The State, she said, had as many as 200 districts, geographically the biggest state, had a large area under desert and a large population of SC/ST and backward classes.

Similarly, She also sought adequate finance from the Centre under the the Rajiv Gandhi Electrification Projects as it had had 40,000 villages and 1000 ghanis. In addition, it also demanded Rs 400 crore as incentive for doing well in fiscal reforms.

UNI