Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday that the zonal councils have only converted from discussion forums to “engines of cooperation”, given that 83% of the issues raised in their meetings have been resolved.
Shah commented at the 27th Eastern Zonal Council meeting, which was attended by representatives from four eastern states – Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal – which included Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his Odisha counterpart Mohan Charan Majhi.
Shah said, “Under the Modi government, the regional councils have developed the ‘engine’ from the ‘forum of discussion’ in the ‘engine’. The resolve of 83% of the issues during the regional council meetings underlines the effectiveness and increasing importance of these forums,” Shah said.
Shah said that between 2004 and 2014, the number of zonal council meetings between 2014 and 2025 increased to 63 as compared to 25.
In the meeting, long pending issues related to Masanjore Dam, Taiyabpur Barrage and Indrapuri reservoirs were discussed in detail, besides issues related to the division of property and liabilities of several public sector undertakings (PSUs) between the states of Bihar and Jharkhand, which were pending since the division of Bihar.
CM Soren raised the issue of pending payment of more than 1.40 lakh crore by the central government by the central government with 30 other demands. In August last year, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Jharkhand, directed the Central Government to clean the outstanding mineral royalty by the PSU since 2005 in a phased payment in 12 years.
Soren said that coal mining in Jharkhand is mainly organized by subsidiaries of Coal India Limited including CCL, BCCL and ECL. These companies have paid sufficient pending arrears to the state government under various heads-‘1,01,000 crore for payment of land compensation, 34,213 crore under the general reason funds, and 6,219 crore as royalty for washed coal. Soren said, “I respectfully request the Honorable Home Minister to ensure that it is cleaned as soon as possible.”
The story continues below this advertisement
He said that the Government of Jharkhand strongly opposed the proposed amendment to the coal bearing areas (CBA) Act, which tries to empower coal companies to allocate mining land to other companies for commercial use. He said, “According to the Constitution, the land is a subject under the jurisdiction of the state. Therefore, after the conclusion of mining works, the land should be restructured and should return to the state government,” he said.
Referring to the recent deaths of four illegal miners in an abandoned mine in Ramgarh district, the CM said that coal companies are also responsible for formally closure of such mines.
This negligence, he said, life and property have been damaged and encouraged illegal mining. “Therefore, I urge the Government of India to ensure that abandoned mines to undergo proper closed procedures to protect the environment and prevent illegal activities,” Soren said.
(Tagstotransmitte) Amit Shah (T) Zonal Councils (T) Inter-State Cooperation on Amit Shah (T) Jharkhand-Bihar Disputes (T) Mineral Royalty (T) Coal Mining Issues (T) CBA Act Amendment (T) Indian Express
