Team News Riveting’
Raipur, March 12
The Chhattisgarh cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Wednesday took important decisions including surrender and rehabilitation policy for the Maoists.
A state government spokesperson said the Council of Ministers, taking concrete initiative to solve the Maoists problem in the state, has approved the Chhattisgarh Naxalite Surrender/Victim Relief and Rehabilitation Policy-2025 in place of Chhattisgarh Naxalism Eradication Policy-2023. Under this policy, facilities like financial assistance, rehabilitation, education, employment and security will be given to the surrendered Maoists.
The cabinet also gave its nod to the drafts of Chhattisgarh State Industrial Security Force Bill-2025, Chhattisgarh Cooperative Society (Amendment) Bill-2025 and Chhattisgarh Private University (Establishment and Operation) (Amendment) Bill-2025.
On February 27, the Chief Minister had announced to make the film “Chhava” tax free in the state. The Council of Ministers approved the reimbursement of the equivalent amount of State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) payable for entry to the screening of the film Chhava in compliance with the announcement of the Chief Minister.
The Council of Ministers decided to set up State Water Information Centre (SWIC) for better management of water resources in the state and preparation of scientific planning. For this, consent was given to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India.
The State Water Information Centre will collect, analyse and store various information related to water resources including rainfall, river and reservoir levels, groundwater quality, silt, water flow in canals, crop coverage, aquifer mapping, land and soil data.
SWIC will provide authentic data for water resource management with the help of digital platform developed by NWIC. This will strengthen policy making, strategic decisions, modelling, development of analytical tools and water management.
The Council of Ministers decided to obtain loan approval of Rs 522.22 crore through the Government of India for the improvement works of 09 dams of the Water Resources Department of the state. These include Maniyari Tank, Ghongha Tank, Dudhawa, Kinkari, Sondhur, Murumsilli (Part-2), Ravishankar Sagar Project (Part-2), News Rudri Barrage and Pendravan Tank.
The Council of Ministers has decided to start the Chief Minister Good Governance Fellowship Scheme to ensure the participation of youth in strengthening good governance and policy implementation in the state.
The scheme will be run by the Department of Good Governance and Convergence in collaboration with IIM Raipur and Transforming Rural India Foundation New Delhi. This scheme will be for the youth native to Chhattisgarh. The fellow who successfully completes this program will be awarded an MBA degree by IIM Raipur.
Initially, the selected fellow will have to attend academic sessions at IIM Raipur for a period of two years and in the remaining period, he will have to work for the state’s schemes and programs in the district/department and provide support to the district/department. The expenses incurred in this program will be borne by the state government and the fellow will also be provided a monthly stipend.
Taking seriously the complaint of corruption received in the implementation of Bharat Mala Project in Chhattisgarh, the Council of Ministers has decided to investigate it through EOW.
