By Ataullah Faizan
Bhopal, April 26, 2011
The apathy on the part of UPA-led Central government towards Madhya Pradesh, it seems, has refused to die down. It has become the habit of the Congress-led government to keep withholding funds for various schemes meant for the BJP-governed state. Latest in the series is the funds to be released to meet the arrears accruing due to enhanced pay scale teachers, reports SMS News & Feature agency.
As the Centre has not released these funds, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has urged the Union government to immediately release central share for disbursement of arrears of UGC pay scales to the teachers.
In his letter to the Union Minister for Human Resources Development Kapil Sibal, the Chief Minister said that Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country to have implemented the new UGC scales with effect from January 2006. However, due to non-release of central share, arrears could not be paid to the teachers, he added.
The Chief Minister said that the Union Human Resources Development Ministry had suggested that the state government should release the arrears and then claim central share as reimbursement. Describing the stand of the Union Ministry as patently unfair, Chouhan said that the central share is 80 percent of the arrears and amounts to Rs. 400 crore.
The Chief Minister urged Sibal to reconsider the matter and issue necessary instructions to immediately release the central share.
Chouhan has also urged the Centre to clear the proposal regarding setting up of International Buddhist University at Sanchi in Raisen district.
In his letter to the Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibbal, the Chief Minister said that the joint declaration issued on the State visit of the president of Lanka Mahindra Rajapakse to India in June 2010, recognizes that the shared culture and civilizational links provide a bedrock of bilateral relations. The Chief Minister said that in November 2009, the Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka proposed to set up Sanchi International Buddhist University (SIBU) in Sanchi, district Raisen, Madhya Pradesh. He said that the state government has identified 65 acres of land near Sanchi Stupa that would be made available for the SIBU.
Chouhan apprised Sibal that the proposal to establish SIBU was submitted to the Ministry fo External Affairs, which forwarded the proposal to Minister of Human Resources Development for clearance. He said that the Department of Higher Education, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh has also written to Ms. Vibha Puri Das, Secretary of Human Resources Development for expediting the clearance process. It is to be seen as to when the Union minister takes note of the Chief Minister’s requests and release the much-awaited funds.
It may be noted that the state government, the Chief Ministers and even BJP MPs from the state had to show great resentment over the Central government’s attitude towards the BJP-ruled state. On March 21, the BJP Members of Parliament from Madhya Pradesh, led by the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, staged a sit-in and demonstrated before the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Parliament premises in New Delhi, to protest against ''step-motherly behaviour'' with the state by the Centre.
On February 12, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called off his indefinite fast on getting assurance from the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to resolve the issues concerning the state. It is worth noticing here that Mr. Chouhan had proposed to observe indefinite fast in protest against the Centre ignoring important issues of Madhya Pradesh including release of relief package for frost-hit farmers. The Chief Minister, while addressing people at local BHEL Dussehra ground said that the Prime Minister in a telephonic conversation at Raj Bhavan in presence of the Governor Mr. Rameshwar Thakur this morning gave assurance to take action on all issues pending with the Centre. He said that the Prime Minister has assured positive action on the issues urging him to defer the fast.
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