Ranchi, Oct 27 The Jharkhand government on Tuesday decided to hold a two-day special session of the Assembly from November 25 to discuss the amended mines law and the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls, an official said.
A proposal about the special revision was approved during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
“The Cabinet approved the proposal to convene a special session of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly on November 25 and 26,” said Vandana Dadel, the additional chief secretary of the Cabinet Secretariat and Vigilance Department.
The ruling alliance in Jharkhand has been protesting against the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act that was passed in Parliament in August and the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.
“The current situation that has arisen in connection with the MMDR law and SIR, we believe that a detailed discussion on these is necessary. Therefore, a short-duration session of the Jharkhand Assembly has been convened,” Chief Minister Hemant Soren told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
Jharkhand Finance Minister Radhakrishna Kishore said that during the day’s special session, extensive discussion would be held on the amendments made in the mines law by Parliament, which are set to cause financial losses to Jharkhand.
“The state government will take further action in line with the sentiments expressed by public representatives during the special session of the Assembly,” he said.
Under the amended mine law, passed in Parliament in August, the Centre looks to take under its control the regulation of mineral-bearing lands having mineral contents in accordance with the parameters prescribed under the legislation.
As many as 62 agendas were cleared by the Cabinet at the meeting, including implementation of a statute for healthcare management and mental wellbeing in the state universities.
“All state universities will set up a health and wellbeing unit where the facilities of primary medical care, emergency response and counselling will be available.
“The universities shall earmark two per cent of the total budget to cover all the costs for establishing and maintaining health and wellbeing services in the universities and colleges,” Dadel said.
The cabinet also approved Rs 284.17 crore for infrastructure development of the proposed Medico City and Rs 545.38 crore for the construction of a 500-bed hospital building on the MGM Medical College campus in Jamshedpur.
For installation of CCTV cameras in all police stations of the state, the Cabinet approved Rs 1.17 crore, besides giving nod to setting up a fodder plant of 50 metric tonne capacity in Godda district.
The cabinet also approved Rs 96.54 crore for installing 7,890 tubewells in 263 blocks of the state.
(PTI News)
