Raipur. A cabinet meeting was held today in the Chief Minister’s residence office under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai, in which many important decisions were taken. The Council of Ministers has taken a decision to investigate the complaint of corruption in the implementation of Bharat Mala Project in Chhattisgarh through EOW, taking it seriously. Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai said that no culprit will be spared.Taking concrete initiative to solve the Naxal problem in the state, the Council of Ministers has approved the Chhattisgarh Naxal 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 provided to the surrendered Maoists.
These decisions were taken in the cabinet meeting –
- The draft of Chhattisgarh State Industrial Security Force Bill-2025 was approved by the Assembly.
- The draft of Chhattisgarh Cooperative Society (Amendment) Bill-2025 was approved.
- The draft of Chhattisgarh Private University (Establishment and Operation) (Amendment) Bill-2025 was approved.
- On February 27, the Chief Minister had announced to make the film ‘Chhava’ tax free in the state. In compliance with the Chief Minister’s announcement, the Council of Ministers approved the reimbursement of the amount equivalent to the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) payable for entry to the screening of the film Chhava.
- The cabinet 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 water resources related information including rainfall, river and reservoir levels, groundwater quality, siltation, water flow in canals, crop coverage, aquifer mapping, land and soil data.
- SWIC will provide authentic data for water resources management with the help of digital platform developed by NWIC. This will strengthen policy making, strategic decisions, modeling, development of analytical tools and water management.
- The cabinet decided to obtain loan approval of Rs 522.22 crore through the Government of India for the improvement works of 09 dams of the state’s water resources department. 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 launch the Chief Minister Good Governance Fellowship Scheme to ensure the participation of youth in strengthening good governance and policy implementation in the state.
- This 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 who are natives of 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 the academic session at IIM Raipur for a period of two years and in the remaining period, he will have to support the district/department by working for the state’s schemes and programs in the district/department. The expenses incurred in this program will be borne by the state government. Along with this, the fellow will also be provided a stipend every month.
- Taking seriously the complaint of corruption received in the implementation of Bharat Mala Project in Chhattisgarh, the Council of Ministers has decided to get it investigated through EOW.
