Farmers Movement Archive

JMM pledges to retaliate against DVC

Ranchi: The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Friday pledged that the state government will retaliate if Damodar Valley Corporation does not change its tactics on realising its dues from Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL). “The DVC management should not forget that their residential colonies come under the jurisdiction of Jharkhand and the facilities availed by their employees are provided by the state government. Do not try to intimidate us. If you do not change your ways, we will be forced to retaliate,” party general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said. Jharkhand government is at loggerheads with the Union power ministry and the DVC after the ministry asked RBI to auto-debit Rs 1,417 crore from the state’s account as a first instalment to settle JBVNL’s dues to DVC, which are over Rs 5,600 crore. A furious state government earlier this month ratified a proposal from the cabinet to exeat a 2017 tripartite agreement between DVC and Union power ministry, which enables such deduction if the state-run discom cannot pay its dues to PSU power companies. Bhattacharya criticized the Union government for withholding the state’s GST shares. “Besides GST, the Centre owes us Rs 86,000 crore from land rent of various PSUs such as DVC, SAIL and Coal India,” he claimed. Accusing the Centre of selling PSUs, JMM also criticized the Narendra Modi-led government on its stand on the new farm laws, against which farmers from Punjab and other northern states are protesting at the Delho border for weeks now. “Now that the festivities are over in Jharkhand, JMM will join the ongoing protest against the farm laws soon,” Bhattacharya said. Meanwhile, the party lauded the country’s scientists for producing Covid-19 vaccines, stating that their efforts will put brakes on the relentless march of the killer virus. The party also lauded the state government for its efforts to contain the virus. “It was because of efforts put in by the state government that Jharkhand was ranked seventh in India as far as testing per million rate is concerned. It is ahead of states like Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and others,” he claimed.

The Times of India

2021-01-16

Ranchi