Das hails PM, Jaitley for strengthening country's economic

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for strengthening the country's economic system and taking important and courageous decisions for making transparency.

'Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana' is a welcome step, Das said while addressing at the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, an official release said.

Das urged Jaitley to increase the 14th Finance Commission's recommendation by one per cent for loans under FRBM as the increase would help additional funds for development works and that funds in banks could also be used for utility work, the release said.

Urging expansion of banking services, Das said digital India would become success in bringing in financial transparency, increase in revenue collection and in other sectors.
 

The cashless campaign which had launched on December 2 in Jharkhand, enabled announcement of digital payment in 63 panchayats, Das said.

To expand banking services to 137 villages having 5,000 or more population, bank accounts were opened in 21 villages and accounts would be opened in the rest 116 villages, he said adding, 20,000 PDS shops would have e-PoS machines and making them banking correspondents should lessen the time.

To encourage digital payment, Das said digital connectivity should also be encouraged and for this, IT infrastructure has to be strengthened at the earliest.

He said Jharkhand has waived VAT on mobile costing up to Rs 5,000 and e-PoS. In addition, the Jharkhand government was setting up WiFi/3G/4G costing Rs 54 crore in Maoist-hit areas.

While stressing upon the growth of rail, road and civil aviation, Das urged eastern states be given special attention, the release said.

An SPV (special purpose vehicle) has been done with the Railways and to expand air services, a MoU has been signed with the Civil Aviation for RCS (regional connectivity scheme), the release said.

The Chief Minister requested for sufficient funds in the budget for new rail projects and civil aviation services for small towns and said the desirous state could have a 50-50 share.