Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], September 25 : Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the Central government to release dues to the tune of Rs 1,36,042 crore pending as of March 2022 payable to the state exchequer from the coal companies operating in Jharkhand.
Soren posted the picture written on September 23 was released on Wednesday on social media platform 'X'.
On his X post, Soren stated, "We were not asking for special status like the BJP-allied states, nor are we asking for a bigger share of the Union budget like some states - just give us our rights, that's our demand."
He further wrote in his post, "If you demand the rights of the people of Jharkhand, they put you in jail, but for our rights, any sacrifice is acceptable."
He further stated that our demand is only for "justice, not for privileges."
"Our demand is only for justice, not for privileges. The people of Jharkhand have fought a long struggle for their state, and now we want proper use of our resources and rights," he wrote von X.
"We will use our outstanding amount of Rs 1.36 lakh crore to take Jharkhand on a new path of development - a development that protects the interests of our environment, tribals and every Jharkhandi community. We will improve education and health services so that our children have a bright future. We will better protect our language and culture so that our identity remains intact and we will provide new dimensions of employment to our youth - and in the absence of that, we will give them a fair allowance," Jharkhand CM added.
He urged the government to take decision on the funds soon, adding that the central government should become a 'partner' of the state.
"The central government should take a decision on our rights and our money soon and should not become an obstacle in the development of Jharkhand but should become a partner. We will fight for our rights, no matter how many difficulties we have to face for this," Soren stated in his post.
"It is the duty of every person born on the soil of Jharkhand to protect the interests of his state and we will unite and raise our voice for our rights, fight and take our rights like our ancestors," he added.