BSP mps meet pm for package
On a day when the BSP moved an adjournment motion on the issue of price rise in the Lok Sabha, a 39-member delegation of MPs from both the Houses of the party called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand a Rs 80,000-crore economic package for UP. The delegation also demanded from the Prime Minister six coal
linkages for thermal power stations in the state. The delegation told the Prime Minister that the Rs 80,000-crore economic package is required to remove the regional imbalance. The delegation was led by party general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Mishra. BSP supremo Mayawati is learnt to have asked Mr Mishra to take the delegation to the PM.
The delegation apprised the PM that the Rs 3,506-crore drought relief package sanctioned for the Bundelkhand region by the Centre was very little considering the geographical conditions of the region. The delegation claimed the UP government had requested the ministry of coal to sanction coal linkages for thermal power plants to be set up at Etah, Sonbhadra, Lalitpur and Yamuna Expressway Authority Area.
“The delegation requested the Prime Minister to ensure that six coal blocks be allocated for UP considering the proposed thermal power stations in the state. Due to shortage of coal, existing power plants are not able to operate at their full capacity,” the delegation is learnt to have told the Prime Minister. The BSP MPs also demanded that the Centre should change its policy and decrease the coal linkages allocated for coastal states.
“The power projects based on imported coal should be set up in coastal areas and if the cost of the imported coal was higher, the Centre should compensate the loss of these states,” the delegation reportedly told the Prime Minister.
However, earlier in the day while pressing for adjournment motion on price rise, the leader of the BSP in the Lok Sabha Dara Singh Chauhan said that the government argument that the prices would come down after a good monsoon was not convincing.
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