MP govt to seek Central funds for pending projects

The cabinet has been instructed to prepare a list of pending projects with the Centre for their early clearance

The ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh has pinned high hopes on the NDA government at the Centre for getting Central funds for the state's pending projects.

"Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has instructed his Cabinet colleagues and officers to prepare a list of pending projects with the Centre for their early clearance," official sources told PTI today.

Chouhan gave these instructions to the ministers and officials on his return from New Delhi on May 27 after taking part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony.

The chief minister told them to prepare the list in three days and take maximum advantage of the fact that the BJP-led government is at the Centre.

"Chouhan told them that he will personally go with them to New Delhi to meet the Prime Minister on the issue," the sources said.

During the UPA government, Chouhan had on many occasions raised the issue of alleged step-motherly treatment meted out to the state in allocation of Central funds and had also staged protests on the issue.

Prior to the Lok Sabha polls, he, along with his entire Cabinet, had staged a protest in Bhopal for not getting adequate Central assistance for rain/hailstorm-hit farmers.

"We have demanded nearly Rs 250 crore from the Centre for dealing with the problem of Naxalism and for police modernisation in Madhya Pradesh," state Home Minister Babulal Gaur said yesterday.

Gaur had met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi after the oath-taking ceremony and apprised him with the problems being faced by the state, specially removal of Central paramilitary forces by the UPA government from the Naxal-hit Balaghat district. Poor quality of national highways in the state too figured on the priority list of government.