Bhopal: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan demands more funds from Sitharaman

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has demanded additional funds from Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the next financial year.

Assembly elections are due next year, the state government will require more funds in the beginning of the next fiscal to speed up the work of various projects, Chouhan said.

The officers of the finance department made a presentation about the fiscal health of the state. The state also demanded funds for the central schemes going on in the state. Sitharaman, who was in Bhopal on Tuesday, said she would mull over the state government’s demands.

Chouhan further said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the state government is making special efforts to increase gross state domestic product (GSDP). Because of the implementation of the new excise policy this year, an increase of about 25% in excise revenue is possible, Chouhan said.

In the report presented by the state task force constituted for this, a target has been set for the contribution of the state to the country's economy of $ 550 billion by 2025-26.

Sitharaman also said that the efforts, made in the field of Financial and Public Asset Management (PAM) in Madhya Pradesh, were commendable. The rate of gross state domestic product (GSD) has been higher than the national gross domestic product (GDP) in the last 10 years, she said.

In 2021-22, the economic growth rate of MP was 19.74%, which is the highest in the country.

The state’s efforts to fulfill the target set by Modi to make the country's economy five trillion dollars by 2025 are commendable. Sitharaman made the comments after watching the presentation made by the finance department at Mantralaya.

Besides Chouhan, Finance Minister Jagdish Deora, Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains and officials of Finance Department were present in the meeting with Sitharaman.