Ranchi: Kicking off departmental reviews from Monday, chief minister Hemant Soren held marathon meetings to take stock of the works and functioning of water resources and finance departments.Reviewing the affairs of water resources department in presence of minister Hafizul Hassan and senior officials, Hemant stressed on time-bound completion of all irrigation projects and expansion of existing facilities to boost agricultural productivity and strengthen farmer incomes.He also took stock of the ongoing mega lift irrigation schemes, pipeline-based irrigation projects, dams and multi-purpose initiatives.Reviewing pipeline-based projects, the CM asked officials to accelerate work so that both irrigation and drinking water needs are met in a time-bound manner. “He also emphasised river water conservation, directing the department to prepare practical plans to retain river water within the state and channel it to farms,” read a communique from the information and public relations department.Hemant also suggested developing localised solutions, including lifting river water into smaller reservoirs for irrigation, and ensuring adequate water availability in ponds to promote fisheries alongside agriculture.Earlier in the day, while reviewing works of finance and commercial taxes departments, the CM stressed on focussing to make Jharkhand self-reliant by working out plans to ensure optimal utilisation of resources and strict monitoring of expenditure and implementation of schemes.During the meeting, officials informed that mining revenue is currently better than that of neighbouring states such as Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Hemant asked the officials to further improve performance by curbing illegal mining and promoting the use of modern technology to enhance transparency.Talking to reporters, finance minister Radha Krishana Kishore said that the state’s fiscal management is improving. “Focus now is to ensure that Jharkhand becomes a revenue-surplus state to become self-sufficient, at a time when the Centre often doesn’t release funds on time. With GST rationalisation, rollout of VB-G RAM G, the state is estimated to incur a fiscal burden of at least around Rs 10,000 crore, which we need to manage from our sources,” he said.
