Jharkhand: New ministers hit the ground running, meet officials and list priorities after taking charge

RANCHI: State planning-cum-finance, commercial tax, food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister Rameshwar Oraon, who has empty state coffers to contend with, on Friday said restoring the financial health of Jharkhand and implementation of the Food Security Act in letter and spirit will be his priorities to ensure that nobody remains hungry in the state.Oraon, along with several other state cabinet ministers, took charge on Friday.
Speaking to TOI, Oraon said, "Priorities for me is to come up with a pro-people's budget because the past government had given inflated budgets. I will come up with a realistic budget which will reflect the state's financial status and also outlay funds for our focus areas, which includes poverty alleviation and food for all."
Oraon, immediately after assuming office on Friday, started collecting details on the fiscal health of the state. "I am working out all fiscal details and my focus is to ascertain how much revenue the state government earns and through which resources. Based on that estimates of our expenditures will be drawn up. My initial findings show that unnecessary expenditures were incurred in large scope by the last government," Oraon said.
"While in opposition we were very vocal in criticising the BJP government for its wasteful expenditures for events like fairs, state-sponsored events. I am committed to put an end to these wasteful expenses. Money saved from wasteful expenditures will be redirected towards strengthening of basic amenities and for the welfare of poor," he added.
Stressing on the Mahagathbandhan government's commitment to provide food for all, he said, "No citizen of Jharkhand will remain hungry. We will implement the Food Security Act in letter and spirit and I appeal to the public to report all problems linked to the Public Distribution Service directly to me so that I can resolve them quickly."
Oraon, the former IPS officer who is one of the seniormost cabinet ministers, will play an active role in discharging his duties. "I will not remain within the confines of my office and will carry out frequent field visits. I plan to visit homes of the poor to ascertain whether they have enough food grains. Recently, when I was in Garhwa, I visited the home of a daily wager and found that he was cooking rice and since he had nothing else at home he planned to eat it with salt. This highlights the status of the poor in our state," he added.
On the eve of the Narendra Modi government's first Budget after coming to power last year, Oraon said the state hopes that the Central government pays all the pending dues. He said, "For instance, GST payments are due since the last six months. Since the country is going through a period of economic slowdown, the Union Budget should be such that unemployment is reduced and people get jobs. The Budget will have to rejuvenate the economy by creating demand for products, which will increase production and thus, more job opportunities will be generated."