Sonia Gandhi asks Congress CMs about relief measures to curb effects of economic slowdown

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi has asked Chief Ministers of party-ruled states about measures being adopted by them to provide relief to the common man at a time when the country is reeling under the effect of an economic slowdown.

On Friday, Sonia met the Chief Ministers along with General Secretaries and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) Presidents of the Congress-ruled states.

Responding to Sonia`s query, Chief Ministers said they are providing all possible help to the people but their relief measures are being affected due to the decline in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection.

Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar told ANI that Manmohan Singh, during the meeting, said collections will not go up until the GST is not allocated properly by the central government.

He also said that the party also discussed the implementation of NYAY scheme.

"Other welfare schemes were also discussed to give relief to the common man. Implementation of NYAY scheme was also discussed that was a part of Congress manifesto. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said that they are planning to initiate a pilot project after an initial survey," he said.

In the meeting, which was attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior leaders including KC Venugopal, Ahmed Patel and AK Antony, Sonia has directed that the Congress governments should offer all possible help to the people.

According to sources, Baghel apprised Sonia that his government has increased the amount of Minimum Support Price (MSP) to the farmers of the state.

"The government has purchased 80 lakh tonnes of grains and has paid Rs 2,500 per quintal which was Rs 1,700 earlier and it has strengthened the purchasing capacity of farmers," said the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh told Sonia that his government is providing electricity to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) at a cheaper rate of Rs 5 per unit.

According to a source, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath spoke about "Mukhyamantri Patta Yojna" which has been started to allocate land to poor people for house.

He also said that the state government is providing more loan amount besides the land in comparison to the central government`s scheme of offering loan up to Rs 1.5 lakh for the house.