Chief Minister, Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu called on Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman at New Delhi on Tuesday late evening. He requested the Union Minister to review the decision to impose a limit on new loans under externally aided projects and added that reconsidering this decision would help in development in various sectors.
He further urged for intervention for expediting the signing of loan agreements of six proposals recommended by the Department of Economic Affairs for external funding. Chief Minister also requested for granting Rs 1000 crore and Rs 400 crore for Greenfield Airport in Mandi and the expansion of Kangra airport respectively as per the recommendations of 15th Finance Commission.
Chief Minister also urged to review the decision to reduce the additional borrowing limit of state equal to the amount of National Pension Scheme (NPS) contribution for the current financial year. Keeping in view the importance of National security, the Chief Minister urged for declaring Bhanupali-Bilaspur-Leh rail project as hundred percent centrally funded or explore a revenue-sharing mechanism for the stretch upto Beri.
Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS), Sunder Singh Thakur, Chief Secretary, Prabodh Saxena, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Bharat Khera were also present in the meeting amongst others.