Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu hailed the Hemant Soren-led government for its effective management of the state’s finances even as it battled a pandemic while addressing MLAs on the first day of the Budget session of the state Assembly on Friday.

“Through various policies and livelihood-oriented schemes, the government has exhibited its commitment towards all sections of the society,” Murmu said in her over 40-minute speech in the Assembly.

She also noted that policy decisions taken by the state government in over a year of its formation had instilled confidence among people.

The Assembly session, the first of 2021, will continue till March 23 and have 16 working days. State finance minister Rameshwar Oraon will table the 2021-22 budget on March 3.

The House began amid strict adherence to Covid-19 safety norms. While provisions of sanitisers and thermal scanning were made available at entrances, MLAs were made to sit in accordance with social distancing norms in the Assembly.

Except JMM’s Dumri MLA and state education minister Jagarnath Mahto, who is recovering from a post-Covid lung transplant surgery, all other MLAs were present in the 81-member House. As is customary, chief minister Hemant Soren greeted Speaker Rabindranath Mahto by offering him a bouquet before the start of the day’s proceedings at 11am.

This was followed by a speech by the Speaker to welcome legislators and pave the way for the Governor’s address.

In her address, Murmu said the government was working with an attitude of zero-tolerance to corruption to speed up growth. “In 2020-21, around 47 corruption cases have been lodged and as many as 51 government officials have been jailed,” she said.

She also praised the government for working towards balancing industrial growth and environment conservation. To tackle issues of migration and concerns of labourers and workers, the state government was also working out plans to ensure that they got the right wages, she explained.

Murmu spoke of how Jharkhand cared for thousands of migrant labourers during last year’s lockdown and mentioned the initiative of running Mukhyamantri Didi kitchens to provide free meals to lakhs of people.

“The government also walked the extra mile by setting up a one-stop call centre to address issues related to migrants and those stranded outside the state and also provided Rs 1,000 as assistance to close to 2 lakh migrants during the lockdown,” she said.

Acknowledging the government's attempts to create jobs, Murmu said 2021 had been dedicated for recruitment. “For the first time in several decades, the government has come up with fresh rules and regulations for state civil service examinations,” she said, adding that the government had also inducted district sports officers across the state and was now providing direct employment to qualified players.

The Opposition, however, was critical of the Governor’s address. Speaking to reporters outside the House, Ranchi MLA and senior BJP member C.P. Singh said, “The government made the Governor read a speech which was full of lies. The speech didn’t talk about the failing law and order, massive corruption and illegal sand mining which is going unabated under this regime.”

Chandankyari MLA Amar Bauri said they would counter the government on the floor of the House on Monday.

But state finance minister and Congress MLA Rameshwar Oraon hit back. “Let them (Opposition leaders) say what is wrong. Didn’t we give jobs to players? Didn’t we run free kitchens for months for migrants? Didn’t we give farm loan waivers? Or didn’t we waive hefty examination fees of JPSC recently? Unlike the BJP, this coalition government is fulfilling all its promises made in the manifesto,” he said.