Monday, January 31, 2011

Raipur filthy despite of fourfold sanitation budget: BJP


Raipur, January 31, 2011

The state capital still stinks and looks filthy in spite of fourfold budget sanctioned for its sanitation. “Scarred litter on public places and choked drains will follow you in everywhere in the city. The sanitary conditions of narrow streets and slum areas are horrible and exposes indifference of the elected body at RMC,” alleged the BJP’s district president Ashok Pandey on Monday.
“In the beginning of her tenure, Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak pretended as if she would turnaround the city and bring cleanliness everywhere. She even visited a couple of wards and had uttered volumes about sanitation, but now she hardly displays same enthusiasm,” Pandey said.
He said Nayak should stop deceiving Raipurians and must take effective action to make the city clean. “Now, people have realised that the previous term of BJP at RMC was better than the existing one ruled by Congress,” he said.
“Nayak lacked control over the civic administration due to which the municipal officials and employees are apathetic towards people’s complaints. This has resulted in burgeoning of several basic civic problems in wards,” he said.
“Besides, the mosquito menace continues to scare residents as corporators are handcuffed and the municipal’s health department has ceased to take any proactive action. The ubiquitous heaping and decomposing garbage and unclean drains can cause adverse effect on people’s health as well on environment. Even the groundwater can get polluted due to insanitation,” Pandey said.
He warned the mayor and the civic administration of aggressive agitation at ward-level in coming days if proper and permanent sanitary arrangements would not be done and people’s grievances would be ignored.


Tanveer Ahmed pays courtesy visit to CM

Raipur, January 31, 2011

The national president of BJP Minority Morcha (BJPMM) Tanveer Ahmed on Monday paid courtesy visit to Chief Minister Raman Singh. Ahmed who was accompanied by morcha’s state president Ajaz Baig and other office-bearers presented a memento to the CM. On the occasion, he discussed with the CM about development, education and other factors pertaining to minority community. He also congratulated the CM for linking the minority community with the state’s development stream. On the occasion, the president of Haj Committee Dr Salim Raj, BJPMM state general secretary Akram Quraishi, state secretary Raju Khan, office secretary Sajid Pathan, member of morcha’s national executive Kabir Khan, etc.



YC stages dharna against Amit Jogi’s arrest

Raipur, January 31, 2011

The state Youth Congress (YC) staged a day-long dharna near Sports Complex Budhapara on Monday against the arrest of YC leader Amit Jogi on January 30, 2011. “We condemn the government’s suppressive measures. Jogi was arrested undemocratically while he was going to Dharamjaigarh to express his objection at public hearing over allotment of coal block to Bharat Aluminum Company Limited (BALCO),” said the former YC president Yogesh Tiwari.
“Corruption and nepotism dominates the Raman Sing-led BJP government. The state’s natural resources are being allocated to those who merely aim to exploit Chhattisgarh,” he said.
“In addition, the government has adopted anti-farmer policies and is selling the agricultural lands to the industrialists to establish power plants and other units. The government is posing generosity towards industrialists and neglecting the farmers who have neither got compensation nor employment. The farmers who dared to demand compensation from the government were thrown in jails,” said Tiwari.
He further alleged that the BJP government was terrorising people by misusing the police as a tool.
On the occasion, Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, Ritesh Tripathy, Indrajeet Singh Rajput, Sunil Kukreja, Kamlesh Mishra, Mohammad Riaz, Surendra Tiwari and other YC workers were present.



BJP demands shifting of Indira’s statue from Kalibadi

Gives memorandum to civic Commissioner with its five-point demand

Raipur, January 31, 2011

The BJP has demanded from the civic administration to shift statue of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from Kalibadi chowk to smoothen the road traffic and to reinstall the idols of several Hindu gods and goddesses whose temples had been demolished at different parts of the city. In this connection, the BJP vice president Sachchidanand Upasne and other party workers took out a rally from Kalibadi chowk to municipal head office at Malviya road where they handed over a memorandum to civic Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary with their five-point demands.
Later, the BJP workers were taken into custody at about 1 pm and then were released at 5 pm.
The BJP’s first demand was - the statue of Indira Gandhi from Kalibadi chowk should be shifted elsewhere like the statues of other great leaders that were shifted at the corner of the busy road intersection to widen the road and improve the traffic. They pointed that the statue of Mahatma Gandhi was shifted inside the garden at Azad chowk and statues of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and martyr Bhagat Singh were shifted at corner at Station chowk and Shankar Nagar respectively.
They further demanded that all the temples that were demolished during municipal’s beautification and road widening projects should be reinstalled elsewhere.
Raising objection over RMC’s demolition works, the BJP demanded proper rehabilitation package for the affected people whose shops or homes had been razed. They said the civic administration should preserve Raipur as was done by the Madhya Pradesh government that instead of carrying out demolition works in old Bhopal preferred to develop new Bhopal.
The BJP also expressed its strong objection over municipal’s action over temples and alleged that the only religious establishments of Hindus were being demolished on pretext of Supreme Court’s directives and structures of other religions were spared. The BJP said the RMC should be impartial while taking action for public convenience.


Sale of illegal liquor from morning till late night in Kota!

RMC alderman alleges blames police administration for inaction

Raipur, January 31, 2011

Kota (Shaheed Manmohan Singh Bakshi ward) has become criminal hum and illegal liquor is being sold in the locality from morning till late nights in spite of several complaints registered in the Saraswati Nagar police station. The municipal’s alderman Pareshwar Bagh from BJP leveled these allegations against the police administration and also held the local corporator Anju Chandrashekhar Tiwari responsible for the pathetic conditions of the ward on Monday.
“It is unfortunate that one Hazarilal Choudhary is selling illegal liquor in Kota’s labour colony near stadium for over 4-5 years, but no action has been taken against him,” Bagh said.
“The illegal liquor shop is about 300 meters away from the residence of local corporator and about one kilometer away from Saraswati Nagar police station, but neither the public representative nor the police heed the grievances of residents,” he said.
He informed the residents of labourers colony start consuming liquor from morning onwards and rarely go at work. “Not only the families of these labourers are suffering, but also the local residents fear of untoward occurrences because of them,” said Bagh.
He informed that the police had closed the illegal liquor shop in the past a couple of times under 34(A) of Excise Act, but Choudhary had managed to restart his illicit business. “Choudhary should be arrested under 34(B) of Excise Act so that he may not get bail, but the police are not filing case against him under this Act,” said Bagh.
He informed that another illegal liquor seller Sanjay Sharma of the area had been arrested three months back. “Sharma was operating his illegal business near primary school but now he is in jail. The police must take similar action against Choudhary,” said Bagh.
He warned that the local residents and his party would stage dharna and launch protest movements against the illegal liquor shop if it would not be closed in one week.

The local corporator Anju Chandrashekhar Tiwari said, “I have lodged several complaints against illegal liquor sellers Hazarilal Choudhary and one Kariya Ashok with the Saraswati Nagar police station but in vain. I have also urged the police to take action against the heavy vehicles of one pipe factory that use the Kota road and pose threat to lives of commuters, especially schoolchildren. I have urged the womenfolk of Kota to join hands and together we will protest till the illegal liquor shop gets closed.”



Cong corporators: Mayor, MiC members ignoring us

Raipur, January 31, 2011

The Congress corporators have alleged that Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak and MiC members were ignoring them owing to which the development works in their wards had halted. The Congress corporators charged both Nayak and the MiC members during their meeting that held at Congress Bhawan on Monday. Besides Nayak, the meeting was also attended DCC president Inderchand Dhariwal and Raipur North legislator Kuldeep Juneja.
The Congress corporators complained that their wards were in pathetic conditions owing to indifferent attitude of Nayak and MiC members. They said several development works in their wards had stopped before completion because of fund crisis.
They said their wards wear a filthy look in spite of municipal’s several sanitation drives. They also sought assurance from Nayak pertaining to supply of sufficient water through tankers if any of the areas of their wards would face water crisis during summer.
Nayak assured that she should solve all the grievances of the Congress corporators in the coming days. She appealed to the corporators to enlist water scarce areas of their wards and give proposals to their respective zone commissioners to solve the problem of water crisis in such parts.
For this, she said, Rs 10 lakh out of Rs 20 lakh sanctioned by the Urban Administration Department for each ward could be used by every corporator in their areas.
In the meeting, the Raipur North legislator Kuldeep Juneja also complained to the DCC president that he had always being ignored by the mayor and her MiC team and had never been invited in the corporators’ meetings.
In the meeting, the corporators also decided to go to Sanjari-Balod to support their party candidate in the by-election. The meeting continued for over two hours in which 29 corporators including MiC members were present.


BJP ST Morcha’s state executive meeting today

Raipur, January 31, 2011

The BJP ST Morcha’s (BJPSTM) state executive meeting would commence at the party office Ekatma Parisar from 12 pm on Tuesday. The BJP’s state general secretary (Organisation) Rampratap Singh will be the chief guest at the morcha’s inaugural session while party’s state unit president Ramsewak Paikra will preside over the concluding ceremony, informed BJPSTM state general secretary Vikas Markam. The meeting would be addressed by morcha’s state president Satyanand Rathiya and other senior leaders. The meeting will be attended by Rajya Sabha member Nandkumar Sai, Parliamentarian Vishnu Dev Sai, Murarilal Singh, Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar, Panchayat and Development Minister Ramvichar Netam, Public Health Engineering Minister Kedar Kashyap, Forest Minister Vikram Usendi, Women and Child Development Minister Lata Usendi, morcha’s office-bearers, district presidents, etc.

BJP Minority Morcha’s executive meeting today


Raipur, January 29, 2011

The state executive meeting of BJP Minority Morcha (BJPMM) will be convened at Ekatma Parisar on Sunday. The morcha’s national president Tanveer Ahmed will be the specially invited guest in the meeting. Ahmed reached state capital from New Delhi on Saturday night.
In this connection, the morcha’s state general secretary Akram Quraishi had convened a meeting of the office-bearers at party office on Saturday. On the occasion, the BJP vice president Sachchidanand Upasne and the BJPMM state president Mirza Ejaz Baig gave significant guidance to the morcha’s office-bearers. The morcha’s former president Rustam Singh Bhati was also present in the meeting. The other BJPMM workers who attended the meeting were – morcha’s vice presidents - Salim Memon and Kadar Bhai, secretaries – Najma Azim, Amjad Ali, Shabnam Taj, Rajju Memon, Firoz Gandhi, office secretary Sajid Pathan, treasurers Dr Mehruddin Mirza and Sabir Bhai, etc.




RMC to seal shops if licence fee not paid till Jan 31

Will also impose fivefold penalty on shopkeepers

Raipur, January 29, 2011

The civic Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary has once again urged from the shopkeepers having their establishments within RMC’s periphery to pay their licence fee be January 31, 2011. “Now, the shopkeepers will have last two days to submit the licence fee of their shops and after that the RMC would not only start sealing the shops but would also impose five times fine on the non-payers,” warned Choudhary on Saturday.
“For convenience of the shopkeepers, the RMC is organising collection camps from 9 am to 5 pm in all the eight zones where they can pay their licence fee,” Choudhary added. He said that the camps would remain open on Sunday and all the zone commissioners had been instructed to ensure that the Revenue staff should be present to collect licence fee.
Choudhary has further asked the zone commissioners to enlist the shopkeepers who would not pay licence fee so that appropriate action could be taken against them from February 1, 2011. He informed that the municipal corporation had fixed the licence fee for different categories for current financial year according to rules.
According to revised licence fee, the rice and dal mill owners would now have to pay Rs 3175 as against the previous fee of Rs 2500. Similarly, the municipal will charge Rs 1250 from oil and poha (flattened rice) mills (earlier it was Rs 1000), Rs 500 from flour and saw mills as well as from tea depots and Rs 200 from soda, bakery and confectionary shop owners.
The licence fee for lodges would be according to their bed-capacity. The lodges with 15 beds would have to pay Rs 1250, from 15 beds to 30 beds - Rs 2500 and above 30 beds - Rs 3125.
Among hotels and restaurants, the licence fee for air conditioner (AC) food zones would be Rs 3750 and non AC eating joints would be Rs 1250.
Among business establishments providing health services, the RMC has hiked the licence fee by 30 percent and now the nursing homes, medical research centres, drug shops and maternity centres would have to pay from Rs 2500 top Rs 22500.
The licence fee for grocery shop owners have been hiked from Rs 200 to Rs 2500 while the foreign liquor shops would have to pay Rs 18750 and country liquor shops – Rs 12500.
Choudhary informed that the municipal’s licence fee list broadly comprised of business units pertaining to food, medical service and manufacturing units including industries producing dangerous and inflammable products.



All religion prayer on Gandhi’s death anniversary today

Raipur, January 29, 2011

The municipal corporation will organise an all religion prayer to observe the death anniversary of Mahatama Gandhi before his statue at the Town Hall premises at 10 am on Sunday.
The president of RMC’s Culture department Jagdish Ahuja informed that a tribute programme would also be organised in the Town Hall on Sunday during which Kabirpanthi Bharti brothers and Madan Singh Chouhan will present bhajans and patriotic songs.
Besides, the followers of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Budhdhist and Jain religions would also read their religions scriptures to remember Gandhi. At 11 am, the guests and citizens would pay silent homage for two minutes to Gandhi and all the martyrs who had sacrificed their life for the nation.
Considering Gandhi’s death anniversary, the municipal corporation on has issued a directive on Saturday that all the mutton shops will remain close on Sunday on the occasion of Gandhi’s death anniversary. The RMC’s deputy commissioner (health) Rakesh Jaiswal informed that the Urban Administration and Development department had given clear instructions to the civic administration to prohibit slaughtering of animals and selling of meat on January 30 (Sunday).
Jaiswal has warned the mutton shop owners to keep their shops closed to avoid punitive action. He has further instructed all the zonal sanitary inspectors to keep an eye on the mutton shops on Sunday and impose heavy fine on those who would keep their shops open besides taking strong legal action against them.
Ahuja has urged Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, RMC Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava, leader of BJP corporators Subhash Tiwari, Mayor-in-Council (MiC) members, corporators and citizens to attend the tribute programme at large number.



RMC to establish readymade public toilets in marketplaces

Raipur, January 29, 2011

The municipal corporation will establish readymade public toilets in busy marketplaces of the city. For this, the RMC will soon prepare a detailed project report (DPR). “This is a new and convenient concept and the most apt one for the markets of out city,” said Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak who learnt about it during the Municipalika 2011 that concluded in Bangalore on Saturday.
Nayak informed that among different exhibitions, the concept of readymade public toilet and readymade multi-level parking lot with lift appealed her. She said about 750 mayors and civic commissioners participated in the three-day Municipalika 2011 that commenced on January 27, 2011.
The mayors not only discussed over public participation in the planning and development of the municipal corporations, but also tried to figure out methods to develop ‘organised and moving city’.
The mayors also discussed over the Centrally-sponsored Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and felt that the urban bodies needed to comprehend it fully so that the project commenced under it may not stop before completion.
Nayak said the Municipalika 2011 was one and only event in the country that was dedicated to elaborate urban development and municipal solutions.
The trade show performed as a perfect spot to accumulate the information regarding urban infrastructure development, regulation and enforcement, to evaluate the prospects and perils faced by the relevant field and to construct the effective plans and solutions for future growth, she said.
Similarly, the expo cum conference served as an ideal interactive hub for government policy makers, mayors and municipal commissioners, corporate executives, urban stakeholders, professionals and industry experts, and international agency representatives, she added.
It rather brought together a huge number of exhibitors who displayed their latest products, technologies, equipments, machineries and services for municipals and governments as well as for regions like water supply, sanitation, sewerage, waste management, transportation, traffic, fire safety and security, environment, e-governance, etc, she said.
The profile of exhibits at Municipalika 2011 comprised - water supply treatment & distribution machinery & equipment, water extraction, macro water management, water conservation, rain water harvesting, desalination, water consultancy, pumps, valves, compressors & fittings, collection treatment, storage, transportation and disposal of municipal, industrial, hazardous and bio-medical waste, waste recycling, waste-to-energy, assets and facility management, conservancy, public hygiene & sanitation, environmental protection & pollution control measuring equipment & systems, mass rapid and multi-modal transport, bus & rail systems, building, construction & infrastructure development, etc.

Raman to attend CMs’ conference on internal security on Feb 1


Raipur, January 28, 2011

To deal terrorism and naxalism that are continuously posing threat to the nation’s internal security, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will convene a meeting of chief ministers at New Delhi on February 1, 2011. Chief Minister Raman Singh will leave for the national capital to attend the daylong meeting on January 31.
The CM will demand more funds from the Centre to counter naxalism. On February 2, the CM will meet Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Union Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (Independent Charge) Prof. KV Thomas.
In his last meeting, the CM had demanded Rs 272 crore from Ahluwalia for water and sanitation projects for Naya Raipur, but the Centre did not release the fund because the maximum limit of such grants fixed by the Planning Commission was much less. The CM would urge Ahluwalia to increase the fund limit for proper implementation of the projects in Naya Raipur.
Besides, the CM will discuss with the Union Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge about the state government’s ambitious plans to launch a major scheme for labourers in Chhattisgarh for which he would seek financial succor from the Centre.
He would further meet the new Union Food Minister Professor KV Thomos and would demand release of pending fund to the state under public distribution scheme (PDS).



RSU to distribute 143 gold medals, 137 PhDs, 29090 degrees

On its 17th convocation ceremony on Feb 2

Anuradha Dawani will receive 7 medals, Nisha Singh will get 6

Raipur, January 28, 2011

Pt Ravishankar Shukla University (RSU) will distribute 143 gold medals and 29090 graduation and post graduation degrees besides one D Lit and 137 PhDs on its 17th convocation ceremony to be held at the varsity auditorium on February 2, 2011. The highest number of gold medals would be given to Anuradha Dawani (07), an MBBS from Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Medical College Raipur and Nisha Singh (06), a science graduate from St Thomas College Bhilai for their outstanding performance in studies in the academic session 2009-10, informed varsity’s Vice Chancellor Professor Sheo Kumar Pandey while interacting with the media persons on Friday. 
The D Lit would be given to Dr Shriram Parihar, principal of Khandwa PG Girls College MP. He will get the degree for his thesis on Hindi literature.
Professor Pandey informed that the girls had surpassed boys again in the list of PhD and gold medal candidates. There would be 57 boys and 80 girls among PhD recipients and 34 boys and 58 girls in the list of gold medal winners.
The overall performance of girls in different examinations was better than boys. In 2009-10, the varsity received 156288 examination forms - 82187 boys (appeared – 77364, cleared - 37177) and 74101 girls (appeared 71995, cleared - 43333).
The highest number of the PhDs would be given on Chemistry - 20 followed by Hindi - 13, English – 12 and Commerce - 11.
The PhDs to be distributed on other subjects are – Sanskrit – 2, Library and Information Science – 1, Political Science – 5, Economics – 5, History – 6, Sociology – 4, Geography – 6, Regional Studies – 1, Psychology – 6, Education – 6, Physical Education – 3, Management – 2, Law – 1, Physics – 4, Mathematics – 1, Statistics – 3, Anthropology – 3, Biology – 5, Zoology – 4, Botany – 4, Microbiology – 2, Pharmacy – 1, Engineering – 5 and Engineering Science – 1.
The varsity registrar KK Chandrakar informed that the candidates who would receive PhD and gold medal would have to submit Rs 500 (refundable amount) to obtain gowns. The amount should be submitted to Dr Arvind Agrawal at Academic Staff College (Arts building) in the varsity campus, he said.
The rehearsal of the convocation ceremony would be done in the ground before varsity administrative building at 3 pm on February 1. The candidates who would get medals and degrees would have to mandatorily attend the rehearsal programme and must have to reach Academic Staff College (Arts building) amid10:30 am to 2:30 pm to get cloaks.
The chief guest of convocation ceremony would be chairman of Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) Dr DK Radhakrishnan while Governor and Chancellor Shekhar Dutt will preside over the programme. Chief Minister Raman Singh will be the distinguished guest in the programme while the special guests would be Raipur Parliamentarian Ramesh Bais, Vidhan Sabha Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik, School Education Minister Brijmohan Agrawal, Higher Education Minister Hemchand Yadav, Urban Administration Minister Rajesh Munat, leader of Congress legislators’ party Ravindra Choubey and Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak.


ISRO chairman to arrive on Feb 1

Raipur, January 28, 2011

The chairman of Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) Dr DK Radhakrishnan who would be the chief guest at Pt Ravishankar Shukla University (RSU) 17th convocation ceremony February 2, 2011 would arrive in the state capital from Bangalore a day before on February 1.
“Dr Radhakrishnan will board for Kolkata after attending the RSU’s convocation programme but since there is no direct flight from Bangalore to Raipur and Raipur to Kolkata, he has scheduled his itinerary according to the availability of flights. Hence, he will reach Raipur on February 1 and would lave for Kolkata on February 3,” informed varsity’s Vice Chancellor Professor Sheo Kumar Pandey.
Considering Dr Radhakrishnan’s early arrival, the varsity administration has arranged his two lecture programmes on ‘space research works’ – at National Institute of Technology (NIT) from 4-5 pm on February 1 and in Sir CV Raman Hall at varsity’s School of Studies in Physics & Astrophysics (SOSPA) from 10:30-11:30 am on February 2.
Pointing that the state lacked space science and aeronautical engineering branches in its universities and engineering colleges, Professor Pandey said he would seek Dr Radhakrishnan’s guidance and ISRO’s help in commencing such significant branches in the RSU.

CM to inaugurate new indoor stadium on Feb 3


Stadium’s construction cost rose from Rs 6.84 cr to Rs 25 cr in 14 years

Raipur, January 27, 2011

After waiting for over a decade, the Raipurians will finally have their own fully-facilitated indoor stadium ready to host sporting events when Chief Minister Raman Singh will inaugurate it in presence of Urban Administration Minister Rajesh Munat, PWD Minister Brijmohan Agrawal and leader of Opposition at state Assembly Ravindra Choubey on February 3, 2011. Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak announced the inauguration date of the indoor stadium while interacting with the media persons on Thursday.
To make occasion memorable, the RMC along with AF track Events and Promotion would organise a three-day dance competition for youths from January 30 to February 1 at Shaheed Smarak Bhawan. The competition would have different categories like - group, solo, duet and classical.
The top three winners of the competition would receive Rs 21000, Rs 15000 and Rs 11000 cash prize respectively during the inauguration ceremony of the indoor stadium.
“The fully air conditioned indoor stadium with 5000-seart capacity has been constructed at Sports Complex Budhapara at the cost of Rs 25 crore that included all the sporting facilities inside the stadium as well as beautification and development in the outer part,” informed Nayak.
Initially, the stadium’s cost was Rs 6.84 crore and the proposal was approved first on September 30, 1996 during former Mayor Balbeer Singh Juneja’s tenure. 
The contract to build the stadium was given to PD Agrawal in June 11, 1996 who commenced the project on March 31, 1998. The construction works halted several times from 1998 to December 2003 and then completely stopped.
Later, the Urban Administration department approved Rs 21.62 crore for the stadium in 2006. After this, the contractor started the project again in August 2008.

On inauguration of new civic headquarters, Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak said the date would be announced later. “We are planning to invite AICC president Sonia Gandhi to inaugurate the new building, but she has hectic schedule in the coming days owing to which we could not get confirmation of her arrival. As soon as she will give her approval for inauguration ceremony of new civic HO, we would announce the date,” Nayak said.



Over 100 municipal employees suspended

Raipur, January 27, 2011

The civic Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary has suspended over hundred municipal employees with an immediate effect for not attending the training programme for enumerators and supervisors of census 2011 without giving informing their senior authorities. In this connection, Choudhary issued necessary directives to Deputy Commissioner Krishna Kumar Dubey on Thursday. The training programme was organised for the second phase of the Census that would be held from February 9 to 28, 2011, informed Choudhary.


Call general body in 10 days: BJP corporators

Raipur, January 27, 2011

The BJP corporators have demanded from civic Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary to call general body meeting within ten days. Submitting a memorandum to Choudhary in this connection, the BJP corporators led by their leader Subhash Tiwari said that Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak was deliberately stalling the general body meeting owing to which several proposals pertaining to city’s development were pending.


Zonal flying squads constituted to prevent encroachments

Raipur, January 27, 2011

The municipal corporation has constituted zonal flying squads to prevent increasing encroachments in the city. The RMC Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary has asked all the zone commissioners to commence anti-encroachment campaign in their areas and impose heavy fine on those who reoccupy the same space after sometime. In this connection, the zone 1 flying squad led by zone commissioner BR Agrawal and Assistant Engineer zonal Town Planning office Vijay Singh Thakur removed 30 encroachments from either side of Railway overbridge at Khamtarai area on Thursday.


Mayor demands rehab for squatters near rail tracks

Raipur, January 27, 2011

Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak has demanded from South East Central Railway (SECR) to rehabilitate the squatters dwelling on the lands besides rail tracks in the capital city. She said the best rehabilitation package for such people would be Sukhi Grih Prakalp Yojana (SGPY) that was launched by Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata Municipal Corporation. In this connection, Nayak met SECR’s DRM Binayak P Swain on Thursday and informed him that shanty dwellers near rail tracks were leading abject life in the absence of basic facilities and their conditions aggravate during rains when their areas get submerge.
Swain assured that he and other Railway engineers would conduct spot inspection of Veerangana Avanti Bai Lodhi ward, WRS region and Jagriti Nagar (Raman Mandir ward) along with RMC’s zone 1 & 2 engineers and local corporators either on coming on coming or following Sunday.
Both Nayak and Swain agreed that eviction would not be done forcibly in any of the areas and first the SECR and civic officials would evolve consensus before commencing any rehabilitation plan. For this, the Railway officials would first identify the lands occupied by the squatters near rail tracks and then prepare a detail project report (DPR) to implement in all the areas.
Briefing about some of the specific problems of the slum areas besides tracks in Jagriti Nagar, Nayak said the residents live in unhygienic conditions as they lack sulabh toilet and the construction of the drain in the locality was stopped before completion. Besides, the culvert on Vishakhapatnam track requires revamping and widening, Railway’s approval required for road concretisation and construction of Aanganbadi centre for impoverished children in the area.
The SGPY is aimed to provide better life to the slum dwellers who wish to vacate the lands they occupy besides the rail tracks. According to scheme, the Railways along with Union Urban development Department would construct flats with one room, kitchen and toilet for the squatters. These flats would be provided free-of-cost to these people.
Under the scheme, only the listed shanty dwellers would get flats and not the encroachers who had recently occupied the Railway land.


Cong announces poll campaign committee for Sanjari-Balod

Raipur, January 27, 2011

The state Congress has announced 45-member election campaign committee for Sanjari-Balod Assembly constituency by-election slated to be held on February 14, 2011.
According to information, a majority of the members in the committee are supporters of AICC treasurer Motilal Vora, PCC president Dhanendra Sahu and Leader of the Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Ravindra Choubey.
The committee comprises of eight legislators and two mayors – Tamradhwaj Sahu, Badruddin Quraishi, Bhajan Singh Nirankari, Pratima Chandrakar, Shivraj Singh Usare, Gurmukh Singh Hora, Ambika Markam, Lekhram Sahu, Rajnandgaon Municipal Corporation Mayor Naresh Dakalia and Bhilai Municipal Corporation Mayor Nirmala Yadav.
The other members are - Ghanaram Sahu, Arun Vora, Kishan Khandelwal, Ramesh Rathore, Harshad Mehta, Arvind Netam, Devvrat Singh, Pradeep Choubey, Fulodevi Netam, ganga Thakur Potai, Bupesh Baghel, Domendra Bhedia, Kishanlal Kurre, Dhanesh Patila, Uday Mudliyar, Madhav Singh Dhruv, Somprakash Giri, Chandrahas Sahu, Shiv Netam, Manturam Pawar, Shyama Dhruva, Oni Mahilang, Anita Kumeti, Bhola Ram Sahu, Rajendra Arora, Jeevan Lal Verma, Ayyub Khan, Amin Memon, Kalpana Deshmukh, Santosh Pandey, Devendra Yadav, RN Pandey, Digvijay Kridutt and Manak Darpatti.


Vora to arrive today

Raipur, January 27, 2011

The senior Congress leader and AICC treasurer Motilal Vora will arrive in the state capital morning by regular flight from New Delhi at 7:30 am on Friday. Vora will leave for his hometown Durg at 8:30 am and would return to Raipur at 6 pm. He would leave for national capital at 8.45 pm through Raipur-New Delhi flight.


BJP Minority Morcha meeting today

Raipur, January 27, 2011

An emergency meting of BJP Minority Morcha (BJPMM) would be convened at Ekatma Parisar at 5 pm on Friday. The morcha’s district president Abdul Hafeez informed that the meeting would be specially attended by BJPMM state president Mirza Ejaz Baig and BJP district president Ashok Pandey.


Sharma hoists tricolour at Congress Bhawan

Raipur, January 27, 2011

The PCC working president Satyanarayan Sharma hoisted national flag at Congress Bhawan on the occasion of Republic Day on January 26. The flag hoisting programme was attended by legislators Amitesh Shukla and Kuldeep Juneja, Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, DCC president Inderchand Dhariwal, vice president Madan Lal Taleda, general secretary Dr Niranjan Haritwal, Seva Dal’s state organiser Ashok Raj Ahuja, Pradesh Mahila Congress working president Kalpana Patel and others.


Bhansali hoists national flag at Ekatma Parisar

Raipur, January 27, 2011

The legislator and Rajasthan BJP treasurer Kailash Bhansali hoisted the tricolour at Ekatma Parisar on Republic Day on January 26. Bhansali gave his best wishes to the people of Chhattisgarh on the occasion. The flag hoisting programme was attended by chairman of National Mineral Development Corporation Gaurishankar Agrawal, BJP district president Ashok Pandey, RDA chairman Sunil Soni, vice chairmen Prafulla Vishwakarma and Ratan Daga, Ashok Bajaj, Suryakant Rathore, Channi Verma and others.


BJYM hoisted tricolour symbolically at Lal chowk

Raipur, January 27, 2011

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) hoisted national flag by symbolically making Srinagar’s Lal chowk (Jammu & Kashmir) in different part of the city on Republic Day on January 26. The morcha’s state general secretary Ashish Agrawal and district president Sanju Narayan Singh hoisted the tricolour in front of Pt Ravishankar Shukla (RSU) gate at Amanaka on January 26 morning in presence of organisation’s all mandal workers.
On the occasion, Agrawal and Singh said that the BJYM would continue its movement against the Union government for forcibly stopping its Rashtriya Ekta Yatra. “Every Indian has right to hoist the national flag in any part of the country. By stopping our yatra in the midway, the Congress-led UPA government’s anti-national policies have been exposed,” the duo said.
Later all the mandal incharges hoisted the flag in their respective regions in presence of the workers by symbolically making Lal chowk.
The BJP workers present at varsity gate programme were – BJP state vice president Sachchidanand Upasne, BJYM divisional convenor Rajesh Pandey, leader of BJP corporators at RMC Subhash Tiwari and others.

BJPMM observes Scindia’s death anniversary


Raipur, January 25, 2011

The BJP Mahila Morcha (BJPMM) observed death anniversary of Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia at party’s state office Ekatma Parisar on Tuesday. On the occasion, the morcha workers garlanded the Scindia’s image and remembered her contributions to the BJP. The morcha’s state general secretary Rashmi Sharma said that Scindia’s life would always inspire the party workers. The morcha’s district president Meenal Choubey said she was embodiment of sincerity and loyalty and she had imparted new direction to the principles and ideals of Indian politics. The BJP’s state secretary Sanjay Shrivastava said that besides consolidating the party, Scindia always worked for women empower.


Prohibition on meat selling today

Raipur, January 25, 2011

The municipal corporation on Tuesday issued a directive that all the mutton markets would have to keep their shops close on Wednesday on the occasion of Republic Day. The Urban Administration and Development department has instructed the civic administration to ensure that slaughtering of animals and selling of meat within the municipal limits remain prohibited on Wednesday. The civic Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary has warned that the municipal would take stern action against those meat shopkeepers who would flout directives and impose heavy fine on them. He has asked all the zonal sanitary inspectors to keep an eye on the mutton shops on Republic Day.



Nursing Home Act: BJPMC for categorised rules for hospitals

Submits memorandum to CM

Raipur, January 25, 2011

The BJP Medical Cell has demanded from the state government that the Chhattisgarh Nursing Home & Health Care Establishment Act should have categorised rules for the hospitals. In this connection, a delegation of cell comprising state convenor Dr Akhilesh Dubey, co-convenor Dr Shailesh Khandelwal and BJP state working committee member Dr JP Sharma gave a memorandum to Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday.
Through memorandum, the cell demanded that the small hospitals and clinics should be excluded from the rules framed under Chhattisgarh Nursing Home & Health Care Establishment Act while there should be different rules for medium and big hospitals. The cell further demanded from the CM to revoke the conditions that the hospitals should have trained paramedical staff and nurses.
To expand homeopathic treatment process in the state, the members of the delegation demanded quick recruitment of homeopathic doctors in government hospitals under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) as well as opening of 200 new homeopathic dispensaries, colleges and a university. They also sought commencement of new homeopathic research centre in Ayurvedic University.
Indicating that the health experts of alternative treatment process like Vaidya Visharad, Ayurveda Ratna, electropathy, alternative medicine and naturopathy serve the country’s 75 percent population, they said the Chhattisgarh government should register them as medical assistants.
They also requested for immediately closure of all the fake medical institutions that offer equivalent MBBS degrees through advertisements claiming to have affiliation with different authorised councils across the country.



Cong stages dharna against lawlessness

Raipur, January 25, 2011

The Congress staged silent dharna against lawlessness in the state near Sports Complex Budhapara from 12-2 pm on Tuesday. The DCC members led by their president Inderchand Dhariwal demanded resignation from Chief Minister Raman Singh and Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar for failing to control law and order. They also demanded adequate security for journalists and said the killer of journalist Umesh Rajput from Chhura should be immediately arrested.
Demanding Rs 10 lakh compensation for Rajput’s family the Youth Congress (YC) also burnt the effigy of the Home Minister at the dharna spot.
“Like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the Chhattisgarh too has become safe heaven for criminals ever since the BJP came into power. The crime rate has increased by manifolds both in the urban and rural areas. If the state government cannot control the situation then it should step down on moral grounds,” said the Congress workers.
The YC, on the other hand, warned that it would launch aggressive movement against the state government if the crime graph would not come down.
At dharna spot, Dhariwal was accompanied by DCC general secretary Dr Niranjan Haritwal, spokesperson Sheikh Shakeel, Pradesh Mahila Congress working president Kalpana Patel, NSUI state president Sanjeev Shukla and other Congress workers were present.


NSUI opposes opening of call centre in GDC bldg

Raipur, January 25, 2011

The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) has opposed the opening of new 108 Sanjivani Express call centre at Government Dental College (GDC) building at Rajbandha Maidan and has demanded from the Chief Minister Raman Singh to shift it elsewhere. In this regard, the NSUI members led by their state president Sanjeev Shukla and general secretary Subodh Haritwal submitted a memorandum to the CM after he flagged of ambulances called Sanjivani Express.
“The call centre is not a part of the GDC still it has been set up in the space meant for library of the college. According to the norms of Dental Council of India (DCI), if any governmental or non-governmental work without having link with the dental college would be opened in its edifice, the college would be immediately derecognised,” the duo said.
“We have informed the CM about the technicalities of the DCI pertaining to recognition of the college and have requested him shift the call centre elsewhere,” the duo added.
The NSUI members also demanded from the CM to rapidly commence the new GDC building and shift the students and dental faculty from the makeshift building in the premises of Ayurvedic College. The NSUI warned that it would forcibly shift the students if the government would not take initiative.



Students learn about Indian defence research

Raipur, January 25, 2011

The students of Pt Ravishankar Shukla University (RSU) learnt about Indian defence research at the varsity’s Sir CV Raman Hall on Tuesday. The lecture was imparted by Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Director General (DG) Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Secretary Defence R&D New Delhi and Scientific Advisor to Union Defence Minister AK Antony. Dr Saraswat informed the students about the indefatigable works done by the scientists in making the most advanced missiles of the country to safeguard its boundaries. He urged students to study sincerely and become the part of the country’s defence research centres as scientists to serve the nation.

Missile scientist Dr Saraswat to deliver lecture at RSU today


Raipur, January 24, 2011

Eminent missile Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Director General (DG) Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Secretary Defence R&D New Delhi and Scientific Advisor to Union Minister of Defence AK Antony will deliver a public lecture entitled – ‘Indian Defence Research: Opportunities and Challenges’ under the aegis of Public Outreach Centre (POC) at Sir CV Raman Hall in Pt Ravishankar Shukla University (RSU) on at 3:30 pm Tuesday. The varsity registrar KK Chandrakar informed that besides all the RSU faculty, research scholars and students, large number of people from different sectors would also attend the lecture programme.
Padmashri Dr Saraswat has spearheaded the development of country’s strategic and tactical missile systems including the ‘Agni’ series of strategic missiles covering a range up to 3,000 kms.
Dr Saraswat, a PhD in combustion engineering, started his career in DRDO in 1972 at the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad and was responsible for the development of country’s first liquid propulsion engine.
As Project Director of Prithvi missile, he steered the design, development, production and induction of the first indigenous surface-to-surface missile system into the armed forces.
The successful testing of Dhanush missile on board a moving ship with high terminal accuracy brought a new dimension in the national defence capability. As Program Director AD (Air Defence), Dr Saraswat pioneered the concept of theatre defence system and integration of national Air Defence elements. He was Director, Research Centre Imarat (RCI) before taking over as CC R&D (MSS) in November, 2005.
Dr Saraswat is a forerunner in the development of number of critical missile technologies that were under denial due to the Missile Technology Control Regime. He has headed various committees of national importance.
Dr Saraswat has received several awards including Prof Jai Krishna Memorial Award of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and National Systems Gold Medal by the Systems Society of India.


Fund crisis stalled WAS implementation: Mayor

During presentation of updated report of Water Augmentation Scheme

Raipur, January 24, 2011

The delay in practical implementation of Water Augmentation Scheme (WAS) in the city is due to fund crisis. The RMC has yet to receive final installment of the financial aid for the project and it would come from the Centre (Rs 63 crore) and the state government (Rs 15 crore). The information pertaining to scheme was imparted by Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak during the presentation by Public Health Engineering (PHE) on physical and financial progress of WAS at the RMC’s Pt Ravishankar Shukla conference hall on Monday noon.
“The RMC is committed to complete the project at the earliest if the funds would be available. To meet the Centre’s mandatory conditions pertaining to the scheme, the Mayor-in-Council (MiC) has recently approved work plan for water auditing, water bylaws and installation of water meters on tap connections,” said Nayak.
“Besides, we have made all other improvements in the Rs 303.64 crore-WAS according to stipulation of the Union government. The state government too has changed the water tax structure from Rs 60 to Rs 200 for this scheme,” Nayak added.
She said PHE also require fund to clear payments of contractors who had done required additional works under this scheme. She further held the state Assembly secretariat responsible for not approving the RMC’s proposal to lay 225 meter long water pipeline at Vidhan Sabha road to rid residents of Mova, Daldal Sivni and Saddu from acute water crisis during summer.
She appealed to the corporators to enlist water scarce areas of their wards and give proposals to their respective zone commissioners to solve the problem of water crisis in such parts. “For this, Rs 10 lakh should be used by every corporator in their area as recently the Urban Administration Minister Rajesh Munat had announced grant of Rs 20 lakh for each ward for development works,” said Nayak.
Earlier, Executive Engineers Lokesh Chandravanshi and Abhishek Bajpayee from PHE which is the nodal agency for WAS gave presentation on the updated report of the progress.



Corporator creates scene over delay in WAS

Raipur, January 24, 2011

The municipal’s independent corporator Govind Mishra created scene over delay in Water Augmentation Scheme (WAS) in the city and questioned the commitment of the civic authorities to solve the problem of water crisis in summer. Mishra’s outburst came during PHE’s detailed presentation on its physical and financial progress of WAS at the municipal’s Pt Ravishankar Shukla conference hall on Monday.
Mishra asked from Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak to inform all the corporators about the new deadline to complete the project pointing that seven out of 17 overhead tanks were still under-construction.
He further sought explanation from Nayak pertaining to the municipal’s plans to deal water scarcity problem if the Centre and state government would not releases their share of grant funds for the project in coming months. The Centre has yet to release Rs 63 crore for the scheme while Rs 15 crore will flow from state government’s exchequer.
Nayak replied that the RMC could start supplying water to the Raipurians under the scheme initially with 10 overhead tanks in the summer. “However, for this, the state government would have quickly release its share of grant fund, i.e. Rs 15 crore or else the people dwelling in wards where water table declines sharply during summer would have to once again rely on tankers,” she added.
Mishra, who was part of municipal’s Mayor-in-Council (MiC) earlier, had later resigned alleging that he had no powers in spite of holding the post of president Public Health and Sanitation department and was not even able to carry out development works in his own ward.
While the Congress corporators said Mishra adopted combative tone during the presentation programme due to frustration. “Not only Mishra but all the corporators are concerned about the delay in WAS but this is not a municipal’s fault and the progress of the project depends on the availability of the funds,” said the Congress corporators while attempting to defend their mayor.


BJP pays tribute to Lakhiram Agrawal

Raipur, January 24, 2011

The BJP paid floral tribute to Lakhiram Agrawal on the occasion of his death anniversary at part’s state office Ekatma Parisar on Monday. The tribute programme was attended by Chief Minister Raman Singh, BJP national vice president Karuna Shukla, BJP state unit president Ramsewak Paikra, general secretary Organisation Rampratap Singh, Rajya Sabha MP Nand Kumar Sai, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Punnulal Mohle, Ashok Sharma, Dinesh Kashyap, Meghraj Sahu and others.


RMC lodged FIR against 23 civic staffers, 11 suspended

Raipur, January 24, 2011

The RMC has lodged FIR against 23 municipal staffers for not attending the training programme for enumerators and supervisors of census 2011. In this regard, the civic Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary gave necessary instructions to Deputy Commissioner Krishna Kumar Dubey on Monday. Choudhary also suspended 11 out of these 23 employees with an immediate effect. The action was taken against these employees because they remained absent from the training programme organised on January 22, 23 and 24, 2011 without prior information, said Choudhary.


BJYM stops goods train, halts rail traffic for 2 hrs

Alleges that Centre conspiring to thwart its Rashtriya Ekta Yatra

Raipur, January 24, 2011

The Bharatiya Janata Yuwa Morcha (BJYM) on Monday noon stopped a goods train at Mahoba Bazar level crossing and halted the rail traffic for more than two hours in its protest against cancellation of special train that was supposed to carry about 3300 state BJYM workers from Raipur to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on January 23, 2011 under the organisation’s Rashtriya Ekta Yatra to hoist national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic day on January 26. The BJYM workers alleged that the Centre was conspiring to thwart their plan to hoist the tricolor in J&K.
The BJYM workers also shout slogans against the Centre as well as Union Home and Railway ministries. Later, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) detained the protesters and released on personal bond.
“We also condemn the highhandedness of the RPF that used force on us while we were protesting at Mahoba Bazar level crossing,” said the BJYM district president Sanju Narayan Singh Thakur.
The BJP district president Ashok Pandey said that the BJYM stopped the goods train because the Union Railway Ministry cancelled their prescheduled special train under Congress-led UPA government’s pressure.
The BJYM’s state general secretary Ashish Agrawal said “The UPA does not want integrity in the country owing to which it is trying to prevent us to hoist the tricolour in Srinagar.”
After the BJYM’s special train was cancelled, it had warned on Sunday night to protest against the Centre and Railways by stopping train. The BJYM workers along with Mahila Morcha and BJP leaders started gathering at Mahoba Bazar level crossing from 1 pm on Monday. Meanwhile, the district police and RPF jawans and officials were present in large number.

Historical Budha Talab to be developed into tourist spot


Raipur, January 22, 2011

The historical Budha Talab (Swami Vivekananda Sarovar) will be developed into a tourist spot. In this connection, a meeting of RMC and Chhattisgarh Tourism Board (CTB) officials and public representatives was jointly convened by Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak and CTB chairman Krishna Kumar Rai at Neelabh Udyan in Budha Talab on Saturday.
Nayak regretted that in spite of memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the RMC and CTB regarding conservation, beautification and development of Budha Talab a couple of years back, the board had not taken any initiative towards the project.
Pointing that the CTB removed water hyacinths only recently after flood of public complaints, Nayak said such delays would only extend the deadline of the task. She urged from the board chairman to provide the fund to develop the pond and commence the work and assured that the municipal would provide full cooperation in accomplishing the project.
The RMC and CTB will also constitute a committee that would monitor the project. The committee would comprise both RMC and CTB officials including municipal’s MiC members and corporators from the wards surrounding Budha Talab.
Nayak further suggested that four spots should be fixed at Budha Talab for the people who perform their religious works and immerse puja materials. “For this, four kunds should be made so that later all the immersed materials could be lifted by the machine and converted into fertiliser,” she said.
To regularly desilt Budha Talab, Nayak said the board should make a policy under which a machine could be engaged to ensure that the pond remain clean.
The CTB chairman Krishna Kumar Rai said that the pond contain huge amount of waste because people habitually throw filth and garbage in it. He appealed to the people to avoid polluting the pond by throwing waste materials in it and assured that it would be developed into the most sought after tourist spot of the capital. He also urged from the people, especially fishermen, to avoid breaking the boundary wall of the pond and prevent others if they attempt to do so.


Prabhatferi on Netaji Jayanti today

Raipur, January 22, 2011

The students of RMC will take out prabhatferi on the occasion of birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on Sunday. The prabhatferi will be taken out from Jaistambh chowk at 8.30 am and would reach Station chowk am via Sharda chowk, MG road, Gurunanak chowk and Deshbandhu School road. At 10 am, the students, Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, RMC Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava, leader of BJP corporators Subhash Tiwari, MiC members, corporators and municipal officials would pay floral tribute to Netaji before his statue at Station chowk.


RMC felicitates state gallantry award winning children

Raipur, January 22, 2011

The municipal corporation on Saturday felicitated six children who have won state gallantry award. The felicitation was done by Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak who gave citations to the children in presence of RMC Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava, president of municipal’s Culture department Jagdish Ahuja, MiC members and civic staffers.
On the occasion, Nayak said the children are pride of Chhattisgarh as well as India and extended her best wishes for their future. To inspire the award winning children, Nayak would show them Vijayanta tank on Sunday on the occasion of birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The tank is placed near Anupam garden for exhibition.
The gallantry award winning children who were felicitated by the RMC are – Shailendra Nagar (Raipur) resident Sheetal Saluja (10), Pendra Road (Bilaspur) residents Durgesh Singh Otti and Devashish Pandey (12), Yuvraj Yadav (10) and Bhagwat Yadav (10) from village Selud from Patan (Durg) and Jaideep Singh Bais (11) from Azad chowk Akaltara (Janjgir-Champa).


PHE to present updated report of WAS tomorrow

Raipur, January 22, 2011

The Public Health Engineering (PHE) department would present updated report of Rs 303.64 crore-Water Augmentation Scheme (WAS) at RMC’s Pt Ravishankar Shukla conference hall at 12 pm on January 24, 2011. The PHE which is nodal agency to execute the project in the state capital would give detailed presentation on its physical and financial progress to the RMC, informed municipal’s Water Resources department Executive Engineer AK Malwe on Saturday.
The WAS is sponsored by the Union government under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and was approved back in 2007. The PHE failed to complete the project within the given timeframe, i.e. before March 2010 due to fund crunch.
After completion of this scheme, the Raipurians would not face water crisis till 2050. The scheme comprises of a new filter pant with 150 million litres per day (MLD) capacity which is being constructed at Ravanbhatha and 17 overhead water tanks in different parts of the city. The PHE has almost completed construction works of ten overhead tanks but remaining seven are still under-construction.
Malwe informed that Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, RMC Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava, leader of BJP corporators Subhash Tiwari, MiC members, corporators and civic staffers would see the presentation of PHE on the scheme.


Smriti Irani to attend BJPMM executive meeting today

Raipur, January 22, 2011

The state BJP Mahila Morcha’s (BJPMM) day-long executive meeting would be convened at party’s office Ekatma Parisar on Sunday. The specially invited guest in the meeting would be morcha’s national president Smriti Irani. The BJP’s national vice president and morcha’s national incharge Karuna Shukla and BJP state general secretary (Organisation) Rampratap Singh would also be present as special guests in the meeting.
The BJPMM state general secretary Rashmi Sharma informed that it would be the first meeting of the morcha after the constitution of its executive committee.
The meeting will commence at 12 pm with morcha’s state president Shobha Soni’s address to the workers. There will be two sessions of the meeting. The morcha would discuss on political resolutions in the first session. The morcha’s state patron and Women and Child Development Department Minister Lata Usendi will be present in this session. The morcha’s state general secretary Puja Vidhani will present the report of morcha’s works and would inform about its future programmes.
There would be women’s conference during the second and concluding session. The meeting would be attended by morcha’s state office-bearers, members of executive committee, specially invited members and all the district presidents, informed Sharma.


BJYM workers to leave for J&K today

To hoist tricolour at Srinagar on R-day

Raipur, January 22, 2011

The Bharatiya Janata Yuwa Morcha (BJYM) office-bearers and workers from the state will leave for Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on Sunday to hoist national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic day on January 26 under the organisation’s Rashtriya Ekta Yatra. These workers will board a special train at 1 pm on Sunday. The BJP’s state unit president Ramsewak Paikra, general secretary (Organisation) Rampratap Singh, PWD Minister Brijmohan Agrawal, Urban Administration Minister Rajesh Munat, BJP district president Ashok Pandey and other senior leaders will flag off the special train, informed the BJYM state general secretaries Ashish Agrawal and Bhupender Singh on Saturday.
The duo further informed that about 3300 BJYM workers will board the special train on Sunday while more than 2000 workers had already left for J&K recently.

RMC to spend Rs 58 lakh in beautification of Gandhi Maidan


Raipur, January 20, 2011

The municipal corporation will spend Rs 58 lakh in beautification of Gandhi Maidan. In this connection, Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak performed bhoomipujan of the work in presence of RMC Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava, DCC president Inderchand Dhariwal, MiC members and zone 7 officials.
According to project, the municipal will also rehabilitate 26 street vendors at one corner of the ground where shops would be constructed for them.
Besides, the ground would be leveled, fencing would be done around it to prevent entry of stray animals, pavers would be constructed in the inner circumference and the old platform would be replaced by the newer and attractive one. There will be three entry gates for the ground from three directions.
Nayak said the completion of project would impart organised look to the ground and the organisations and parties that would organise rallies and public meetings there too would not have to face any inconvenience.
On rehabilitation of street vendors, Nayak said, “At present, several thelas and kiosks are located on the ground haphazardly owing to which the entire Gandhi Maidan looks filthy. With shops in a row and at one corner of the ground, the location would have its choupati.”
Nayak asked Deputy Commissioner (Health) and vendor policy Superintendent Rakesh Jaiswal and zone 7 commissioner P Rajesh Naidu to accomplish the task of beautifying Gandhi Maidan according to the set construction norms within the given timeframe.


Tribute programme today

Raipur, January 20, 2011

The municipal corporation will observe the 68th death anniversary of martyr Hemu Kalani by paying him floral tribute in front of his statue at Kutchery chowk at 10 am on Friday.


BJP Mahila Morcha organises haldi kumkum programme

Raipur, January 20, 2011

The BJP Mahila Morcha organised haldi kumkum programme on Thursday. On the occasion, the chairman of National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) Gaurishankar Agrawal, BJP state vice president Sachchidanand Upasne, secretary Sanjay Shrivastava and BJP Raipur district president Ashok Pandey addressed the morcha members. The programme was attended by Mahila Morcha’s district president Meenal Choubey and members – Shashi Thakur, Bindu Maheshwari, Sangeeta Jain, Murali Naidu, Geeta Thakur, Subhadra Tamboli, Saraswati Saha, Sushma Shivhare, Vandana Agrawal, Sulekha Pandey, Savita Pandey, etc.



BJP ST Morcha’s state executive meeting today

Raipur, January 20, 2011

The BJP ST Morcha’s first state executive meeting would commence at the party office Ekatma Parisar from 11 am on Friday. The meeting would be attended by Chief Minister Raman Singh, morcha’s national president Dushyant Kumar Gautam, vice president and Chhattisgarh ST Morcha incharge Jagdish Rokde, BJP state unit president Ramsewak Paikra, general secretary Rampratap Singh, MLA Krishna Kumar Bandhi, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Punnulal Mohle, Industries Minister Dayaldas Baghel, vice chairman of ST Development Authority Domanlal Korsewad, state ST morcha’s president Ramji Bharti and other senior leaders, informed morcha’s state general secretary Sunil Bandre. He further informed that the morcha members warmly welcomed their national vice president Jagdish Rokde who reached state capital on Thursday.



BJPKM nationwide dharna against Seed Bill on Feb 17

Decision taken on the concluding day of morcha’s two-day state executive meeting

Raipur, January 20, 2011

The BJP Kisan Morcha (BJPKM) will stage nationwide dharna against the Seed Bill pending in the parliament and then submit memorandum to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. The significant decision was taken on concluding day of morcha’s two-day state executive meeting that held at party office Ekatma Parisar on Thursday.
The morcha’s national president Om Prakash Dhankad said, “The proposed Seed Bill is anti-farmer and unless the Centre makes amendment in the bill on the basis of BJPKM’s recommendations, the BJP will keep protesting it in the parliament.”
He said the Union government was ignoring the genuine demands of farmers in spite of being aware that about 60 percent of the country’s population depends on agriculture sector. Dhankad appealed to the morcha members to inform the executive body’s 16-point recommendations to every farmer of the state.
The morcha members also collected Rs two lakh cash amount under their Kisan Sahayata Kosh to provide financial succor to the poor farmers of Andhra Pradesh in wake of 300 suicides committed by those whose crops were damaged due to unseasonal rains. Dhankad appealed to the farmers of the country to unite and avoid thoughts like suicide due to financial crunch.
The BJP general secretary (Organisation) Rampratap Singh urged that the besides agricultural works, the morcha members should attempt to consolidate the organisation in rural pockets. He said the morcha should also constitute executive bodies at mandal level so that the members could publicise the state government’s projects and schemes launched for the benefit of farmers. He appealed to all the BJPKM office-bearers to form Kisan Prahari in 9500 panchayats of the state by August 2011.
The meeting was also attended by the chairman of Seed Development Corporation Shyam Bais who gave significant tips to the morcha members about seeds and fertilisers.
The morcha’s national vice president Ravindra Rai who is also the incharge of Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Vichar Shivir to be organised on February 26 and 27, 2011 at Raipur urged the members to make the camp successful by attending it in large number.
On the occasion, the morcha’s state president Sandeep Sharma allocated works for the camp. He asked all the district morcha presidents to constitute mandals by February 15, 2011.


Gadkari, Advani to attend BJPKM’s national camp

Raipur, January 20, 2011

The BJP’s national president Nitin Gadkari, Lal Krishna Advani, Rajnath Singh and leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley would arrive in the state capital to attend the BJP Kisan Morcha’s (BJPKM) Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Vichar Shivir to be organised on February 26 and 27, 2011. The objective to organise the camp is to prepare national agenda for farmers, informed morcha’s national president Om Prakash Dhankad while interacting with the media persons on Thursday. When asked how the BJP-led state government was providing agricultural lands to the industrialists in Janjgir-Champa to establish power plants when the morcha was emphasising on protect farm lands across the country, Dhankad said soon a probe committee would be constituted to know the ground realities of Janjgir-Champa district. Dhankad advised the state government to protect the double and triple crop agricultural lands and provide less fertile and barren lands to the industrialists for power plants.

Cong urges Guv to save state’s water, agri lands

Raipur, January 19, 2011

The state Congress has urged from Governor Shekhar Dutt to save the state’s water and agricultural lands by directing the government to annul all its memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the power plant companies. In this connection, the PCC president Dhanendra Sahu, working president Satyanarayan Sahu, leader of Opposition at Vidhan Sabha Ravindra Choubey, PCC general secretary incharge Subhash Sharma and other senior Congress leaders submitted a memorandum to the Governor on Wednesday.
The Congress leaders informed the Governor that the BJP-led state government was gradually selling the river water and agricultural lands of the Chhattisgarh to the industrialists. They alleged that the government had signed pct with the power plant companies regarding provision of water from barrages to be constructed on river Mahanadi beyond their annual storage capacity. Besides, they said that the irrigation water of Hasdev-Bango project would also be allocated to the industries.
They further pointed out that the government’s wrong industrial policy would ruin the lives of lakhs of people of Janjgir-Champa district. “About 50 power plant companies would be establishing their units in Janjgir-Champa. The government has already completed 33 MoUs and 17 would be done in next couple of months. The power plants would acquire more than 75 percent of the highly fertile agricultural lands of the district from which the farmers take double crops. The power plants will produce large amount of ash as byproduct when they will use about 2000 lakh coal and this will completely pollute the environment. Consequently, the crops of nearby farm lands as well as the jungles in the district would be damaged,” the Congress leaders said.
They also questioned establishment of the power plants in the state and asked why the government require more power when Chhattisgarh has surplus power. They informed that the new power plant units would generate about 40000 MW electricity for which they would require 16 lakh cubit meters water. “But the government entered into contract with the power plant companies without ensuring the availability of water in Mahanadi and other rivers and without obtaining consent from Central Water Authority (CWA).
They said the government’s anti-farmer policies would deeply affect the agriculture sector as well as annual crop production.

The Congress further demanded from the Governor that the government should stop suppressive measures against the farmers. They said that the police barbarically lathicharged and arrested the farmers of Janjgir-Champa district who were agitating against the KSK Energy ventures Limited for over 45 days. They alleged that the action was taken due to nexus between the police administration and the KSK Energy ventures Limited. “The government should stop victimising the farmers and must take stern action against the guilty officials,” the Congress leaders said. They also demanded compensation package for the farmers who incurred huge loss due to unseasonal rains in the first week of December 2010. The Congress leaders said other states had already announced compensation for the farmers but the Chhattisgarh government was still baulking to provide them relief.



Mayor misleading people on property tax: Rathore

Raipur, January 19, 2011

The BJP corporator Suryakant Rathore has alleged that Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak was misleading people on property tax. “During the civic polls, the Congress party had declared in its manifesto that it would neither impose any tax on Raipurians nor would hike the existing tax slab. But now, the RMC has decided to impose tax on the empty plots which contradicts the promises of both the Congress party as well as Nayak,” said Rathore.
“It is strange that first the Congress submits memorandum to the mayor and civic Commissioner to roll back decision to impose tax on empty plots. But instead of waiving off the tax fully, the Mayor-in-Council (MiC) makes some amendment and recommends for tax imposition on both residential and commercial areas except agricultural lands. This is how, the RMC is charging heavy tax on the citizens,” he said.
“Among the ten municipal corporations in the state, only the RMC has decided to recover tax from empty plot owners while the remaining nine municipal corporations including the three ruled by the Congress have not given any such directive,” he said.
Rathore demanded from the Congress to ask the RMC mayor to revoke decision to charge tax on empty plots to give relief to the citizens.


Vijayanta tank to be dedicated to public on Jan 26

Raipur, January 19, 2011

The Vijayanta tank arrived here from army headquarters at New Delhi to be placed for exhibition in front of Anupam garden at the vacant space would be dedicated to the public on January 26. In this regard, the municipal corporation has started painting the tank under the guidance of army officials from Sub-Area headquarters (Chhattisgarh and Orissa) located at Kota. Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak on Wednesday informed that the construction of platform for the tank would soon be completed. The weight of the Vijayanta tank is 40 MT and it is 28 feet long, 10 feet wide and 8 feet tall. Nayak said the Vijayanta tank would not only be the pride of Raipur but it would also encourage the young generation to join defence service.


RMC’s musical programme today

Raipur, January 19, 2011

The RMC will organise a musical programme at Pt Ravishankar Shukla conference hall from 7 pm on Thursday. The programme will be presented by capital’s renowned Bhajan singer Madan Chouhan and his group informed the president of RMC’s Culture department Jagdish Ahuja on Wednesday. The programme would be attended by Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, municipal Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava, leader of BJP corporators Subhash Tiwari, civic Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary, MiC members, corporators, Aldermen and RMC staffers.


Government sanctions Rs 45.22 cr for RMC

Raipur, January 19, 2011

The Urban Administration Department has approved Rs 45.22 crore for Raipur Municipal Corporation to purchase the 1780 EWS flats for poor. The flats are built by Chhattisgarh Housing Board (CHB) under Centre’s Basic Service to the Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme in Boriyakala. Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak informed that the government has sanctioned fifty percent of the total approved fund, i.e. Rs 22.61 crore as financial aid while the remaining amount would be given as loan grant under Infrastructure Grant Scheme.


Martyr Hemu Kalani’s death anniversary tomorrow

Raipur, January 19, 2011

The death anniversary of martyr Hemu Kalani will be observed on Friday. In this regard, the municipal’s Culture department will organise a tribute programme in front of Kalani’s statue at Kutchery chowk at 10 am on Friday. The programme will be attended by Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, municipal Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava, leader of BJP corporators Subhash Tiwari, MiC members, corporators, RMC staffers and citizens.

General body meeting likely in Feb first week


Raipur, January 18, 2011

The municipal corporation’s general body meeting (GBM) is likely to be organised in the first week of February 2011. However, there will be one more Mayor-in-Council meeting before the GBM, confirmed Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak on Tuesday.
“We are aware that there are too many significant proposals to be tabled and discussed in the GBM, but about 15 subjects are still pending on which the MiC is yet to form its opinion. Hence, another MiC meeting would be organised next week and thereafter the GBM could be conducted in the first week of February,” Nayak said. She indicated that the civic administration would get adequate time after the GBM to prepare for the budget session that is likely to be conducted in second fortnight of March 2011.
The Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava had recently sent a note sheet to the civic Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary asking him to quickly conduct GBM.
Shrivastava said the GBM should have been called much earlier as according to rules there should be a maximum gap of 60 days between the two GBMs.
“The last GBM was organised in August 23, 2010 and after that there should have been at least two GBMs till January 2011,” Shrivastava said.
Shrivastava also alleged that Nayak was deliberately delaying the GBM by not signing the files of the proposals approved by the MiC.
According to information, Shrivastava had asked the RMC Commissioner to use his discretionary powers under certain sections of Municipal Act and fix the date of GBM after informing about mayor’s non-cooperation to state government.
The Congress corporators, on the other hand, reacted sharply over Shrivastava’s note sheet regarding GBM and alleged that it was the Opposition BJP that was mounting pressure on the Speaker to call GBM at the earliest.



Cong asks CM: How water for all possible from new barrages?

Demands to revoke proposals to build 7 barrages on Mahanadi & MoU with KSK Energy ventures Limited

Raipur, January 18, 2011

Ridiculing Chief Minister Raman Singh’s statement that the government would provide water from seven barrages to be constructed on river Mahanadi to both farmers and industrialists, the Congress on Tuesday once again hit back on him and demanded his clarification on possibility and practicability of water allocation to all in one go.
“The CM’s statement is completely baseless and misleading. If the government would sold entire amount of water to the industrialists then how it would provide water to the farmers for irrigation and daily use?” asked PCC president Dhanendra Sahu and general secretary and spokesperson Ramesh Varlyani on Tuesday.
The duo alleged that the government had already allocated the optimum stored water in the barrages to the industries on annual basis. “This is sheer exploitation of state’s natural resources as well as farmers. The government should immediately revoke proposals to build seven barrages on Mahanadi and must also cancel the memorandum of understanding with the KSK Energy ventures Limited to sell Rogda dam in Janjgir-Champa,” the duo demanded.
The Congress had recently alleged that the government was planning to sell rivers, dams, canals and agricultural lands of the state to the industrialists and was playing with the sentiments of the farmers.
But when the CM reaffirmed that the government had plans for both farmers and industrialists, the Congress fumed. “We will not keep quiet. We have already constituted a committee at district level in Janjgir-Champa to initiate movement against the government for selling agricultural lands and water to the industrialists. If our voices would be ignored, we would persistently raise the issue in the state Assembly as well as out of House,” said Sahu and Varlyani.
Notably, the government has sanctioned Rs 1467 crore to construct seven barrages in Mahanadi. These barrages would be constructed din three districts – Raipur, Raigarh and Janjgir-Champa. One barrage will be constructed in Samoda in Raipur while two in Raigarh in Saradih and Kalma and four in Janjgir-Champa in Shivrinarayan, Basantpur, Mirauni and Kudri.
According to CM, the industrialists will receive water from these barrages through underground pipeline while the irrigation water to the farmers would be provided through lift process.



BJYM completes tiranga yatra in 12 mandals

Takes out yatra in Pachpedi Naka & Raipur Rural mandals

Raipur, January 18, 2011

The Janata Yuwa Morcha (BJYM) has completed its tiranga vahini yatra in 12 mandals after taking out yatra in Pachpedi Naka and Raipur Rural mandals on Tuesday. “Through tiranga yatras, we are continuously publicising our Rashtriya Ekta Yatra that has commenced from Kolkata and would culminate at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic day on January 26 when the BJYM workers would hoist the tricolour there,” said the organisation’s district president Sanju Narayan Singh Thakur on Tuesday.
The tiranga yatra in Pachpedi Naka and Raipur Rural mandals was flagged off at 11 am by BJP’s state vice president Sachchidanand Upasne, Raipur Rural legislator Nandkumar Sahu, district convenor of Tiranga Vahini Jayanti Patel and yatra incharge Dharmendra Rawat.
The yatra commenced from Pachpedi Naka chowk and covered Lalpur, Amlidih, Rajendra Nagar, New Puraina, Puraina basti, Avanti Vihar, Fundhar, Temri, Mana Camp, Banrasi, Mana basti, Dhaneli, Boriyakala, Dunda, Sejbahar, Datrenga, Kathadih, Kandul, Boriyakhurd, Santoshi Nagar chowk and Nehru Nagar.
Thakur informed that the yatra was welcomed by the organisation’s workers and local residents at different locations. The tiranga yatra was accompanied by bike rally that was led by Sanju Narayan Singh Thakur.
The yatra will continue on Wednesday and would be taken out from Nehru Nagar Police Line chowk in Sadar Bazar mandal at 11 am and would culminate at Jawahar Nagar mandal. The yatra on Wednesday would be flagged off by BJYM national executive member Mahesh Gagda and other senior leaders.


BJP SC Morcha’s first state executive meet on Jan 21

Raipur, January 18, 2011

The BJP SC Morcha’s first state executive meeting would be organised in party office Ekatma Parisar on January 21, 2011. The morcha’s state general secretary Sunil Bandre informed that the meeting would be attended by Chief Minister Raman Singh, morcha’s national president Dushyant Kumar Gautam, vice president and Chhattisgarh SC Morcha incharge Jagdish Rokde, BJP state unit president Ramsewak Paikra, general secretary Rampratap Singh, MLA Krishna Kumar Bandhi, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Punnulal Mohle, Industries Minister Dayaldas Baghel, vice chairman of SC Development Authority Domanlal Korsewad, state SC morcha’s president Ramji Bharti and other senior leaders.


‘Proper distribution system must for continuous water supply’

Raipur, January 18, 2011

The water distribution system directly affects the water supply. With damaged and old water pipelines there are more chances of interruptions in water supply process. Hence, the civic bodies should first improve its water distribution system to maintain proper pressure in pipelines for continuous water supply. The information was imparted by Raja and Pawan from World Water Sanitation Programme and Society Development Organisation to the RMC corporators during the day-long workshop that held at municipal’s conference hall on Tuesday. The workshop was organised to inform corporators about the techniques to improve water supply.
The duo informed that largely the infants die due to consumption of polluted water. “This can be checked with better techniques and methods. Usually, the polluted surface water enters into the pipes through leakages and joints and mixes with the water being supplied to the residents. But with improved distribution system, the water pressure on pipes would be maintained in every 10 meters and this will prevent entry of polluted water inside pipelines,” they said.
The Executive Engineer of RMC’s Water Resources department MK Malwe informed that the new technique would solve the problems of water supply in the city. “We are designing the plan so that people could get clean and pure water 24 x 7 through this method. But the consumers would have to install water meter in their tap connection and pay tariff according to their consumption. This technique is successfully running in Jamshedpur and Tirpur (Tamil Nadu) while it has been recently commenced in Dharampeth (Nagpur) and Bangalore (Karnataka). The national capital New Delhi too will adopt this method very soon,” informed Malwe.
Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak said the MiC had already approved Rs three crore-water auditing proposal which was a step towards improvement of water distribution system. For this, the RMC will soon invite tenders for water auditing, she said.
Besides, Nayak announced that all the damaged and old water pipelines would be replaced within one year. In this connection, the civic officials would soon conduct physical verification of the pipelines and then commence replacement process after preparing detailed project report (DPR).



Munat approves Rs 29 crore for RMC

Raipur, January 18, 2011

The Urban Administration Minister Rajesh Munat on Tuesday approved Rs 29 crore for development of Raipur Municipal Corporation. Munat announced the fund during the department’s review meeting. In this connection, the BJP corporators led by their leader Subhash Tiwari had met Munat at his residence on Tuesday morning.
“We informed the minister that the development works in the city had come to a virtual halt due to Mayor’s apathy. We also informed him that the wards represented by the BJP corporators were specially ignored by the ruling Congress. We requested from Munat to sanction fund for the RMC so that sanitation and other pending works could be restarted,” said Tiwari.
The BJP corporators also suggested the minister that next couple of months would be ideal to carry out development works in wards so that the residents would not face inconvenience in rainy season.

Mayor, breached protocol, alleges RMC Speaker

Says he was deliberately not invited in bhoomipujan prog

Raipur, January 17, 2011

The RMC Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava on Monday alleged that Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak and the civic administration had breached the protocol on Monday by not informing him about the municipal’s bhoomipujan programme. “This is the first time in the history of the RMC when any speaker has been insulted and neglected in such a manner,” said Shrivastava who informed that he was deliberately kept away from the bhoomipujan of Rs 70 lakh-road macadamisation work from Lodhipara chowk to Khamhardih via Ashoka Tower.
Nayak performed bhoomipujan of the road work in presence of president of MLA Kuldeep Juneja, RMC’s Public Works department president Anwar Hussein, MiC member Chandra Behra, Rakesh Dhotre, Jasbeer Singh Dhillon, zone 2 president Neetu Ghanshyam Tiwari, zone 2 commissioner Santosh Pandey and other zonal officials.
Shrivastava reached the spot a few minutes after bhoomipujan along with his supporters and BJP corporators. He had heated exchanges with Nayak and the civic officials. Nayak clarified to Shrivastava that she was unaware whether he was invited or not while the municipal officials too posed mysterious silence.
“Certainly, I was upset. According to protocol, in any of the RMC programme, mayor, Speaker, the zone president, zone commissioner and local corporator should be mandatorily invited. Since the road macadamisation work will be done from Lodhipara chowk to Khamhardih, it will cover three wards – Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (ward 29), Kalimata (ward 30) and Shankar Nagar (ward 31) from where I have been elected. But, the invitation reached to only the ward 29 corporator Rakesh Dhotre from Congress and not to me and another ward 30 corporator Nandawari Sahu,” Shrivastava said alleging that Nayak was playing party politics.
“This also indicates Nayak’s immaturity and inexperience at such an important seat. She should at least follow the age old tradition of the municipal corporation,” he said.
Shrivastava pointed that the state government had given formal invitation to Nayak for public dedication programme of Mova overbridge on January 15, 2011 according to protocol and considering her as first lady of the state capital. “However, there was no compulsion for the government to invite mayor. But the BJP do not believe in starting such trends and insulting anybody,” he said.
On the other hand, sources informed that it was municipal’s Public Works president Anwar Hussein who had asked the officials to remove Shrivastava name from the list of guests for bhoomipujan programme. Notably, Hussein and Shrivastava are old rivals and both have slung mud over each other several times in the past over different issues.
However, with Shrivastava’s fresh allegations against the Nayak, the ruling party is likely to react strongly and the standoff between the Speaker and mayor is likely to remain the most favorite subject of discussion in municipal corridors.



BJP corporators express objection before Sinha

Raipur, January 17, 2011

The BJP corporators on Monday expressed their strong objection before Additional Commissioner Taran Prakash Sinha for not inviting RMC Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava and Kalimata ward corporator Nandawari Sahu in bhoomipujan programme at Mova. The leader of BJP corporators Subhash Tiwari warned that the Opposition would launch movement against the civic officials if would continue ignoring the public representatives and breach protocol in future. Sinha assured the BJP corporators that he would order inquiry into the entire episode and would ensure that such incidents may not reiterate in future.



Workshop for corporators today

Raipur, January 17, 2011

The RMC and Society Development Organisation will jointly organise a day-long workshop for corporators on ‘uninterrupted provision of water to the residents’ at the municipal’s Pt Ravishankar Shukla conference hall on Tuesday. The other subjects to be discussed in the workshop are - water conservation methods and how to improve existing water supplying infrastructure. Besides corporators, the workshop will be attended by Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, RMC Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava, Te leader of BJP corporators Subhash Tiwari, civic Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary and all the zone commissioners.


Now, no municipal tax up to 5000 sq ft empty plots

Agricultural lands too will not come under tax net, only one year tax on empty plots in commercial areas

Several other decisions taken in MiC meeting

Raipur, January 17, 2011

Finally, the RMC has buckled down before the pressure created by the citizens and the political parties regarding imposition of property tax on empty plots. The Mayor-in-Council (MiC) on Monday confirmed that the RMC would not impose tax on empty plots since 1997 as was announced previously. Instead, the MiC amended some of provisions and recommended that no tax would be imposed on empty plots up to 5000 sq ft area in residential areas and the agricultural lands within municipal limits would not come under tax net. Similarly, only one year of property tax would be imposed on the empty plots in commercial areas.
The MiC members, who had stalled its meeting on January 14, 2011 due to insufficient information regarding property tax issue, once again met on Monday to give their final recommendations.
“We have maintained from the beginning that it was not our decision to recover property tax from the owners of empty plots from 1997 but was actually imposed on us by the state government through provisions of Municipal Act’s section 132, 133 and 135. But, neither the MiC, nor the RMC’s general body is authorised to make any amendments in these provisions and they can only be changed when the state government will table an amendment proposal in the Vidhan Sabha,” said Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak.
On municipal’s road widening project from Sharda Chowk to Tatya Para chowk, Nayak said, “The RMC is supposed to pay compensation amount to the affected shopkeepers before commencing the project according to the directives of High Court. But since the municipal corporation do not have sufficient fund, the MiC has decided to construct a commercial complex near zone 7 office where the affected shopkeepers would be allotted shops equivalent to the compensation amount. This complex will be linked to the GE road through a new road that would be constructed from Naveen Bazar. For this, a proposal would be prepared by the officials very soon. Then, we will hold talks with the shopkeepers and evolve consensus over the ‘shop option’ of compensation amount.”
The MiC gave its nod for development of road from Nagar Ghadi chowk to Kalibadi chowk via Nalghar chowk as Indira Path. Besides, the RMC will send a proposal to the state government to construct fourlane roads in 26 places of the city.
The MiC further approved to appoint consultancy firm under Public Private Partnership (PPP) to commence several schemes and projects including construction of flyover from Fafadih chowk to Railway station, development and renovation of RMC schools and hospitals, pond beatification and protection schemes and construction and development of fire station.
Similarly, after discussing over water bylaws, the MiC recommended the proposal of Rs three crore-Water Auditing Scheme. The RMC will also establish quality inspection laboratory to test the quality of newly constructed and macadamised roads and water testing laboratory to regularly conduct quality of water.
The MiC has also approved to implement contractual system in 20 wards under the RMC’s ‘mission clean’ campaign.



Govt lacks vision in power & agri sectors: Cong

Raipur, January 17, 2011

The state government lacks vision in power and agriculture sectors owing and seems determined to benefit the industrialists at the cost of farmers. The allegations were leveled by the PCC president Dhanendra Sahu while he was interacting with the media persons on Monday. Sahu warned that the Congress would launch massive state-wide public movement against the government if it would not stop selling the rivers, dams, canals and agricultural lands to the private players.
“Where will the farmers go if the government will give all the irrigation water to the industrialists? But, with its anti-farmer policies, the government’s intentions are clear – it want to make money by selling irrigation water. This is sheer connivance to make 85 percent of the state’s farmer poor,” Sahu said.
He further alleged that after sanctioning huge funds to construct seven barrages on river Mahanadi to provide water to the industrial sector, the government is now eying the irrigation water of Hasdeo-Bango dam.
Sahu further questioned the government’s motives to sign about 50 memorandums of understanding (MoU) with the industrialists to establish power plants in Janjgir-Champa district.
“It is an irony that the government first claims that Chhattisgarh is a power surplus state and then it signs pacts with different private companies to generate 40000 MW additional power and this would be done by acquiring thousands of agricultural lands of Janjgir-Champa. Why not the MoUs have been signed for other places?” asked Sahu.

Cong confident to win Sanjari-Balod by-poll


Raipur, January 15, 2011

The state Congress is confident to win the upcoming by-election in Sanjari-Balod Assembly constituency to be held on February 14, 2011. The chief organiser of Congress Seva Dal Ashok Raj Ahuja informed that the PCC president Dhanendra Sahu, leader of Opposition in state Assembly Ravindra Choubey, Seva Dal’s national organiser Lalji Prasad Mishra, Arun Vora and Ghanaram Sahu would address the party workers of Sanjari-Balod Vidhan Sabha area in Gurur on February 01. About 300 Seva Dal workers will attend the Congress rally and would commence the campaigning in favor of party’s candidate, Ahuja said. Besides, he informed that the Seva Dal has also intensified is public meeting campaign under party’s mission 2013 and the workers have completed tours in Bilaspur division in November 2010 and in Raipur division in December 2010. ‘We are planning to tour Bastar division from January 29-31,” Ahuja added.
 

Signature campaign

Raipur, January 15, 2011

The DCC on Saturday launched signature campaign against the municipal corporation’s decision to impose property tax on empty plots from 1997. The DCC president Inderchand Dhariwal and other Congress workers took signature of the citizens at Jaistambh chowk from 4 pm on Saturday. “We will once again submit a memorandum along with sign taken from the people to Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, civic Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary and president of RMC’s Revenue department Manoj Kandoi on Sunday and request them to impose only current financial year’s property tax on empty plots,” said Dhariwal. “If our demands would not be fulfilled, the DCC workers will also launch massive campaign across the city against tax on empty plots from Monday,” Dhariwal added.


Rs 5.27 cr penalty recovered from traffic norm violators

Raipur, January 15, 2011

The RTO has recovered penalty to the tune of Rs 5.27 crore from traffic norm violators by December 2010. The fine was imposed on the 35518 motorists during intense inspection at different barriers of RTO and by flying squads in different parts of the state. The information was imparted by Additional Transport Commissioner BS Maravi during monthly review meeting of incharges of RTO barriers and flying squads. In the meeting, Maravi directed the incharges to take stern action against those vehicles that are being operated without permit. He further instructed to take action against the overloaded vehicles.


Cong sniffs irregularities in housing societies

Raipur, January 15, 2011

The Congress has alleged that the office-bearers of several housing societies were involved in irregularities and were charging additional amount for transferring the sold houses on the name of the buyers. “A number of housing societies have completed their project and have sold all the plots or houses besides providing basic arrangements like road, water and electricity, but are deliberately delaying the name transfer process as heft amount from Rs 50-150 per sq ft is being taken from the customers. Besides, the office-bearers of these societies are separately charging Rs 50-100 per sq ft from the customers,” said DCC president Inderchand Dhariwal, general secretary Dr Niranjan Haritwal and spokesperson Sheikh Shakeel on Saturday. In this regard, the DCC leaders would submit a memorandum to Cooperative Minister Nankiram Kanwar on Monday and demand from him to intervene and direct such housing societies to rapidly complete the liquidation process of their developed colonies.




Govt sanctions Rs 159 cr for Samoda barrage

Raipur, January 15, 2011

The state government has sanctioned Rs 159.20 crore for Samoda barrage project on river Mahanadi in Raipur district’s Arang development block. A directive in this regard has been issued by the Water Resources Department (WRD) from Mantralaya. The WRD Minister Hemchand Yadav has asked the department officials to complete the project within given timeframe and cautioned that no additional cost on it would be tolerated.



Govt planning to sell Gangrel dam: Cong

Raipur, January 15, 2011

The Congress has alleged that the state government is planning to sell Gangrel dam built on river Mahanadi in Dhamtari district. “The BJP-led state government seems to be hell-bent on privatising Chhattisgarh’s rivers, canals and dams that are lifeline of the farmers. This government has completely surrendered before the power plant owners and giant industrialists,” said the PCC general secretary and spokesperson Ramesh Varlyani on Saturday.
Varlyani said the BJP was adopting anti-farmer policies. “After selling Rogda dam in Janjgir-Champa, the government is now planning to build barrages on river Mahanadi at seven selected locations and to sell the accumulated water to the industrialists. It is surprising that the government is completely indifferent towards farmers’ irrigation water requisites. With the construction of seven barrages, huge amount of water would be diverted to the industrialists and the farmers would not get sufficient water for their agricultural lands. This will directly impact their annual crop production rate and would make them financially weaker,” Varlyani said.
“Everyone in the state knows the saga of Rogda dam. In fact, the farmers of Janjgir-Champa were shell-shocked when they learnt that the state government had sold region’s Rogda dam to KSK Energy ventures Limited at the cost of Rs seven crore. This dam spawns in over 131 acres land and was the major source of irrigation water for the nearby agricultural lands. Now the green fields are rapidly transforming into barren lands. Thanks to the government ‘industry first, farmers later’ policy,” Varlyani added.
He said that Chhattisgarh was already lagging from other states in terms of irrigation and by selling all the rivers, dams and canals to the private sector, it would only aggravate the life of farmers. “How would the state farmers be able beat their crop production record of previous years when the state government would provide only scarce irrigation water to them? The paddy production would certainly hit in coming years and the employment generated in agriculture sector would also be affected to a large extent,” Varlyani said.
“Farmers across the state have started protesting government’s ‘water selling’ move, nevertheless, the insensitive ruling party is now planning to sell Gangrel dam. We strongly condemn the government’s reckless decisions,” he said.
‘We demand from the government to roll back all its decisions to sell dams, rivers and canals of the state immediately or else we would launch massive protest against BJP’s anti-farmer policy,” Varlyani said. 


Stop changing name of Centre’s projects: Cong

Raipur, January 15, 2011

The Congress has alleged that the state government always changes the name of Centre’s projects and schemes and misleads the people of Chhattisgarh. “If the Centre launches any project or scheme across the country, it also provides financial succor to the state government to accomplish the task. The Chhattisgarh government too has received ample fund from the Congress-led UPA government to complete all the Central projects but unfortunately the ruling party in the state changes the names of such projects and mislead the citizens,” said AICC treasurer Motilal Vora and PCC president Dhanendra Sahu on Saturday.
“The UPA has never been partial in distributing funds to Chhattisgarh and it has generously given the tribal populated state Rs 4019 crores to complete Centre’s different projects in 2009-10 and Rs 4100 crore in 2010-11,” the duo said.
Informing in detail about the 16 projects and schemes for which the Centre had released funds to the state in 2009-10 and 2010-11, the duo said the highest amount had been given for Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA), i.e. Rs 827.1 crore in 2009-10 and Rs 1248.55 crore in 2010-11. “The data have been provided by the Planning Commission of India and hopefully the state government would not deny it,” the duo added.
The status of others Central projects and released funds are – Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan – Rs 555.94 crore (2009-10) and Rs 678.53 crore (2010-11), Mid-day meal programme - Rs 163.53 crore (2009-10) and Rs 316.5 crore (2010-11), National Rural Health Mission - Rs 278.91 crore (2009-10) and Rs 226.3 crore (2010-11), National Child Development Scheme - Rs 220.4 crore (2009-10) and Rs 109.84 crore (2010-11), Complete Sanitation Upliftment Scheme - Rs 50.18 crore (2009-10) and Rs 54.8 crore (2010-11), Rashtriya Dharohar Yojana - Rs 60 crore (2009-10) and Rs 79.14 crore (2010-11), Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojana - Rs 438.03 crore (2009-10) and Rs 453.52 crore (2010-11), Indira Awas Yojana - Rs 162.6 crore (2009-10) and Rs 76.05 crore (2010-11), National Rural Drinking Water Scheme - Rs 128.22 crore (2009-10) and Rs 116.1 crore (2010-11), National Irrigation Development Scheme - Rs 60.89 crore (2009-10) and Rs 23.84 crore (2010-11), National Agriculture Development Scheme - Rs 136.14 crore (2009-10) and Rs 279.74 crore (2010-11), Rashtriya Samajik Vikas Yojana - Rs 155.77 crore (2009-10) and Rs 84.78 crore (2010-11), Backward Class Financial Upliftment Development Scheme - Rs 216.06 crore (2009-10) and Rs 404.65 crore (2010-11) and Rajeev Gandhi Rural Electrification Scheme - Rs 314.4 crore (2009-10) and Rs 36.48 crore (2010-11).

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