Congress stages statewide dharna against govt

Raipur, October 31, 2011

With its demands of Rs 270 paddy bonus distribution to the farmers and comprehensive compensation package for the victims of Balod eye camp, the Congress staged statewide dharna against government in over 200 blocks from 12-4 pm on Monday. In all the dharna spots, the party not only displayed the government corrupt through posters but also distributed pamphlets containing scams and irregularities occurred during BJP’s past seven-year regime. After dharna, the Congmen submitted memorandum to the Collector/ADM of their respective district headquarters on the name of Governor.

The PCC president Nandkumar Patel led the dharna programme at Raigarh. On the occasion, he demanded from the government to make Health Minister Amar Agrawal co-accused in the eye camp incident and adequate financial assistance to the victims besides their proper treatment in the topmost hospitals of the country. He further demanded from the government to start paddy procurement from November 1 as had been done every year and distribute Rs 270 paddy bonus to the farmers. He said the government had earlier announced November 15 as commencement date for paddy procurement to benefit the middlemen but then quickly rescheduled the date to November 5 after the Congress mounted pressure on it by seeking Governor’s intervention into the matter.

At Raipur, the party’s all the five Block Congress Committees (BCCs) staged dharna at different places. The Gudhiyari BCC organised dharna at Jail Road near Devendra Nagar chowk, Sadar Bazar BCC at Kalibadi near Indira Gandhi’s statue, Purani Basti BCC at Lakhe Nagar chowk, Tatibandh BCC at Amanaka in front of Pt RSU gate and Civil Lines BCC at Telibandha chowk. The DCC Raipur City president Inderchand Dhariwal claimed that about 600 party workers participated in the dharna staged by all the five BCCs. During dharna, the members of Pradesh Mahila Congress (PMC) wore blindfold to protest eye camp incident.

Senior leader Vidya Charan Shukla and former MP Devvrat Singh attended dharna programme in the capital city. Then, Shukla participated dharna at Mahasamund and Singh at Abhanpur.

The senior party leaders who participated in the dharna in other districts were - CLP leader Ravindra Choubey and former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi – Bilaspur, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Charandas Mahant and general secretary Premsai Singh – Korba, former Union minister Arvind Netam and Fulodevi Netam at Bastar (Jagdalpur), deputy CLP leader Rampukar Singh at Jashpur and former CLP leader Mahendra Karma – Balodabazar.

Similarly, former PCC president Dhanendra Sahu attended the dharna at – Gariyaband, Satyanarayan Sharma and general secretary Arun Vora – Rajnandgaon, PCC vice president Pradeep Choubey – Kawardha, former minister Ramchandra Singhdeo – Koria, former PCC president Parasram Bhardwaj and general secretary Padma Manhar – Janjgir-Champa, PCC vice president TS Singhdeo and general secretary Chandrabhan Barmate – Sarguja, former MP Pawan Diwan – Dhamtari, senior party leader Ganga Potai and general secretary Ramesh Warlyani – Kanker, former MP Khelsai Singh at Surajpur, PCC general secretary Vidhan Mishra – Mahasamund , former legislator Anturam Kashyap – Narayanpur, former minister Shiv Netam – Kondagaon,  former MLA Jhitruram Baghel – Bijapur, former legislator Radheshyam Sharma – Bemetara and former MLA Somprakash Giri – Balod.

Congress observes Indira’s 27th death anniversary

Raipur, October 31, 2011

The Congress observed 27th death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31. The party first organised a tribute programme before Indira’s statue at Kalibadi at 10:30 am. Thereafter, the partymen garlanded the image of Indira at Congress Bhawan. On the occasion, the workers also took a pledge to work for unity and integrity of the country. To mark Indira’s death anniversary, the frontal organisations of the party organised various programmes at block and district levels. The Congress leaders who were present at Congress Bhawan were – former minister Satyanarayan Sharma, MLA Amitesh Shukla, PCC general secretary, PMC president Ambika Markam, RMC Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, Swaroop Chand Jain, DCC president Inderchand Dhariwal, DCC vice presidents Ambar Shukla and Madan Lal Taleda, Ramawatar Dewangan, DCC general secretary Dr Niranjan Haritwal, chief organiser of Congress Seva Dal Ashok Raj Ahuja, PCC spokespersons Amir Ali Farishta and Sushil Anand Shukla, Sheikh Shakeel and others.

Cong plans to boycott Rajyotsav-2011

Raipur, October 29, 2011

In the aftermath of Balod eye camp incident, the Congress is planning to boycott Rajyotsav-2011. PCC president Nandkumar Patel says that the government should cancel weeklong state festival starting November 1 respecting the sentiments of the eye victims. He suggested that the celebrations should be symbolic and curtailed to couple of hours. He hinted that the Congress would boycott Rajyotsav-2011, although a decision in this regard would be taken by the senior party leaders in a day or two.

Patel said the government should understand its priorities. “It is time to address the problems of the eye victims and provide them better treatment and compensation package instead of getting involved in pompous celebrations,” he stated.

Flaying Health Minister Amar Agrawal for his indifferent attitude towards victims, Patel said the minister should have at least visited Balod and taken stock of the situation to decide what best provisions could be given to them in terms of treatment and compensation. “Strangely, neither the minister nor Health secretary has time for the victims. In fact, the minister is busy in two of the other portfolios he is handling, i.e. Revenue and Commercial Tax departments. The entire department is impassive towards the issue. In this scenario, how would the Health Department display its achievements in Rajyotsav-2011,” asked Patel.

Demanding quick action against the guilty doctors, Patel said the government should clarify the reasons for delay. He alleged that the government did not intend to punish the guilty doctors. “In fact, the Health Minister himself is saving the guilty doctors. Or else, when district administration had suspended four doctors, why he held suspension orders of the two? If the government will keep on protecting the wrongdoers then where would the people go to tell their problems,” he asked.  

Patel said Raman Singh government was the most insensitive in the country. “Examples are galore but it seems the government has decided to keep its eyes shut from its horrible health infrastructure and negligent doctors. As if Balod incident was not enough to wake up, the government allowed the doctors to commit the same mistake again and again and this time an eye patient in Raigarh became victim of government ophthalmologist. In Rajnandgaon too, some of the patients lost their eyesight due to recklessness of the doctors,” he said.

On paddy procurement, Patel said the Congress adhered to its demand for commencement of paddy purchase from November 1. “It is the government which is uncertain. First, it fixed November 15 as procurement date to benefit the middlemen. But when the Congress met Governor and sought his intervention regarding procurement date, the government hurriedly prescheduled November 10 as new date. We still demand that the paddy should be purchased from November 1 as farmers have already incurred huge loss due to floods in rainy season,” Patel said.

Cong preps up for Oct 31 dharna against govt

Raipur, October 29, 2011

 The Congress is intensely preparing for its October 31 dharna against the government to mount pressure on it for distribution of Rs 270 paddy bonus to the farmers and announcement of comprehensive compensation package for the victims of Balod eye camp.

The chairman of the Congress media cell Shailesh Nitin Trivedi informed that the dharna would be staged at block-level from 12-4 pm. After dharna, the party workers would submit a memorandum on the name of Governor to the local official.

To make the dharna successful, the general secretaries have started touring the assigned Lok Sabha areas to them and are convening meetings of the office-bearers of DCCs and BCCs, informed Trivedi.

The senior party leaders would participate in the dharna in different districts. The PCC president Nandkumar Patel will attend the dharna at Raigarh, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey and former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi – Bilaspur, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Charandas Mahant – Korba, AICC secretary Bhakt Charandas – Mahasamund, Vidya Charan Shukla – Raipur and former Union minister Arvind Netam at Bastar (Jagdalpur).

Similarly, deputy CLP leader Rampukar Singh will attend the dharna at Jashpur, former CLP leader Mahendra Karma – Balodabazar, former PCC president Dhanendra Sahu – Gariyaband, Satyanarayan Sharma – Rajnandgaon, PCC vice president Pradeep Choubey – Kawardha, former minister Ramchandra Singhdeo – Koria, former PCC president Parasram Bhardwaj – Janjgir-Champa, PCC vice president TS Singhdeo – Sarguja, former MP Pawan Diwan – Dhamtari, senior party leader Ganga Potai – Kanker and former MP Khelsai Singh at Surajpur.  

The party will also observe 27th death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31. In this connection, various programmes would be organised by the frontal organisations of the party at block, district and state levels. The partymen would first garland the image of Indira Gandhi at block, district and state offices on October 31 morning and then take out prabhat feries and silent rallies, take pledge, donate blood, distribute fruits to patients in hospitals, etc in their respective areas.

Cong changes agenda for Oct 31 dharna

Now, it will demand Rs 270 paddy bonus for farmers, justice for eye camp victims

Raipur, October  28, 2011

A day after the government changed the commencement date of paddy procurement from November 15 to 5, the Congress too made slight changes in its October 31 dharna agenda. Now, through dharna, the party would mount pressure on the government to distribute Rs 270 paddy bonus to the farmers and demand comprehensive compensation package for the victims of Balod eye camp. A decision in this regard was taken by the Congress leaders during a meeting convened by PCC president Nandkumar Patel at Congress Bhawan on Friday.

Notably, the Congress had earlier planned to stage block-wise dharna on October 31 to demand from the government to start paddy procurement from November 1. On October 27, Chief Minister Raman Singh announced that paddy procurement would begin ten days before its scheduled date. Terming the government’s move as its victory and linking it with its recent meeting with the Governor regarding delayed start of paddy procurement and inadequate compensation to the eye camp victims along with its October 31 dharna announcement, the elated Congress said it would not cancel the dharna but would now raise two-pronged demand on the said date.

Comparing the MSP on paddy hiked by NDA and UPA governments at Centre, Patel said the hike was merely Rs 50 during five years of NDA regime as compared to about Rs 500 by the UPA in seven years.

“The BJP has always been anti-farmer. It has not even kept its promise to distribute Rs 270 paddy bonus to the farmers. The promise was part of BJP’s election manifesto in 2008 Assembly elections and the farmers are still waiting for its fulfillment,” said Patel.

The Congress is also upset with the compensation package announced for the eye camp victims. “Even the CM’s of Rs 50000 to each victim is not sufficient,” said Patel.

“The compensation package should comprise of at least Rs five lakh financial assistance to the victims and their further treatment either in Shankar Netralaya Chennai or All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi. Besides, at least one family member of each victim must get government job,” Patel added.

To make dharna successful, Patel has asked the district incharges to tour their areas and appoint block incharges.

The meeting was attended by Baijnath Chandrakar, Pushpadevi Singh, Haridas Bhardwaj, Kuldeep Juneja, Arun Vora, Ramesh Varlyani, Ambika Markam, Subhash Sharma, Vidhan Mishra, Paresh Bagbahra, Mohammad Akbar, Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, Dr Shivkumar Daharia, Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, chief organiser of the state Seva Dal Ashokraj Ahuja, etc.

Cong team to met eye camp victims today

Raipur, October  28, 2011

A team of senior Congress leaders led by PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey will meet victims of Balod eye camp on Saturday. Since many of the victims have been admitted in government hospital Dhamtari, the team will will first go to Dhamtari and then reach Balod.

177 families to get Rs 17.70 lakh under NFBS tomorrow

Raipur, October  28, 2011

The RMC will distribute Rs 17.70 lakh to 177 families under National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) on October 31. Each family will receive Rs 10000. Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak will hand over the cheques to the beneficiaries by at municipal’s conference hall at 4 pm. The officials of the RMC’s Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare Department informed that the NFBS is a Centrally-sponsored scheme and the entire fund is financed by Union Ministry of Rural Development. The objective of the NFBS is to assist the families living below poverty line (BPL). The financial assistance is given to the family on the death of the breadwinner in the family. The death of such primary breadwinner should have occurred whilst he or she is 18 to 64 years of age, the officials said.

Indira’s death anniversary to be observed tomorrow

Raipur, October  28, 2011

The 27th death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s would be observed on October 31. On the occasion, the RMC’s Culture Department will organise a tribute programme before Indira’s statue at Kalibadi at 10:30 am. Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak has urged RMC Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava, leader of BJP corporators Subhash Tiwari, all the MiC members, corporators and citizens to attend the tribute programme at large number.

Tytler, Baig, Kumar to arrive tomorrow

Raipur, October  28, 2011

AICC member and incharge of Congress Seva Dal Jagdish Tytler, Orissa Congress incharge and Seva Dal secretary Mirza Irshad Baig and Orissa incharge Vinod Kumar would arrive in state capital on October 30. The chief organiser of the state Seva Dal Ashokraj Ahuja on Friday informed that the trio would stay at Raipur on October 30 and then leave for Orissa at morning on the following day via roadways. He informed Baig would arrive from Ahmedabad at 10 am on October 30 through regular flight while Tytler and Kumar would reach Raipur from New Delhi at 4:30 pm through regular flight. Ahuja informed that the state Seva Dal members would welcome the three leaders at Mana airport at large number.

Patel suspends BCC president for supporting BJP

Raipur, October  28, 2011

The PCC chief Nandkumar Patel on Friday suspended the president of one of Block Congress Committees (BCCs) of Mahasamund district Alok Chandrakar on charges of supporting BJP during no confidence motion against his own partyman heading janpad panchayat. After receiving complaints against Chandrakar, Patel had constituted a three-member team led by PCC general secretary and Mahasamund district incharge Vidhan Mishra and comprising Dr Chouleshwar Chandrakar and Ram Avtar Devangan. The team visited Mahasamund and took input from the local partymen about Alok Chandrakar. It learnt that Chandrakar had supported BJP in removing janpad panchayat president Laxmi Chandrakar from Congress through no confidence motion. The team summoned Chandrakar to know his version regarding allegations against him, but the latter did not turn up. On the basis of the team’s report, Patel suspended Chandrakar and forwarded the matter to the party’s disciplinary committee for further action.

Over 10000 children treated under MBSY

Raipur, October  28, 2011

Over 10000 malnourished and seriously ill children have been treated under Mukhyamantri Bal Sandarbh Yojana (MBSY) in the current financial year. The MBSY is being implemented under Women and Child Development Department. The officials of the department informed that the beneficiaries were sent for treatment in different government hospitals through Aanganbadi centres. Every month, the department observes two days as Sandarbh Diwas in each development block. 

Children of mitanins to get scholarship

Raipur, October  28, 2011

The government has decided to distribute scholarship to children of mitanins under Mukhyamantri Mitanin Kalyan Kosh (MMKK). Mitanins play key role in expanding health services in the remote rural pockets. Still, majority of their children stop studies in the middle due to financial crisis. Considering this, the government decided to start scholarship scheme for the children. In this connection, the government has done insurance of about 60000 mitanins of the state. The officials of the Health department informed that scholarships would be distributed to the children during a programme at one of the hotels of capital city on October 31. The programme would be organised by State Health Resource Centre (SHRC) and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The officials said that the government had made several provisions for mitanins under MMKK and scholarship was one of them. Each student will receive scholarship to the tune of Rs 1200 per annum. The scholarship would be given to the students from class 9^th to 12^th.

Pending DCC presidents’ list to be finalised on Nov 4

 

Raipur, October 27, 2011

The pending list of DCC presidents is likely to be finalised during the first meeting of the PCC’s new executive which would be convened on November 4. The meeting will be attended by the new office-bearers of the PCC including state Congress incharge BK Hariprasada, AICC treasurer Motilal Vora and Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Charandas Mahant. The final list would then be forwarded to the high command for approval.

According to information, the partymen would discuss about the remaining list of the DCC presidents of six districts - Raipur (City), Raipur (Rural), Bilaspur (City), Rajnandgaon (City), Mahasamund (City), Mahasamund (Rural).

The party has already finalised DCC presidents of 17 districts - Koria, Janjgir-Champa, Korba (City), Korba (Rural), Raigarh (City), Raigarh (Rural), Jashpur, Durg (City), Durg (Rural), Jagdalpur (City), Jagdalpur (Rural), Kanker, Dhamtari, Dantewada, Bilaspur (Rural), Kawardha, Rajnandgaon (Rural).

While the PCC president Nandkumar Patel had apparently stated that the organisational setup for nine new districts would take some time. However, the PCC executive would also hold discussion on the setup of the newly formed districts which came into existence recently. Notably, the government had recently accorded status of districts to Sukma, Kondagaon, Gariyaband, Bemetara, Balod, Mungeli and Baloda Bazar, Surajpur and Balrampur.

The Congress will also chalk out plan to raise demand for announcement of 11 more districts in the state. The party wants the BJP government to constitute six districts in northern region of Chhattisgarh - Samri, Pratappur, Manendragarh, Sitapur, Pathhalgaon, Pendra and Gaurela.

Similarly, the party proposes two districts from southern region - Sihava-Nagri and Daundi Lohara-Bhanupratappur and three in central region - Sarangarh, Bhatapara and Naya Raipur.

Patel’s 'please-all' formula clicked

Raipur, October 25, 2011 

The job delegation to the PCC general secretaries is being seen as success of PCC president Nandkumar Patel’s ‘please-all’ formula. According to information, the senior leaders are satisfied with the jobs assigned to their supporters who are part of PCC executive.

Patel on October 24 entrusted responsibility of different Lok Sabha constituencies to the organisation’s general secretaries. Though the exercise is said to be part of the party’s block-level dharna programmes on October 31 against government to demand for commencement of paddy procurement from November 1, Patel’s decision was seen as an attempt to please different camps.

Hence, while delegating jobs, Patel gave charge of Mahasamund to Vidya Charan Shukla’s staunch supporter Vidhan Mishra, charge of Durg to Motilal Vora’s supporter Subhash Sharma, Rajnandgaon to Vora’s son Arun Vora and charge of Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa to Ajit Jogi’s supporters Dr Shivkumar Daharia and – Padma Manhar respectively.

PCC executive’s first meeting on Nov 4

Raipur, October 25, 2011 

 The first meeting of the PCC’s new executive would be convened on November 4. The meeting will be attended by all the 127 office-bearers including senior party leaders along with state unit incharge BK Hariprasada, AICC treasurer Motilal Vora and Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Charandas Mahant. In the meeting, the Congress is likely to frame strategy to intensify its movements against the BJP government.

Notably, the PCC’s coordination committee meeting was convened at New Delhi on October 21. In the meeting, the committee chalked out plans for the state unit’s next six-month activities. It had also been also decided in the meeting that the PCC’s first executive meeting would be held in the first week of November. In this regard, Hariprasada asked PCC president Nandkumar Patel to fix a date for the executive meeting and send invitation to all the office-bearers.

The Congress has already launched offensive against Raman Singh government since the recent past. Besides, the frontal organisations of the party are raising various issues like illegal liquor sale, PMT paper leak episode, irregularities in different departments, etc. While the state unit is targeting the government on rising corruption and lawlessness, sale of river water and dams, forcible acquisition of lands for industrialists, black marketing of fertilisers, delay in paddy procurement, frequent power cuts and now Balod eye camp incident.

According to information, these issues would again be raised in the PCC executive meeting and strategy to frustrate the government would be made accordingly.

Cong demands rehab for displaced Amanaka shopkeepers

Raipur, October 25, 2011

The Congress has demanded proper rehabilitation for displaced Amanaka shopkeepers from district administration. In this connection, a delegation of Congress members led by DCC Raipur Urban president Inderchand Dhariwal met Collector Dr Rohit Yadav and submitted a memorandum demanding quick rehabilitation of the shopkeepers on Tuesday.

Notably, the Amanaka shopkeepers were evicted on October 19, two days ahead of arrival of BJP veteran leader LK Advani who addressed a public rally in the city under his anti-corruption yatra.  

“It was unfortunate that the government evicted the shopkeepers just a couple of days before Diwali. These shopkeepers were operating their business for the past 35 years. Now they are jobless. They do not even have money to celebrate the festival. The government should have at least shifted them elsewhere,” said Dhariwal.

The Congress demanded from the Collector that the displaced shopkeepers should either be provided space near the same location where they had been doing their business for years or to construct new shops for them in the premises of old state road transport office at Amanaka.

The Collector assured the delegation that he would soon hold talk with RMC Commissioner RS Toppo regarding rehabilitation of the shopkeepers.

The delegation was comprised of DCC vice president Madan Lal Taleda, DCC spokesperson Sheikh Shakeel, Dinesh Tiwari, Surendra Choudhary along with president of Amanaka Vyapari Sangh Badriprasad Mishra.

Cong to stage dharna against govt on October 31

Raipur, October 24, 2011

The Congress has decided to stage dharna on October 31 against government and demand to start paddy procurement from November 1. The dharna will be staged in all the blocks from 12-4 pm. In this connection, the PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey convened a significant meeting of the party leaders at Choubey’s residence on Monday. Notably, this year, the government has extended the commencement date of paddy procurement by fifteen days.

The PCC spokesperson Mahendra Chhabra informed that the organisation’s general secretaries had been entrusted responsibility of different Lok Sabha constituencies to monitor the preparations of the dharna.

The state unit head would participate in the dharna at Raipur while the CLP leader would take part in Bilaspur.

The responsibility of Raipur Lok Sabha area has been assigned to Devvrat Singh, Korba – Dr Premsai Singh, Raigarh – Bhupesh Baghel, Sarguja – Chandrabhan Barmate, Mahasamund – Vidhan Mishra, Durg – Subhash Sharma, Rajnandgaon – Arun Vora, Bastar – Fulodevi Netam, Kanker – Ramesh Varlyani, Bilaspur – Dr Shivkumar Daharia and Janjgir – Padma Manhar.

The meeting was attended by Subhash Sharma, Arun Vora, Gurmukh Singh Hora, Kuldeep Juneja, Ambika Markam, Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, Shiv Singh Thakur, Ayesha Siddiqui, Ashokraj Ahuja, Sanjay Pathak, Meenakshi Verma, etc.  

Opposition seeks Guv’s intervention

Raipur, October 24, 2011

The Congress requested Governor Shekhar Dutt to instruct the government to start paddy procurement from November 1 instead of November 15. In this regard, the Congress leaders handed over a memorandum to the Governor on Monday. The Congress leaders said the Raman Singh government should have started paddy procurement from October 15 considering Diwali festival in the end of the month. “But since the government has always deceived the farmers, it took the decision to extend the date with an aim to benefit the middlemen,” they alleged.

Balod eye camp incident: Cong submits memo to Guv

Raipur, October 24, 2011

A delegation of Congress members led by PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey on Monday met Governor Shekhar Dutt and expressed its concern over apathetic attitude of the government towards the victims of Balod eye camp incident. The Congress sought from the Governor to sack Health Minister Amar Agrawal and take stern action against guilty doctors. The delegation also submitted a memorandum to the Governor with their three-point demand regarding the incident.

“According to medical norms, the doctors should have done not more than 75 cataract operations in one day, but 334 operations (1^st day – 82, 2^nd day – 130 & 3^rd day – 122) were done in three days in Balod eye camp. This indicates that the Health department organises eye camp not with the aim to benefit the patients, but to accomplish the given targets,” the delegation said.

The delegation further said that the doctors even conducted operation of those patients whose sugar level was not normal. “The test reports of these patients in the camp said that their sugar level was normal, but it was not as was confirmed by tests conducted on same people at Ambedkar hospital,” the delegation said.

The Congress leaders then alleged that the Health Minister was saving the guilty doctors. “First, the government announced suspension of four doctors when the Congress sent a probe team to Balod in wake of the incident. Then the minister held the suspension orders of the two doctors. This proves his insensitivity. The government should sack him immediately,” they said. They also demanded adequate compensation package for the victims.

The three-point demand mentioned by the Congress in the memorandum include – at least Rs five lakh compensation to the victims and their further treatment either in Shankar Netralaya Chennai or All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi and government service to at least one family member of each victim and case against the guilty doctors and other staff under section 304 of IPC.

The Congress delegation was comprised of Satyanarayan Sharma, Tamradhwaj Sahu, Ambika Markam, Subhash Sharma, Rajkamal Singhania, Gurmukh Singh Hora, Kuldeep Juneja, Arun Vora, Ramesh Varlyani, Vidhan Mishra, Rajendra Tiwari, Kiranmayi Nayak, Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, Mahendra Chhabra, etc. 

NIT director adopting autocratic attitude: FANITRR

Raipur, Oct 22: The Faculty Association of National Institute of Technology Raipur (FANITRR) has alleged that the director of the institute SK Pandey was adopting autocratic attitude towards the staffers. “She does not want to listen to our grievances. She refuses to meet our genuine demands. Her erratic behavior is certainly not a good omen for the institute’s future,” said the association members.

The FANITRR has recently sent a letter to the institute’s chairman of Board of Governors (BOG) Vijay R Kirloskar seeking his intervention into their matter. “We simply want provisions peer to other NITs, but the director has bluntly refused to accept our demands. Now, the chairman is the only option left to us. We hope he would not let our spirit go down,” the FANITRR members said.

The association has written nine-point letter written to the BOG chairman which includes – pay fixation of newly joined faculties as assistant professors in various departments, medical facilities, provision to send faculties to pursue PhD programmes under qualified institutional placement (QIP) scheme, research grant and research facilities, regular deposition of general provident fund (GPF) and new pension scheme (NPS) installments, change working day format from  six-day week to five-day week like other NITs and rapid completion of formalities pertaining to appointment on compensatory ground.

The association also urged the chairman that the decision regarding all the major issues should be taken without delay. The issues like - permission for attending conference/seminar/workshop, going on LTC, going on earn leave, sanction of funds, etc, should rather be dealt by the dean faculty welfare or the head of the departments for convenience of the faculty members, the association said.

The FANITRR further demanded infrastructural facilities, PhD increments, regular meetings to redress grievances, increased number of vacation days,  identity card facilities and sabbatical leave.   

Students get last chance to appear in exam

Raipur, October 22, 2011

The students of academic session 2004-05 of Government Girls’ Polytechnic Bairon Bazar would get last chance to clear the subject in which they have got supplementary. In this connection, special takeover application forms to appear in the examinations would be distributed from November 1-11, 2011. The forms with late fees can be submitted up to November 18. The exam would be conducted in December 2011 and January 2012. The officials of the institute informed that the students would have to appear in person to submit their application forms. The interested candidates would also have to submit an affidavit along with the stipulated documents with the forms.