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.
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