Congress workers’ meet in Balod today

Raipur, November 29, 2011

The Congress will organise its district-level workers’ meetings in Balod on Wednesday and in Rajnandgaon on the following day (i.e. December 1). The meeting will be attended by party’s state unit incharge BK Hariprasada, PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey.

Hariprasada will arrive in the state capital on Wednesday morning from New Delhi through regular flight.  He will spend about an hour in Raipur and then proceed to Balod along with Patel and Choubey.

The PCC spokesperson Mahendra Chhabda informed that the meetings would be attended by the office-bearers of panchayat, block and district level besides MLAs, former MLAs and workers. The PCC office-bearers of Balod and Rajnandgaon districts will also attend the meetings, he said.  

Chhabda said it would be the party’s first massive gathering at Balod after it became district. The partymen at Balod are eagerly waiting for the meeting and they hope the party would get new lease of life in the newly formed district after the senior leaders would interact with the workers, he added.

According to information, Patel has instructed the Durg Lok Sabha incharge Subhash Sharma and Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha incharge Arun Vora to do the preparations for the meetings in Balod and Rajnandgaon respectively.

The party had organised district-level meetings in Bastar division in Jagdalpur, Dantewada, Kondagaon and Kanker earlier this month. Patel has clearly stated that Congress would also organise block-level workers’ meeting to unite workers and increase party activities to win next Vidhan Sabha elections.

Choubey for continuation of private exams in varsities

Raipur, November 29, 2011

The leader of opposition in state Assembly Ravindra Choubey has said that private examination in the universities should be continued considering future of thousands of students who opt for the particular mode to obtain graduation or post graduation degrees. In this connection, Choubey wrote a letter to Governor and chancellor of the universities Shekhar Dutt on Monday and urged him to direct the varsity administrations to continue conducting private exams.

“I learned that the varsities are planning to stop organising private exams. This is injustice to those students who could not attend regular classes either due to financial crisis or because they do not get admission due to low scores in their previous exams. Besides, there are many students who desire to do their graduation or post graduation after marriage,” Choubey said.

He said the number of degree holders in state was increasing in the state owing to several factors including ‘private examination mode’. “In fact, through private exams, many are upgrading their educational qualification. The state is being benefitted by these private students too as its graph of degree holders is increasing simultaneously,” he said.

Choubey for continuation of private exams in varsities

Raipur, November 29, 2011

The leader of opposition in state Assembly Ravindra Choubey has said that private examination in the universities should be continued considering future of thousands of students who opt for the particular mode to obtain graduation or post graduation degrees. In this connection, Choubey wrote a letter to Governor and chancellor of the universities Shekhar Dutt on Monday and urged him to direct the varsity administrations to continue conducting private exams.

“I learned that the varsities are planning to stop organising private exams. This is injustice to those students who could not attend regular classes either due to financial crisis or because they do not get admission due to low scores in their previous exams. Besides, there are many students who desire to do their graduation or post graduation after marriage,” Choubey said.

He said the number of degree holders in state was increasing in the state owing to several factors including ‘private examination mode’. “In fact, through private exams, many are upgrading their educational qualification. The state is being benefitted by these private students too as its graph of degree holders is increasing simultaneously,” he said.

Taran Prakash Sinha assumes office of RMC Commissioner

Raipur, November 29, 2011

RMC’s Additional Commissioner Taran Prakash Sinha assumed the office of municipal Commissioner on Monday. He said his priorities would be to improve basic facilities of the city like sanitation, water supply, road conditions, street lights, etc. He said he would himself inspect municipal’s sanitary works in at least one ward every day.

In this connection, Singh gave one month’s time to the RMC officials. He said he would fix responsibility and take action against the zone commissioners from January 2012 if the conditions of their respective areas would not improve.

He said outstanding taxes should be recovered from major defaulters by attaching their properties. He asked the zone commissioners to frequently interact with the locals of their areas and promptly solve their grievances.

He said major projects should be expedited and completed timely. He further asked the officials to properly maintain municipal’s gardens and schools, issue smart cards under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) to the eligible poor, regularly catch stray cattle and to remove encroachments from the city.  

Earlier, Sinha was greeted by Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, leader of BJP corporators Subhash Sharma, MiC members and corporators at his office.

Government procures over 10.11 lakh MT paddy

Raipur, November 29, 2011

The government has procured 1011784 MT paddy at minimum support price (MSP) in the current Kharif season 2011-12. The paddy has been purchased through 1587 procurement centres under 1333 primary cooperative societies of the state. Notably, this time the government started purchasing paddy from November 5 instead of November 1. The government has procured over six lakh MT common paddy and four lakh MT grade-A paddy of the total procured paddy.

Tytler to attend Seva Dal training camp in January

Raipur, November 29, 2011

The national incharge of Congress Seva Dal Jagdish Tytler will attend Dal’s training camp in the state in January 2012. “We will organise massive training camp of our workers and trainers in the beginning of the new year in January on instructions of Tytler who would himself attend the camp,” said chief organiser of state Seva Dal Ashok Raj Ahuja on Tuesday.

Tytler, who was in brief visit to Raipur while he was returning to New Delhi after attending party campaign in poll-bound Umarkot (Orissa), discussed with Ahuja about the Dal’s activities in the state at New Circuit House on Monday night. Earlier, about 51 Dal workers led by Ahuja gave salute to Tytler on his Raipur arrival. Tytler left for national capital through regular flight on Tuesday morning.

SCC combined higher secondary level exam on Dec 4

Raipur, November 29, 2011

The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) will organise combined higher secondary level examination-2011 on December 4. There will be four exam centres in the state - Raipur, Bilaspur, Ambikapur and Jagdalpur. The exam would be held in two shifts – first - 10 am to 12 pm and second – 2 pm to 4 pm. The officials of the commission informed that admit cards had been sent to the eligible applicants. While those who have not received admit cards can check their eligibility at commission’s official website –www.sscmpr.org and download their duplicate admit cards, they added. They further informed that the candidates would have to mandatorily bring their three passport size photographs and identity proof (voter ID card, driving license or Indian passport).

Cong to raise host of issues thru no confidence motion

Raipur, November 28, 2011 

The Congress has decided to incorporate major issues of all the government departments in its no confidence motion against the government at state Assembly during winter session. A decision in this regard was taken by the Congress legislators’ party (CLP) during a meeting at the residence of leader of the opposition Ravindra Choubey on Monday.

Besides corruption in MNREGA and PMGSY cases, eye camp incidents in Balod, Rajnandgaon and Kawardha, land acquisition cases for power plants in Janjgir-Champa, illegal sale-purchase of tribal lands, selling of dams, Rs 270 paddy bonus, rising naxal violence, lawlessness, etc, the legislators felt that corruption prevailed in all the departments of the government and hence the no confidence motion should be moved to raise all the major issues.

In the meeting, the legislators also discussed about the party’s future activities including district-level workers’ meetings in Balod and Rajnandgaon on November 30 and December 1. The MLAs agreed that the party needed to start organising block-level workers’ meeting quickly to increase the domain of Congress in fat-fetched regions.

In the meeting, Choubey asked the legislators’ to suggest how else the party could grill the government in the Vidhan Sabha.

To increase the arty votebank, the PCC president Nandkumar Patel and Choubey said that the Congress legislators would soon get charge of the BJP dominated Assembly constituencies.

Choubey said he would again hold CLP meeting a couple of days before the beginning of Assembly’s winter session.

The meeting was attended by Dharmjeet Singh, Kuldeep Juneja, Haridas Bhardwaj, Ambika Markam, Tamradhwaj Sahu, Pratima Chandrakar, Shakrajeet Nayak, Kawasi Lakhma, Bodhram Kanwar, TS Singhdeo, etc.

RSS playing Muslim card to benefit BJP politically: Cong

Raipur, November 28, 2011 

Coming down heavily on RSS functionary Indresh Kumar for his remark – ‘Congress uses Muslims as votebank’, the PCC president Nandkumar Patel, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey and other party office-bearers on Monday alleged that the sangh was rather playing Muslim card to benefit the BJP politically.

“The RSS has always spewed venom against Muslim community. It is a communal organisation and its leader Indresh Kumar was allegedly involved in Malegaon and Ajmer Sharif bomb blast cases. The sangh’s pretention as Muslim sympathisers is its failed attempt to project BJP’s secular face which is wrong,” said the Congress leaders.

Alleging that the BJP government was working on the secret agenda of the RSS, the Congmen said the ruling party had never wished to benefit the minority community in the state.

“The appointment of 473 Urdu teachers is pending for last couple of years. The proposed Haj House was supposed to be constructed at Bairon Bazaar. Former Congress had sanctioned Rs two crore for the project. But the BJP government could not achieve the task even in eight years,” they said.

Besides, they said, the madarsas in the state could not get grants from Union HRD Minister because the Raman Singh government was never in favour of minority community’s development. They said the BJP could not even constitute Minority Finance Commission in last eight years.

Tytler arrives

Raipur, November 28, 2011 

The national incharge of Congress Seva Dal Jagdish Tytler arrived in state capital from Umarkot (Orissa) on Monday night. Tytler, who is also the incharge of Orissa state Congress, had been to poll-bound Umarkot to campaign for the party, informed chief organiser of state Seva Dal Ashok Raj Ahuja. Tytler will leave for New Delhi through regular flight on Tuesday morning.

Congress stages dharna before Sundar Nagar society office

Raipur, November 28, 2011 

The Congress on Monday staged dharna before Sundar Nagar society and protested the RMC’s action against shopkeepers based at society premises. The dharna is seen as open fight between two Congress leaders - RMC Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak and PCC general secretary Subhash Sharma who is also the president of the society. The ego clash between these two leaders has put the party in back foot once again.

The dharna was called upon by Purani Basti block Congress committee (BCC). Majority of the demonstrators were Sharma’s supporters. They demanded removal of Sundar Nagar ward corporator Mrityunjay Dubey from mayor-in-Council (MiC) for asking municipal officials to lock the society’s shops on grounds tax evasion.

Sharma, who belonged to Vora camp, wanted the municipal to spare the society shopkeepers, but Nayak, a staunch Jogi supporter, persevered.

Sharma’s supporters promptly took the matter to PCC president Nandkumar Patel and sought his intervention. They also complained that Nayak gave preference to three independent corporators including Mrityunjay Dubey over the party corporators in 14-member MiC team. They said Nayak should either ask the independent corporators of her team to take Congress membership or remove them immediately. But Patel shrugged off and reportedly asked Sharma’s supporters to solve the matter with Nayak amicably.

Some of the Congress workers term the Monday’s dharna staged by Sharma’s supporters as re-emergence of factionalism in the party. “The party leadership should instantly check growing infighting to prevent BJP to take advantage and divert public attention from corruption charges against the government,” they said.

The participants in the dharna included DCC Raipur City president Inderchand Dhariwal, Pramod Choubey, Sanjay Pathak, Bakar Abbas, Ruchi Dubey, Ambar Shukla, Amarjeet Chawla, Ravindra Shukla and others.

Human traffickers sold 8000 tribal girls in four years: Congress

Raipur, November 26, 2011

The Congress has alleged that the government’s indifference towards the tribal had led to rise in human trafficking incidents in the state in the past couple of years. “About 8000 tribal girls have sold by human trafficker since 2008 but the government has not taken any step to check the practice in the state,” said the PCC president Nandkumar Patel, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey and other PCC office-bearers jointly on Saturday.

“Human trafficking is a serious issue but the government is non-serious towards it. The Congress had raised the issue during state Assembly session in 2008 and had claimed that it had obtained the list of about 3200 victims of human trafficking. The victims belonged to Jashpur, Sarguja and other remote forest villages of the state. The opposition even sought permission from the Speaker to produce the list in the House. However, the government remained a silent spectator despite shocking revelations about exploitation of poor tribal girls,” the Congress leaders said.

“There was continuous rise in human trafficking incidents since 2008. By 2009, there were 4500 tribal girls were sold while till December 2010 to cases of human trafficking rose to 7000,” they said.

“The major reason of human trafficking in the state is government’s inability to spend the funds meant for radical development of tribal regions,” they added.

They said about 82 percent of the total fund realised for different schemes to be implemented in tribal areas remained unspent. “While cent percent funds sanctioned for the integrated service scheme under Women and Child Development department and schemes pertaining to child development remained unspent,” the Congmen informed.

“If the government claims that it is not protecting human traffickers then it should disclose the number of placement agencies and touts against whom action had been taken and the number of criminal cases filed against those who purchased the tribal girls and were exploiting them,” asked the Congress leaders.

The Congmen demanded from the government to quickly trap the human traffickers and take criminal action against them.

YC gives candle light tribute to Mumbai martyrs

Raipur, November 26, 2011

The Youth Congress (YC) gave candle light tribute to the martyrs of Mumbai’s 26/11 terrorist attack on Saturday. On the occasion, the YC’s Raipur North Vidhan Sabha general secretary Dilip Singh Chouhan, Sheikh Shakeel, Rehan Khan, Shirish Awasthi, Faheem, Bablu Raza, Anil Yadav, Akhilesh Joshi, Niyaz Ahmed, Ashish Dwivedi and other YC members were present at large number.

Mahant arriving today

Raipur, November 26, 2011

Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Charandas Mahant will arrive in a brief visit to the state capital through regular flight from New Delhi 9.25 am on Sunday.

Mahant will hold meeting state government’s Fishery department at 10 am. The meeting will be attended by Fishery department’s CEO and other senior officials. At 11.30 am, the minister will leave for Champa via road route to participate in a local programme at 3.30 pm. He will return Raipur at evening and attend a local programme at 9 pm.

At Raipur, Mahant will hold talks with PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey regarding party activities. The trio are also likely to discuss about party’s strategy to grill the ruling BJP at Vidhan Sabha during the winter session.

The minister will leave for national capital on Monday morning at 9.30 am through regular flight.

YC hails action against tainted officials

Raipur, November 26, 2011

The Youth Congress (YC) has hailed Raipur Collector’s action against officials who were allegedly involved in irregularities in MNREGA works in gram panchayat Kusmand under Arang janpad. The YC has also demanded sacking of sarpanch and criminal case against him for his nexus with the tainted officials.

The president of YC’s Raipur Lok Sabha Vinod Tiwari on Saturday said that the Collector took action against the officials after his organisation mounted pressure on local administration and government though continuous agitations.

“We had complained against Kusmand gram panchayat sarpanch to the Collector and Raipur district panchayat CEO back in June 2011. We informed him that the sarpanch along with the janpad and panchayat officials had misappropriated the funds released for carrying out works under Indira Awas Yojna, toilet construction, water tank construction, etc. These corrupts produced fake bills to the higher authorities convinced them that works had been done,” Tiwari said.

“Taking cognisance of our complaint, the Raipur district panchayat CEO probed into the matter and found that the sarpanch, former sarpanch and seven officials were involved in corruption. He recommended Arang janpad panchayat CEO to take stern action against all the guilty officials and sack the sarpanch by writing a letter to him. He also wrote a letter to Superintendent of Police Raipur to take lodge criminal case against him. However, no action was taken against any official while the sarpanch too was spared because he belonged to BJP,” said Tiwari.

He informed that the Collector was compelled to take action against the officials after YC persistently raised the issue through its protest movements. The Collector has sacked the three officials and suspended the three other while wrote a letter to the deputy commissioner Panchayat to sack CEO gram panchayat Kusmand.

“Still, our task is unfinished as the sarpanch has not yet been trapped. We will continue our agitation till he gets arrested,” Tiwari said.

Ramkrishna Mission symbol of human service: Governor

Raipur, November 25, 2011

Appreciating Ramkrishna Mission’s public welfare activities in Narayanpur for the past several years, Governor Shekhar Dutt has said that the Mission was a symbol of human service. Dutt showers encomiums on Mission workers during the inaugural ceremony of its three-day silver jubilee function at Narayanpur on Friday.

“The dedicated workers of the Mission have imparted unique identity to their organisation in the world by serving the tribal through their literacy drives and social works,” Dutt said.

Dutt also visited Ma Sharda girls hostel operated by the Mission and was impressed by the facilities provided to the students there. He said the works of the Mission were inspirational and felt that active participation of such organisations was required for successful implementation of government programmes in the remote tribal areas.

He said more efforts were needed to make people literate and educated in Bastar division. Dutt also praised the Mission for imparting education to the locals of Aboojhmad (Narayanpur district).

Commending the Mission social welfare works, the Tribal Development Minister Kedar Kashyap said the Mission was imparting education to the students for the past 25 years in the region.

The Mission’s head office Belur Math was represented by deputy general secretary of organisation Karanand Maharaj. On the occasion, the head of Mission’s Allahabad Math Swami Nikhilatmanand Maharaj, secretary of Mission’s Narayanpur ashram Swami Vyaptanand and secretary of organisation’s Vivekanand Ashram Swami Satrupanand Maharaj were also present.

RMC Speaker rebukes sanitation contractor

Raipur, November 25, 2011

The RMC Speaker Sanjay Shrivastava on Friday rebuked sanitation contractor of Guru Govind Singh ward for not maintaining cleanliness in the area. Shrivastava, who conducted sudden inspection of the ward, found filth and litter in the locality. He immediately asked the zone commissioner Vijay Pandey to serve notice to the contractor and ensure cleanliness of the ward in one week. He also warned zone officials of stern action if the ward’s sanitary condition would not be improved. He said the municipal would not compromise with the health of the people.

Govt clerks to go on indefinite strike from December 7

Raipur, November 25, 2011

With their demand for salary revision, the government clerks will go on indefinite strike from December 7. The Tritiya Varg Shashkiya Sangh (TVSS) has clarified that it would not buckle down government pressure this time and would only call back strike when its demand would be fulfilled.

Mahila Congress’ national tribal convention on December 20

Raipur, November 25, 2011

Mahila Congress will organise national tribal convention at New Delhi on December 20. Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi will be the chief guest of the convention. The incharge general secretary of Pradesh Mahila Congress (PMC) Usharajjan Shrivastava informed that the organisation’s tribal members will also participate in the convention. The PMC president Ambika Markam has appealed to the tribal members to attend the convention at large number. The registration of the members going to New Delhi for convention would be first done by Shrivastava. She asked the members to send their photographs and biodata quickly for registration.

YC submits memo to Agri Min regarding farmers’ problems

Raipur, November 25, 2011

The members of Youth Congress (YC) led by their state vice president Deepak Mishra submitted a memorandum to Agriculture Minister Chandrashekhar Sahu and informed him about the problems of farmers at paddy procurement centres.

Mishra said the YC teams visited different procurement centres across the state and took stock of the paddy purchase procedures. “We found that the farmers were facing inconvenience during procurement process,” he said.

He said due to lack of transportation facility to carry paddy from procurement centres to godowns and less storage space at centres, the farmers had to either form long queue to wait for their turn to sell paddy or to return home on excessive delay. He said some of the farmers compelled to sell their paddy to middlemen when their turn did not come even after waiting for three-four days.

Mishra further informed that the farmers’ whose crops got blackened or partially damaged due to industrial pollution were being sent back by the procurement centres. He urged the minister to ask procurement centres to purchase paddy from such farmers at minimum support price (MSP).

Pointing that the centres do not have adequate gunny sacks, Mishra said even the available ones were not in good condition and majority were torn. “The crops of the farmers are not being weighed timely due to lack of gunny sacks,” he said.

Mishra also informed about complaints of several farmers that their crops were being weighed less. “The farmers are also facing problem due to malfunction moisture meters,” he said.

The minister assured the YC members to quickly take positive step on their information regarding farmers’ problems. During meeting with the minister, Mishra was accompanied by Manish Dayal, Nitin Thakur, Naresh Gadhpal, Ankit Chakravarti, Ashish Dwivedi, Bablu Raza,Waseem Qasif, etc.

CM misusing administration for BJP image makeover: Jogi

Raipur, November 25, 2011

Worried by BJP’s decreasing popularity, Chief Minister Raman Singh is now misusing state administration for his party’s image makeover. The allegation against the CM was levelled by senior Congress leader and MLA Ajit Jogi on Friday. He said the CM in the recent Collectors’ conference did ‘political bargain’ with the officials by asking them to improve government’s image and get reward and promotion. “The CM actually wants to take poll advantage by improving government’s image as eventually his party would get the benefit in 2013 Assembly elections,” Jogi said.

Displaced Telibandha residents meet CM

Raipur, November 25, 2011

A delegation of displaced residents of Telibandha met Chief Minister Raman Singh and urged him to direct Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) to expedite its procedures to rehabilitate them. They informed that before displacing them the municipal had assured that they would be rehabilitated in the same place in 12 months. However, despite completion of eight months, the municipal has not taken any step in this direction, they said. Even the responsible municipal officials do not give any satisfactory answer regarding their rehabilitation, they added. The CM assured the delegation that they would soon their houses in the same place. The delegation was comprised of Raipur North legislator Kuldeep Juneja, Mother Teresa ward corporator Rekha Ramteke, Pramod Tiwari, Prakash Ramteke, Rakesh Verma, Kishan Banjari, Ghanshyam Tiwari, etc.

PCC prez Patel meets Union Minister Mahant

Raipur, November 25, 2011

PCC president Nandkumar Patel on Thursday met Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Charandas Mahant at New Delhi and informed him about the farmers’ woes in Chhattisgarh. He informed the minister that the farmers were severely frustrated by indifferent attitude of the state government despite knowing that their got damaged due to flood. “The agriculture has ceased to be a beneficial business in Chhattisgarh. Eventually, the farmers are unable to pay back their loan. This has dispirited the state farmers,” Patel said.  

He further informed Mahant that he had visited village Pandrapat under Bagicha block (Jashpur district) to meet the family members of farmer Bal Bhagwan Yadav who committed suicide recently. He said Yadav was potato producer and was heavily indebted as the farmers could not get more than Rs 2000 per acre of potato crop production. Mahant assured Patel that he would talk to the state government to provide fertilizers and other agriculture-related materials to the farmers at fair price.

Cong workers’ meet in Balod on Nov 30, Rajnandgaon on Dec 1

Raipur, November 24

 
The district-level Congress workers’ meeting would be organised in Balod on November 30 and in Rajnandgaon on December 1. The party’s state unit incharge BK Hariprasada will attend both the meetings, informed Mahendra Chhabda on Thursday. The meeting will also be attended by PCC president Nandkumar Patel, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey, panchayat, block, district and state level office-bearers of Balod and Rajnandgaon and workers. Chhabda informed that Hariprasada will reach state capital at morning on November 30 and leave for Balod along with Patel and Choubey. A day before the workers’ meeting in the two districts, the Congress monitoring committee would convene a meeting of partymen in Kawardha district on November 29 to take stock of Central schemes.

Delayed projects irks Juneja

Raipur, November 24

The Raipur North legislator Kuldeep Singh Juneja held a review meeting of works being carried out in his Assembly constituency at New Circuit House on Thursday. The meeting was attended by RMC commissioner RS Toppo and senior municipal officials. In the meeting, Juneja expressed his displeasure over the slow pace of ongoing projects in his legislative area. He was particularly upset with the delay in road widening and beautification works under Gaurav Path project from Fafadih chowk to Telghani Naka chowk. He said the project should have been completed timely but delayed owing to neglectful attitude of the officials. Toppo assured him to complete the project soon. He further assured Juneja to provide him quarterly reports of ongoing projects in his Vidhan Sabha area.

YC gheraoes CECB, demands action against polluting units

Raipur, November 24

The Youth Congress (YC) members on Thursday gheraoed Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) and demanded prompt action against polluting industries around the capital city. Later, the YC members submitted a memorandum to board’s member secretary P Narsimha Rao and urged him to take necessary measures to reduce pollution in the city.

The president of YC’s Raipur North Vidhan Sabha Dilip Singh Chouhan told Rao that despite board’s stern instructions to the industrial units to use electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) round the clock, none were complying.

“The black dust emitting from the factories covers the city and its surrounding. High pollution damages crops and affects overall agricultural production of the farmers living near industrial areas. Several diseases occur due to pollution. Still, the board has not taken any action against polluting units,” Chouhan charged.

He further alleged that neither the government nor the industrial units do plantation. “There is less number of trees in the city as well as in industrial areas. Pollution is bound to rise in this scenario,” he said.

The YC members demanded from Rao fix responsibility of the board officials and ensure the industries follow pollution norms. They warned of launching aggressive demonstration if their demands would not be considered.

Chouhan was accompanied by Sheikh Shakeel, Bakar Abbas, Sirish Awasthi, Mohammad Rehan, Nadim Arshad Quraishi, Bhavesh Shukla, Ashish Dwivedi, etc.

YC gheraoes CECB, demands action against polluting units

Raipur, November 24

The Youth Congress (YC) members on Thursday gheraoed Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) and demanded prompt action against polluting industries around the capital city. Later, the YC members submitted a memorandum to board’s member secretary P Narsimha Rao and urged him to take necessary measures to reduce pollution in the city.

The president of YC’s Raipur North Vidhan Sabha Dilip Singh Chouhan told Rao that despite board’s stern instructions to the industrial units to use electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) round the clock, none were complying.

“The black dust emitting from the factories covers the city and its surrounding. High pollution damages crops and affects overall agricultural production of the farmers living near industrial areas. Several diseases occur due to pollution. Still, the board has not taken any action against polluting units,” Chouhan charged.

He further alleged that neither the government nor the industrial units do plantation. “There is less number of trees in the city as well as in industrial areas. Pollution is bound to rise in this scenario,” he said.

The YC members demanded from Rao fix responsibility of the board officials and ensure the industries follow pollution norms. They warned of launching aggressive demonstration if their demands would not be considered.

Chouhan was accompanied by Sheikh Shakeel, Bakar Abbas, Sirish Awasthi, Mohammad Rehan, Nadim Arshad Quraishi, Bhavesh Shukla, Ashish Dwivedi, etc.

Kisan Mela on November 26

Raipur, November 24

The state’s Agriculture department will organise Kisan Mela at Manikchouri under Abhanpur development block on November 26. The day-long mela will be inaugurated by Governor Shekhar Dutt in presence of Agriculture Minister Chandrashekhar Sahu, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister and Raipur district incharge Punnulal Mohle.

Govt distributes Rs over 15.92 cr loan to farmers

Raipur, November 24

With an objective to provide financial assistance to the farmers in the ongoing Rabi season, the state government has distributed more than Rs 15.92 crore loans to them till November 22. The loan is being provided for short-term period and the rate of interest in minimal, i.e. only three percent annually. Earlier, the government had distributed loans to the farmers at same rate of interest during Kharif season. The loan is being provided to the farmers through 1333 primary cooperative societies. The loan is being given in the form of 60 percent cash amount and 40 percent farming materials like fertiliser, seeds, etc. The government started disbursing loan for Rabi crops in this fiscal from October 1, 2011.

Mutton shops to remain close on Dec 1

Raipur, November 24

RMC Health officer Dr Amrit Chopra has informed that the mutton shops in all the 70 wards would remain close on the occasion of Sant Tarantaran Jayanti on December 1. He said according to instructions of Urban Administration Ministry the municipal’s sanitation inspectors would keep an eye on mutton shops and would immediately seize the items of those shops which would remain open on December 1.