Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Patel to hold meeting of PCC office-bearers on March 5


Three more meetings to be held on same day

Raipur, Feb 28, 2012

PCC president Nandkumar Patel will hold significant meeting of office-bearers at Congress Bhawan on March 5. The meeting will be attended by CLP leader Ravindra Choubey along with party vice presidents, general secretaries and secretaries.
Besides, the meeting of Congress monitoring committee, disciplinary committee and building construction committee will be organised on the same day.
The party’s chief spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi informed that the first meeting of the office-bearers will be convened at 12 pm. The meeting will be focussed on organisational activities.
Since, Patel has also delegated jobs to the vice presidents recently while general secretaries and secretaries holding assignments of Lok Sabhas and Vidhan Sabhas respectively, he is likely to urge the office-bearers to expedite party activities by organising VS, district and block level workers’ meetings and training camps in 51 legislative assembly areas by selecting workers from every polling booth.  
The meeting of monitoring committee will commence at 2 pm and will be chaired by Arvind Netam. In the meeting, he is likely to ask the panel members to collect more evidences regarding irregularities in Central schemes. Notably, the panel is collecting evidences of grafts cases from all the districts of the state. It found ample evidences in its recent visits in Dantewada and Bijapur districts too. The Congress plans to hand over all these evidences to President of India, Prime Minister, Governor of Chhattisgarh and AICC president Sonia Gandhi.
The disciplinary committee’s meeting will be organised at 3 pm and building construction committee’s meeting will be held at 4 pm. 

NSUI gheraoes Govt Engineering College


Raipur, Feb 28, 2012

Alleging that a lecturer of Government Engineering College (GEC) Sejbahar NP Dewangan harasses the students and adopts partiality while giving marks in practical exams, the NSUI members on Tuesday gheraoed the institute and demanded quick action against Dewangan. They also mounted pressure on the college administration to quickly provide radical facilities like workshop, laboratories, etc to the students.
Taking serious note on the allegations of the NSUI members, the GEC principal MR Khan assured them of constituting a five-member team to inquire into the charges levelled against Dewangan. Similarly, on provision of other facilities, Khan said he would write a letter to the government.
The NSUI state president Devendra Yadav informed Khan that he received several complaints from the students regarding Dewangan’s misbehaviour with them. “We were surprised to learn from the students that Dewangan sometime even beat them. He also uses abusive and obscene language against them frequently,” said Yadav.
The NSUI members said that the GEC students had protested several times in the past against Dewangan’s misconduct but no action was being taken against him. They said they will lodge FIR against Dewangan.
The NSUI members present on the occasion were national delegate Nikhil Dwivedi, district vice presidents – Akash Sharma, Bhavesh Shukla, along with Sumit Sao, Ashish Dwivedi, Karan Sharma, Sumit Sharma, Mayank Thakur, Amit Andani, etc. 

Jogi blames govt for killing of innocents in Maoist janadalats


Raipur, Feb 28, 2012

Former chief minister and senior Congress legislator Ajit Jogi on Tuesday held state government responsible for brutal killing of two jawans and five villagers in naxal janadalats recently. “The government deserves the blame as it has completely failed to check rising Maoism in the state,” said Jogi.
“The Centre provides sufficient fund for modernisation of police stations in naxal-infested areas but the state does not seem spending it properly as the locals still feel insecure,” he said.
He suggested that the government, besides bolstering its security system, must also take hold ‘peace talks’ with the Maoists to check killing of the innocent people. 

ITI refusing to return excess fees to students: YC


Raipur, Feb 28, 2012

The Youth Congress (YC) has alleged that an Industrial Training Institute (ITI), based at Saddu and operated under public-private partnership system, was exploiting its students by not returning excess fees taken by them. “About 80 students along with the YC members had gheraoed the institute’s CEO Shailendra Mishra on February 15, 2012 and demanded to quickly return the excess fees. Mishra had assured that all the students would get their additional fee amount in ten days. But for the past couple of days his office as well as ITI principal TR Dewangan’s office are locked,” said the YC’s Raipur Lok Sabha general secretary Pankaj Mishra. He warned the institute of launching aggressive agitation if the students would not get back their additional fee amount. 

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Cong to hold meetings in Bastar division on March 6, 7


Raipur, February 27, 2012

Once again, senior Congress leaders including PCC president Nandkumar Patel, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey will be on two-day tour of Bastar division on March 6 and 7. During the tour, Patel and Choubey will convene four meetings in two days in Kanker, Antagarh and Narayanpur. Besides, party’s monitoring committee will conduct a meeting at Kanker.
The party spokesperson Mahendra Chhabda informed that the duo would conduct three meetings in Kanker on March 6. The first meeting will be of party’s public representatives at panchayat-level from Bastar and Kanker Lok Sabha constituencies.
In the meeting, the duo will take information from the representatives regarding government attitude towards them in terms of fund allocation and provision of other facilities in their respective regions. The meeting will also be attended by presidents of all the DCCs, BCCs, PCC members and party’s MLA candidates in previous polls hailing from Bastar division.
The meeting will commence at 1 pm at Kanker’s community hall. The partymen will also discuss over the political resolution on government attempts to trespass rights of elected representatives of the Congress.
The next meeting will be convened by monitoring committee’s chairman Arvind Netam. He will first scrutinise complaints of partymen from all the blocks of Kanker district regarding irregularities in Central schemes and then submit comprehensive report to Patel.
After panel’s meeting, Patel and Choubey will convene a review meeting which will be attended by senior party leaders of Bastar division.
On March 7, the duo will conduct a significant meeting at Antagarh at 11:30 am. The meeting will be prominently attended by the AICC secretary and state unit’s incharge secretary Bhakt Charandas party’s local office-bearers representing state, districts, blocks, panchayats and frontal organisations.
Patel and Convene another meeting at Narayanpur at 2 pm and then return to Raipur at evening. All the meeting will also be attended by convenor of state’s Rajiv Gandhi Panchayati Raj Snagathan Dr Shakrajeet Nayak along with PCC general secretaries, incharge secretaries of Vidhan Sabhas, etc.

30 tribal families ousted from village, govt mum: Cong


Raipur, February 27, 2012

Taking serious note on ouster of 30 tribal families in Rajnandgaon district the Congress has alleged that the government was ignoring the problems of the tribal community.
“While tribal families living in remote rural pockets continue to migrate to other states, there are many who are forced to leave their farm land, houses and other properties and to take refuge to other districts. The 30 tribal families of Kansibadra and Lamragaon under Chuikhadan block (Rajnandgaon) too have taken refuge in other district due to unknown reasons. However, the government is silent over the entire incident instead taking measures to know the reality behind sudden movement of the 30 families to other district,” said PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey.
“If the government is unable to reach the rural areas of Rajnandgaon district then it should have announced to form another district in the region on August 15, 2011,” they said.
“The Chief Minister’s new residence has been built in Rajnandgaon city at the cost of Rs 59 lakh but with whom he will interact when the villagers would gradually migrate to other places like 30 tribal families did,” the duo asked.
They said the government should stop playing with the figures of development and try redressing the problems of the tribals,
“But the government is insensitive. About 400 villages were burnt in South Bastar but the CM reached the spot to take stock of the situation after 30 days,” they added.
They charged that panchayati raj system had actually paralysed in tribal-populated areas and the government was not following 74th amendment of the Constitution in such regions effectively.
The duo informed that the party had decided to extend help to the 30 tribal families. Patel has instructed DCC Rajnandgaon president Vinod Goswami, incharge general secretary of Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency Arun Vora and former parliamentarian from the region Devvrat Singh to meet the 30 families and address their problems. 

Cong’s Raipur LS-level meeting held


Raipur, February 27, 2012

PCC general secretary and Raipur Lok Sabha (LS) incharge Devvrat Singh convened three significant meetings of the partymen on Monday. The first meeting was attended by PCC secretaries and incharges of Vidhan Sabhas under Raipur LS area along with DCC Raipur Urban president and heads of Block Congress Committees (BCCs) under Raipur Urban at Congress Bhawan. Singh also convened meeting of the party from Dharsiva and Tilda blocks at 1 and 3 pm respectively. In all the meetings, Singh took stock of the party activities in Raipur LS area and reviewed the progress of the assignments he had given to the office-bearers in the previous meeting. 

Jogi hails HC stay on land acquisitions by govt


Raipur, February 27, 2012

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi has hailed the stay order by High Court on land acquisitions by state government for Naya Raipur. “The land acquisition procedure was wrong. The government has acquired lands from 5000 farmers from 30 villages,” Jogi said. He alleged that the government had given asylum to the land, liquor and mining mafias who were using threatening means to compel the farmers to sell their lands at low rates. 

‘Naya Raipur must be named after Veer Narayan Singh’


Raipur, February 27, 2012

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi has suggested that Naya Raipur should be named after martyr Veer Narayan Singh. Similarly, he said that new Secretariat and international stadium should also be named after Guru Ghasidas and Dr Khoobchand Baghel respectively. “The three great leaders are pride of Chhattisgarh and by naming Naya Raipur, new Secretariat and international stadium on their names would be a true tribute of the state to them,” Jogi said.

NSUI protests lab fee charged by college


Raipur, February 27, 2012

NUSI on Monday protested laboratory fee charged by Vivekanand College at Bhansoj (Mandir Hasaud) from 150 students terming it illegal and demanded from Pt Ravishankar Shukla University’s (RSU) vice chancellor Professor SK Pandey to quickly ask the college administration to return the fee amount to the students. “The college has charged Rs 400 each from the students to appear in the final practical examination on February 26. We have informed about this to the varsity’s students’ welfare officer VK Pandey on the same day but the RSU administration did not take stern action against Vivekanand college,” said former NSUI president Sanjeev Shukla and organisation’s Raipur district president Pradeep Sahu. The NSUI members also lodged its protest before the vice chancellor at the varsity campus and warned of sitting on hunger strike if the lab fee of the students would not be returned. On the occasion were present Vipin Mishra, Raja Kumar, Khileshwar Dewangan, Khilawan Nishad, Tilak Dewangan, Mahesh Yadav, Aniket Kumar, etc. 

NSUI opposes liquor shop at Chhattisgarh Nagar


Raipur, February 27, 2012

The NSUI has opposed liquor shop at main road in Chhattisgarh Nagar. The president of NSUI’s Raipur district Pradeep Sahu said that the liquor shop was causing inconvenience to the locals, especially girls and students. “Anti-social elements gather at the liquor shop even at day time making the entire locality unsafe for the passers-by in general and girls in particular. The traffic pressure in the area is also high and hence with additional crowd thronging the liquor shop, there is always the likeliness of road mishaps,” said Sahu. He warned the local administration of launching aggressive agitation if the liquor shop would not be shifted elsewhere. 

YC gheraoes CSERC


Raipur, February 27, 2012

The Youth Congress (YC) on Monday gheraoed Chhattisgarh State Electricity Regulatory Commission (CSERC) opposing proposed 30 percent hike in power tariff. The president of YC’s Raipur North Vidhan Sabha area Sunil Kukreja said that despite protest from consumers the government was trying to impose the hiked power tariff on them. “We have warned the Commission of launching aggressive agitation if the power tariff would be increased,” he said. On the occasion were present Anwar Hussein, Soma Thakur, Sumit Sao, Shashikant, Faheem, Sewak Mahanand, Rafeeq Khan, Kamran Ansari, Kushal Goswami, etc. 

Cong felicitates agri scientists, farmers


Raipur, February 27, 2012

Congress felicitated agriculture scientists and farmers on the occasion of 86th birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Pt Shyamacharan Shukla at 11 am at Congress Bhawan on Monday. Notably, the Congress observes Shukla’s birth anniversary as ‘Kisan Diwas’ every year and felicitates selected agriculture experts and farmers on the occasion. On Monday, the party felicitated senior agriculture scientist Dr JM Pandagare from Dau Kalyan Singh Research Area Bhatapara, Dr PK Chandrakar from Indira Gandhi Agricultural University (IGAU), farmer Ajay Verma from village Mangsa, farmer Shivnandan Shrivas from village Fingeshwar, Ramkrishna Sahu from Kurud, Anil Kumar Agrawal from village Gudelia and Narender Kumar from village Bilari. Earlier, the party leaders paid tribute to Shukla by garlanding his statue at Gaurav Path at 10:30 am. The Congress leaders present on both the occasions were former PCC president Dhanendra Sahu, legislator Amitesh Shukla, DCC Raipur Urban president Inderchand Dhariwal and others.  

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Development affects as CG spending dips: Jogi


Raipur, February 25, 2012

Citing reports of National Sample Survey (NSS) of July 2009 and June 2010 which reveals that Chhattisgarh is the least spending state in the country, former chief minister Ajit Jogi on Saturday said that the development in the state decelerated as its spending nosedived.
“In last eight years, the ruling BJP has brought down the purchasing power of the people and hence its claims of credible Chhattisgarh and 11.6 percent GDP is completely false,” Jogi said.
“Over 40 percent of the total population of the state is poor. Similarly, Chhattisgarh stands fourth in terms of most malnourished states in the country,” he said.
“Corruption dominates MNREGA works. Labourers are not getting timely payment in MNREGA works. Agricultural works have also been affected due to the government’s anti-farmer policies. This has led to migration of labourers. Several cases of state labourers been taken hostage in other states appear but the Chhattisgarh government pose indifference towards them,” he said.
“The dip in the state spending has also resulted in power cuts and unavailability of potable water. The condition in remote rural pockets is worse. The tribal areas like Aboojhmaad do not get supply of potable drinking water and hence the locals are compelled to drink nullah water,” he added.
He further pointed that the rural as well as urban areas also lack basic facilities. “The Centre has provided huge fund for housing and drinking water schemes in the urban areas but state government could not use it fully as it lacked foresightedness and effective policies,” he said.
He advised the BJP government to seriously and sincerely implement the public welfare schemes launched by the Centre by properly utilising funds allocated for them to expedite the development in the state.
He said the government could also increase the purchasing power of the people by checking black marketing and illegal stocking of daily-use items including food grains. 

Public hearing on power tariff hike a formality: Cong


Raipur, February 25, 2012

The public hearing to be organised by Chhattisgarh State Electricity Regulatory Commission (CSERC) on February 28 on proposed 30 percent power tariff hike will merely be a formality as the government has made it mindset for it much earlier. The allegations against the government was levelled by PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey who strongly opposed the power tariff hike terming it injustice to the people of Chhattisgarh.
They said the people had become victim of the government’s mismanagement and their pocket would be dented further with the hike in power tariff. “The power surplus state, instead of getting benefited by selling electricity, is incurring huge loss by purchasing electricity,” the duo ridiculed.
“The Congress opposes all the whimsical pretexts given by the government on proposed power tariff hike and demands from it to roll back its decision,” they said.
The Youth Congress (YC), on the other hand, said that its members would attend the public hearing of the CSERC and register their protest against the power tariff hike. “We will seek accounts of surplus power from the officials in the public hearing. If the government would take repressive action against us then we would launch offensive against it through protest movements,” said YC’s Raipur Lok Sabha president Vinod Tiwari. 

Govt insensitive towards Aanganbadi workers: Cong


Raipur, February 25, 2012

Congress has alleged that the state government was insensitive towards Aanganbadi workers and assistants and hence not fulfilling their demands. “In favour of their 12-point demand, large number of Aanganbadi workers and assistants staged statewide dharna in the capital city on February 24 but the government remained unmoved,’ said PCC vice president Pushpa Devi Singh, general secretary Fulodevi Netam and PMC president Ambika Markam on Saturday.
“The responsibility of the Aanganbadi workers and assistants is to take care of the health of pregnant women and infants by providing them nutritious food but the government’s adamant attitude forced them to stay away from their work for one day and engage in dharna,” they said.
They said the demands including hike in stipend by Aanganbadi workers and assistants was genuine and the government should accept them immediately. “Their stipend is actually incurred by the Centre. In April 2011, the Centre had hiked the stipend of the Aanganbadi workers from Rs 1500 to Rs 3000 and assistants from Rs 750 to Rs 1500. But due to government’s apathy, the hiked stipend came into effect from January 2012. Moreover, the state government is also deceiving people by claiming the Central fund for stipend as its own,” they added.
Notably, there are 87526 Aanganbadi workers and 6548 assistants in 43763 Aanganbadi centres across the state. The Congress leader said that considering the role played by Aanganbadi workers and assistants in maintaining good health and nutrition of pregnant women and kids in rural pockets the government should show generosity towards them. 

Hold interview for vacant posts in ITIs in 15 days: Cong


Raipur, February 25, 2012

Congress has warned Technical Education Department of gheraoing Chief Minister Raman Singh’s residence if it would not hold interview for vacant posts in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in next fifteen days.
In this connection, the Congress members led by DCC Raipur Urban president Inderchand Dhariwal submitted a memorandum to Secretary Technical Education Nidhi Chhibbar on Saturday.
“Chhibbar has given us assurance that her department would surely try to fill the vacant posts as soon as possible but if the procedures would be stalled beyond 15 days then we would be compelled to demonstrate along with candidates before the CM house,” Dhariwal said. 
Notably, the Directorate Employment and Training had published advertisement back in September 1, 2010 seeking applications for 723 vacant posts of trainer grade-3 in government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). To appear in the interview, about 20000 candidates have submitted forms along with demand draft (DD) of Rs 400 each.
“But even after 18 months, the directorate has not taken any step in favour of the candidates,” Dhariwal said.
The Congress workers who accompanied Dhariwal while submitting the memorandum to Chhibbar were Shiekh Shakeel, Prakash Ramteke along with Shikshit Berojgar Sangh’s Rajkumar Sahu, Vishnu Yadav, Surendra Sahu, Sumit Thakur and Rajsh Thakur. 

Congmen to inaugurate Santoshi Nagar flyover today


Raipur, February 25, 2012

DCC Raipur Urban president Inderchand Dhariwal on Saturday informed that the office-bearers of DCC, Youth Congress and party corporators of Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) will inaugurate the newly constructed Santoshi Nagar flyover at 11 am on Sunday.
Although it would be an unofficial inauguration of the flyover, Dhariwal said the partymen would not wait anymore and would show green signal for convenience of the motorists who had faced inconvenience in past three years.
“The traffic pressure would ease with the commencement of the flyover and the entire area from Santoshi Nagar to Pachpedi Naka chowk which had become accident prone zone would now become safer for the motorists,” said Dhariwal.
Notably, the Congress leaders had continuously agitated for rapid completion of the flyover by gheraoing the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) office as well as the office of DS Construction – the agency hired by the NHAI to accomplish the task of folurlane project along with three flyovers at Ring Road No 1. 

Cong to felicitate 11 farmers tomorrow


 Raipur, February 25, 2012

Congress will felicitate 11 farmers on the occasion of 86th birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Pt Shyamacharan Shukla at 11 am in Congress Bhawan on February 27. The DCC Raipur Urban president Inderchand Dhariwal informed that the farmers had been selected on the basis of their outstanding contribution in agricultural sector.
Notably, the Congress observes Shukla’s birth anniversary as ‘Kisan Diwas’ every year and felicitates best farmers on the occasion. Dhariwal informed that the party takes initiative for farmers to encourage them.
Prior to the felicitation programme, the party leaders will pay tribute to Shukla by garlanding his statue at Gaurav Path at 10:30 am.
Dhariwal informed that all the senior leaders and DCC office-bearers along with workers would attend the farmers’ felicitation programme.

Cong’s Raipur LS-level meeting tomorrow


Raipur, February 25, 2012

PCC general secretary and Raipur Lok Sabha (LS) incharge Devvrat Singh will convene three significant meetings of the partymen on February 27. The first meeting will be attended by PCC secretaries and incharges of Vidhan Sabhas under Raipur LS area along with DCC Raipur Urban president and presidents of BCCs under Raipur Urban at Congress Bhawan at 11 am. Singh will hold second meeting at Dharsiva at 1 pm. The meeting will be attended by all the office-bearers of BCC Dharsiva. He will conduct third meeting at Tilda at 3 pm. This meeting will be attended by Tilda BCC office-bearers. According to information, Singh will review the progress of the assignments he had given to the office-bearers in the previous meeting. He will also frame strategy for Raipur LS area after holding discussion on recent party events. 

Friday, February 24, 2012

Cong training camp held sans bigwig leaders


Raipur, February 24, 2012

The much-awaited workers’ training camp of Congress was organised at Amlipadar under Bindranawagar legislative assembly area on Friday. Surprisingly, the party’s bigwig leaders including CLP leader Ravindra Choubey and legislators were missing from camp, however, PCC president Nandkumar Patel attempted to maintain the tempo of about 350 workers by exhorting them start preparing for forthcoming polls according to party instructions. He further said that the party would announce candidates for 51 Vidhan Sabha seats (dominated by ruling BJP) some 100 days before the elections.
“The objective of the state Congress is dethrone BJP from power in next Assembly elections and help the party forming government at Centre by getting public mandate in general elections,” he said.
The workers had expected to get introduced by the entire top brass of the party as was declared, but it did not happen. Sources say that two major factors prevented senior leaders to attend the camp – first - increasing factionalism and attempt by some leaders to shift equilibrium towards their side and second - unavailability of several leaders.
The party had invited AICC treasurer Motilal Vora, AICC general secretary and incharge of state Congress BK Hariprasada and AICC secretary and state unit’s incharge secretary Bhakt Charandas, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Charandas Mahant veteran leader Vidyacharan Shukla and senior legislator Ajit Jogi but none came due to some or the other reason.
While the legislators of nearby legislative constituencies including Agni Chandrakar, Paresh Bagbahra, Devendra bahadur singh and Dr Haridas Bhardwaj were also missing from the camp.

YC expresses concern over rising crime in city


Raipur, February 24, 2012

Expressing its concern over rising crime in capital city, the members of Youth Congress (YC) on Friday submitted a memorandum on the name of SSP Dipanshu Kaabra to ASP Abhishek Meena. The YC members pointed that the city has witnessed more than a dozen murder cases in just two months of 2012. “Besides, rape, abduction, dacoity and robbery have become order of the day,” they added. ASP Meena assured the YC members that the police would soon take measures to bring down crime rate in the city. The memorandum was submitted by YC’s Raipur North Vidhan Sabha president Sunil Kukreja, Neelkamal Gilhare, Anwar Huseein, Soma Thakur, Akash Sharma, Sewak Mahanand, Kushal Goswami, Kamran Ansari, Ekansh Sharma, Imamuddin, etc.


YC invites minister to see crematory’s condition


Raipur, February 24, 2012

The Youth Congress (YC) on Friday invited Urban Administration Minister Amar Agrawal to see dejected condition of Shankar Nagar based crematory.
The YC leader Akash Tiwari informed Agrawal that the crematory lacked basic facilities from wood, water, electricity to sanitation. He also informed the minister that it is the only crematory amid the population of about 50000 in its ambience but neither the local corporators nor the municipal had taken any initiative to improve its conditions.
Tiwari further informed Agrawal that many builders had started encroaching the crematory land while during night it turns into meeting point of the anti-social elements.  
“The minister has assured us that he would soon inspect the crematory and take ensure provision of basic facilities there,” said Tiwari.
On the occasion were present Sattu Singh, Yash Gujar, Anil Jain, Ashu, GK Agrawal, Yatendra Singh Tomar, Rajat Chhabda, Ashish Shukla, Pranav Shukla, Sandeep Bhattacharya, Samir Singh, Golu Sharma, etc.


YC against govt’s plan to bring power selling proposal


Raipur, February 24, 2012

Opposing government’s plan to bring proposal to sell electricity to the other states, Youth Congress (YC) burnt an effigy of ruling BJP at dharna spot near Sports Complex Budhapara on Friday.
The YC’s Raipur North Vidhan Sabha general secretary Dilip Singh Chouhan said that the government had no right to sell electricity to the other states without ensuring provision of full-time power to people of Chhattisgarh at low rates.
“Ironically, the ruling party projects Chhattisgarh as electricity surplus state in the country but simultaneously plans to hike power tariff. This is injustice to the people,” he said.
On the occasion were present Shiekh Shakeel, Bakar Abbas, Mohammad Azhar, Bablu Raza, Azhar Rahman, Niyaz, Anil Yadav, Prakash Ramteke, Akhilesh Joshi, Imran, Mukesh Kurre, Nemi Lahre, Jishant, Ujjwal, Gaurav, Harish Santwani, etc.


Aanganbadi workers stage massive dharna


Raipur, February 24, 2012

Upset by government’s apathetic attitude towards Aanganbadi workers, the Pragatishel Aanganbadi Karykarta Avum Sahayika Sangh (PAKASS) on Friday staged massive dharna in favour of its 12-point demand at dharna spot near Sports Complex Budhapara on Friday. After dharna, the sangh submitted memorandums on the name of Chief Minister Raman Singh and Women and Child Development Department Lata Usendi to the representative of Raipur Collector.
The sangh demanded from the government to disburse stipend peer to Centre to the Aanganbadi workers till it accords them status of an employee. “IT is unfortunate that the government imposes all the works on Aanganbadi workers through Collectors and tehsildars but do not give sufficient stipend,” the sangh members said.
The sangh’s general secretary Bharat Bhusan Pandey said the government was anti-people and hence was ignoring Aanganbadi workers. “When the salary, pension and other perks of ministers, parliamentarians and legislators can be increased then why should the Aanganbadi workers be deprived of their deserved rights? While the ministers, MPs and MLAs make huge money through corruption, the Aanganbadi workers simply concentrate in discharging their responsibility sincerely,” he said.
He pointed that the government also shows generosity to the industrialists by announcing packages meant to benefit them but barely thinks to increase the stipend of the Aanganbadi workers who are working for about 15-20 years. “These workers do not even get remuneration which could help them live,” he said.
The sangh president Rajkumari Daharia said that their agitation would continue till the government fulfils their demand. “Our next step will be indefinite strike for which all the workers would have to unite and struggle,” she said.
The demands of the sangh include – accord status of government employees to the Aanganbadi workers, bring them under the domain of provident fund, either give them benefit of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) or implement medical allowance for them, increase house rent allowance, stipend should be disbursed till 10th of every month, increase fuel allowance, hike building repairing and maintenance fund, recruit supervisors through promotion, give priority to Aanganbadi workers on the basis of their eligibility and experience during recruitment of Shikshakarmis, etc.  
The gathering of Aanganbadi workers was also addressed by sangh’s vice president Aradhna Gautam, Laxmi Kosle, Hema Bharti, Anita Daharia, Rukmani Sahu, Hira Sahu, Shivbati Sahu, etc.


Govt distributes Rs over 181 cr loan to farmers


Raipur, February 24, 2012

With an objective to provide financial assistance to the farmers in the ongoing Rabi season, the state government has distributed more than Rs 181.18 crore loans to them till February 22, 2012. 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.
In the previous Rabi season, the government had distributed about Rs 119 crore loan amount to the farmers which is about Rs 62 crore less than the distribution figures of the current financial year.
The officials of Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Bank informed that the farmers of Durg district (including newly formed Balod and Bemetara districts) have taken highest amount of loan, i.e. Rs 54.75 crore followed by Raipur (including newly formed Balodabazar and Gariyaband districts) – Rs 21.21 crore and Rajnandgaon – Rs 16.32 crore.
The loan distributed to other districts are – Mahasamund – Rs 14.41crore, Kabeerdham – Rs 12.05 crore, Dhamtari – Rs 21.20  crore, Jagdalpur (including newly formed Kondagaon district) – Rs 10.70 crore, Narayanpur – Rs 14 lakh, Kanker (North Bastar) – Rs 9.45crore, Dantewada (including newly formed Sukma district) – Rs 7 lakh, Bijapur – Rs 26 lakh, Bilaspur (including newly formed Mungeli district)– Rs 3.75 crore, Janjgir-Champa – Rs 1.37crore, Korba – 7 lakh, Raigarh – Rs 5.78 crore, Jashpur – Rs 5 lakh, Sarguja (including newly formed Surajpur and Balrampur districts)– Rs 8.12 crore and Koria – Rs 1.40 crore.


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Cong workers’ training camp today


Raipur, February 23, 2012

The Congress will organise its first workers’ training camp at Amlipadar under newly formed Gariyaband district (Bindranawagar legislative assembly) on Friday. About 1000 workers are likely to attend the camp. PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey, incharge of training department TS Singhdeo and other senior leaders will give necessary tips to the workers regarding booth management in particular and poll preparation in general. The party plans to organise similar camps in 51 other Vidhan Sabha areas of the state.
According to information, AICC general secretary and incharge of state Congress BK Hariprasada and AICC secretary and state unit’s incharge secretary Bhakt Charandas would not be able to attend the camp owing to their hectic schedules.
Notably, the party was earlier supposed to organise the camp in Mainpur but then shifted the venue close to this location – Amlipadar.
The training will commence at 10 am. The party leadership has asked all the PCC office-bearers, executive members, all the members of monitoring and disciplinary committees, office-bearers of YC, NSUI, Mahila Congress, Seva Dal and all cells and morchas to mandatorily remain present in the training camp. 
The objective of the training camps is to fill new energy among the workers to ensure its victory in next assembly and general elections. Besides, the trainers will also make the workers acquainted with the party’s history, policies, ideology and principals.


Cong charges of utensil scam in CSIDC


Raipur, February 23, 2012

Congress has charged of utensil scam in Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC). “The CSIDC has put aside all the norms and given utensil supply order worth crores without conducting quality test of the samples. The CSIDC has not even considered it important to acquire information of the manufacturer units from where the utensils would be supplied,” alleged state president of PCC’s business cell Kanhaiyya Agrawal on Thursday.
“Even when we sought detailed information regarding tendering process of utensil supply through Right to Information (RTI) Act, the CSIDC provided use the information of year 2010 instead of 2012,” Agrawal said.
Notably, the bid for utensil supply was invited recently. The CSIDC had set high norms for utensil quality. The utensils are meant for Tribal Welfare Department and Women and Child Development Department.
“Since, these two departments do not have quality test departments, the quality of the utensils is supposed to be tested by the CSIDC but it is trying to shirk this responsibility,” he said.
“The corporation also shortlists authorised suppliers whom the two departments give orders. “However, the corporation strangely relaxed the norms for some suppliers who did not submit the samples of the utensils along with the tenders,” he said.
“While finalising the tenders, the CSIDC did not even ensured whether the specific companies had their own manufacturing units or not. This is an indicative of huge scam,” he said.
“The government fund is meant to purchase quality utensils for the poor tribal children but due to nexus of suppliers with departmental minister officials, ‘supply and rate fixation’ procedures have been twisted to provide benefit to selected few,” he said.
Agrawal warned that Congress business cell would complain about the utensil supply scam to Governor and Lokayukta if the relevant tendering process would be cancelled. 

Govt playing with future of youth: Cong


Raipur, February 23, 2012

The Congress has alleged that the government was playing with the future of youth by first creating posts and then stalling the shortlisting procedures.
The DCC Raipur Urban president Inderchand Dhariwal informed that the Directorate Employment and Training had published advertisement back in September 1, 2010 seeking applications for 723 vacant posts of trainer grade-3 in government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).
“About 20000 candidates had submitted forms along with demand draft (DD) of Rs 400 each. But even after 18 months, the directorate has neither done shortlisting of the candidates nor have invited anyone for the interview. While, when the candidates try to seek information regarding interview from directorate or any of the ITIs, they get unsatisfactory reply,” Dhariwal said.
To address the problem of the candidates who have filled forms for the ITI posts, the applicants led by Chatr Sangharsh Parishad (CSP) president Hiramani Dewangan and Dhariwal reached directorate office on Thursday and submitted a memorandum to director Ranjana Katakwar warning her of gheraoing Chief Minister’s house if the interviews would not be conducted in next 15 days.
The Congress workers who accompanied Dhariwal and the candidates were Shiekh Shakeel, Sunil Singh Thakur, Ranjeet Bindra, Vimal Christian, Nandan Jha, Achit Sindhe, AK Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Hitendra Sahu, Prakash Ramteke, etc. 

Aanganbadi workers’ statewide dharna today


Raipur, February 23, 2012

The Pragatishel Aanganbadi Karykarta Avum Sahayika Sangh (PAKASS) will stage statewide dharna in favour of its 12-point demand at capital city on Friday.
The PAKASS president and general secretary Bharat Bhusan Pandey informed that the future of the Aanganbadi workers and assistants is dark owing to no assurance from the government regarding their job which is temporary.
“The stipend given to the Aanganbadi workers and assistants is also very less and is not even equal to the minimum salary of any employee. The fund for stipend comes from grants provided by Centre and partial grants from the state government. The government has neither given them job security nor has made provision of provident fund, pension gratuity, medical facility etc. Moreover, the job of the workers does not come under Labour law,” they said.
The prominent demands of PAKASS are – accord status of government employees to the workers, change in service conditions and hike in stipend, provision of dearness allowance (DA), fixation of specific date of monthly stipend/salary, provision of provident fund, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), etc. 

Cong finds grafts in Central schemes in Dantewada


Raipur, February 22, 2012

Congress monitoring committee has found large number of graft cases in Central schemes being implemented in Dantewada district. “The party’s local public representatives and office-bearers have not only registered their complaints to the committee members regarding corruption in works but have also submitted evidences in this connection,” informed PCC spokesperson Mahendra Chhabda.
The panel convened meetings at Dantewada on Wednesday. The meetings were held in Dantewada district headquarters as well as in the blocks including Geedam, Kuwakonda, Katekalyan, Bade Bacheli and Kirandool.
Chhabda informed that the panel members forming teams with the local public representatives and office-bearers visited several sits where either works are being carried out or had been completed.
“As expected, the teams find that works under Central schemes were of poor quality and incomplete. In some cases, it has been announced that the works have been completed but there is no trace of the outcome,” he said.
He informed that the one of the panel teams inspected construction of two culverts at the cost of Rs ten lakh (under MNREGA) from main road to school in village panchayat Kadampal under Kirandool block but none were complete and even found below given norms.
“This team also inspected the condition of road from Baimpal to Padapur and culver built some six months back it neither find the road nor the culvert. In the same area, there was signboard of RCC drain but surprisingly the drain was missing,” he informed.
“The local villagers too complained the panel teams that there was huge corruption in Central schemes. This proves that the government’s claims of development in the remote rural pockets, especially in the tribal regions are completely false,” Chhabda said.
“The monitoring committee is collecting evidences of grafts cases from all the districts of the state. Soon, the Congress will hand over these evidences to President of India, Prime Minister, Governor of Chhattisgarh and AICC president Sonia Gandhi,” he said.
The meeting in Dantewada district was attended by all the members of monitoring committee as well as PCC president Nandkumar Patel, Mahendra Karma, Kawasi Lakma, Vimal Surana, Yogesh Tiwari, etc.

   

Cong hails Centre decision to start direct train for Nanded


Raipur, February 22, 2012

Congress has hailed Centre’s decision to start direct train for Sikh community’s religious place Nanded (Maharashtra) via Chhattisgarh. The PCC spokesperson Mahendra Chhabda said that the direct train facility would make the journey of the Sikh pilgrims from the state as well as adjoining states like Orissa more comfortable. The train will be operated from Howrah to Nanded via Raipur. The train will start from February 23. Chhabda also hailed the decision of the Union Railway Ministry to include in the next budget the proposal of stating new train for five main religious places of Sikh community by commencing Sikh circuit train. Chhabda urged the Centre to also include Chhattisgarh cities in the Sikh circuit. Notably, the proposal will incorporate Akal Takht of Amritsar, Anandpur Sahib, Damdama Sahib, Patna Sahib and Hujur Sahib of Nanded.



Cong demands murder offence into custodial death


Raipur, February 22, 2012

Congress on Wednesday demanded murder offence into one Santosh Daharia’s death in police custody. The party also asked the government to conduct judicial inquiry into the matter.
PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey said that law and order in the state had worsened under ruling BJP’s regime. While several criminals are committing crime fearlessly in the state, the gangsters are operating their illegal business even behind the bars, they added.
“Crime rate has shot in the state. The capital has witnessed more than dozen murder cases in past one month. Half of the state’s districts are reeling under naxal terror while the remaining districts have become safe operational areas for the criminals,” they said.


NSUI submits memo to Collector, SSP against Rungta Engg College


Raipur, February 22, 2012
Alleging that Rungta Engineering College was exploiting its students financially and mentally, the NSUI members on Wednesday submitted memorandums to Collector Dr Rohit Yadav and SSP Dipanshu Kaabra to take stern action against the institute’s administration. The NSUI members also demanded from the SSP to register FIR against college administration’s Santosh Rungta, Saurabh Rungta and Sanjay Rungta for harassing the students. The memorandums were submitted by NSUI’s Raipur district president Pradeep Sahu, Gulzeb Ahmed, Khilesh Dewangan, Ravi Sen, Mahesh Yadav, Shahbaz Hussein, Isant Soni, etc.


State govt creating hype on NCTC


Raipur, February 22, 2012

The Congress on Wednesday said that the ruling BJP was creating hype on National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) which is solely meant to deal terrorism and not to interfere into state’s matters. “12 states including Chhattisgarh are opposing NCTC terming it against the federal system of the country and trespassing of state governments’ rights. This is wrong notion as the opposing states are really unaware of the objective of the NCTC,” said PCC spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla.


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Power crisis may worsen in summer: Congress


Raipur, February 21, 2012

Congress has warned that power crisis in the state may worsen in summer due to mismanagement of the government. “It is not even summer but the rural pockets are witnessing frequent power cuts everyday. The power companies are running short of adequate electricity at present and the gap between demand and supply will certainly increase further in summer. The government has not made any concrete plan to cope with this situation and eventually, the consumers would have to suffer,” said PCC’s chief spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi on Tuesday.
“The ruling BJP is projecting the state as power hub of the country, but the people know the stark reality. Presently, the state consumes 2282 MW electricity while in summer the demand will rise to 3500-4000 MW. The power companies are running short of 500 MW electricity at present while the deficiency will go up to 1500 MW in summer,” informed Trivedi.
“The government had earlier claimed to start power production in its Madva and Korba West plants from December 2011, but both the units are still under-construction,” he said.
“The power surplus state is compelled to buy electricity from other states owing to corruption prevailed in the power companies. Now, the government wants to burden the consumers with high power tariff, a ploy to compensate the inordinate expenditure done by the power companies,” he charged.
“Surprisingly, since inception, the spending of production and distribution companies rose to 15% and 83% respectively while that of transmission company surged to 222%, an apparent indicator of corruption prevailed in the system,” he said.
“The proposed 30% power tariff hike would deeply dent pockets of common people, especially farmers,” he added.


Fake marksheet racket active in CGBSE: YC


Raipur, February 21, 2012

In wake of one student getting marksheet with first class marks without appearing in exams, the Youth Congress (YC) on Tuesday said that fake marksheet racket was active in Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education (CGBSE).
“The students are shocked by this incident. The board is certainly playing with the future of the students who do hard work round the year but many unknown students get first class marks without appearing in the exam,” said Raipur South Vidhan Sabha area general secretary Sandeep Tiwari.
“It was really an embarrassing incident for the board which gave marksheet to one Pranjal Thakur who had neither filled the exam form nor appeared in the exams. Ironically, Thakur got first division. This is not the first mistake of the board as it is habitual of committing similar blunders. However, no action has been taken against the guilty people by far,” he said.
Tiwari doubted that there could be many more students who would have obtained marksheets without appearing in exams. He demanded from the board to register criminal case against the guilty people.
He further demanded inquiry into the fake marksheet matter and warned of locking the board if similar incident would occur in future. 

CM’s remark against officials undemocratic: Congress


Raipur, February 21, 2012

Strongly objecting over Chief Minister Raman Singh’s remarks against government officials in Kawardha, Congress on Tuesday termed it undemocratic and uncomely.
“This was not expected from the CM. he should have maintained fine lines of politeness. If the CM will threat the officials that he will hang them upside down if they would not work then how would he set an example before his Cabinet ministers who too use similar tone for the officials. His remark proves that he is scared of losing power in next elections,” said PCC spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla.
“Recently Health Minister Amar Agrawal had told Kawardha CMO that the non-working medical officers should be kicked out. In democracy, the ministers can penalise officials using legal and constitutional tools, but in Chhattisgarh the BJP ministers are using threatening words,” he said.
“The officials and employees are the intact part of the government and it is the responsibility of the head of the state to encourage them to work. If the ministers will show sincerity and enthusiasm in implementing the works, the officials and employees would surely follow them,” Shukla said.
“However, the ruling BJP has damaged the ‘work culture’ in eight years of its regime. In the backdrop of predominant babudom in the state, the CM is threatening officials on pretext of Public Service Guarantee Act which has not yet been effectively implemented in 20 notified departments,” he added. 

Cong aims to strengthen its roots thru training camps


Raipur, February 21, 2012

With an objective to defeat ruling BJP in next legislative assembly and general elections in 2013 and 2014, the Congress has first planned to bolster its roots by honing up skills of its workers through training camps. The party, which is continuously targeting the BJP government both in Vidhan Sabha and in public meetings, now feels that the workers too needed some pep talks from the senior leadership to concentrate in poll preparations. In this connection, the first workers’ training camp of the Congress will be organised at Mainpur under Bindranawagar legislative assembly area on February 24.
The highlight of the meeting will be the participants – both trainers and trainees. While the trainees will be selected workers from each polling booth of the legislative constituency, the trainers will range from national leaders like the AICC general secretary and incharge of state Congress BK Hariprasada and state unit’s incharge secretary Bhakt Charandas to state unit’s top brasses including PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey.
There will be host of other participants in the form of trainees in the first training camp including PCC office-bearers, executive members, members of monitoring and disciplinary committees, office-bearers of YC, NSUI, Mahila Congress, Seva Dal, all cells and morchas.
The agenda of inviting these leaders will be to make them acquainted with the training methodology so that they could adopt it in similar camps to be organised in 51 other legislative assembly areas in coming months.
According to information, Patel and Choubey will try to remain present in all the camps. The party also reserves the plan to rope in a couple of more national leaders at specific training camps.
Patel got the baton of sate unit in April 2011. At that time, the party was battered and segregated. The high command gave him responsibility to first unite the senior leaders by bridging the gap between powerful factions and then to frame strategy for intensifying party activities at root level by ensuring workers’ participation.
To help Patel, the national leadership engaged Hariprasada, Choubey, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Charandas Mahant and AICC treasurer Motilal Vora. This team of ‘the five’ framed three-pronged strategy for the workers. The strategy was supposed to be implemented in three phases.
In the first phase, the party initiated the idea of organising district-level workers’ meeting and it received huge response everywhere. The second phase of the strategy was to organise Vidhan Sabha-level workers’ meeting and this too proved to be an effective method to unite all the workers.  
Now, in the backdrop of continuous district and Vidhan Sabha level meetings, the party will impart training its selected workers who would then propagate the message of the party in their regions. 

Cong monitoring committee in Dantewada today


Raipur, February 21, 2012

To find irregularities in Central schemes being implemented in Dantewada district, the Congress monitoring committee will hold meetings in the region district and block levels on Wednesday.
The district-level meeting will be jointly convened by panel chairman Arvind Netam besides PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey. This meeting will be attended by former leader of the opposition and senior tribal leader Mahendra Karma, former PCC working president Satyanarayan Sharma and PCC secretary Yogesh Tiwari along with Jhitru Ram Baghel, Chanesh Ram Rathiya, Pramod Gupta, Rajkumar Tamo and Deepak Karma.
In blocks, the panel members will go along with local leaders in teams. While the meeting at Geedam block will be attended by Ghanram Sahu, Tarun Chaterjee, Jawahar Surana, Ashok Kumar Burad, Brijmani Degal and Chaneshwari Kashyap, the meeting at Kuwakonda block will be attended by Fulodevi Netam, Devvrat Singh, Shivshankar Singh Chouhan, Satyawati Oyami and Meenal Rai.
At Katekalyan block, the meeting will be attended by Chainsingh Samle, Ganesh Shankar Bajpayee, Somprakash Giri, Sukhram Nag, Mehattar Singh Nag and Devi Singh Chouhan.
At Bade Bacheli block, Gulab Singh, Chandraprakash Bajpayee, Kumar Swami, Anil Soni and Archana Netam will remain present in the meeting. Similarly, Kirandool block’s meeting will be attended by Yogeshwar Raj Singh, Imran Memon, Viplove Makil, KA Panchanan and Sulochana Batti.

Monday, February 20, 2012

BJP scared of Cong’s Bastar visit: Chhabda


Raipur, February 20, 2012

The PCC spokesperson Mahendra Chhabda on Monday said that the BJP was scared of Congress monitoring committee’s two-day Bastar visit beginning on February 22.
“The BJP apprehends that the Congress monitoring committee will once again expose corruption and scams in Central schemes in Bastar region. Hence, to divert the public attention, the BJP general secretaries Shivratan Sharma and Subhau Kashyap have dubbed the committee’s forthcoming Bastar tour as picnic,” ridiculed Chhabda.
Chhabda said the monitoring panel had already toured Sarguja, Koria, Jashpur, Raigarh, Kawardha, Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund and Dhamtari districts and now hopes to unearth irregularities in Central schemes in Dantewada and Bijapur districts on February 22 and 23.
Terming removal of minister Ramvichar Netam from Panchayat and Rural Development Department as a consequence of Congress monitoring panel’s revelations, Chhabda said the BJP, instead of giving unnecessary statements, should rather show concern for Bastar which lacked medical, educational, road infrastructural and other basic facilities.
He alleged that the BJP government had received over Rs 87000 crore in last eight years but the development was done only in papers and beneficiaries were ministers and their relatives instead of poor people.
“The BJP government is answerable to every corruption case and scam and if it will remain silent then the Congress will expose it through inspections of monitoring panel,” Chhabda said.




Monitoring panel on two-day Bastar visit from tomorrow


Raipur, February 20, 2012

The Congress monitoring committee will take stock of Central schemes in Bastar division’s Dantewada and Bijapur districts on February 22 and 23 respectively. The panel will also convene meetings of local partymen at district and block levels in both the districts. The panel’s district-level meetings will be attended by all its members including chairman Arvind Netam besides PCC president Nandkumar Patel, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey, senior tribal leader Mahendra Karma, Satyanarayan Sharma and Yogesh Tiwari.
According to information, Patel and Choubey will leave for Bastar division on February 21. They will first reach Kanker and interact with the party workers regarding their activities and poll preparations. Then, they will proceed towards Dantewada.
On the February 22, the duo will attend monitoring committee’s meeting at Dantewada. Several teams of panel members including local leaders will also convene meetings in different blocks including Geedam, Kuwakonda, Katekalyan, Bade Bacheli and Kirandool.
On February 23, the committee will hold meeting in Bijapur district in Bijapur, Bhairamgarh, Bhopalpatnam and Usur blocks.





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