CG seeks opening of residential schools in naxal belts

During first meeting of national monitoring committee for education of SCs, STs and persons with disabilities at New Delhi

Raipur, June 27, 2012

State government has demanded that Centre should take initiative to open residential schools at high school and higher secondary levels in its naxal-infested regions. The demand was made by School Education Minister Brijmohan Agrawal during the first meeting of national monitoring committee for education of SCs, STs and persons with disabilities at Vigyan Bhawan New Delhi on Wednesday.

Agrawal informed that 45 percent of the state was tribal populated and affected by naxal violence. Hence, he said, the smooth operation of schools in Maoist-hit districts like Dantewada, Bijapur, Sukma and Narayanpur had deeply affected. “Presently, 500-seater residential schools up to class 8^th are being operated in these districts under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan but there is no such provision for high school and higher secondary school students,” he said. The Centre has assured to seriously consider over the state’s demand, informed Agrawal.

He further sought special encouragement fund for teachers so that they could be motivated to teach in tribal populated areas which lacked adequate teaching staffers. He suggested that the Centre should also think to provide housing facility to the teachers in tribal belts.

Similarly, to encourage girls from SC and ST categories to pursue studies after class 8^thAgrawal suggested that the Centre should make provision of funds to distribute bicycles, school dress and study materials.

He said the Centre should include professional education, career counselling, sports activities and science competitions under National Secondary Education Campaign.

For disabled students, he said the Centre should open residential schools like Kasturba Gandhi Vidyalays which should meet all their basic requisites.

Notably, the national monitoring committee has been constituted for the first time by the ministry of HRD to advise the Centre on all matters pertaining to education and its pursuit for SCs, STs and persons with disabilities. In addition, the national monitoring committee will review the functioning of various schemes launched by the ministry for the purpose of promoting SCs, STs and persons with disabilities in education.

Cong’s Bastar training camp on June 29, 30

Raipur, June 27, 2012

Congress has made slight change in its two-day workers’ training camp to be organised at Jagdalpur (Bastar division) in the month end. Earlier, the camp was scheduled to be held on June 30 and July 1 but now it would be organised on June 29 and 30.

According to information, the changes have been made because the AICC general secretary and state Congress incharge BK Hariprasada was not available on previous scheduled dates. Now, he will attend only first day of the training camp.

During his Bastar visit, he is likely to hold meeting with senior leader and chairman of Congress monitoring committee Arvind Netam in presence of PCC president Nandkumar Patel to persuade the tribal leader to support candidature of Pranab Mukherjee instead of PA Sangma for presidential post.

He is also likely to hold separate meeting of the party MLAs and urge them not to get distracted by anybody on presidential candidate. The party’s national leadership has already it evident that it would not tolerate cross-voting during presidential polls.

Hariprasada will reach Raipur on Thursday evening at 6:15 pm through regular flight from New Delhi and return to the national capital at 7:35 pm on June 29 through regular flight.

On June 30, Uttam Bhai Parmar from Mumbai will impart training to the workers in the camp. Parmar will reach Raipur at 5:15 pm through regular flight on June 29 evening. He will straightaway proceed to Jagdalpur from airport. He will return to Mumbai at 5:55 pm on June 30 through regular flight.

The party spokesperson Mahendra Chhabda informed that the camp will be attended by AICC secretary and state unit incharge secretary Bhakt Charandas, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey, veteran leader Vidya Charan Shukla, senior MLA Ajit Jogi, PCC office-bearers, legislators, state heads of all cells and morchas, party’s public representatives in Bastar division and senior leaders.

Chhabda further informed that the workers would have first get registered and obtain admit cards to participate in the camp. The registration will start at 4 pm on June 28 and admit cards too would be issued on the same day.

The objective of the training camp is to make the workers conversant with the party’s history, policies and principles and to infuse energy in them to prepare for 2013 and 2014 polls.

Cong monitoring panel meet sans Netam in Durg today

Raipur, June 27, 2012

After going against party lines and appealing tribals to support PA Sangma in presidential polls, senior Congress leader Arvind Netam is likely to refrain from attending the party’s monitoring committee meeting in Durg district on Thursday. Netam, who chairs the panel, will be the missing face in the meeting which will be attended by other committee members including PCC president Nandkumar Patel, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey and incharge general secretary of Durg Lok Sabha constituency Subhash Sharma to scan progress of MNREGA and other Central schemes in the district.

According to PCC secretary Yogesh Tiwari informed that panel meeting at Durg city will be convened by Patel and Choubey. The duo will also interact with the media persons at 5:30 pm in Congress Bhawan Durg.

The panel’s block-level meetings will be conducted by the committee members along with local leaders to fetch information pertaining to irregularities in MNREGA works.

The block-level meetings will be held at Durg Rural, Dhamdha, Patan, Bhilai-Charoda, Kumhari, Jamul, Kosanala (Supela), Bhilai Block 1, Bhilai Block 2, Bhilai Block 3, Bhilai Block 4, Bhilai Block 5 and Bhilai Block 6.

The block-level meetings will be attended by Tarun Chaterjee, Poshan Kshatriya, Nandkumar Sen, MLA Pratima Chandrakar, Chanesh Ram Rathiya, Chandraprakash Bajpayee, Rajiv Gupta, Nazir Ahmed Quraishi, Pradeep Choubey, MLA Tamradhwaj Sahu, Chainsingh Samle, Jayanti Sahu, Mehattar Verma, Rambai Sinha, Bhupesh Baghel, Fulodevi Netam, Vimal Mankar, Sujit Baghel, Dr Shobharam Banjare, Omi Mahilang, Ghanaram Sahu, Pawan Agrawal, Rohit Kurre, Amit Yadav, Imran Memon, JR Sahu, Pradeep Pangar, Deendayal Chandrakar, Yogeshwar Raj Singh, Jhitruram Baghel, Mohan Gupta, Vijay Yadav, Rauf Quraishi, MLA Bhajan Singh Nirankari, Ganesh Shankar Bajpayee, Samay Lal Sahu, Amirchand Arora, Gurmeet Dhanei, YK Singh, Devvrat Singh, Radheraman Choubey, K Koteshwar Rao, Neeta Lodhi, MLA Badruddin Quraishi, Gulab Singh, Tulsi Sahu, Sunil Choudhary, Rajendra Kumar Apale, Gyanchand Jain, Umesh Tiwari, Nirmala Yadav, Somprakash Giri, BR Sinha, Samuel David, Siju Anthony, Devendra Yadav, Devcharan Madhukar, Rajkumar Deshmukh, Rajendra Singh Yadav, Laxman Chandrakar and Maya Belchandan.

Cong submits memo to RMC mayor, commissioner

Demands to stop toll plaza construction near Sundar Nagar

Raipur, June 27, 2012

A delegation of Congress members on Wednesday handed over memorandums to RMC mayor Kiranmayi Nayak and commissioner TP Sinha and demanded to stop construction of toll plaza at Ring Road No 1 near Sundar Nagar terming it illegal.

The delegation also submitted the duo the copies of letter issued by independent consultant appointed by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), informed the state president of Congress business cell Kanhaiyya Agrawal. The letter was issued on June 12, 2012 and had categorically asked the implementing agency DS Construction to obtain prior permission from the local authority before starting construction on the selected site, Agrawal said.

“The mayor assured us that the toll plaza construction work will be stopped instantly as no prior approval had been obtained by the municipal for it. In this connection, she immediately directed the RMC commissioner to take action. When we submitted to memorandum to commissioner, he too responded positively and assured that toll plaza construction would not be allowed but by evening he refused to take any action under pressure of an influential minister,” Agrawal said.

He informed that the Congress would continue its struggle against toll plaza and would hand over memorandum to Chief Secretary Sunil Kumar at 12 pm on Thursday.

The delegation of Congress was comprised of DCC Raipur Urban President Inderchand Dhariwal, Dr Niranjan Haritwal, Nischay Bajpayee, Ashwini Sharma, Sheikh Shakeel, Atul Raghuvanshi, Dinesh Tiwari, etc.

On the occasion, Mayor-in-Council (MiC) members Pramod Dubey, Gyanesh Sharma, Radheshyam Vibhar, Mrityunjay Dubey along with RMC’s Congress corporators were also present.

Pranab Mukherjee to arrive Raipur on July 11

Raipur, June 27, 2012

To seek support of Congress, BJP and BSP legislators of Chhattisgarh during presidential polls, former Union Finance Minister and UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee will arrive in state capital on July 11. The PCC spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi on Thursday informed that PCC president Nandkumar Patel, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey and Congress MLAs will meet Mukherjee during his Raipur arrival. The presidential polls are scheduled to be held on July 19.

Mahant talks to CS on toll plaza issue

Raipur, Jun 26, 2012

Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industry Charandas Mahant on Tuesday talked to Chief Secretary Sunil Kumar over phone on proposed site of toll plaza and asked him to take necessary action to shift it out of Raipur municipal limits.

The state president of Congress business cell Kanhaiyya Agrawal informed that Mahant held talks with the CS after he and other Congress leaders handed him a memorandum seeking his intervention into toll plaza issue.

“We provided copies of all the relevant documents pertaining to toll plaza to Mahant. He too found that the toll plaza should be constructed out of the city limits according to agreement done by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the government. He then called upon the CS and asked him to quickly ensure shifting of toll plaza out of the city,” informed Agrawal.

“Mahant termed our agitation genuine against proposed site of toll plaza and told the CS that nowhere in the country has any toll plaza being constructed within the city as is being done in Raipur,” Agrawal added.

Notably, the Congress has categorically announced that it would not allow construction of toll plaza at Ring Road No 1 near Sundar Nagar and launch massive protest movement against it.

The party has also announced to gherao PWD Minister Brijmohan Agrawal as the proposed site for toll plaza comes under his Raipur South Assembly constituency but he did not object over it.

Recently, a delegation of Congress leaders handed over a memorandum to PWD Principal Secretary RP Mandal on the name of CS and urged to shift the toll plaza outside the city.

“Since we could not meet the CS last time, we will meet him now on Wednesday at 12 pm regarding toll plaza issue,” informed Agrawal.

Earlier, the party will submit a memorandum to RMC commissioner TP Sinha at 11 am on Wednesday.

The Congress leaders who met Mahant on Tuesday were DCC Raipur Urban President Inderchand Dhariwal, DCC Raipur Rural president Pankaj Sharma, RMC mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, PCC secretary Amit Pandey, Dr Niranjan Haritwal, Nischay Bajpayee, Ashwini Sharma, Radheshyam Vibhar, Shreekumar Memon, Sheikh Shakeel, Atul Raghuvanshi, etc.

Govt asks industries to do plantation at roadsides

Raipur, Jun 26, 2012

Government has asked industries (both public sector undertakings and private units) to conduct plantation under its Hariyar Chhattisgarh Abhiyan (HCA) at roadsides in 2012.

According to information, the total of 460 km long road will be covered by 15 industrial establishments including PSUs under HCA. This target will be separate from the target given to all the government departments who will plant seven crore saplings under HCA this year.

The Forest department has set different targets for the industrial units. The officials informed that the industries which failed to accomplish previous year’s target would have to achieve it this year apart from achieving the current year’s target.

The longest road stretch under HCA will be covered by South East Coalfields Limited (SECL). The officials informed that the SECL would have to accomplish cent percent target during the current rainy season.

Similarly, Bhilai Steel Plant has got task to plant saplings in 50 km road stretch, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) – 25 km, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) – 50 km, Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO) – 60 km, Jindal – 25 km, Monnet Ispat – 20 km, Prakash Industries – 30 km, Sarda Energy Private Limited – 30 km, Hira Group of Industries – 20 km, Ambuja Cement – 10 km, Ultratech Cement – 10 km, ACC Cement – 15 km, Century Cement – 25 km and Lafarge Cement – 20 km.

Govt to open eight new ashram schools

Raipur, Jun 26, 2012

Government will open eight new ashram schools for primary level SC students.  A directive in this connection has been issued by SC/ST development department from Secretariat on Tuesday.

The officials of the department informed that seven schools will be opened for girls while one will be opened for boys. Each ashram school will have 50 seats.

The girls’ ashram schools will be opened in Arang, Kosrangi, Samoda, Chandkhuri (Raipur district), Paneka (Rajnandgaon district), Dhurvagudi (Gariyaband district) and Kot (Balodabazar district).

The boys’ ashram school will be opened in Bamhanikala under Masturi development block (Bilaspur district).

The officials further informed that the department had also approved 64 different posts for the ashram schools. The posts include head master – 8, deputy superintendent – 8, assistant teacher (Shikshak panchayat) – 16, peon (regular) – 6, class IV employee – 24 and full-timer sweeper – 8. The department has also sanctioned Rs 27 lakh for the ashram schools for 2012-13.

Congress condoles demise of Baliyar

Raipur, Jun 26, 2012

The PCC president Nandkumar Patel, CLP Ravindra Choubey and veteran party leader Vidya Charan Shukla on Tuesday expressed grief over the sad demise of senior tribal leader, former MP and MLA Lambodar Baliyar. They described Baliyar as a seasoned politician and real public representative.

Farmers getting substandard fertilisers: Congress

Raipur, June 25, 2012

Congress has alleged that government was providing substandard and underweight fertilisers to the farmers. “The fertilisers available in cooperative societies are of inferior quality. The fertilisers are packed in torn sacks with weight less than the claimed one. This is BJP government’s real anti-farmer face,” said Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi on Monday.

He said if the societies weigh farmers’ paddy before purchasing it should also provide fertilisers after weighing before farmers.

He further alleged that the government had created artificial deficit of fertilisers with an intention to benefit black marketeers. “If the government would have stocked adequate fertilisers beforehand, the farmers had not to buy it at increased rates,” he said.

He slammed Agriculture Minister Chandrashekhar Sahu for not addressing farmers’ problems before going to foreign tour. “While the farmers are not getting standard fertilisers and seeds timely, Sahu preferred to visit abroad without obtaining permission from Centre,” he pointed.

“It is the government’s responsibility to provide standard fertilisers, seeds and pesticides at reasonable rate but unfortunately the farmers had to buy such things at high price from black marketeers. This has resulted in high production cost further debilitation of farmers’ financial condition,” he said.

He also flayed Seed Development Corporation for providing substandard seeds to the farmers. “The government is simply harassing and exploiting the farmers by supporting illegal stockists and black marketeers,” he charged. 

Markam delegates jobs to PMC office-bearers

Raipur, June 25, 2012

With an objective to increase Pradesh Mahila Congress (PMC) activities in the both rural and urban pockets of the state, the PMC president Ambika Markam on Monday delegated jobs to organisation’s vice presidents, general secretaries and secretaries.

Markam informed that the charges of districts had been assigned to PMC vice presidents. She has asked all the district incharges to intensely tour their assigned regions and prepare for 2013 polls.

The districts assigned to vice presidents are – Ruchi Dubey – Durg, Vijaylaxmi Kashyap – Bilaspur, Chhaya Verma – Rajnandgaon, Premlata Bhoi – Mahasamund, Babita Natthani – Janjgir-Champa, Syeda Begum – Dhamtari, Arti Shrivastava – Kanker, Tausif Jahan – Bastar-Jagdalpur, Sangeeta Saxena – Korba, Swarnalata Singh – Kondagaon, Jayasingh Judeo – Jashpur, Shanti Salam – Sukma, Subhashini Singh – Koria, Revti Singh – Ambikapur, Vandana Gupta – Bijapur, Namrata Pawar – Dantewada, Neelu Thakur – Kabeerdham, Nandini Sahu – Balod, Dehuti Verma – Balodabazar and Anita Kosaria – Mungeli.

The jobs assigned to general secretaries are – Parvati Sahu and Chandrawati Sahu - office incharge, Usha Ranjan Shrivastava – spokesperson and Agda Thakur – treasurer.

The jobs assigned to secretaries are – Nivedita Chaterjee – deputy spokesperson and Ajanta Kaviraj, Ganga Yadav and Sadhna Sharma – assistant office incharge.

Cong monitoring panel in Durg on June 28

Raipur, June 25, 2012

Congress monitoring committee will scan progress of MNREGA and other Central schemes in Durg district on June 28. The committee chairman Arvind Netam will interact with the local leaders and fetch information regarding grafts in MNREGA works in the district in presence of PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey.  

According to information, besides conducting meeting at Durg district headquarters, the panel will also convene meetings at every block. In this connection Netam has assigned responsibilities to the members to hold meetings in different blocks.

The panel meeting at Durg Rural will be attended by Tarun Chaterjee, Poshan Kshatriya, Nandkumar Sen and MLA Pratima Chandrakar.

The panel meeting at Dhamdha will be attended by Chanesh Ram Rathiya, Chandraprakash Bajpayee, Rajiv Gupta, Nazir Ahmed Quraishi, Pradeep Choubey and MLA Tamradhwaj Sahu.

The panel meeting at Patan will be attended by Chainsingh Samle, Jayanti Sahu, Mehattar Verma, Rambai Sinha and Bhupesh Baghel.

The panel meeting at Bhilai-Charoda will be attended by Fulodevi Netam, Vimal Mankar, Sujit Baghel, Dr Shobharam Banjare and Omi Mahilang.

The panel meeting at Kumhari will be attended by Ghanaram Sahu, Pawan Agrawal, Rohit Kurre and Amit Yadav.

The panel meeting at Jamul will be attended by Imran Memon, JR Sahu, Pradeep Pangar and Deendayal Chandrakar.

The panel meeting at Kosanala (Supela) will be attended by – Yogeshwar Raj Singh, Jhitruram Baghel, Mohan Gupta, Vijay Yadav, Rauf Quraishi and MLA Bhajan Singh Nirankari.

The panel meeting at Bhilai Block 1 will be attended by Ganesh Shankar Bajpayee, Samay Lal Sahu, Amirchand Arora, Gurmeet Dhanei and YK Singh.

The panel meeting at Bhilai Block 2 will be attended by Devvrat Singh, Radheraman Choubey, K Koteshwar Rao, Neeta Lodhi and MLA Badruddin Quraishi.

The panel meeting at Bhilai Block 3 will be attended by Gulab Singh, Tulsi Sahu, Sunil Choudhary and Rajendra Kumar Apale.

The panel meeting at Bhilai Block 4 will be attended by Yogeshwar Raj Singh, Gyanchand Jain, Umesh Tiwari and Nirmala Yadav.

The panel meeting at Bhilai Block 5 will be attended by Somprakash Giri, BR Sinha, Samuel David, Siju Anthony and Devendra Yadav.

The panel meeting at Bhilai Block 6 will be attended by Devcharan Madhukar, Rajkumar Deshmukh, Rajendra Singh Yadav, Laxman Chandrakar and Maya Belchandan.

Slum dwellers submit memo to Choubey

Raipur, June 25, 2012

Large number of slum dwellers from Ishwar Nagar, Amit Nagar and Sumit Nagar led by chief organiser of Congress Sewa Dal Ashok Raj Ahuja met CLP leader Ravindra Choubey at his residence on Monday and informed him that the government was forcibly evicting them from their areas.

Seeking his help into their mater, the slum dweller submitted a memorandum to Choubey.

They informed him that they were residing in their respective areas since 1990 and the then chief minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh Digvijay Singh disbursed pattas to them in 1998.

They also quoted Supreme Court order that slum dweller should not be removed amidst June 15 to September 15 due to rainy season and indicating that they had admitted their children in the nearby schools, they requested Choubey to talk to government on their behalf and urge it not to take action against them at least on humanity grounds.

On the occasion, Ahuja said the Congress would not allow the BJP government to implement its anti-poor policies and strongly protest any action against the slum dwellers of Ishwar Nagar, Amit Nagar and Sumit Nagar. “We will also stage court arrest in favour of these slum dwellers,” he said.

Cong for CBI inquiry into Health dept scams

Raipur, June 23, 2012

Alleged that corruption is at its peak in Centrally-sponsored health schemes in Chhattisgarh, Congress on Saturday demanded CBI inquiry into the matter.

“The Central schemes like National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), smart card scheme and Janani Suraksha Yojna (JSY) have become ineffective because of corruption,” charged the party’s media chairman Shailesh Nitin Trivedi.

“The BJP government’s neglectful attitude towards Centrally-sponsored health schemes proves that it does not value human life,” he said.

“The state has witnessed several horrible incidents related to health department in the recent past. The most glaring incident was the Balod eye camp incident in which more than 60 persons lost their eyesight after undergoing cataract surgery. This was an apparent indicator that the doctors had organised the camp only to accomplish the given target, not to benefit the eye patients,” he said.

He further pointed that the recent reports of uterus removal by the doctors in private nursing homes with an intention to misuse smart card scheme was another example of the government inability to check such cult and prevent the females from being victimised by commercial-minded doctors.

He expressed his surprise over delayed reaction by the government into the matter and said how would it ensure health safety of the females in existing circumstances.

He blamed the Health department for recent death of a woman immediately after she delivered a child community health centre at Bagicha (Raigarh district). “The women Rita Thakur could have been saved if the doctors had reached the health centre timely. In the absence of doctors, the nurses conducted her delivery. However, when her condition aggravated two hours after delivery, she was sent to Kunkuri where the doctors declared her head,” he informed.

He further informed about another incident of smart card misuse in Patthalgaon government civil hospital where fake delivery was shown on papers and charge was taken through smart card.

“A pregnant woman was admitted in Patthalgaon civil hospital when she complained of severe stomach pain. Later, the hospital administration charged Rs 2500 from the woman’s smart card informing her that the amount was taken against normal delivery. Interestingly, the women and her family claimed that she did not deliver child at that time,” he said.

Toll plaza issue: Cong submits memo to Principal Secy

Raipur, June 23, 2012

A day after Congress announced that it would launch massive protest movement against construction of toll plaza at Ring Road No 1 near Sundar Nagar, a delegation of the party on Saturday knocked the doors of the government seeking its intervention into the matter and assurance that the toll plaza would be shifted out of municipal limits. The delegation met PWD Principal Secretary RP Mandal and handed him over a memorandum on the name of Chief Secretary pertaining to toll plaza issue.  

The delegation apprised Mandal that the government and National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had decided in 2007-08 that the toll plaza would be constructed outside the city limits to check public resistance.

The delegation expressed it surprise that despite reaching to a certain decision in 2007-08 the government allowed the NHAI to build toll plaza near Sundar Nagar.

“We have informed Mandal about the public resentment on toll plaza issue. He has assured us that he would hold a meeting with the Chief Secretary Sunil Kumar on June 26 and then the final decision would be taken,” the delegation said.

On the occasion, the delegation was comprised of DCC Raipur Urban president Inderchand Dhariwal, RMC mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, general secretary Dr Niranjan Haritwal, RMC mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, Congress business cell president Kanhaiyya Agrawal, Sushil Sachdev, RMC corporators Gyanesh Sharma, Pramod Jagdish Ahuja, etc.

Cong pays tribute to Sanjay Gandhi

Raipur, June 23, 2012

Congress paid tribute to Sanjay Gandhi on the occasion of his death anniversary at Congress Bhawan on Saturday. The partymen organised all prayer party and remembered Gandhi by shedding light on his life. They also garlanded his statue at Sanjay Gandhi chowk. The tribute programme was attended by DCC Raipur Urban president Inderchand Dhariwal, RMC mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, general secretary Dr Niranjan Haritwal, spokesperson Sheikh Shakeel, Raju Nayak, Dinesh Tiwari, Nitin Thakur, Pramod Dubey, Radheshyam Vibhar, Jagdish Ahuja, Satnam Singh Panag, etc.

Hariprasada to attend Cong’s Bastar training camp

To be organised on June 30, July 1

Raipur, June 22

The AICC general secretary and state Congress incharge BK Hariprasada and state unit incharge secretary Bhakt Charandas will attend the party’s two-day workers’ training camp to be organised at Jagdalpur (Bastar division) on June 30 and July 1.

The party spokesperson Mahendra Chhabda informed that PCC president Nandkumar Patel, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey, veteran leader Vidya Charan Shukla, senior MLA Ajit Jogi, PCC office-bearers, state heads of all cells and morchas, party’s public representatives in Bastar division and senior leaders and workers will remain present in the training camp.

Chhabda further informed that the workers would have first get registered and obtain admit cards to participate in the camp. The registration will start at 4 pm on June 29 and admit cards will also be issued on the same day.

After holding training camp in Bastar division, the party is expected to head towards Sarguja division. With Assembly and general elections to be held in 2013 and 2014 respectively, the party has decided to expedite its activities across the state.

The senior leaders will not only exhort the participants in the Bastar camp to dethrone the ruling BJP in upcoming polls, but also make them familiar with the party’s history, policies and principles.

Cong to protest against toll plaza in RMC limits

Raipur, June 22

Congress has made it clear that it would not allow construction of toll plaza at Ring Road No 1 near Sundar Nagar. In this connection, DCC Raipur Urban president Inderchand Dhariwal on Friday convened a significant meeting in which it was decided that the party would launch massive protest movement against toll plaza and gherao PWD Minister Brijmohan Agrawal as well.

Dhariwal and the party’s business cell president Kanhaiyya Agrawal informed that the Congress had always opposed construction of toll plaza within the RMC limits and would continue to do so even if National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) would term it legal.

“The toll plaza should be outside the municipal periphery. However, it is the state government which has allowed DS Construction, the agency hired by the NHAI to carry the fourlane project at Ring Road No 1, simply with an aim to benefit it,” the duo alleged.

They said since the PWD Minister too had supported the decision to build toll plaza complex near Sundar Nagar - the area which comes under the minister’s Raipur South Assembly constituency, the Congress would gherao him.

“Besides, we will meet Governor and Chief Secretary and hand over memorandums the them in this regard,” they said.

The RMC corporators from Congress who attended the meeting said that the municipal should also take proactive action and prevent construction of toll plaza.

The party’s Friday meeting was attended by DCC Raipur Urban members Dr Niranjan Haritwal, Madan Lal Talda, Sheikh Shakeel, Dinesh Tiwari, Santosh Tiwari, Mamta Rai, Atul Raghuvanshi, Rajesh Kedia, Sushil Sachdev, Purushottam Sharma, Sachin Golechha, etc.  

Besides, RMC mayor Kiranmayi Nayak along with corporators Gyanesh Sharma, Pramod Dubey, Jasbeer Dhillon, Radheshyam Vibhar, Ashok Shivhare, Vikas Shukla, Jagdish Ahuja, Satnam Singh Panag, Rakesh Dhotre, Samir Akhtar, Lekhraj Sonkar, Asha Israel Joseph, etc were also present in the meeting.

Choubey, Patel to be proposer & seconder for Pranab

For Presidential polls

Raipur, June 22

CLP leader Ravindra Choubey and PCC president Nandkumar Patel will be proposer and seconder respectively for Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature for the July 19 Presidential elections.

In this connection, Choubey and Patel left for national capital on Friday morning. According to information, Mukherjee is likely to file his nomination papers for Presidential polls on June 24. There will be four sets of nomination papers and each set will have 50 proposers and seconders.

As decided, the Congress has made CLP leaders and PCC presidents as proposers and seconders from the states where it is in opposition.

Jogi demands CBI inquiry into uterus removal cases

Raipur, June 22

Senior Congress legislator Ajit Jogi on Friday demanded CBI inquiry into uterus removal cases terming it a grave crime. He also demanded that registration of criminal case against the guilty doctors.

“It is really surprising and unfortunate that uteruses of 604 women were removed in private nursing homes in Dhamtari district. This was done by under smart card scheme which is sheer misuse of the Centre’s ambitious scheme. Such practices are common in other parts of the state too which is highly condemnable,” said Jogi.

He said that the women in the state were not secure under the BJP regime. The doctors are engaged in such criminal acts to make fast bucks risking the life of the females,” he said.

He also expressed his concern that the wrong people were taking benefit of the smart card scheme instead of the common people.

NSUI help poor kids getting admission in school

Raipur, June 22

The NSUI helped 12 poor children from Vasudev Para Ramkund in taking admission in Pt RD Tiwari School Amapara. The NSUI leader Pankaj Singh Thakur along with other members encouraged the parents of these children to admit their children in the schools for their better future.

Singh informed that some of these kids had left their studies in the middle and were engaged in labour works.

The Youth Congress leader Yogesh Tiwari, who accompanied Singh, asked the government to provide study materials and dresses to the 12 children so that their parents may not stop their studies again in the middle.

On the occasion were present Akash Kashyap, Abhijeet Singh, Rajeev Shrivas, Kanhaiyya Mahawar, Dhananjay Vasudev, Amit Vasudev, Mahul, Vikas, Durgesh, etc.

Cong alleges recruitment scam in NRHM

Says government deliberately ignoring SC, ST quota

Raipur, June 21, 2012

Congress on Thursday claimed to have exposed huge recruitment scam in National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The party spokesperson Rajesh Bissa alleged that the government was deliberately ignoring scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) quota in the NRHM appointment process flouting all the norms.

“This is sheer conspiracy to keep away the SC and ST candidates from the high-salaried posts. In the backdrop of this recruitment scam the BJP government has appeared as big exploiter of the SC and ST communities,” Bissa said.

He informed that the candidature of SC and ST had been completely ignored in the ongoing NRHM recruitment drive for 286 different posts. “The pay scale of these posts range from Rs 25000 to Rs 40000 but the government seemed hell bent on keeping the SC and ST candidates deprived of grasping this opportunity to make their career,” he said.

He said majority of the vacant posts under NRHM recruitment drive were backlog posts of SC and ST categories.

“The backlog posts should have been carried forward but the government hastily released an advertisement for vacant posts. This is injustice to the SC and ST candidates,” he said.

“According to rules, backlog posts should be filled on priority basis and then only advertisement for vacant posts can be issued. This procedure has been clearly mentioned in articles 4, 5 and 6 in state government’s letter number F 14-1/2004/1/3 based on subject ‘procedure to follow roster to fill vacant posts through direct recruitment” issued by General Administration Department (GAD) on 16 May, 2005 from Secretariat.,” he said.

He demanded from the government to immediately stop the controversial recruitment drive that kept the eligible SC and ST candidates away from their deserved rights. 

PCC declares DCC Raipur Rural, Balodabazar executives

Raipur, June 21, 2012

PCC has announced executive bodies of Raipur Rural and Balodabazar District Congress Committees (DCCs) on Thursday.

The president of DCC Raipur Rural Pankaj Sharma has been elected recently. His team will comprise of five vice presidents, one treasurer, five general secretaries, 19 members and 12 specially invited members.

Similarly, the president of DCC Balodabazar Janak Ram Verma too has been elected earlier. His team will comprise of six vice presidents, one treasurer, seven general secretaries, 16 members, 14 permanently invited members and 20 specially invited members.

The vice presidents of DCC Raipur Rural will be – Mahesh Sharma, Moti Hinduja, Gopal Tiwari, Devnath Sahu and Gangadhar Gilhare. The treasurer will be Om Goyal.

The general secretaries of executive body will be – Chhaya Verma, Iqbal Quraishi, Rati Ram Sahu, Vikas Dubey and Ajay Kshatre.

The members of executive body will be –Sharda Verma, Juga Bai, Devnandani Sahu, Pushpa Banjare, Gulab Bai, Anshu Devi Verma, Laxmi Dhruv, Gopi Bai Verma, Sadhna Das, Durgesh Verma, Dhanesh Dewangan, Narayan Sahu, Sunil Jain, Mohammad Shafeeq, Ramkumar Joshi, Ramadhar Sahu, Netram Verma, Gowardhan Sinha and Gulab Pandey.

The specially invited members will be – Vidyacharan Shukla, Dhanendra Sahu, Satyanarayan Sharma, Bhupesh Baghel, Ganesh Shankar Bajpayee, Rudra Guru, Kshatrapal Sirmour, Vidhan Mishra, Jugal Kishor Sahu, Chandrashekhar Yadav, Anjay Shukla and Kalpana Patel.

The vice presidents of DCC Balodabazar Rural will be – Dwarika Dewangan, Purushottam Sahu, Devkunwar Sahu, Dr Ramchandra Patel, Ramkhilawan Jaiswal and Satish Agrawal. The treasurer will be Pramod Sharma.

The general secretaries of executive body will be – Rameshwar Khatkar, Lekhram Sahu, Tulsi Verma, Santosh Soni, Dheeraj Bajpayee, Rupesh Thakur and Ayaz Ahmed Farooqui.

The members of executive body will be –Shiv Nishad, Satish Sharma, Rajni Vaishno, Shiv Bai Paikra, Shyamkunwar Baghel, Chatrshaal Sahu, Premsheela Nayak, Hemant Dubey, Puri Ram Sahu, Anita Sharma, Savitri Dhruv, Kuber Yadu, Meena Dhruv, Lawangbati Patle, Omprakash Verma and Saleem Khan.

The permanently invited members will be – Bhupesh Baghel, Rajkamal Singhania, Dr Shiv Kumar Daharia, Chaitram Sahu, Ganesh Shankar Bajpayee, Radheshyam Sharma, Narendra Mishra, Arun Mishra, Dr Ramlal Bhardwaj, Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, Vidya Bhushan Shukla, Ramesh Yadu, Suresh Sharma and Gayatri Kaivrtya.

The specially invited members will be – Gambheer Singh Thakur, Manihar Sahu, Basant Adil, Dinesh Yadu, Ganesh Prasad Jaiswal, Gyaneshwar Giri, Kamal Thakur, Kamla Harwansh, Gopi Sahu, Jugal Bhattar, Basant Bhrigu, Dilip Chabadoa, Ishwar Singh Thakur, Surendra Thakur, Dr PN Vaidya, Janki Manikpuri, Motiram Verma, Krishna Kumar Nayak, Lakhan Ram Verma and Devin Bai Netam.

The PCC spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi informed that the organiser of Sewa Dal, presidents of Mahila Congress, NSUI and INTUC and Lok Sabha as well as Vidhan Sabha presidents of Youth Congress Raipur Rural and Balodabazar would also be included in executive bodies of Raipur Rural and Balodabazar DCCs as specially invited members respectively.

CSGDA puts seven-point demand before Health dept

Raipur, June 21, 2012

Chhattisgarh State Government Doctors Association (CSGDA) has put seven-point demand before Health department. In this connection, the office-bearers of CSGDA led by their state president Dr Gokul Chandra Sarkar met Health Commissioner Pratap Singh and held detailed discussion on Thursday.

The prominent demands put by the association are implementation of time-bound pay scale and promotions. Sarkar informed that Singh assured of taking quick action on these demands.

During discussion, when the association indicated that the promotion of block medical officers (BMOs) should also be included in their demands, Singh said the government had not yet framed rules for BMOs.

Sarkar alleged that the department was adopting negligent attitude towards the BMOs despite their posts being approved by the government back in 2005.

The other demands of the association were – to continue creating post of doctors, disburse contingent service allowance, to extend retirement age of doctors to 65 years, to fill the post of Health director by promoting departmental doctors and not to appoint candidates holding degrees from unrecognised institutes.

The delegation of office-bearers of CSGDA was comprised of general secretary Dr Vimal Rai, vice president Dr Milind Sambharkar, Dr Ganesh Das, Dr Hemlal Meenpal, Dr Surendra Sahu and state spokesperson Dr Kavindra.

YC receives 345681 new membership applications

Raipur, June 21, 2012

The membership campaign of Youth Congress (YC) concluded on June 20 with organisation receiving 345681 applications for new membership. The YC poll officers collected membership applications and fees at Lok Sabha-level from June 18-20.

The organisation’s pradesh returning officer (PRO) Harpal Singh Thakur informed that YC Raipur LS constituency submitted highest number of applications, i.e. 74179 which YC Bastar LS constituency remain in the bottom of the list with only 13522 applications.

The number of applications received from other LS constituencies is – Bilaspur – 57000, Durg – 32500, Rajnandgaon – 31500, Korba – 29025, Sarguja – 27000, Mahasamund – 26380, Raigarh – 20170, Kanker – 19080 and Janjgir – 15325.

Singh has asked the new membership applicants to obtain their receipts with bar code from the Lok Sabha returning officer (LRO) of their respective constituency during officer hours till June 25. He informed that bar coded receipts are mandatory during scrutinisation.

According to information, the applications with no documents (identity card and age proof of the applicant) would be invalidated. Notably, Thakur had categorically made its obvious during the commencement of membership drive on May 24 that the stipulated documents must be mandatorily attached with the applications.

At present, the YC has 377000 members and if all 345681 applications would be termed valid then its total membership will reach to 722681. However, the organisational members will fail to touch or at least reach close to the targeted figure of 10 lakh members as the deficit will be 279319 members.

Some of the existing YC office-bearers on anonymity admitted that their national president would be upset by their performance. The major reason for less collection of membership application is said to be organisation’s less hold in rural belts.

With Congress going to polls in 2013, the state party leadership has already asked all the frontal organisations including YC to increase their domain in rural pockets but proportionate efforts were missing at ground level.

Heavy showers paralyse normal life

Inundates low-lying areas

Waterlogging cause traffic disruption at main road

Raipur, June 20, 2012

Heavy showers lashed the capital city on Wednesday inundating low-lying areas and throwing normal life out of gear. The rains, which began about 5 pm, caused severe inconvenience to the commuters as visibility was almost zero for about an hour.

Rain water entered into several low lying areas including some housing colonies causing hardship to the people. No loss of human or damage to property has been reported from any part of the city so far, informed the RMC officials. However, there are reports that heavy downpour uprooted several trees and affected power supply in different parts of the city.

With majority of the low lying areas still lacking proper drainage system despite tall claims of municipal corporation, the rain fury once again flooded such places including Dharam Nagar, Hanuman Nagar, Veerbhadra Nagar, Chhattisgarh Nagar, Vidya Nagar, Nehru Nagar, Kali Nagar, Chandi Nagar, Ram Nagar, Durga Nagar, etc.

Overflowing open drains added to people’s woes. Vehicular traffic was thrown out of gear in several areas in the central part of the city as almost all the roads were waterlogged.

The waterlogging at GE road, especially near Coffee House caused havoc to motorists. Waterlogging in posh colonies like Civil Lines, Samta Colony, Shankar Nagar, etc too irked the locals and passers-by.

Vehicles were also seen stranded at the roadsides in the outskirts of the city in Ring Road No 1 and 2 as well as at Tatibandh-based Transport Nagar, Pachpedi Naka, Bhanpuri and Ravabhatha.

While the Raipurians welcomed the monsoon showers that have considerably brought down the temperature, however, they could not control their anger against the civic body and district administration for once again failing to do necessary preparations to prevent the waterlogging and inundation problems in the capital during monsoon rains.

Cong: Police uncontrolled, constitutional crisis in state

Raipur, June 20, 2012

Congress on Thursday said that state was facing constitutional crisis as the government had lost control over the police department. “Five ministers including Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar have questioned the operational methods of the police during June 19 Cabinet meeting. All the four overtly alleged that the police department has become uncontrollable,” said Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla.

“The police department comes under Home Ministry but ironically Kanwar himself had to utter the bitter truth that he was completely unaware of the people issuing directives to the police officials,” said Shukla.

“School Education Minister Brijmohan Agrawal, WRD Minister Ramvichar Netam, Forest Minister Vikram Usendi and Housing & Environment Minister Rajesh Munat too discussed over erratic behaviour of the police officials. Kanwar’s helplessness is reflection of fragile law and order in the state which is already reeling under naxal menace,” he added.

“The BJP government has completely failed in discharging its constitutional duties. Crime rate has increased under its regime. Dacoity, murder, abduction and rape cases have become order of the day. All the ministers are croaking before the Chief Minister, but there no one to take responsibility of anarchy prevailed in the state. If the HM is powerless then who will take guarantee of public security,” Shukla asked.

Paddy dampened due to Govt’s laxity: Cong

Raipur, June 20, 2012

Congress has held the government responsible for dampening of huge stocks of paddy in monsoon showers. “This is strange. The government should have taken measures to safely store large amount of paddy being stocked in open in godowns and procurement centres beforehand,” said Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi on Thursday.

“The monsoon reached the state a couple of days back. Still, 60 lakh tonne of paddy has been stocked in open. The government stopped paddy procurement about three months back but surprisingly it did not take interest in making safety arrangements for paddy stocks during monsoon,” Trivedi said.

He informed that highest amount paddy stocks in open are in Bilaspur, i.e. 13.9 lakh “tonne. Similarly, open paddy stock in Rajnandgaon is 8.32 lakh tonne, Raigarh – 8.23 lakh tonne, Ambikapur – 4.66 lakh tonne, Mungeli – 4 lakh tonne, Raipur – 3.86 lakh tonne, Durg – 2.19 lakh tonne, Surajpur – 2 lakh tonne, Bemetara – 1.59 lakh tonne and Balod – 1.14 lakh tonne,” he said.

“Rainwater has accumulated around paddy stocks in 63 procurement centres as Markfed did not make any arrangement for proper drainage of water. The Markfed has not even put the cap cover on paddy stocks. Interestingly, Markfed spent huge fund on pretext of digging drains around the paddy stocks but drains are still on papers while the fund went in the pockets of corrupts,” he said.

He alleged that Markfed took fake certificates about safety of paddy stocks from procurement centres and rubbed its hands from the responsibility.

Govt insensitive: Jogi

Senior Congress legislator Ajit Jogi termed the government insensitive over dampening of paddy stocks.

“This is sheer disregard to the food grains. Traditionally, people of Chhattisgarh offer prayers to food grains and keep them safely. However, the government has left huge stocks of paddy in open to dampen and rot,” he said.

“If the government is unable to keep the paddy stocks safe then it must distribute the paddy to the poor farmers free-of-cost. At least the paddy will not rot and reach to the deserving hands who know how to keep the food grains safe,” Jogi said.

Cong plans to sue CM in two cases

Raipur, June 19, 2012

Congress has made a mindset to drag Chief Minister Raman Singh to court on reportedly illegal land acquisition done BALCO in Korba and controversial allotment of provisional lease (PL) for mining to Ma Bamleshwari Minerals in Rajnandgaon. PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey clarified the party intentions before the media at Congress Bhawan on Tuesday.

“The CM and former Chief Secretary (CS) P Joy Oommen took special interest into the matter of illegal acquisition of 2780 acre land by BALCO and ordered for its regularisation. The government incurred revenue loss of Rs 140 crore. We had submitted a memorandum to Governor in this regard and demanded probe and prosecution against the duo under Prevention of Corruption Act on March 17, 2012. We waited for 90 days till June 17, 2012. Now, we will move to court and file criminal suit against the CM,” informed Patel.

He said party leader Bhupesh Baghel would file petition in court against the CM while he and Choubey would be intervenors.

He pointed that the PL to Ma Bamleshwari Minerals too was allotted on the basis of manipulated documents back in 2005-06.

“There was no industry in the region. However, the company instantly started illegal mining at large-scale in the jungles of Salhewara as soon as it obtained PL. When the Congress raised this issue in the Vidhan Sabha, the ruling party hastily revoked the PL,” Patel said.

“We will sue the CM in this case too. For this, we will soon seek permission from the Governor,” he said.

“If needed, former Congress MLA Uday Mudliyar will take this issue to the court and former MP Devvrat Singh and party legislator Mohammad Akbar will be the intervenors,” Patel informed.

 ‘Waive VAT on petro products’

The party also hit strongly at the CM on his tirade against Centre on rising inflation.

“The CM has crossed all boundaries while criticising Centre on price rise. If the state government wants to give relief to the public then it should immediately waive value added tax (VAT) on petroleum products,” said Patel and Choubey.

The duo also pointed that the government had even failed to check rising cement prices.

“Despite no hike in costs of raw materials used in cement production and labour rates being stagnant, the cement manufacturers are consistently increasing cement prices. The rate of cement per bag has touched Rs 295, much more than the cement prices in adjoining states. Ironically, the cement industries in state earn benefit of about Rs 500 crore annually,” they said.

They alleged that the CM did not make effective policy to check inflation and hence illegal stocking of daily use commodities had gone up.

‘CM sympathy towards tribals false’

The Congress further said that the CM was showing false sympathy towards the tribals. “First the police lathicharged on innocent tribals when they took out rally in the capital demanding constitutional right and the old tribal leaders were put behind the bars on false criminal charges. Now, the CM is taking rallies in tribal regions and showing them false sympathy,” said Patel and Choubey.

They also termed the government’s 32 percent reservation announcement for scheduled tribes as political gimmick. “The government adopted such procedures for the quota which were destined to be stayed by the court,” they said.

“At least 5000 tribal youths would have got jobs in different government departments if they really had got 32 percent reservation three years back,” they said.

They reminded the ruling BJP about its promises made to the tribals in its 2008 election manifesto.

“The BJP had promised to establish forest produce-based industries in tribal regions. The tribals were supposed to get shares in these industries. The ruling party had also promised to setup training centres to develop and encourage sportspersons and artist in tribal areas. Another promise was to patent forest medicines and establish their processing plants,” the duo said.