Cong to attack govt from VS to streets in December

Decision taken during PCC meeting

Raipur, December 03, 2012

Congress has chalked out strategy to launch persistent attacks on government from state assembly to streets in December 2012. Talking to PCC office-bearers during party’s monthly meeting at Congress Bhawan on Monday, state unit head Nandkumar Patel said anti-government movements in terms of tehsil and block-gherao programmes should be organised aggressively in December and January.

Besides, he said, the principal opposition would grill the government during upcoming winter session of Vidhan Sabha.

Hailing Centre’s cash subsidy transfer scheme (CSTS), Patel appealed the partymen to publicise it across the state. In addition, the party will raise voice against the government for misusing funds meant for Central schemes. In this connection, the party will organise massive public rally in December.

On forthcoming civic bodies’ byelections, Patel directed the Lok Sabha incharge general secretaries to prepare list of prospective candidates by holding talks with DCC and BCC office-bearers, party’s local public representatives and MLAs.

He further asked the LS incharge general secretaries to chalk out strategy for tehsil-gherao programmes considering 2013 and 2014 polls. Emphasising on consolidation of the party at ground level, he asked the LS incharge general secretaries to regularly interact with block-level office-bearers. He made DCC and BCC meetings mandatory every month.

He exhorted the PCC office-bearers to increase party’s membership campaign and to ensure expansion of Congress domain in every booth.

The meeting was attended by CLP leader Ravindra Choubey, Dhanendra Sahu, Satyanarayan Sharma, Ramgopal Agrawal, TS Singdeo, Baijnath Chandrakar, Arun Vora, Ramesh Warlyani, Bhupesh Baghel, Devvrat Singh, Dr Shivkumar Daharia, Fulo Devi Netam, Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, Mahendra Chhabda, Rajesh Bissa, Dr Renu Jogi, Mahant Ramsundar Das, Kuldeep Juneja, etc.

Cong tehsil-gherao prog begins from Nagri today

Raipur, December 03, 2012

Congress will commence its tehsil-gherao programme from Nagri on Tuesday. PCC president Nandkumar Patel, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey and senior party leaders will remain present at Nagri event, informed chief party spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi on Monday.

The party aims to organise dharna against government in every tehsil of the state on host of issues in December 2012 and January 2013, he said.

During tehsil-gherao programme the Congress will raise issues like hike in power tariff and inordinate power bills, black marketing of fertilisers, Rs 270 paddy bonus, uterus-removal case, handing over of two coal blocks to Sancheti brothers despite their ineligibility, etc.

The party has also decided to inform people that the BJP government is anti-poor and therefore opposing Centre’s cash subsidy transfer scheme (CSTS) which would directly benefit the poor. Besides, the local issues will also be incorporated in the party’s anti-government movement at tehsil-level.

CM lost support of BJP workers, public: Cong

Raipur, December 03, 2012

Sharply reacting over chief minister Raman Singh’s December 2 appeal to BJPians to wipe out Congress from Chhattisgarh, the PCC president Nandkumar Patel on Monday said by using such language CM displayed his autocratic mindset in democracy.

“The CM’s statement is full of arrogance and is against state’s culture and tradition. The people of Chhattisgarh will give him appropriate reply in upcoming assembly and general elections,” Patel said.

“The CM has rather made empty claims that his government has eradicated corruption, malnutrition, tyranny, partiality, exploitation and violence in past nine years. In fact, during his regime, the reservation quota of SC and ST, lands of tribals and number of jobs for youth have certainly reduced,” he added.

He said the CM was actually scared of intense activities of Congress and hence was compelled to urge the BJP workers to start making conducive atmosphere for the party before elections.

“Why did not the CM talked to BJP workers in this manner in last nine years? Surely he is power hungry and therefore he is pretending to be very much concerned towards his party workers ahead of crucial polls,” he said.

“The BJP workers have realised that the CM merely intends to get back in power and benefit a handful of people whom he trust. He has ignored the party workers for nine years. Now, neither he has support of his own partymen nor of the public,” Patel said.

“The Congress will pose strong challenge to BJP in 2013 and 2014 polls and will seek the latter’s reply on uterus removal case, eye camp incidents, untimely deaths of children due to malnutrition, coal scam, power theft, dejected condition of Bastarians, bad roads, overflowing drains in urban areas, deplorable education system, expensive power rates, etc,” he said.

Jogi asks govt to expedite UID card making process

Raipur, December 03, 2012

Senior Congress legislator Ajit Jogi has asked the government to concentrate on expediting unique identity (UID) card making process instead of opposing Centre’s cash subsidy transfer scheme (CSTS) which is intended to directly benefit the poor.

“The chief minister Raman Singh’s argument that implementation of CSTS would be difficult in tribal regions that lack adequate number of banks is completely baseless as the Centre had launched this scheme after considering all the possible hindrances,” he said.

“There will be no role of middlemen and profiteers with implementation of CSTS and the poor beneficiaries would receive subsidised amount directly in their bank accounts. By opposing this scheme, the BJP government has proved that it is anti-poor and more concerned about interests of middlemen,” he said.

Taking at a dig at the government over rising naxal incidents, Jogi said the former seemed less interested in eradicating the extremists as it aimed to increase its vote percentage though bogus voting.

He said the BJP made the government in 2003 and 2008 by leading just by one percent vote from Congress.

Mismanagement at paddy procurement centres: Cong

Raipur, December 01, 2012

Congress on Saturday said that mismanagement prevailed at paddy procurement centres was causing inconvenience to the farmers. “The government started purchasing paddy at minimum support price (MSP) from November 1, 2012, but could not address the problems of farmers and provide adequate facilities at procurement centres even in one month,” said Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla.

“The chief minister Raman Singh and his government first remained engaged in pomp shows like Rajyotsav 2012, global investors’ meet and nagar suraj abhiyan and then launched mahila utthan yatra to deceive womenfolk of the state. Meanwhile, the dejected condition in paddy procurement centres could not be improved due to government’s indifference,” he alleged.

“The government’s attitude makes it evident that it paddy procurement has never been its priority. Since the procurement centres have limited storage space and the already purchased paddy have not been transported to godowns yet, they procurement process has virtually come to a halt. Hence, the farmers have to wait for their turn for three-four days,” he said.

“The government has purchased only 9 lakh tonne paddy in 30 days, much less than previous year’s figures. As the government claims of purchasing 60 lakh tonne paddy last year, it should have procured at least 20 lakh tonne paddy in one month. Similarly, only one lakh tonne procured paddy has been transported to the godowns,” he pointed.

He said the paddy procurement system hindered because the government delayed in hiring transporters for shifting of purchased paddy from centres to godowns.

“Another reason for deceleration of paddy procurement is strike of Markfed (marketing federation) staff. Since, the employees of Markfed and cooperative societies pay key role in paddy procurement process, the government should have taken initiative to end the strike of Markfed staff,” he said.

“Since the government is anti-farmer, it is not improving condition in procurement centres. It has not even made necessary arrangements to save farmers’ paddy from rains. Therefore, the farmers’ incurred loss during showers in the first fortnight of procurement,” he said.

YC’s booth-level polls conclude

Nominations for VS, LS and state panels to be filed on Dec 4, polling on 17^th & 18^th
 

Raipur, December 01, 2012

The YC’s booth-level elections concluded on Saturday. The results of all booths will be declared by December 3. The aspirants aiming to contest for Vidhan Sabha, Lok Sabha and state-level committees will file nomination papers on December 4 while the polling for these panels will be organised on December 17 and 18.

With conclusion of first level of YC polls, the rest of the factions in state Congress, i.e. organisational faction, have started framing strategy to grab YC presidential post by defeating the Jogi camp this time.

In this connection, veteran party leader Vidya Charan Shukla, during his Akaltara visit on November 30, held talks with Union minister of state Charandas Mahant.

Notably, the organisational faction has decided to field Deepak Mishra for presidential polls while the Jogi faction aims to ensure second consecutive victory of Uttam Vasudev.

In previous polls, Vasudev had defeated Mishra by huge margin. Mishra had to satisfy to with vice president post. This time, he is getting support of all the anti-Jogi factions and consequently there was strong contest between organisational and Jogi factions in the booth polls.

According to information, out of 11 LS areas, both organisational and Jogi factions are likely to win in five constituencies each while there will be tie between the two camps in one LS area.  

The Jogi faction is said to have maintained its dominance in Durg, Bilaspur, Sarguja, Bastar and Janjgir-Champa LS constituencies. On the other hand, the organisational faction managed to lead in Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund, Korba, Raigarh and Kanker LS areas. In Raipur LS constituency, both the factions performed equally strongly.

In booth polls, many contestants who won do not belong to organisational or Jogi camps. In fact, they wish to fight VS and LS level polls. However, considering tough fight in VS and LS polls, they would require support of either of the two factions. Contrarily, the two factions will also require support of these independent booth-poll winners to win the presidential post.

Sources said as a quid pro quo, both organisational and Jogi factions can individually offer the independent winners their backing in VS and LS polls and seek the latter’s support to win YC’s top post.

Cong meeting tomorrow

Raipur, December 01, 2012

The monthly meting of PCC office-bearers will be held at Congress Bhawan at 12 pm on December 3, 2012. 

According to information, state unit chief Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey will discuss with office-bearers about party’s strategy to gherao the BJP government in upcoming days. 

After this meeting, the meetings of monitoring committee and disciplinary committee will also be held on the same day at 2 pm and 4 pm respectively.

 

CSTS: Cong says BJP’s anti-poor face exposed

Raipur, November 30, 2012

Lashing out at BJP government for opposing Centre’s cash subsidy transfer scheme (CSTS), Congress on Friday said the ruling party’s anti-poor face had been exposed.

“We hail the Centre’s new scheme which will directly benefit the poor. The BJP government’s objection proves that it is not well-wisher of the poor,” said state Congress president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey.

“The Centre gives massive amount to the state government in terms of subsidy under its various schemes. Now, with the launch of CSTS, the subsidised amount will be directly transferred into the bank account of beneficiary. The BJP government was by far claiming the central schemes as its own but now it is scared of being exposed with implementation of CSTS,” they said.

They said the Centre’s pro-poor decision would check irregularities in public distribution scheme (PDS). “The state government should have prevented misuse of ration under PDS but it never took firm step in this direction,” they added.

They challenged chief minister Raman Singh to rope in an independent agency to conduct audit of state’s PDS to bring forth hidden facts before public. “The government always boasts about effective implementation of its PDS but the launch of CSTS will unleash the grafts prevailing in this system,” they said.

Pointing that mega subsidy funds were distributed to fake ration cardholders in last couple of years they said even the government had admitted of canceling lakhs of fake BPL cards in previous fiscal.

“There are 2564429 BPL cardholders, 699599 cardholders under Antyodaya scheme and 2071725 ALP cardholders. To benefit these cardholders, subsidy amount provided by Centre to the state government was Rs 842.830 crore in 2008-09, Rs 1007.510 crore in 2009-10, Rs 1923.480 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 1199.510 crore in 2011-12 (till September 24, 2012). What happened to these subsidised funds? Certainly, grafts in distribution of rice, wheat, kerosene, etc is equally massive,” they said.

Mahila utthan yatra insignificant: Cong

Raipur, November 29, 2012

Congress on Thursday said the government’s mahila utthan yatra (MUY) was insignificant as the latter had failed to provide security to womenfolk.

“The MUY will be meaningless unless the government publicly tenders apology on uterus removal case,” said PCC spokesperson Mahendra Chhabda.

“It is an irony that the government which is responsible for women’s miseries poses to uplift them through MUY,” he said.

“The government deserves the blame of uterus removal case as it neither take action against any guilty doctor nor take initiative to help the victim women,” he said.

“Over 10000 girls are missing from different parts of the state, there has been marked rise in cases like dowry, rape and women exploitation in past nine years but the government remains indifferent toward women’s security,” he pointed.

“The government must assure the womenfolk of no iteration of crime against them. Besides, liquor sale in rural pockets should be banned effectively as alcohol is destroying several families,” he said.

Cong doubts govt intent in dealing NSA applications

Raipur, November 28, 2012

Congress has expressed its suspicion over government’s intention in dealing applications it received during nagar suraj abhiyan (NSA).

“The NSA was mere deception. The government never aimed to benefit people through it. The outcome of gram suraj abhiyans (GSAs) is widely known. Despite receiving massive amount of applications through GSAs, it dealt only a few while the problems of villagers aggravated further. The urban applicants should not hope much from the NSA as they would not get positive response,” said Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla.

“To pretend that it is seriously pursuing every complaint, the government says it will upload status of applications in its official website – http://cg.nic.in/nagarsuraj/, but the information it is providing is vague as was in case of GSA applications,” he alleged.

“Merely by forwarding the applications to relevant departments the officials claim in the website that they have solved the problem. The chief minister Raman Singh had said that applications would be dealt immediately during NSA but the game of stalling action of complaints have begun now,” he charged.

“The government had received 395589 applications during GSA. It said the updated status of complaints could be fetched from its official website - http://cg.nic.in/gramsuraj/. This website informs that 6967 demands out of 38799 were fulfilled while remaining 31832 are pending. Similarly, 5260 complaints out of 32985 have been solved while rest 27725 are pending. The government has received 208659 applications during NSA and it is likely to adopt GSA method to deal them,” he said.

“During GSA, the CM had made 293 announcements, initial formalities of commencement were done for 164 declarations but none has come to practical reality yet,” he added.

He said the ruling party threw the entire government machinery to simply collect applications during NSA, but not to take positive action on them.

He pointed that majority of the people wanted to give application pertaining to BPL card during NSA but either the ministers or government representatives did not accept such applications or refused to give receipt against such complaints.

CM’s brahmastra talks hint failure of his schemes: Cong

Raipur, November 28, 2012

Ridiculing chief minister Raman Singh for his remark that he would use brahmastra before assembly elections, Congress on Wednesday said Singh’s statement was an evident indicator of failure of all his schemes.

“Brahmastra is a divine weapon and is used only when all other weapons fail. By saying that he would resort to brahmastra before polls, Singh has inadvertently admitted that all his government’s schemes could never come out of papers and the people have bluntly refused to acknowledge nagar and gram suraj campaigns,” said Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla.

He said the BJP government had nothing to boast about its nine years of regime and therefore even its brahmastra would boomerang during polls.

He said the Congress was fully-prepared to counter ruling party’s brahmastra and political gimmicks in 2013 elections.

“We are committed to dethrone the incumbent government and rid the people of Chhattisgarh from its bad governance,” he added.

Cong manthan camps in Gunderdehi today

Raipur, November 28, 2012

After organising day-long assembly-level workers’ training camps - manthan in Samri and Ramanujganj Vidhan Sabha constituencies on November 27 and 28 respectively, state unit’s top brasses aim to exhort the party workers of Gunderdehi VS area for next polls through this interactive programme on Thursday.

PCC spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla informed that AICC general secretary and state Congress incharge BK Hariprasada, state unit president Nandkumar Patel, CLP leader Ravindra Choubey, and senior party leaders leave for Gunderdehi on Thursday morning.

“We are organising manthan camps in 51 VS areas where Congress could not win assembly seat in previous elections. The agenda is to consolidate the party at booth-level. Hence, we are imparting training to selected booth-level workers in these camps,” said Shukla.

He informed that after attending Samri and Ramanujganj camps the participants were exulted and eager to mobilise workers to prepare for upcoming assembly and general elections. The party targets to conclude its manthan camps in December 2012.

 

Cong’s monthly meeting on Dec 3

Raipur, November 28, 2012

PCC president Nandkumar Patel will convene monthly meeting of party office-bearers at Congress Bhawan at 12 pm on December 3, 2012. 

The meeting will be attended by CLP leader Ravindra Choubey, PCC vice presidents, general secretaries, executive members and chairman of media department. This meeting will be followed by meetings of monitoring committee at 2 pm and disciplinary committee at 4 pm respectively.

YC polls: Results of all booths by Dec 3

Raipur, November 27, 2012

The YC’s pradesh returning officer (PRO) Harpal Singh Thakur has informed that the results of all 20937 booths will be announced by December 3, 2012.

The booth-polls, which commenced on November 26, will conclude on December 1. The polling is being done from 8 am to 3 pm. After polling, counting is done followed by uploading of results in the YC’s official website on daily basis, said Singh.

This time again, there will be straight fight between Jogi faction and the organisation for dominance in YC from top to bottom committees. Considering this, the election team has made adequate arrangements during polling and counting.

Singh informed that YC members were being allowed to cast their vote on producing their identity-cards to prevent bogus voting.

Notably, only the winners of booth polls will be eligible to cast vote in organisation’s Vidhan Sabha, Lok Sabha and state-level polls.

The candidates will file nomination papers for VS, LS and state committees on December 4. Scrutiny of nomination papers and distribution of election symbols will be done on December 5. The polling for VS, LS and state committees will be held on December 17 and 18.

The vote counting for VS and LS committees will be done at LS headquarters on December 18 while that of state committee will be done on December 20. The results will be declared on the same day, i.e. December 20.

India’s oldest tree fossils site discovered in state

Raipur, November 27, 2012

State’s chief conservator of forests and director State Forest Research and Training Institute (SFRTI) Krishna Chandra Yadav has informed that scientists of SFRTI including him and Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany (BSIP) Lucknow have recently discovered India’s oldest and largest tree fossils site in and around Shankarpur under Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh. 

According to BSIP scientists these fossils belong to lower Gondwana geological formation and are some species of Gymnosperm (that dominated the land vegetation prior to the advent of Angiosperms - the flowering plants of the present of day) which date backs to about 250 million years, i.e. Triassic Period. These fossils are expected to be either of Glossopteris or Araucaria genera, he said.

Senior scientist Dr RC Mehrotra feels that the new-found tree fossils site in Balrampur district should be developed as fossil national park.

“Mehrotra has taken samples to Lucknow for conducting laboratory tests and we hope to find out more about ecology and climate of the region prevailing in dinosaur era. It is very interesting to know how these trees survived drastic changes in weather over million years and became rock solid in state,” Yadav said.

These tree fossils are spread over about 700 hectares area in forest compartments   P613, P 615, P 616 P 617,P627 and in adjoining revenue and private lands in Shankarpur, Bhattidarh, Thadadpahri, Naginjhiria villages around legendary Mircha Pahar (chilli hill) on northern fringe of Tamorpingla Wild life Sanctuary and is about 155 km away from Ambikapur – the divisional headquarter of Surguja revenue division,” he said.

“During the exploration work, the team of scientists has discovered long fossilised trunks up to 15 meter long and six meter wide in well preserved condition. There are six such sites with large pieces in revenue area,” he said.

“The fossil pieces of different shapes and sizes are abundantly present in the entire area at random orientation. Even villagers have unknowingly used these fossils for construction of cattle-proof boundary wall, plinth of houses and wall of water holes,” he added.

Besides Yadav and Mehrotra, the team comprised of the scientists Dr Ram Avtar, Dr Rashmi Shrivastav, Marsibella, Prabhakar Khalko, Vijay Bhusan Kerketta, Alok Bakshi, Jai Prakash, George and local forest beat guards.

Yadav said the new findings could be one of the greatest geo-botanical discoveries of the contemporary period. “The state forest department has started extensive survey and mapping of the entire area for developing it as a geo-heritage site of global significance,” he added.