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Tag: ashok gehlot

  • Sachin Pilot loyalist MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma praises Rajasthan CM Gehlot’s leadership

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: Congress MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma, who was with dissident leader Sachin Pilot during his rebellion against Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot last year, on Tuesday expressed faith in the CM’s leadership.

    “I consider Sachin Pilot as my leader. Ashok Gehlot is above him. He is the chief minister so he will have to be considered as the leader, even Sachin will also have to consider him as the leader,” he told reporters at his residence in Jaipur.

    The remarks come amid rumblings in the Pilot camp over the “delay” in meeting the demands of the faction made last year.

    The Sardarshahar (Churu) MLA said he went to Manesar last year in support of then deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot because his work was not being done by the state government but now the work in his constituency is being done.

    Sharma is the third Pilot loyalist after Virat Nagar MLA Indraj Gurjar and Karauli MLA P R Meena who have praised Gehlot for work done in their constituencies in the recent days.

    Sharma was among 19 Congress MLAs, including Pilot, who had rebelled against CM Gehlot in July last year and went to Manesar.

    They were accused of attempting to topple the state government.

  • Trouble in Rajasthan? Pilot camp restless over not getting due in Gehlot government

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Tensions simmered within the Congress in Rajasthan on Saturday with the Sachin Pilot camp getting increasingly restless over allegedly not being given their due in the government, and were seen closing ranks for pressing their demands strongly.

    An All India Congress Committee (AICC) panel formed to sort out differences between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the Pilot camp is yet to come up with a solution.

    AICC in-charge of the state Ajay Maken on Friday had said, “Vacant positions in the Cabinet, Boards and Commissions would be filled soon and we are in talks with all.”

    When asked if senior party leader Pilot is angry, Maken had said, “I am speaking to Pilot ji on a regular basis. Had he been angry, he would not be speaking to me.”

    Leaders close to Pilot, who is in Delhi for the weekend, said they are losing patience over the long wait for getting their due and claim they are being “pressured” by Chief Minister Gehlot to leave Pilot’s side.

    However, they asserted that they will fight “for their rights” within the party framework.

    According to sources within the Pilot camp, the former Rajasthan deputy chief minister is regularly in touch with Maken for ironing out issues and for redressal of grievances.

    When reached out for a comment and asked if he would meet senior Congress leaders here, Pilot refused to comment.

    Sources close to Pilot said the delay in the redressal of grievances as promised by the party high command was irking the leaders associated with him, and alleged that the chief minister is refusing to give them their due.

    The Congress government in Rajasthan was on the verge of collapse after Pilot along with 19 disgruntled MLAs raised a banner of revolt last year.

    Hectic consultations with rebel leaders led by Pilot helped the Congress save its government and its state unit from a division.

    Congress president Sonia Gandhi had set up a three-member panel of Maken, AICC general secretary organisation K C Venugopal and senior party leader Ahmed Patel to iron out differences within the state leadership.

    Pilot on Friday rejected a claim made on a television show by BJP leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi that she had spoken to him about the possibility of joining the BJP.

    “Rita Bahuguna Joshi said she spoke to Sachin. She might have spoken to Sachin Tendulkar (the cricketer). She doesn’t have the courage to speak to me,” the Congress leader had told reporters in Jaipur during his party’s protest over fuel prices.

    Also, Congress MLA Hemaram Choudhary met Pilot in Jaipur on Friday morning, his first public visit to the state capital after sending in his resignation to Speaker P C Joshi on May 18.

    Pilot loyalist P R Meena on Friday called for an expansion of the Gehlot ministry.

    “The party high command should take a decision at the earliest because everyone is waiting,” he said.

    Meena had asserted that he is strongly with Pilot and “would even die” for him.

    On Thursday, over a dozen Congress leaders had met Pilot at his Jaipur home, sources said.

  • Covid’s 2nd wave deadly, causing mental ailments: Ashok Gehlot

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: Dubbing the second wave of coronavirus infection as “deadly”, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday said various mental health problems are being seen among people due to this.

    “The state government is cautious about this and directions have been issued to make arrangements for providing treatment and counselling to such patients and their families,” Gehlot said in a statement.

    The chief minister made the remarks while chairing a meeting to review the Covid situation in the state on Saturday.

    “Post-Covid side effects in people after prolonged treatment is a matter of concern for us,” he said.

    “It is our endeavour that such patients and families get proper treatment and counselling so that they can recover from these health problems at the earliest,” an official statement quoted Gehlot as saying.

    The chief minister said from June 21, the Centre would start free vaccination to citizens in the age group of 18 to 44 years.

    Administrative officers and the team of the Health Department should prepare an effective plan for this and make it a campaign so that the maximum number of people in the state can be vaccinated, he said.

  • Ashok Gehlot appoints Vasundhara Raje loyalist as mayor, creates divide in Rajasthan BJP

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR: In an apparent attempt to exploit the divisions in the BJP ranks and to nip any mass protest against the suspension of Mayor of Jaipur Municipal Corporation in the bud, the Ashok Gehlot government on Monday night appointed a loyalist of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s to the post.

    The decision took the wind out of BJP’s sails, which had called for a statewide agitation on Tuesday after Mayor Saumya Gurjar and three councilors were suspended on Monday.

    The Gehlot government appointed BJP councillor Sheel Dhabhai as the officiating mayor, who took charge on Tuesday. Dhabai was earlier the chairman of the Finance Committee. Gurjar and three councilors had allegedly scuffled with the JMC (Greater) Commissioner Yagya Mitra Singh on Monday. A judicial inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

    While the BJP had launched a series of protests on Monday, party leaders including state president Satish Poonia, Vasundhra Raje, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Ram Meghwal had called the move illegal and unconstitutional. However, Sheel Dhabhai said: 

    “I have nothing to say at this at the moment. I have to focus on the responsibility given to me.”

    A known Raje loyalist, Dhabhai has served as mayor in the past, too. She was in the race to get the post, but the BJP leadership had favoured Saumya Gurjar. 

    “Suspending the mayor and the three councillors shows the state government is acting out of vengeance. Today, the BJP protested the decision across the state,” Poonia had said, alleging Gehlot converted an “ordinary altercation” between officers and public representatives into a criminal case.

  • Ashok Gehlot stresses on free vaccination against Covid-19, says it’s every Indian’s right

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said free universal vaccination is the right of every Indian.

    “All previous central governments have been taking this programme forward. Now when the nation is grappling with an unprecedented health crisis, to deny vaccination to all is totally unjust,” Gehlot tweeted.

    “Let us all raise our voices against this inefficiency and insensitivity of the NDA and demand Free Universal Vaccination,” he said in support of the Congress party’s online campaign for free anti-Covid jabs for all.

  • Deliberate bid to keep Congress out of GoM formed after GST meet: Ashok Gehlot

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: The Congress on Tuesday raised strong objections to the government’s decision of keeping it out of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into tax concessions to certain articles used for Covid treatment.

    Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot alleged it is a deliberate attempt to keep the opposition Congress out of the Group of Ministers (GoM) set up after the GST Council Meet on May 28.

    “Congress has three members in the GST Council. A deliberate attempt has been made to keep the principal Opposition party, the Congress, out of GoM set up by the Centre after council meet on May 28,” Gehlot said in a tweet.

    He said only the BJP has more members in the GST Council and keeping out the Congress members is “most unfortunate and strikes at the very roots of cooperative federalism”.

    Congress leader P Chidambaram said Rajasthan chief minister’s tweet on behalf of the three Congress state finance ministers reveals a distressing state of affairs in the GST Council.

    “How can the states that expressed a contrary view to the views of FM Ms Sitharaman be altogether kept out of the GoM to report on reduction of GST rates,” he asked.

    “This is BJP’s brand of non-cooperative non-federalism.

    The eight FMs who are in the GoM should protest against the deliberate exclusion of FMs of certain states,” Chidambaram said.

    Gehlot further said it is pertinent to mention that no one has been included in the GoM from the states of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, which had taken a stand contrary to that of proposed agenda.

    “We request the eight members of the GoM to reflect on the exclusion of the Congress Finance ministers before they proceed with their deliberations.

    We also urge the members of GoM to take into account views expressed by Rajasthan and other mentioned states, wherein we had asked for Zero Tax Rate for Covid-related supplies in public interest,” Gehlot said.

    Chidambaram, during an online press conference, alleged that the Finance Minister has treated the members of the GST council with disdain.

    He said the Group of Ministers set up to recommend on whether GST rate should be reduced on Covid-related medicines and equipment, is a decision that should have been taken on the day they met and should have not taken more than 15 minutes.

    “Instead of that, they have delegated it a group of ministers, which will give its report on June 8.

    I think, this is called procrastination, this is called not taking a decision and then on all other issues, she has given a short shrift, she has not responded at all.

    What did the meeting achieved, what is the outcome of the meetings- zilch. You meet after 6 months; you hold a futile meeting, come out with zilch out come and say I will consider calling a next meeting in 3 months later. Why three months later,” he asked.

    “I think the GST council is being treated with complete disdain and contempt by the Finance Minister,” he alleged.

  • Rajasthan government, opposition BJP lock horns over wastage of COVID vaccine

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR : Political tussle in Rajasthan over vaccine wastage is intensifying. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has refuted allegations made by the BJP of wastage of 11 lakh doses and questioned the data released on the government’s CoWin app.

    The chief minister of the Congress government claimed that the state’s vaccine wastage rate was only two per cent, which is much less than the national average of six per cent. He said the BJP was trying to mislead people.

    Gehlot said in the initial days of the vaccination drive, the entry of 2.95 lakh doses was made twice at many vaccination centres on CoWin, software for tracking the vaccines, due to technical problems.

    ALSO READ | Rajasthan woman wins Covid battle after 28 days on ventilator

    Due to this, the number of vaccines shown on the software was stated to be 17001220, which is not correct. Gehlot stated that earlier in the CoWIN software, the name of the beneficiary was automatically entered.

    If people did not get the vaccine in the coefficient of 10, then the other beneficiary could not have an offline entry, which caused the vaccine to deteriorate. “For this reason, we wrote to the Centre seeking offline registration so that the vaccine is not wasted,” he said.

    Gehlot was apparently responding to the allegations of Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who said that the ‘Rajasthan model’ of combating the pandemic was nothing but Congress mismanagement of the health service. He accused the state government of hiding the fatality and case data and doing politics to blame the Modi government.

    This has been said by other leaders of the opposition also, particularly from the saffron party. Chief Minister Gehlot hit back by saying that the BJP was trying to lower the morale of corona warriors.  “In the virtual conference held on May 21, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said that there was a technical problem in the Central government portal which showed an increase in the percentage of vaccine wastage,” he said.

  • Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot to introduce social security scheme for dependents of those who succumbed to Covid

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR: The Gehlot Government has decided to introduce Social Security Scheme in Rajasthan for families whose earning member has died of Corona. The scheme also includes those children who have been orphaned in this pandemic.

    On Saturday, a meeting of the Council of Ministers discussed Social Security Policy regarding this. Later, the Chief Minister announced that the policy will be launched soon. 

    Gehlot has delegated the task to the relevant departments to bring social security policy for dependents on priority. According to official figures, so far 7703 deaths have occurred in the state from Corona. However, sources say that in reality, the actual figure is much more than the official number. 

     Government sources say that under the Social Security policy the family will be helped in the event of death of the earning member of the household. Several departments will work together to form this policy, in which the schemes and programs of different departments will be combined and help the affected families. All the concerned departments including the Social Justice and Empowerment Department will jointly prepare the blueprint of the new scheme.

    “Work is underway to provide a package of personal benefits to the family of the deceased including cheaper rations, widow pension, giving money to the children every month under the ‘Palanhaar’ scheme.” said a senior officer in the Social Justice and Empowerment Dept. 

     Moreover, children below the age of 18 years who have lost their parents will be given the benefit of the ‘Palanhaar Yojana.’, in which there is a provision to provide assistance of 500 rupees per month to children up to 5 years. After this, there is a provision to give 1000 rupees every month to children up to the age of 18 years. To give the benefit of the Palanhar scheme, the government has started a survey of the families of those who died from Corona. 

     The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has given the task to the districts to prepare applications for their Palanhaar scheme after conducting a survey. The deadline has also been fixed to start payment within one month of the arrival of the application. 

    As COVID-19 devastates countless families in India, the plight of orphans who have lost both parents to the disease, has been particularly heart-wrenching.

    The New Indian Express (TNIE) has been reflecting many of these stories. There are three such stories from Rajasthan.

    The story of Kota sisters, Urvi,12 and Krati,5, lost their parents in the space of a day. While the young girls are stunned into silence and their grandparents are simply overwhelmed by the huge tragedy that has hit them in their old age.

    Among the countless orphans of Covid-19 are Supriya, 16, and Bindiya,13, who lost their father and mother in the space of just three days last month. Covid-19 first struck their 45-year old father Vijay Joshi on April 24. Three days later, mother Ranjana’s condition also took a turn for the worse.

    After wailing endlessly for a few days, the sisters are now being taken care of by their uncle.

    In another incident, Poorvi and Riya lost their parents Shyam and Mahima Maheshwari. They ran a hostel for students who come to Kota for coaching and lost the battle with Corona in the space of 10 days, leaving the sisters extremely vulnerable.

  • Rajasthan government starts tracking existing, potential black fungus patients

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: Rajasthan is the first state which has declared the black fungus infection as a notifiable disease, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on Saturday as the government ordered immediate tracking of its existing and potential patients.

    The Rajasthan had declared the black fungus infection or mucormycosis, largely reported among the cured Covid patients allegedly due to the overuse of asteroids during their treatment, a notified disease May 19.

    A total of 20 government and private hospitals across the state have been authorised for the treatment of black fungus.

    “I am happy that Rajasthan has become the first state in India to declare black fungus as a notifiable disease (under the Rajasthan Pandemic Act of 2020) and has made provision for its treatment,” he tweeted.

    Gehlot also supported Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding from him to ensure the supply of essential medicines for the treatment of the black fungus infection and cost-free care to those affected.

    In her letter to the prime minister, she also pointed out that the treatment of mucormycosis is not covered under Ayushman Bharat and most other health insurance plans and sought immediate action on the issue.

    Gehlot said her suggestion for ensuring a sufficient supply of essential drugs and cost-free treatment for black fungus is very important for common people who are already battling with the deadly second wave of COVID-19.

    Meanwhile, the state government on Saturday directed district level officers for identification and early detection of the patients with black fungus infection.

    Principal Secretary (Medical & Health) Akhil Arora issued an order directing officials to prepare reports of COVID-19 patients suffering from diabetes/cancer or have had an organ transplant and were given steroid during treatment.

    The reports will be prepared at the village and ward level within three days.

    He also directed officials to create awareness about the disease among people.

    As many as 115 coronavirus deaths and 6,103 positive cases were reported in Rajasthan on Saturday, pushing the overall figures to 7,590 fatalities and 9,09,521 infections.

    Among the fresh figures, the maximum number of deaths (21) and positive cases (1,900) were reported from Jaipur, according to an official report.

    Jodhpur recorded 11 deaths.

    A total of 7,79,601 patients have recovered from the infection so far, while the number of active cases is 1,22,330.

  • Congress takes tough stance against Rajasthan rebels    

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR:  With a faction of MLAs allied to Sachin Pilot mounting pressure on Rajasthan’s Ashok Gehlot government, the Congress high command on Thursday said that it will not bend to the wishes of a few. Ajay Maken, the Congress in-charge for Rajasthan, said Pilot is an asset, but the party will not be run according to the wishes of a few leaders.

    After the resignation of Congress MLA Hemaram Chaudhary, other MLAs from the Pilot camp have expressed dissent. MLA Ved Solanki has appealed to the party high command for decentralisation of power after Hemaram’s resignation. He has stated that if his demands are not met, he too will have to step down. 

    Two more MLAs from the Pilot camp—Murari Meena and Mukesh Bhakar—have come forward and asked the party leadership to listen to the demands of Chaudhary and others.  Maken said, “the party does not take decisions based on a few people’s wishes. Sachin Pilot is an asset and a star campaigner in Rajasthan. He was instrumental in getting our party elected in the state. In coming times, party will give him responsibilities keeping all of these things in mind.”