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Tag: Chhattisgarh chief minister

  • Need to refute rumours being spread on social media: Chhattisgarh CM tells collectors

    By PTI

    RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday said along with continuous monitoring of the law and order situation, it was necessary for the administration to strongly refute rumours and false propaganda being spread on social media. The CM was addressing a conference of collectors in the state capital Raipur.

    The responsibility of law and order rests with the district collectors and they should act as team leaders, he said.

    The administration has worked very effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic, the CM said, adding that due to innovative projects undertaken in the state, the “Chhattisgarh model” was now being discussed all over the country.

    “Along with continuous monitoring of the law and order situation, it is necessary to strongly refute rumours and false propaganda spreading through social media,” Baghel said.

    He said before the weekly review meeting, collectors should take stock of the law and order situation with superintendent of police and other officials concerned in their respective districts.

    The situation of the previous week should be reviewed and action plan be drafted based on the existing situation, the CM said.

    He said the revenue department’s work was directly connected to farmers and common citizens and the district administrations should give top priority to it.

    State Agriculture Minister Ravindra Choubey, Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain, Director General of Police D M Awasthi and other officials attended the meet.

  • Chhattisgarh CM likens RSS to Naxals; says local Sangh workers being controlled from Nagpur 

    By PTI

    RAIPUR: Equating the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with Naxals, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday said the way the outlaws active in his state were being dictated by their senior cadres sitting in other states, the local RSS workers were being controlled from Nagpur.

    The RSS headquarters is located in Nagpur city of neighbouring Maharashtra.

    Hitting back at Baghel, the BJP described his statement as “language of extremists”, and said Congress has deviated from the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi.

    Talking to reporters at the helipad here, Baghel also slammed the Centre over its claim that there was no shortage of coal in the country, and added that it has failed to handle the issue.

    “There will be an impartial investigation (into last week’s Kawardha violence)…In Chhattisgarh, no work of RSS people got done during 15 years (of the BJP rule from 2003 to 2018) and they continued to work as bonded labourers,” Baghel said.

    “Even now, they (RSS workers in the state) are not heard as everything is being controlled from Nagpur.

    Like the Naxal leaders are in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other states and their cadres (in Chhattisgarh) do the job of firing bullets and getting hit. The same is the situation in the RSS. The local RSS workers have no value…Everything is centred in Nagpur,” he added.

    He was replying to a query on Governor Anusuiya Uikey’s letter to the state government for an impartial enquiry into the violence occurred on October 5 in Kawardha, the headquarter of Kabirdham district, during a rally taken out by right wing outfits.

    Stepping up his attack on the opposition BJP and the RSS, the CM said, “They are left with no issues to raise.

    They have nothing to say over farmers, tribals, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and businesses and hence they have resorted to only two issues – conversion and communalism, in which they have mastery.”

    “They make people fight. The business establishments which were shut due to the coronavirus crisis for a long time are now gradually opening up and they are trying to ruin it by instigating riots. It will not be allowed. We have to keep an eye on their attempts to give communal colour to fights over petty issues,” he added.

    The ruling Congress has blamed the BJP for the violence in Kawardha.

    BJP MP Santosh Pandey and former parliamentarian Abhishek Singh were among some party leaders who were named in an FIR lodged in connection with the violence.

    Slamming the Centre over its claims of no shortage of coal in the country, he said, “The government of India had said there is no crisis of coal and power generation in the country, but dozens of power plants are shut in the country.

    If there is no lack of coal in the country, why has the coal minister reached Chhattisgarh?” The Centre should admit that there is a shortage of coal, he said.

    “Don’t know what this Indian government is doing. There was a lack of oxygen (referring to the situation during the second wave of COVID-19), shortage of fertilizers and now lack of coal.

    The Centre has failed to handle these things. These small arrangements needed to be regularized only and kept in continuity. The Centre is not able to do just this. What will be more unfortunate than this,” he added.

    Union Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi arrived in the state on Wednesday to visit mines of South Eastern Coalfields Limited in Korba district.

    Reacting to the chief minister’s statement about the RSS, senior BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik said, “The way CM has compared Sangh and Naxalism, in reality these are not Bhupesh Baghel’s words, but are of his Leftist ideology.

    The Congress has lost its core ideology and deviated from the Gandhian ideology.

    ” Citing the ongoing turmoil within the ruling Congress in the state, he said, “The party has been battling infighting in the entire country. It is shrinking. Punjab and Rajasthan are in front of you. The root cause of its infighting in Chhattisgarh is because it has left its core ideology and is getting influenced by the Left.

    I advise Baghel that if he wants to speak about the Sangh, then he should read about it. One should see the work of the Sangh by going to the Sangh’s place…”

    The way such language of extremists is being spoken, the decline of Congress is definite, Kaushik alleged.

  • WATCH | Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel stopped at Lucknow airport, disallowed to visit Congress office

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was prevented from coming out of Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport Tuesday when he arrived to visit the state Congress office and meet party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

    Baghel sat on a dharna at the airport after being disallowed to go to the Uttar Pradesh Congress office amid widespread protest over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

    “I am being stopped from going out of Lucknow airport without any orders,” he wrote in tweet with a photo of him sitting on the floor at the airport.

    pic.twitter.com/xoZpzNswwC
    — Bhupesh Baghel (@bhupeshbaghel) October 5, 2021
    The Chhattisgarh chef minister reasoned with the police on duty as to why he was being stopped but to no avail, a Congress spokesman said.

    “Why am I being stopped? I am not going to Lakhimpur where there are prohibitory orders in place.

    I am only going to PCC (Congress office),” he asked the police personnel.

    Talking to mediapersons at the airport, Baghel said he does not plan to go to Lakhimpur Kheri but to the Congress office where he was scheduled to address a press conference later in the day.

    Baghel also said he has come to meet party national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who is currently in custody at Sitapur.

    The Uttar Pradesh government had Monday asked the Lucknow airport authority not to allow Chhattisgarh chief minister and the Punjab deputy chief minister who had to visit Lakhimpur Kheri in view of the violence that erupted there.

    Eight people were killed Sunday as violence erupted during a farmers’ protest claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers ahead of a visit to Lakhimpur by Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

    “After the incident in Lakhimpur, the district magistrate has imposed prohibitory orders there to maintain law and order.

    It is requested that you should not allow Chhattisgarh CM and Punjab deputy CM at the CCS Airport in Lucknow,’ Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi had said in a letter dated October 3 to the Airport Authority of India (AAI).

    ALSO WATCH:

    Lakhimpur Kheri Violence: What all happened in 24 hours at the farmers’ protest:

  • Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel skips Amit Shah’s meet on Left Wing Extremism 

    By PTI

    RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday skipped a meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Left Wing Extremism (LWE).

    The chief ministers of 10 Naxal-hit states, including Chhattisgarh, were invited to the meeting during which Shah was to take stock of the ongoing operations against the ultras and development activities undertaken at the ground level, officials said.

    “Chhattisgarh’s Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain and Director General of Police D M Awasthi have gone to the national capital on the CM’s behalf to attend the meeting,” a public relations department official said.

    Baghel was scheduled to attend a convention of Chandranahu Kurmi Samaj in the state’s Mahasamund district on Sunday afternoon, he said.

    The CM has skipped the crucial meeting at a time when the LWE situation in Chhattisgarh could be a key agenda of discussion as the state has witnessed several deadly attacks on security forces by Naxals in the last few years.

    Senior state officials said the issue of setting up camps of security forces in Bastar, particularly in its southern part that comprises Sukma, Bijapur and Dantewada, was likely to be discussed in Shah’s meeting in Delhi on Sunday.

    Construction of roads and other development works in the strife-torn areas of the state were also likely to be discussed, they said.

    Chhattisgarh recorded the highest number of crimes committed by Maoists in 2020, according to the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) annual report released recently.

    As per data of the Chhattisgarh police, the Naxal violence has claimed lives of 1,237 security personnel, mostly belonging to paramilitary forces, and 1,615 civilians from 2001 to June this year in the state.

    During the same period, bodies of 1,027 Naxals were also recovered following encounters with security forces, while 4,552 ultras surrendered.

    The state’s eight districts -, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur, Sukma (all in Bastar region) and Rajnandgaon – are among most Naxal-hit districts in the country, and have been battling the menace for over three decades.

    After assuming charge as the Union home minister, Shah had for the first time visited the insurgency-hit Bastar division in April this year, after 22 security personnel were killed and 31 others injured in a Maoist ambush along the border of the region’s Sukma and Bijapur districts.

    Shah had then held a high-level meeting in Jagdalpur on the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) situation with Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and senior officials of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

    In January this year, Baghel had chaired a meeting of unified command here to review the security situation and development works in Naxal-affected areas of the state.

    The CM had then said his government’s three-pronged strategy of trust, development and security helped in pushing Naxals on the back foot, and success will be achieved in cornering ultras in the coming days.

  • Chhattisgarh CM’s father arrested for ‘derogatory’ remarks against Brahmin community

    By PTI

    RAIPUR: The Raipur Police have arrested Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s father Nand Kumar Baghel from Delhi in a case registered against him for allegedly making derogatory remarks against a community, an official said here on Tuesday.

    The CM had strongly disapproved of the remarks allegedly made by his 86-year-old father and said nobody is above law.

    “Nand Kumar Baghel was arrested and brought from Delhi to Raipur on Tuesday,” Raipur Additional Superintendent of Police Tarkeshwar Patel said.

    He was produced in a local court, he said, without divulging more details.

    The case against Nand Kumar Baghel was lodged on Saturday night at the DD Nagar police station in Raipur on a complaint filed by the ‘Sarv Brahmin Samaj’ against him.

    He was charged under Indian Penal Code Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 505(1)(b) (with intent to cause, or likely to cause, fear or alarm to public, or to any section of public whereby any person may be induced to commit offence against the state or against public tranquility), police had said.

    Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel’s father Nand Kumar Baghel who has been arrested over his alleged derogatory remarks against Brahmins is being produced before a court in Raipur. pic.twitter.com/i2GAJaF066
    — ANI (@ANI) September 7, 2021
    The outfit, in its complaint, alleged that the CM’s father recently made a controversial appeal to people to boycott Brahmins by terming them as “foreigners”, and asked people to not let them enter in their villages.

    The organization also accused Nand Kumar Baghel of asking people to “evict” Brahmins from the country.

    The organisation had said a video of the purported comments of the CM’s father was available on social media platforms.

    According to the police, Nand Kumar Baghel reportedly made the remarks while addressing an event in Uttar Pradesh recently.

    After a controversy erupted over the alleged remarks of his father, the chief minister had said he was pained and asserted nobody was above law in his government and police will take appropriate action in the matter.

    “The remarks made by my father Nand Kumar Baghel against a specific class have come to my attention. The comments have hurt the sentiments of the class as well as (affected) social harmony and I am also pained by it,” Bhupesh Baghel had said in a statement.

    “Nobody is above law under my government even if he is the chief minister’s 86-year-old father,” the Congress CM had said, adding an appropriate legal action will follow.

    He said the Chhattisgarh government respects every religion, caste and community and their sentiments, and gives equal importance to everyone, the statement added.

  • Opposition has made population control an issue to fight elections, says Chhattisgarh CM

    By ANI
    RAIPUR: Terming the proposed population control bill by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Uttar Pradesh government as an issue to fight the upcoming elections, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday said that laws should not be made for doing politics.

    Days after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath released the draft of the proposed population control bill, Baghel said, “BJP had opposed sterilization program. Had the program been carried forward in 70s, population would not have been so high today. The Opposition had made this an issue to fight elections.”

    He further emphasized that laws are not going to resolve the problem. “Public awareness is very important,” Baghel said while speaking to media persons.

    Referring to the popular family planning campaign ‘Hum Do Hamare Do’, the Chief Minister said, “Laws should not be made for doing politics. There was a campaign before also namely ‘Hum Do Humare Do.’ It should be implemented properly and population should be controlled with the help of awareness.”

    Earlier, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliate objected to the drafted policy. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) National Spokesperson Sudhindra Bhadoria had also raised concerns over the same.

    Under the proposed scheme of population control by the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission, people with more than two children have been excluded from availing benefits under government schemes.

    Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adtyanath on Sunday unveiled the state’s Population Policy 2021-2030 on the occasion of World Population Day.

    He had said that every community has been taken care of in Population Policy 2021-2030. (

  • Bhupesh Baghel puts the ball in high command’s court on Chhattisgarh CM change

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  After Punjab, Congress is now facing trouble in Chhattisgarh unit with reports of tensions between Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his senior cabinet minister TS Singh Deo. Amid specualtions of leadership change in the state,  Baghle met top leadership in national capital on Sunday and said he would step down if asked by the party high command. 

    His comments came amid reports that his cabinet minister is pressing for a decision on chief ministership based on Rs 2.5-year-formula’. However, both Baghel and other Congress leaders dismissed talks of change at the top in the state.

    “If the Congress high command asks someone else to step in as chief minister of Chhattisgarh, it will be so. The high command instructed me to take oath (as CM), so I took the oath. The Congress has a three-fourth majority in Chhattisgarh. When they (high command) will say someone else will be the chief minister, then it will be so. Such agreements happen in a coalition government,” he said regarding speculations about the understanding that he will be the CM just for two-and-a-half years.

    Punia also said there was no such formula of changing chief ministers after a few years. “As Bhupesh Baghel ji also cleared, there is no such understanding or formula. The Congress party has a three-fourth majority in Chhattisgarh. Such an agreement happens in coalition governments,” he said. 

    Baghel also met Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, state in-charge P L Punia and organisation in-charge K C Venugopal. Party sources said the Chhattisgarh CM is likely to play a key role in preparing the Congress organisation in Uttar Pradesh for the assembly polls next year with a focus on strategising and booth management.

    Bhagel said that he was ready to take up responsibilities for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh next year. “If the high command gives me any responsibility for upcoming elections in UP, I will do it,” he added.

  • Sex CD case: SC defers to March 5 hearing on plea seeking to transfer case against Chhattisgarh CM

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred to March 5, the petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking its direction to transfer the case from Chhattisgarh to another state, involving Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel, who is allegedly involved in a sex CD controversy.

    A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, deferred the hearing to March 5.

    The petitioner, the probe agency, had moved the top court seeking its direction to transfer the case out of Chhattisgarh.

    Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Baghel is allegedly involved in the illegal sex CD case. The top court also allowed the plea of the CBI to make Chhattisgarh one of the parties in the case.

    In this case, the CBI had already arrested one journalist for his alleged involvement into the case. 

  • Chhattisgarh: CM Baghel in a letter to PM Modi requested to provide Rs 10 thousand crore immediately

    Request for exemption for opening of sweet shop, sale of properties, show rooms of vehicles, construction works in cities, air conditioners, show rooms for coolers and fridges, all repairing works and all retail works in green districts

    Raipur : Chhattisgarh Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel today wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to provide financial assistance of Rs 30000 crore to the state in the next three months for operation of relief and welfare schemes and relaxation in the economic activities related to revenue generation in the state.
    In his letter the chief minister has requested to immediately release Rs 10 thousand crores out of the said amount, so that financial assistance can be given to industry, business, service sector and agriculture sector.

    The Chief Minister has also requested to provide immediate exemption to the State for the operation of economic activities related to partial revenue generation in view of the controlled situation of the spread of Covid-19 in the State.
    Baghel has written in the letter that exemption should be given to the operation of sweets shops, so that it can be possible to sell milk of milk producing farmers. He has written that the operation and registration of showrooms of vehicles, including the exemption of registration and purchase of properties, operation of construction works in cities, air conditioners in view of summer season, operation of show rooms of coolers and fridges, all types. It would be appropriate to do repair work and to open all types of retail works in all green zone districts.

    Every effort will be made by the state government to ensure wearing of masks and social distancing of all individuals.
    Mr. Baghel has written in a letter to the Prime Minister that due to the long period of lockdown, revenue collections have come down to almost zero. In the current economic scenario, there is also a big reduction in the amount that the state receives from central taxes. On the other hand, the State Government is needing additional resources for the livelihood of the 56 lakh poor and needy families of the state, who have no means of income left.
    Mr. Baghel has said that if the above activities are not given permission immediately, then normal operations of the state will not be possible. It is requested to take the trouble of providing immediate approval to the demands of the state.
    He has written that with a view to stop the spread of Covid-19 virus, the lockdown was implemented in the state of Chhattisgarh from March 21, but due to this, all kinds of economic activities are also coming to a standstill in the state. The main sources of income of the state are mining activities, excise, GST, registration of properties, registration of vehicles and forest wealth etc.
    Permission has been granted by the Government of India from April 20 to May 3 to conduct only economic activities related to urgent services, which will not provide any special assistance in revenue receipt of the state. It is certain that economic activities in the country will take a long time to return to normal. In such a situation, it will be very difficult to conduct development and welfare schemes for the state.
    The Chief Minister has said in the letter that the state of Covid-19 outbreak in the state is comparatively better than other states. As of 21 April, 36 Covid-19 patients were found infected in the state, out of which 25 people have gone to their homes after getting rid of the infection and the remaining 11 people are continuing treatment and the condition of all is normal. Around 400 people are being tested every day in the state.
    No new person has been found to be infected with Covid-19 in the last 5 days. Out of 28 districts in the state, not a single person has been found infected in 23 districts, while 4 districts where 8 were found infected, no cases have been reported in the last 3 weeks and 11 active infected people of the only district are yet to be treated. In progress.
    The Chief Minister has urged Prime Minister Shri Modi that the State should be given financial assistance of at least 30 thousand crores from the Center in the next three months, out of which 10 thousand crores should be released immediately, so that industry, business, service Economic assistance can be provided to the area and agriculture sector.

  • Chhattisgarh suitable destination for investment, says Raman Singh

    Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh on Tuesday said the state has emerged as one of the most suitable destinations for investment and the state is keen to attract non-polluting and sun-rise industries for which the state has formulated sector-specific policies.
    Speaking at the ‘Think Progress, Think Chhattisgarh’ conclave, organised by Chhattisgarh Industries Development Corporation (CSIDC) in association with the Times Group, he said the state, which came into existence just 18 years ago after being carved out of Madhya Pradesh, has made biggest investments in social sector even as the state also focused on infrastructure, industrial and other development. Earlier, Singh inaugurated the newly built trade and convention centre, which has been named after Dr Shayma Prasad Mukherjee. Executives of major industrial groups attended the one day conclave.

    “When we went ahead with investment in the social sector, the perception was that the government is squandering money on populist schemes. Eventually, it turned out that the state has been able to mop up resources for development and also emerged as a state with excellent financial management”, Singh said.

    Apprising the industrialists about the opportunities for investment in Chhattisgarh, chief minister Raman Singh said the state’s priority is to attract investments in information technology, electrical, food processing, solar energy and so on which can also generate employment opportunities in a pollution free environment.

    Pointing out that Chhattisgarh’s contribution in steel, power, aluminium and other core sector accounts for 20 per cent, he said the state has many things to offer—political stability and better law and order, vast natural resources, better infrastructure and so on. He said state’s GSDP has increased from Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 2.90 lakh crore and state’s budget size increased from Rs 9000 crore to Rs 92,000 crore over the last 18 years. “Chhattisgarh is all set to enter the club of state’s with a budget size of Rs one lakh crore very soon”, he added.

    In the same duration, per capita income of the state has increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 92,000. Chhattisgarh has maintained the status of revenue surplus for the last 13 years. Reserve Bank of India has lauded Chhattisgarh for its better financial management. Chhattisgarh has the lowest debt in the country. The Chief Minister mentioned that state government has arranged additional resources worth Rs 600 crore through public-private partnership model (PPP-model). Railway Network worth Rs 13,000 crore is to be implemented through PPP model, which has become a model for other states.

    Commerce and Industry Minister Amar Agarwal said that industrial progress and economic growth are the top priorities of the state government saying that Chhattisgarh is a live example of a peaceful industrial environment for industries. Pointing out that memorandum of understanding (MoU) with more than Rs three lakh crore have been signed of which about 32 per cent have become a reality.