News Analysis India

Tag: Chhattisgarh

  • Chhattisgarh IPS officer GP Singh​ suspended after ACB raids at his premises

    By PTI
    RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh government on Monday suspended senior IPS officer GP Singh, whose premises were raided by the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Economic Offences Wing in a disproportionate assets case, officials said.

    The ACB/EOW, which carried out a three-day search at around 15 locations linked to Singh, an Additional Director General (ADG)-rank officer, from July 1 to July 3 claimed to have discovered movable and immovable assets worth over Rs 10 crore allegedly belonging to him.

    The state’s Home Department issued his suspension order late in the evening.

    The 1994-batch officer, who was earlier ADG of the ACB and EOW, was currently serving as director of the state police academy.

    “After preliminary probe into complaints against Singh for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets during his service period, the EOW registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. He seems to be involved in activities which are not expected from a government official.

    “Singh’s such alleged act is against the All India Services (Conduct) Rules 1968. Therefore, disciplinary action should be taken against him,” the order said.

    The state government has suspended Singh with immediate effect.

    During his suspension period, he will report to the police headquarters in Raipur, it said.

    The ACB had earlier said documents found during searches at Singh’s premises established that he had allegedly amassed assets disproportionate to his known source of income and indulged in “massive exchange of money”.

    “Singh had also allegedly tried to commit money laundering by investing in shell companies (entities engaged in unlawful activities). He had allegedly amassed disproportionate assets in Raipur, Bhilai, Rajnandgaon (of Chhattisgarh) and Odisha,” the anti-graft agency had said in a statement.

  • Chhattisgarh wedding hall owner, parents of bride, groom fined Rs 9.50 lakh for COVID-19 norm violation

    By PTI
    RAIPUR: In a first-of-its-kind action, the administration in Chhattisgarh’s Surguja district imposed a collective fine of around Rs 9.50 lakh on a marriage hall owner and parents of a newly-wed couple for alleged violation of COVID-19 norms as the number of guests in attendance was several times more than the permitted limit, officials said on Monday.

    On the direction of Surguja Collector Sanjeev Jha, an investigation was conducted into the wedding function held at Chairasiya Marriage Garden in Transport Nagar on July 2, and it revealed that over 1,000 people had attended, Sub Divisional Magistrate, Ambikapur, Pradip Sahu said in a statement.

    This despite the outbreak guidelines laid down by the district only allowing 50 guests at wedding functions, the SDM said.

    “The venue owner Virendra Chairasiya was fined Rs 4.75 lakh while a fine of Rs 2.37 lakh each was imposed on Saroj Sahu, the groom’s father, and Prakash Sahu, the bride’s father. They have been told to deposit the fine with the Ambikapur municipal corporation. The wedding hall has been sealed,” Sahu informed.

  • Doctor posted at government hospital in Chhattisgarh sacked for black marketing of COVID-19 vaccines

    By PTI
    KORBA: A doctor posted at a government hospital in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district was dismissed from service on Sunday for allegedly selling COVID-19 vaccines at his private clinic, officials said.

    There were complaints that Dr Ashok Kumar Makhija, a child specialist posted at the Primary Health Centre Korba on a contractual basis, was allegedly selling COVID-19 vaccines of the government hospital at his private clinic, following which Korba Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Sunil Nayak probed the matter, Korba Collector Ranu Sahu said.

    “The probe revealed that Dr Makhija had been allegedly indulged in the black marketing of the vaccines. Dr Makhija has been terminated from service and a directive has been issued to seal his private clinic which was being operated without any license, with immediate effect,” she said.

    The SDM said it was not immediately known how Dr Makhija obtained the vaccines.

    “Each vial of the vaccine has 10 doses in total, and once opened for inoculation, all doses have to be used within a stipulated period of time. Dr Makhiha told us that he had been bringing the left vaccines (considered as wastage) in a vial,” Nayak said.

    However, official records showed no vaccine wastage was reported in the past two months in any vaccination centre in the Korba district, he said, adding that further investigation is underway.

  • Chhattisgarh: Naxal killed in encounter in Bastar; weapon seized

    By PTI
    RAIPUR: A Naxal was killed in a gun battle with security forces at a forest in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Bastar district, police said on Thursday.

    The gunfight took place on Wednesday night in the forest near Elanganar village under Darbha police station limits, over 300 km from Raipur, when a team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was out on an anti-Naxal operation, Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P told PTI.

    On June 18, a woman Naxal was gunned down in an encounter between security forces and ultras in Chandameta area of Bastar.

    Some other ultras had sustained injuries in the face-off, but they managed to escape from the spot and since then, security forces were trying to locate them in the forest, he said.

    After receiving inputs about the movement of ultras from Kanger Ghati (Bastar) to Katekalyan area (Dantewada) to shift their injured cadres, the DRG team launched the operation on Wednesday, he said.

    Following the exchange of fire, the body of a male Naxal along and one .303 rifle were recovered from the spot, he said.

    Bastar Superintendent of Police Dipak Kumar Jha identified the cadre as Madvi Joga, the section commander of platoon no.26 in the Maoists’ Katekalyan Area Committee.

    Joga was carrying a reward of Rs 3 lakh on his head, Jha added.

  • Chhattisgarh ACB raids nine premises linked to senior IPS officer GP Singh

    By Express News Service
    RAIPUR: The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) sleuths conducted extensive raids on the residence of ADG-rank IPS officer GP Singh in the early hours of Thursday. Eight other premises linked to bureaucrat are also under ACB scanner in an alleged disproportionate assets case.

    This is the first time the ACB raids have taken place against any IPS officer in Chhattisgarh. A year ago, Singh was the chief of the ACB and the Economic Offences Wing and in last June, he was transferred as the director of the state police academy.

    The 1994-batch IPS officer has earlier served as the IG of Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur.

    According to the sources, there are 10 teams of the ACB deployed in the raids and searches that are still underway.

  • Trainee IAS of 2019 batch got new posting,

    Probationary officers of Indian Administrative Service 2019 batch of Chhattisgarh cadre have completed Phase II training from National Academy of Administration. These officers have been given temporary postings in various districts by the General Administration Department on Wednesday.

    Among the IAS officers of the year 2019 batch, who have been given new postings, Durg Assistant Collector Jitender Yadav has been posted as SDM Bhanupratappur – Kanker, Assistant Collector Bilaspur Lalitaditya Neelam as SDM Mohala Chowki – Rajnandgaon, Assistant Collector Namrata Jain as SDM Saraipali – Mahasamund, Assistant Collector Bastar Rena Jameel has been posted as SDM Sarangarh – Raigad and Assistant Collector Sarguja Vishwadeep has been posted as SDM Gariaband – Gariaband.

  • So far in Chhattisgarh 238.3 mm. average rainfall recorded

    According to the information compiled by the State Level Control Room set up by the Revenue and Disaster Management Department of the State Government, since June 1, 2021, an average rainfall of 238.3 mm has been recorded in the state. According to the rainfall recorded in various districts of the state from June 01 to June 30, Korba district has recorded the highest average rainfall of 413.2 mm and Dantewada district, the lowest at 148.1 mm.
    According to the information received from the state level flood control room, since June 1, 196.7 mm in Surguja, 263.8 mm in Surajpur, 241 mm in Balrampur, 274.3 mm in Jashpur, 240.9 mm in Korea, 248.4 mm in Raipur, 304 mm in Balodabazar, 246.6 mm in Gariaband, 208.4 mm in Mahasamund, 256.9 mm in Dhamtari, 220.4 mm in Bilaspur, 155.3 mm in Mungeli, 224.1 mm in Raigarh, 227.2 mm in Janjgir Champa, 269.5 mm in Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi, 276.8 mm in Durg, Average rainfall is 215.8 mm in Kabirdham, 168 mm in Rajnandgaon, 239.7 mm in Balod, 316.1 mm in Bemetara, 154.8 mm in Bastar, 179.8 mm in Kondagaon, 218.5 mm in Kanker, 214.1 mm in Narayanpur, 292 mm in Sukma and 259 mm in Bijapur. Recorded.

  • Chhattisgarh health minister at loggerheads with CM Baghel over private rural health infra

    Express News Service
    RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and health minister have been at odds over the state government’s move to promote private healthcare in rural areas.

    On June 26, Baghel decided to offer grant to the specialist health professionals to set up their proiate nursing homes to offer health services in the villages of Chhattisgarh. He said that there are no provisions from the health department to encourage establishing of hospitals by private players they way industries can.

    “There is a need to strengthen the health infrastructure and services with specialist doctors deployed in the rural belts of Chhattisgarh and the government will offer the grant for the same,” the chief minister said while directing the industrial department to prepare an action plan within ten days.

    The state health minister has expressed his objection to any such proposal. “Neither this plan was discussed with me nor am I in favour of this decision. When the state has inadequate financial resources, giving away funds to private sector that will further charge the poor for treatment is something beyond my comprehension,” TS Singhdeo said.

    The health minister demanded to know “which specialist doctor will be eager to work in far-flung districts like Sukma or Bijapur when they are unwilling to leave Raipur.”

    “I fail to understand in what context such a decision was taken but I don’t agree with it,” he said .

    The opposition BJP took a dig at the ruling Congress government following the contradiction emerging between the CM and the health minister. “When there is no unanimous system of governance in place then how could one expect the health sector to grow in Chhattisgarh,” asked Raman Singh, former chief minister. 

    Recently, the decision of the chief minister to reshuffle district in-charge ministers caught the attention of many political observers who felt the move had evidently cut down the status of health, panchayat and rural development. Singhdeo who was initially in-charge of 12 Assembly constituencies is now left with only five.

  • Baghel wrote a letter to the Prime Minister urging Chhattisgarh to provide one crore doses of Kovid vaccine in the month of July

    Bhupesh Baghel has written a letter to the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, urging the state of Chhattisgarh to provide at least one crore doses of Corona vaccine in the month of July. He has also apprised the Prime Minister that at present only 9,98,810 doses of corona vaccine are left in the state of Chhattisgarh which is sufficient for only 3 days. Despite repeated demands by the state, sufficient number of vaccines are not being provided to Chhattisgarh. The Chief Minister has also requested the Prime Minister to immediately direct the Union Health Ministry regarding the provision of corona vaccines to Chhattisgarh.

    Chief Minister Shri Baghel has also informed the Prime Minister in a letter that the work of vaccination against Kovid-19 is going on at a fast pace in the state of Chhattisgarh. The state has so far received 100 percent first dose for frontline workers and 91 percent first dose for health care workers. Out of these, 71 percent of frontline workers and 70 percent of health care workers have been given the second dose. Similarly, the first dose of vaccine has been administered to 80 percent of the citizens in the state in the age group above 45 years. Although the vaccination for the age group of 18-44 years has started from May 1, yet in less than two months, 16 percent of the citizens in the age group of 18-44 years in the state have also been given the first dose of corona vaccine. Presently more than 3 lakh people are being vaccinated in Chhattisgarh every day.

    The Chief Minister has also written in the letter that at present only 9,98,810 doses of corona vaccine are left in the state of Chhattisgarh which is sufficient for only 3 days. We have set a target for the state of Chhattisgarh that if we get sufficient number of corona vaccine doses from the Government of India, we will administer the first dose of vaccine to all eligible beneficiaries within a month. For this a massive public campaign is also being run in the state of Chhattisgarh.

  • So far in Chhattisgarh 237.1 mm. average rainfall recorded

    According to the information compiled by the State Level Control Room set up by the Revenue and Disaster Management Department of the State Government, since June 1, 2021, an average rainfall of 237.1 mm has been recorded in the state. According to the rainfall recorded in different districts of the state from June 01 to June 28, the highest average rainfall of 411.6 mm has been recorded in Korba district and 148.0 mm in Dantewada district.
    According to the information received from the state level flood control room, since June 1, 196.3 mm in Surguja, 261.9 mm in Surajpur, 236.5 mm in Balrampur, 274.3 mm in Jashpur, 240.9 mm in Korea, 248.4 mm in Raipur, 304.0 mm in Balodabazar, 241.7 mm in Gariaband, 207.7 mm in Mahasamund, 255.8 mm in Dhamtari, 217.2 mm in Bilaspur, 155.3 mm in Mungeli, 223.9 mm in Raigarh, 226.9 mm in Janjgir Champa, 266.3 mm in Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi, 276.8 mm in Durg, Average rainfall is 215.4 mm in Kabirdham, 168.0 mm in Rajnandgaon, 238.6 mm in Balod, 316.1 mm in Bemetara, 154.8 mm in Bastar, 176.1 mm in Kondagaon, 214.8 mm in Kanker, 213.5 mm in Narayanpur, 289.5 mm in Sukma and 257.7 mm in Bijapur. Recorded.