Chief Minister Raman Singh on Sunday said that organically produced rice from Dantewada district of Bastar is not only being sold in Chhattisgarh but also in other parts of the country.
The demand for organic rice is so huge that there is not enough supply, he said in the ninth episode of his monthly interview ‘Raman Ke Goth’ broadcast from All India Radio’s Raipur Centre .
The Chief Minister lauded the group of farmers practicing organic farming under 'Mochobadi' scheme in village Karli of Dantewada district.
Singh said that the discussions held in 'chaupals' become the State government’s agenda for future, which it now follows religiously.
He said: “When we hold chaupals in this scorching summer season under Mango, Mahua and Kusum trees, many new schemes are made during discussion with villagers.”
Singh said that he noticed government schemes are made in chaupals have been tremendous successes. Some of these schemes are Mukhyamantri Bal Hriday Suraksha Yojana, rice festival, minor forest produce procurement and distribution of flip flops to tendupatta collectors, he said.
In his Radio talk Singh also extended hearty congratulations and greetings to people of the State on festivals falling this month such as Akshay Tritiya, Buddha Purnima, Mahaprabhu Vallabhacharya Jayanti, Sen Maharaj, Parshuram and Shankracharya Jayanti.
He appealed people to avoid and end social evils like child marriage on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya.
At the onset of the prgramme, Singh quoted two lines from famous Chhattisgarhi song of renowned poet lakshman Masturiya — ‘Mor Sang Chalav Ji, Mor Sang Chalav Ga’, and appealed people to join hands for development of Chhattisgarh.
He said that lok Suraj Abhiyan will be a success only when we all will come together.
On the question of conducting visits under lok Suraj Abhiyan in this scorching heat, the Chief Minister said that we started off with Gram Suraj Abhiyan during scorching heat of 'Navtapa'.
Singh said that to encourage officials and employees to visit villages during this summer season, the government decided that right from Chief Minister to Ministers, MlAs, MPs, members of Jila Panchayat and all the officials including Chief Secretary will visit villages during lok Suraj Abhiyan.
He said that the review done in block headquarters and districts under this campaign leads to formulation of new schemes.
Singh said: “This campaign has been an important medium for the State Government to review its performance during the last 12 years. It helps the government to identity its shortcoming in implementation of schemes and also the root cause of same.”
It is a better way of identifying and rectifying the shortcomings. Its sole objective is to ensure implementation of schemes among the public in a transparent manner, the Chief Minister said.
During the campaign, inaugurations and foundation laying is also done. It is the occasion, when we dedicate our schemes to public, Singh said.
Notbly, this time Chief Minister mentioned about many memorable incidents of his visit to Bastar region during lok Suraj Abhiyan.
He said, “We don’t know how happy people must have felt when we started the scheme of distributing rice to poor people, but when farmers of village Karli of Dantewada districtgifted me a small bag of rice produced through organic farming, I felt overwhelmed with their warmth and dedication.”
In this episode, Singh mentioned about his meeting with 80-year-old women Shoolmati in Bade Dongar area of Kondagaon district while saying that “she had come all the to meet me and thank me for schemes of rice, grams and salt etc distribution.”
He also mentioned about his road inspection on motorcycle at Bhejji-Injram road of Naxal-affected Sukma district under lok Suraj Abhiyan.
Singh said that our seven personnel were martyred while providing security at this road construction site.
He said that more than 50 IEDs were found on that route, so I thought I should visit the place on motorcycle to experience the greatness of our security personnels' martyrdom.
I have promised people there that when construction of this 28-km-long concrete road will be completed, I'll visit this place once again, Singh said.
“A total of 75 families of Bhejji were victims of Naxal violence, who have recently returned and settled in Bhejji. After meeting them I realized how a village gets back on track”, the Chief Minister said.
Singh mentioned about his visit to Abujhmad and said that the way people were overjoyed when he made an announcement about facilitating electricity supply in 53 villages of the area.
“I realised that Abujhmad has been waiting for this since long,” he said.
The Chief Minister further said that under lok Suraj Abhiyan this time, he got an opportunity to visit Timed village, situated near Maharashtra border in Bijapur district of State, where people of Chhattisgarh and Maharasthra both are excited about the bridge under construction at the cost of nearly Rs 250 crore.
This bridge will not only link both Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh but also Andhra Pradesh. We shared this experience with the villagers, he said.
Singh said that during Gram Suraj and lok Suraj Abhiyan, it was noticed that people have to wait for months to get copies of maps, land records and B1 from patwaris.
“This time we have decided that all the farmers and people of the State will be provided free copies of these land records by patwaris of their villages and panchayats within next three months”, he said.
The Chief Minister said in his Radio programme that nearly 108 Jan Aushadhi Kendra have been started in the State, where nearly 400 types generic medicines are available at one-fourth price of branded medicines.
Chhattisgarh is possibly the only State of the country, where such large number of Jan Aushadhi Centres has been opened, Singh said.
He assured the listeners that the quality of generic medicine is same as branded medicines and appealed people to encourage use of generic medicine so that they may avail medicines at affordable price.
The Chief Minister appealed doctors to prescribe generic medicines as much as possible.
Singh addressed public in Hindi and Chhattisgarhi language. He first congratulated students for their success in 10th and 12th board exams and said that he is happy to see daughters of government school students maintaining their top positions in the merit-list.
The Chief Minister consoled the students who could not succeed in exams, saying that there are many examples around in which students score low in one exam but then do exceedingly well in other exams.