Chief Minister Raman Singh on Saturday landed at Maoist insurgency-hit village Waasdi under Mohla development block in Rajnandgaon district, close to the Maharashtra border as a part of ongoing month-long 'lok Suraj' Mission.
He conducted a 'Choupal' in the village and listened to the grievances patiently. He boarded a helicopter in the morning in Raipur and made a surprise visit to the village about 120 km away from district headquarters town Rajnandgaon.
Raman Singh held a detailed interaction with the farmers for nearly an hour under a tree ad claimed that state government’s policies and welfare programmes have ushered in development in violence hit Mohla block and Maoists have lost their influence on locals in recent years.
He sanctioned the re-starting of Markatola Irrigation Reservoir project on the requests of the villagers and instructed the officials to conduct a survey soon. The residents said that the irrigation canal work had actually started in 1971-1972 but due to some reasons the work came to a grinding halt. Chief Minister said that the work will begin after a gap of 45 years.
He also sanctioned a community hall at village Waasdi, a road linking village Patan to Pathrel-Markatola and a High School building at Waasdi and posting of teachers at the village soon. He also agreed to allot Budget for the construction of a bridge on Shivnath river on Bojtola-Waasdi route.
Singh also distributed cricket bats and Carrom boards to the youth of the village. Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal, Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand and Secretary Subodh Kumar Singh were also present at Waasdi. He added that maps, khasras and B-1 forms will be distributed to the farmers free of cost in the entire state. Patwaris will provide the copies of documents at village 'choupals'.
Singh also said that residential 'pattas' will be provided to all the villagers in the State. He added that 25 lakh poor families under BPl will be provided with domestic gas connections, a stove and a single cylinder at a nominal rate of ` 200 under the 'Ujjwala' scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.