Chief Minister Raman Singh on Friday said that the inspiration behind making of the Food Security law in Chhattisgarh came to him from the work of great Tribal Rrevolutionary leader and Freedom Fighter Saheed Veer Narayan Singh.
He was addressing a public meeting at the Bakawand Block Headquarters in Bastar after inaugurating the ‘Prayas Residential School’ opened on the lines of the one in Raipur for the Higher Secondary School students on the occasion of 'World Tribal Day' here.
He said that by forming the Food Security law, the State Government had offered 'Right to Food' to millions of needy families.
The Chief Minister also inaugurated a Government College building at Bakawand built at a cost of Rs 2.13 crore.
Singh said that the the Government’s policies and programmes had linked Bastar with the development mainstream. ‘Whenever the development policies are made, the welfare of the last frontier of the tribal dominated regions are taken into consideration by the Government’.
The Chief Minister stated that alongwith the policies and programmes of the Government, people’s hard work had established the glorious traditions of Bastar’s development.
New milestones had been achieved in barely 10 years in the field of Transportation, Railways, Industry, Education, Medical Services, Drinking Water availability, Communications and Extension of Power generation facilities in Chhattisgarh, he said.
He said that one need not speak about development as it is there for all to witness in Chhattisgarh.
Remembering the martyrdom of Veer Narayan Singh, the Chief Minister stated that during the famine of 1856-57, Veer Narayan Singh arranged for food grains from the godowns of affluent people to feed the farmers and the villagers besides announcing the freedom struggle against the British which led to his Martyrdom.
Singh said that the State government through the Food Security law had made available food grains at Rs 1 and 2 per kg to the 42 lakh poor families with a total quota of 35 kgs per month.
He said that 2 kgs of iodine are offered free to the poor besides 2 kgs of Gram for Rs 5 in the tribal areas and 2 kgs of ‘Dal’ for Rs 10 in the non tribal areas.
The Chief Minister said that the Central government’s proposed Food Security law had still not been passed in the Parliament. The Food Security law of Chhattisgarh takes the entire family as a unit while Centre’s law on Food Security talks about offering only 5 kgs of food grains per person.
Today there are 15 colleges, 12 industrial training institutes and 285 higher secondary schools in Bastar district., he added.
'Not in race for PM post' Chief Minister Raman Singh stated that he is nowhere in the race for PM's post.
'The central leadership will decide who will be PM. I have lots of work to do in Chhattisgarh', he said while talking to reporters at Bakawand.
He said that the task at hand for him at present was to form the government for the third time in Chhattisgarh.
On the demand for a Tribal Chief Minister, Singh replied : 'This is not a big issue. The legislative Team after the polls decides who would be their leader'.