Chhattisgarh CM completes Lok Suraj drive early as elections near
Standing barefoot at the village chaupal (hub), Jamuna, a tribal woman of the Baiga community, waited patiently for Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh to solve her neighbour Phoolmat’s problem.
Phoolmat and her family had recently come down from a nearby hill and started living in the village. She needed a land patta (document). Jamuna and her family had been in the same position a few years ago when they left the hills for the plains.
Jamuna and Phoolmat were not alone.More than 200 tribals of the Singari village in Kabirdham district gathered at the chaupal, some out of curiosity to see the CM for the first time, and some to air their grievances.
When their turn came, Jamuna and Phoolmat went up to the CM and narrated their problem. The CM instructed the collector to provide her the patta immediately.
The CM’s Lok Suraj Abhiyan (people’s governance scheme) is an annual exercise started in 2005, and usually carried out midyear. This time, it started in January.
In a poll year for Chhattisgarh, this people’s outreach programme has gained pace amid talk of anti-incumbency for the three-time CM, who spearheaded the campaign which ended on Sunday.
This year’s Lok Suraj was carried out in three phases. The first phase involved government officials visiting each gram panchayat to collect suggestions and complaints, and address them by January. This was followed by 1,182 ‘samadhan shivirs’ (camps to solve problems) where senior officials were tasked with solving slightly more significant issues. In the final phase, the CM visited some of the villages with the senior officials and reviewed the status of implementation of policies and programmes.
According to the state public relations department, the CM travelled 7,000 km in 13 days and visited 31 villages.
As per records, more than three million applications were received during the drive. More than a million of these were in connection with the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Of the total, more than 2.9 million were addressed.
Amid talk that the BJP government advanced the drive with an eye on the polls, the CM said it helps rectify government policies and programmes.
“For me, the Lok Suraj Abhiyan is a safety valve. Peoples’ problems are redressed and they get satisfied that the CM himself is redressing it...” he said. “We held the Vidhan Sabha session early so that Abhiyan could be held in March. Presently, out party is also running ‘Jansampark Yatra’ in all 90 constituencies of the state,” he added.
The Congress alleged that the CM was misusing government machinery. “To use the money and machinery for political gains is unethical. The CM’s Lok Suraj is party work and he should spend party funds for this,” said TS Singhdeo, leader of opposition in the state assembly.
Refuting the allegations, the CM said, “I am moving around for the people of this state... I have don’t have to explain...”
KABIRDHAM(CHHATTISGARH):
We’re all being manipulated, is one truth recent events reveal. It is a fact that Cambridge Analytica is a shady firm that used data to influence people, and whose parent company is also in the business of influencing in a manner that is unclear and uncomfortable.
I’ve been grappling with an ethical issue since this news broke. Here is my central thought: Now that the data has been leaked, why isn’t it being used for planetary good? Why, for example, hasn’t it been used to influence the middle class to segregate its waste at home? To buy less stuff? To stop using cars all the time?
On one hand, the core problem is that private data has been, frankly, stolen. Those whose data was taken away didn’t even know
NEW DELHI: