70 years after ‘independence’, over 800 C’garh villages live in darkness

Even after 70 years of Independence and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) having won  all three Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh in the past 15 years, there are over 800 villages, whose revenue records have not yet been prepared. Due to the lack of revenue records, over 800 villages in Abujhmad area of Bastar region are perennially deprived of all government schemes.

The state government has blamed Maoists for not being able to conduct the survey.  But residents have trained guns on the government for the apathy, saying that Maoists have been active in the area for only the past two-and-a-half decades,  while the area was never surveyed in the past seven decades.

Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh also raised the issue after unfurling the Tricolour at the Raipur Police Parade grounds and assured to take up the matter. “It is unfortunate that there are 813 villages in the state, whose revenue survey have not yet been conducted," said Singh. He added due to the lack of a survey, revenue records of those villages were not available, and the farmers were deprived of all government benefits.

"The state government has decided to complete the revenue survey in two years," he assured people on the Independence Day. However, in the past 12 years of his rule several revenue ministers in Chhattisgarh have promised to conduct such surveys. Singh added that 46 lakh rural families would be benefitted by the survey.

The Chhattisgarh government has also announced to launch a scheme of "digital highway" after 99 per cent gram panchayats of tribal-dominated Balrampur district were connected through "optical fibre network" (OFN). All gram panchayats would be connected through OFN, so that villages in Chhattisgarh could be well-connected with Raipur, he said .

"I am launching the Bastar Net programme, through which 832-km optical fibre cable will be laid in seven districts of the region at Rs 40 crore. This Digital Highway will bring in transparency, speedy disposal and accountability in government services, besides uninterrupted mobile and Internet connectivity in the region," he said.