MP CM, BJP leaders go on fast against Centre's biased policies

Bhopal, Apr 30 : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday sat on a day-long fast along with his cabinet colleagues to protest against Central Government's biased policies.

Chouhan was also joined by several state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and hundreds of workers in the protest against the alleged discrimination in the allotment of foodgrains, coal for thermal power plants and provision of drought relief for the Bundelkhand region.

"Despite a rise in the number of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in the state - from 4.1 million to 6.2 million, the Central Government has not raised the quota of foodgrains for BPL families. The availability of foodgrains to BPL families is about 20 kilograms per family per month instead of 35 kilograms as stipulated by the Supreme Court," said Chouhan.

He said the UPA Government has also reduced the quota of coal for various thermal power stations. While 661,000 tonne quota of coal for Sarni Thermal Power plant has been reduced to 575,000 tonnes, the quota for the Birsinghpur power plant has been reduced from 680,000 tonnes to 570,000 tonnes and of Amarkantak Thermal power plant from 190,000 tonnes to 120,000 tonnes.

"Besides, the Central Government has reduced th eeastern region's unallocated power quota of the state from 350 MW to 31 MW and has taken no initiative towards early completion of the power projects which are being delayed for want of supply of equipments by the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)," said Chouhan.

Chouhan said another example of the biased treatment with the state in this election year was non-provision of drought relief despite several requests in person and through various letters.

"I have been demanding Rs.1500 crore (Rs.15 billion) for instant relief to the drought affected Bundelkhand region and Rs. 24,244 crore package for long term projects to provide relief to the region for more than six months but nothing has been done so far," he claimed.

The other leaders observing a similar fast at different district headquarters include Raghavji Bhai (Raisen), Babulal Gaur (Rajgarh), Laxmikant Sharma, Kamal Patel (baitul), Narottam Mishra, Himmat Kothari (Ratlam), Gopal Bhargawa (Sagar), Kailash Vijayvargiya (Indore), Anoop Mishra, Rustam Singh, Ajay Vishnoi (Jabalpur), Karan Singh Verma (Sihaur), Ranjana Baghel, Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya, Arvind Bhadoria, Archana Chitnis, Vipin Dixit, Vijendra Singh Sisodia, Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat, Sudha Malaiya and Bhupendra Singh.

ANI