Peoples participation must to speed up development, says Advani

Raipur, Nov 1 (UNI) Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Lal Krishna Advani today said active participation of the people was necessary to speed up the process of country's development.

" Governments alone cannot fulfill the needs. Active peoples participation is necessary to speed up development", he said tonight while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the seven-day 'Rajyotsav' celebrations being organised here to mark the seventh anniversary of statehood of Chhattisgarh.

Mr Advani said those who had fought for freedom had thought that poverty and other problems would come to an end once the British left.

" We got independence but not 'Suraj' (Good governance), he added.

Claiming that his party had been trying to make good governance an issue in all the elections since 1957, he said the performances of all governments were assessed on the basis of good governance.

Mr Advani lauded chief minister Dr Raman Singh's announcement to provide rice at Rs three per kilogram to all BPL families from January one saying that it was a dipawali gift to the people of the state.

He also lauded the initiatives being taken by Dr Raman Singh government for the state's development saying that the chief minister was making all efforts to speed up development so as to bring the new state at par with other developed states in the country.

Mr Advani also conferred 22 state level awards to prominent personalities for their outstanding contribution in their respective fields. UNI