Centre conspiring against MP: CM

Bhopal, Feb 20 (UNI) Accusing the Centre's Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime of demolishing the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Madhya Pradesh and keeping the state's power projects pending, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today warned of an agitation if the state's PDS quota was not released in time.

''The Centre is conspiratorially meting out stepmotherly treatment to Madhya Pradesh. The state has 60 lakh families Below Poverty Line but the Centre is allotting foodgrain for 41 lakh under PDS,'' he alleged during a Kisan Mahapanchayat at the local Jamboori Maidan.

Referring to red wheat allotted to Madhya Pradesh under PDS, Mr Chouhan said that the Centre imported substandard wheat at high rates and a related scam ran into crores.

''The Centre has fixed Rs 1,000 as support price for every quintal of wheat but is importing at Rs 1,600 per quintal. The UPA regime is purposely slashing Madhya Pradesh's power quota. A 400-MW cut is effected during peak hour but my government is compensating through purchasing power and supplying it on subsidy to farmers,'' he said.

Mr Chouhan said that hurdles were placed in the path of the Birsinghpur and Amarkantak power projects from which 720 MW are proposed. Consequently, the projects were delayed by about one-and-a-half years. Over the past three years, 2,200 MW additional capacity was created, he claimed.

''A Rs 24,000-crore central package has been sought for drought-affected areas,'' Mr Chouhan added.

UNI AG-AC 2014