Bhopal, Mar 18: Urban Administration and Development Minister Narottam Mishra today announced in the Assembly that a decision has been taken to suspend an official of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation for alleged financial irregularities.

Replying to supplementary questions by Arif Aqueel (Cong) during the Question Hour, Mishra said an amount of Rs 2 lakh has to be recovered in the case. After investigation, responsibility of officials would be fixed and amount recovered.

He said it had been decided to suspend in charge officer Shaheer Ahmad in a cheque loss case. A cheque had been issued to the Gas Claim Authority by the BMC towards water supply and other works in gas-affected area. Regarding irregularities in road construction work in Seoni municipality, Mishra announced that an inquiry would be conducted within a month by sending an officer from the state capital.

Complaints related Shivpuri municipality would be investigated soon. Public Works Department Minister Kailash Vijaywargiya told Premchand Guddu (Cong) that inquiry into alleged irregularities in construction of 'Tal Alot' and 'Alot Barod' roads in Ujjain division would be carried out within 15 days by sending a chief engineer from Bhopal.

He said the matter had been probed earlier but he was not satisfied. Hence, the matter would be investigated again. Strict action would be taken against guilty contractor and officers.

112 jail inmates die in one year

By Our Staff Reporter

Bhopal, Mar 18: Jail Minister Antar Singh Arya today told the state Assembly that 112 jail inmates have died between January 1, 2007, to February 10, 2008.

In a written reply to a question by Kishor Samirte (SP), Arya said 107 jail inmates died due to illness, three committed suicides and two were murdered. Besides, 540 jail inmates died between January 1, 2002 and February 10, 2008.

He admitted that the Jail Act, 1894, has not been changed since independence. The Centre was taking steps to change it. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra informed Bahadur Singh Chouhan that local construction could not be carried out at 'Sinhastha' area in Ujjain without permission from the government.

However, 49 cases about construction have come to light and notices had been issued to concerned persons to remove construction.

Majority farmers affected by drought

By Our Staff Reporter

Bhopal, Mar 18: Majority of the farmers in the state was affected by drought, pest attack, frost and cold wave and for the first time, drought had been included in natural calamity to provide compensation to farmers, the government informed the Assembly today.

Amid slogan-shouting, entire opposition also staged a walkout charging the government with being insensitive to the woes of farmers and the government not coming forward to waive payment of electricity bills of drought-hit farmers.

Replying to the debate on a call attention notice on crop loss in different areas of the state, Revenue Minister Kamal Patel said assessment of crop loss was still in progress and directives issued to all District Collectors to immediately disburse compensation to affected farmers and to start drought relief works wherever needed.

''There is no shortage of funds and relief works would be started on war-footing'', Patel said, adding there was no provision for providing compensation to farmers, who suffered loss as they could not undertake sowing due to scarce rains. Patel was grilled several times for delay in conducting crop survey. He, however, said Gram panchayat-level committees had been formed to survey crop damage.

The opposition members contended that severe drought loomed over 164 tehsils spread over 39 districts and many districts were facing drought for the fourth year in a row. Patel said collectors had been directed to grant technical approval of works within a week and to convert short-term agriculture loans into long-term loans. It would be ensured that the affected farmers got not less than Rs 500 as compensation, he said.

The minister, however, did not concede the opposition demand to waive power bills of farmers, saying surcharge on electricity bills had already been waived. Sajjan Singh Verma, Dr Govind Singh, Arif Aqueel, Nishit Patel, Hukum Singh Karada, Indrajit Kumar Patel, Satyadeo Katare, Brijendra Singh Rathore, Ramniwas Rawat (all Cong), Rajraj Singh, Lal Singh Arya, Ramdas Uike and Durgalal Vijay (all BJP), Ramlakhan Sharma (CPI-M), Vanshmani Prasad Verma and Kishor Samrite (SP) and Manmohan Shah Batti(Gondwana Gantantra Party) were among those who took part in the debate.

Arif Aqueel (Cong) staged a walkout while the issue was being debated to protest what he said delayed discussion on the matter.