Govt in defensive mode

By Our Staff Reporter
Bhopal,July 22:
The State government today went into defensive mode in the Assembly when Minister of State for Revenue Karan Singh Verma admitted irregularities in sale and purchase of land in Seoni district and announced dismissal of concerned officials.
During Question Hour, Ms Neeta Pateria (BJP) alleged a big scam in the sale and purchase of land in collusion with agents and officers and demanded stern action against the accused. She alleged that it was done by manipulating government documents.
Admitting irregularities, Verma said that some government officials were found guilty in the departmental probe and announced he was ''dismissing them all''.
Ajay Singh (Cong) said that the Minister had dismissed the accused.
In a bid to control the situation, Speaker Ishwardas Rohani and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Verma wanted to say that the process of termination would be taken if irregularities were detected.
Chouhan said that serious allegations have been levelled in this regard and officers would be terminated certainly if they found guilty. He said that the government, earlier, also expelled the guilty officers under certain process.
Responding to the supplementary questions of Dr Govind Singh (Cong), Verma said that encroachment was removed from Nardev temple land in Bhind district and stringent action would be taken against the accused. He said that he would ensure the land's acquisition to the priest.
Earlier, Dr Singh said that he was asking question 14th time in the House about the temple land case in which the land was encroached by the influential people and assaulted the priest when he asked to remove it.
Replying to the supplementary question of Ladduram Kori (BJP), the Minister said computers would be made available and full staff would be appointed soon at newly-formed Shadhora tehsil of Ashoknagar district.
Farmers Welfare Minister Ramkrishna Kusmaria, while answering to the supplementary query of Umashankar Gupta (BJP), said that several products of Bhopal Dugdha Sangh would be rationalised.

Irregularities in IHS admitted
Admitting irregularities in the implementation of Indira Housing Scheme at Umari district's Banka village, Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Gopal Bhargava today said in the Assembly that a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against the Sarpanch and Secretary concerned. During a call attention notice moved by Gyan Singh (BJP), Bhargava said that Sarpanch withdrew Rs 1.24 lakh from the scheme with the collusion of Secretary, hence, a FIR was registered against them and efforts were being made to arrest the duo. He said that this amount should be distributed among the beneficiaries and ordered the officers to ensure that the beneficiaries should be benefited from the Scheme and fund should not be constraint.

Anganwadi appointment process cancelled
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today announced in the Assembly that the statewide appointment process of anganwadi workers and female assistants stands cancelled and a fresh process would be initiated for such appointment. Chouhan intervened, after KP Singh (Congress) raised the matter through a call attention notice, and said, ''the government is committed to adopting transparency in the appointment process. The decision to cancel the process followed receipt of complaints.'' Earlier, Singh alleged that Nelson's eye was being turned on the rules in the appointment process in Shivpuri district. The Chief Minister intervened while Woman and Child Development Minister Ranjana Baghel was replying to Singh's questions.