Agriculture to be Profitable in MP: CM Sh. Chouhan

Shri Chouhan has also informed at Hatod that the interests of farmers will be considered at every level during Kisan Panchayat held to discuss directly with the farmers in connection with the schemes to be prepared keeping in mind the interests of farmers. Many important decisions have taken on the occasion. The subsidy of Rs. fifty thousand will be provided to farmers as regard construction of ponds in their lands. The strict action will be taken against manufacturers and traders of poor quality fertilisers, seeds and medicines.

Also a detailed study will be done regarding problems of Hatod and serious steps will be taken to solve them. He announced the construction of a concrete main road in Hatod and as well as construction of new building of the school. He described Late Shri Nirbhay Singh Patel as a great organiser, hardworker, honest and a true personality and also mentioned that Late Shri Nirbhay Singh Patel has created a history by his social service activities. Shri Chouhan laid the foundation stone for the construction of road from Hatod to Gudarkhedi and distributed the tricycles to disables under Nirbhaya Singh Patel Smiriti Manch.

The PWD Minister Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya said that development has taken a great pace under the leadership of Shri Chouhan and due to his efforts state has been awarded the fastest developing state award. Member of legislative assembly Shri Manoj Patel has made the welcome speech.

Dr. Uma Shashi Sharma Mayor Indore, Chairman City Panchayat Hatod ShriYogesh Parmar etc. also expressed their views on the occasion. Shri Gopal Singh Chowdhary concluded the programme. Shri Madhu Verma Chairman Indore development Authority and Shri Gopi Nema were also present on the occasion.

National Workshop on Chemical Disaster Management

The Minister of Housing & Environment and Urban Administration, Shri Jayant Malaiya, former Army Chief and current Vice Chairman of NDMA General NC Vij, Shri. Lt. Gen. (Dr.) J. R. Bhardwaj, member NDMA, Smt Jyoti Rao, member NDMA, Shri P.D Meena Principal Secretary Housing and Environment Department Govt. of MP, Smt. Deepti Gaur Mukherjee Executive Director DMI and Dr. Rakesh Dubey Director will be present during the inaugural ceremony.

About 80 officials including Controller of Explosives from all the regions of the country, Director of Industrial Health and Safety & officials of State Pollution Control Boards from all the states of the country and Chief functionaries of all the major hazardous industries of the country and experts of national reputes dealing in chemical disaster management will be participating in the workshop.

Formulation of a road map for national guidelines on chemical disaster management is the prime objective of the workshop. The leading experts and administrative heads of the various departments at national level will discuss at length about the measures to be taken and their preparedness in case of chemical disasters and finally document the recommendations. Based on these recommendations the national guidelines will be developed.

First Indo-German Defence Agreement Today

The Defence Minister would hold talks with his German counterpart, Mr. Franz Josef Jung and Minister for Technology and Economics Mr. Michael Gloss.

Shri Mukherjee will also pay homage at the Zehrensdorf Indian cemetery where lie graves of 206 Indian soldiers who died as prisoners during the First World War.

Earlier, in Paris, the Defence Minister had a hectic schedule on the last day of his tour to the French capital.

He visited the Centre for Planning and Operations Management (CP&OM) which is the Joint Staff Operations Centre of the French Defence Forces. Senior Officials gave an account of the evolution of the Centre which is headed by a Major General of the Joint Services. He is directly under the Joint Chiefs of Defence Staff. The Centre is responsible for the conduct of joint operations not only for homeland security but also deployment in external theatres and providing help to the civilian populace during natural disasters. The Centre is in the process of changing and graduating for the role of a ‘coordinator’ to that of a military advisor to the Government and for planning operations. The Indian Delegation was given an overview of different types of operations being undertaken by the French Defence Forces all over the world.

During the interaction with the Indian delegation, the French side informed that they work on likely scenarios for the next 20 years and accordingly project the requirement of armaments for the Forces. Retraining of service personnel is also carried out to orient them for joint operations.

The Defence Minister also visited the French Armament Procurement Agency (DGA) where he was apprised of the Defence Procurement Procedure followed by France.

Chief Ministers’ Conclave, New Delhi

Smt. Raje was participating in Chief Ministers’ conclave convened by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on ‘Internal Security’ in New Delhi on Tuesday the Chief Secretary Shri Anil Vaish was also present in the conference, The Chief Minister said that Rajasthan, the largest state of the country with its vast geographical area, hostile climate and terrain has some specific problems related to internal and external security. The running of Thar Express in Western Rajasthan has opened up national border and has added the livelihood of the problems getting serious in the State. Hence, more stringent and a greater need for extreme caution and alertness is required in the state.

The Chief Minister told that the State Government is trying it’s best to curb activitities like intrusion, narcotics trade and smuggling of arms and drugs, in the state very effectively.

The Chief Minister said that it is a matter of great concern that religious places, iconic institutions and other soft targets like railways station, bus stands and other crowded places are reported to be on probable targets of terrorist in Rajasthan.

Smt Raje claimed that usually concern of Centre is drown towards Naxalit and sensitive states. Rajasthan has been considered a peaceful state. But the issue of Rajasthan’s 1040 km. international border adjoined with Pakisthan must not be taken lightly.

Smt Raje urged Centre to provide supplement support and allot additional assistance to state for better coordination between centre and state: Intelligence/security agencies. There is also a need to empower and strengthen police stations technically as well as manually. The special training should be organised for security forces. The tendency of developing interstate co-operation amongst neighbouring states to prevent crimes should also be promoted.

Flood Survey: Central Study Team’s Assurance

The Central Study Team led by the Registrar General (Census) Shri D.K. Sikri gave this assurance at a meeting organized under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary Shri Anil Vaish here today. The Inter-Ministerial Central Team had come to the state on the sport assessment of the situation in the wake of heavy rains and flood in Rajasthan.

The Chief Secretary said on the occasion that the state had witnessed an unprecedented situation of heavy rainfall particularly in Western Rajasthan which was totally unfamiliar and thus there was no preparedness to meet this kind of situation. He said that the normal assistance provided by the Centre was not adequate keeping in view the nature and the magnitude of this calamity.

Shri Vaish requested the team members to make a submission of extraordinary assistance for the flood affected areas of Rajasthan apart from the assistance provided under the C.R.F. and N.C.C.F. norms, since the state had witnessed an extraordinary situation. He informed that the State Government had submitted a memorandum asking for a package of assistance of Rs.3200 crores and the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh had also assured the Chief Minister, Smt. Vasundhara Raje during her meeting with him on Tuesday that Centre would provide every assistance to the flood affected people of Rajasthan.

The Chief Secretary said that public assets to the tune of crores of Rupees had been devastated by incessant rains and flood in the state and they need to be restored which requires long term assistance. He asked the members of the team to reflect this damage in the report and recommend some package provided in natural calamities like T-sunami, earth quakes for Rajasthan also so as to assist in repair and renovation of roads, restoration of drinking water supply, power line and sources of this irrigation, besides the immediate relief measures to the affected people.

Shri Anil Vaish appreciated the efforts made by all the agencies in the relief and rescuing measures specially the efforts of the Defence forces including the Army, Air force and the Indian Navy in rescuing the people in Kawas and Malwa village in Barmer district. He said that substantial damage had been caused to roads, bridges, canals, dams, ponds, power, drinking
water supply, crops, irrigation apart from huge misery to the people living in those areas including the cattle wealth. He said that though the State Government was doing everything that it should do to provide relief to the affected people but it needed support of Centre to meet this calamity.

The Leader of the team, Shri D.K. Sikri said that a lot of good work had been done both by the government and the voluntary sector in providing relief to the flood affected people. He outlined the need to have a clear policy on how assistance would be provided in regard to the housing and for replacement of animals. He said that issues like debris clearance and compensation to be paid on the damage of the ‘Kaccha and Pacca’ houses should be addressed effectively. He also emphasized that the housing needs should be assessed and it should be clearified that whether all damaged houses had to be given assistance or the one which qualifies for assistance.

Shri Sikri said that correct assessment should also be made about how people be provided help under various schemes and what criteria should be followed to provide compensation to small and marginal farmers because in Barmer and Jaisalmer the size of agriculture holdings was very large. He said that the State Government would have to come out with some support not otherwise provided under C.R.F.

The Additional Chief Secretary, Development, Shri A.K. Pandey urged that the norms under the C.R.F. should be revised to a more realistic pattern. He also outlined the need to have a specific policy for replacement of animals under C.R.F. norms.

The Principal Secretary, Medical and Health, Shri Sudhir Bhargava informed that keeping in view the outbreak of diseases in the affected areas due to the stagnated water, efforts have been made to ensure that the drinking water sources do not get contaminated. He said that more than 10 thousand drinking water sources had been disinfected and bleaching powder had been distributed to the people. He said that care had also been taken to prevent malaria in the affected areas by putting Gambujia fishes in the hatcheries in all the 12 districts apart from spraying DDT. He also informed that efforts were being made to increase the number of medical teams so that all villages could be covered.

The Principal Secretary Finance Shri Rajiv Maharishi, Principal Secretary Panchayati Raj Shri Ram Lubhaya, Principal Secretary UDH Shri Lalit K.Panwar, Principal Secretary PWD Shri C.S. Rajan, Principal Secretary Irrigation Shri S.N. Thanvi, Secretary Relief Shri R.K. Meena, Secretary, PHED Shri Bharat Meena, Energy Shri Yaduvendra Mathur also informed about the losses caused due to flood in the state.