Giant strides of progress in Chhattisgarh

Secretary general of IFWJ Parmanand pandey

I returned to Delhi today after spending more than 3 days in Chhattisgarh and its Bastar region.This was my first visit to Bastar and, that too, its interiors of Dantewada and Chitrakoot. When I was leaving Delhi for Bastar I was engulfed with many doubts.

I have been reading for the last so many years in the newspapers and listening and watching on radio and tv that Bastar is beset with frightening problem of naxalism, 'Nobody ventures out of his/her house after sunset. Naxals can strike at any place and at any time without any fear of the law enforcing agencies.The state apparatus has been completely paralyzed.The state machinery has no say at all either in the administration or in the justice delivery system. Naxals have complete sway and it is only their writ that runs across the entire region..Bastar has become a forsaken place with no trace of development. Tribal people are living the primitive live in the abyss of abject poverty.' But now I can say it with all confidence that the above perception is totally wrong and farthest from the truth.

I have seen with my own eyes that women along with men walking on foot, cycling down the roads and moving by motorised vehicle of different types even at 11 o clock at night. There is no dearth of electricity.Almost every house, even in deep dense forests, is electrified.Bazaars are buzzing with activity. Normal life in Bastar appears to be more active than in Delhi or in other cities.I do not mean to say that everything is hunky dory in Bastar or Chhattisgarh but there can be no doubt that the whole state is developing very fast. Chhattisgarh is considered to be the bowl of rice, rich with minerals and abundance of herbs and trees of different types in the vast expanse of jungles.The administration appears to be geared up for sustainable development with the help of new technology,

I have been mainly impressed with three novelties that have been introduced by the government, which have significantly changed the life of people of Chhattisgarh. One of them is the introduction of Mahatari (mother) express,a service dedicated to expecting mothers that provide complete care to the mother at the time of delivery and of the child's pre- natal to post natal care.It is totally free service.So much so, every mother gets an additional assistance of Rs 1000/ from the state government.This information has not been given to me by the government officials but the people themselves.
Another important thing,which has impressed me most is the introduction of ambulance service which can be availed by dialing 108. I have seen it with my own eyes while traveling from Raipur to Jagdalpur. There was a head-on collision of the two motorcyclists on NH30 resulting into serious injuries of three persons. It happened near Dhamtari. A Samaritan made a telephone call and to my wonder in less than 10 minutes an ambulance arrived at the place of accident. And the third thing is the introduction of a social welfare scheme that gives rice to poor people at Rs 1 per kg.Every poor person gets 7 kg of rice per month.Earlier there were many scandals attached to the implementation of this novel scheme but now it has been plugged hardly leaving any scope for cheating as the amount of subsidy is transferred directly to the account of the beneficiary.

I have no doubt that if the pace of industrialization is kept up and the improvement in the agriculture is given priority, Chattisgarh will become the fastest growing state in the Country and the naxalism will get its burial much sooner than we expect.

From the facebook wall of sri Parmanand Pandey