Powerful development

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh's heavily-publicised Vikas Yatra concluded last week. But the valedictory ceremony saw no jubilation, at least for the people of Ambikapur - the divisional headquarters of Sarguja where the show was organised. That's because the entire town had a power cut for the whole day before the event. The irony was hard to miss. Singh's Vikas Yatra was launched to showcase his government's achievements over 10 years and, among other things, Singh had patted himself on the back because Chhattisgarh claims to be a power-surplus state with no power cuts. Meanwhile, the people of Ambikapur were convinced that the power cut was part of the show. That's because the transformers were upgraded ahead of the event, even as people were told a high-capacity television transmission system was also being installed to ensure that the people of Sarguja would be on screens across the country. Or so they were made to believe.