Solar power to light up villages in Naxal-affected Abhujmarh

Some 5,600 un-electrified villages and hamlets of Bastar division will get the electricity by 2017-18, said the CM

Electricity would soon reach 351 villages in the Naxal-affected Abhujmarh region of Chhattisgarh for the first time after the Independence through the solar power units, the state government said on Saturday.

"Chief Minister Raman Singh on Saturday instructed the energy department officials to provide solar power electricity to these 351 villages at the earliest," an official said.

Singh chaired a meeting of Bastar and Southern Region Adivasi Development Authority and Surguja and Northern Region Adivasi Development Authority at the secretariat.

Some 5,600 un-electrified villages and hamlets of Bastar division will get the electricity by 2017-18, the CM said, and stressed the need to exploit solar power for this purpose.

The government planned to provide solar-power pumps to 11,000 farmers and this would benefit Bastar and Surguja regions too, he said. Defunct hand-pumps will be repaired as soon as possible, he added.

He also ordered the district collectors in these regions to regularly inspect residential schools/ hostels run by the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes Development Department, in particular the drinking water and toilet facilities there.

Singh also asked the collectors to sort out the issues pertaining to Forest Rights Act by holding meetings of sarpanchs, Gram Panchayat secretaries and officials of revenue and forest departments within six monhs.

Reminding that he had announced during the 'Lok Suraj' campaign in May that 50 Devgudhis' (centres of faith for tribals) would be constructed, the Chief Minister asked the officials to chalk out a plan to execute the plan.

Lok Suraj is the public grievance redressal campaign.

Another directive by the CM was to repair the roads damaged by vehicles of South Eastern Coalfields Limited and a private mining company in Surguja district.

Home Minister Ramsevak Paikra, Tribal Development Minister Kedar Kashyap, Rural Development Minister Ajay Chandrakar and Forest Minister Mahesh Gaagda were among those who were present at the meeting.