BHOPAL: Trouble could be brewing for Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's ongoing statewide Jan Ashirwad Yatra.
The Gwalior bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court has served notices to 11 departmental heads of the MP government, including the Chief Secretary, directing them to furnish reply about the expenses being incurred on the ongoing Jan Ashirwad Yatra.
Hearing on Monday, a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Umesh Bohre for seeking a ban on the yatra for misuse of funds, a division bench of the HC comprising Justices Sanjay Yadav and AK Joshi issued the notices to the state government senior officials, also directing them to furnish replies on the allegations of use of women and children during the CM's yatra.
The HC has directed the respondents to submit the reply within four weeks.
The petitioner Umesh Bohre had moved the high court seeking an immediate ban on Chouhan's ambitious yatra.
In the petition he had alleged that the yatra came at a cost of Rs 2 crore spent in every district. Also, women and school children were being made to stand in the yatra for long hours.
The opposition Congress has already been alleging massive splurge of public funds during the CM's Jan Ashirwad Yatra.
The yatra which was flagged off by BJP national president Amit Shah from Ujjain in July will cover all 230 assembly seats of the entire poll-bound state just like Chouhan's previous Jan Ashirwad Yatras of 2008 and 2013.
Last month only, the Leader of Opposition in the MP Vidhan Sabha Ajay Singh 'Rahul' had complained to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the MP State Human Rights Commission against using school children in the CM's political yatra in Satna district.
Also, on August 13, Bramhanand Shukla, the chief municipal officer (CMO) of New Ramnagar Nagar Parishad in Satna district had written to the Satna district collector Mukesh Shukla, seeking approval for paying Rs 6.95 lakh to two tent house owners in Satna for arranging shamiyana (tents) for the CM's Jan Ashirwad Yatra in compliance with a Satna district administration order dated July 6, 2018.
With the concerned letter getting leaked in media, the Satna district collector issued a show cause notice to the concerned officer, asking why disciplinary action shouldn't be initiated against him in the matter.