RAIPUR: The recent circular on a proposal to create 7 new districts by undersecretary rank officer and later a denial issued by the Chhattisgarh government has sparked a controversy with the opposition BJP raising questions against the alleged “ignorance and lapse” of the government.
“It appears the officials are keeping the CM Bhupesh Baghel in dark and working without taking him into confidence. It’s shocking and surprising that a senior officer issues important circular on creating new districts and then the government seeks a probe into it after rejecting it suggest something serious”, said the BJP state president Vikram Usendi.
The opposition cited that now an inquiry into the release of the official letter clearly indicated the government wants to avoid an embarrassing situation for it. It’s irony that the concerned officer claims the circular was issued after the directive from the secretary of the revenue and disaster management department.
“The CM should explain why the government ignorant about it”, the BJP leader said.
The ruling Congress came out in defence and called the circular as no less than a fictitious.
“The BJP intends to create a flutter in the political circle and taking clue of the irresponsible act of an officer and his fake letter”, said the Congress spokesperson Dhananjay Singh Thakur.
Intending to score a political point by the BJP out of a recklessly issued circular shows the opposition has no issue, the Congress leader added.
In an official flip-flop, the process initiated on June 29 to work out the proposal on creating seven new districts in Chhattisgarh saw abrupt denial by the government asserting ‘no such proposal is under consideration’ and there will be a probe on how such circular has been issued officially.
The undersecretary Kamela Lakda of the revenue and disaster management department had sent letters to four zonal commissioners of Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur and Surguja informing them about the proposal under consideration to reorganise the existing districts in their respective divisions.
The letter addressed to all zonal commissioners asked them to gather details related to population, total villages, area, gram panchayat, civic bodies among other relevant information in pursuance to the creation of new districts and sought the details furnished in the given format.