In the absence of clarity in the demands put forth by Maoists to facilitate peace talks with temporary ceasefire, the Centre has ruled out possibility of any ‘peace talk’ for the time being. According to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, “nothing remains to talk about” (with Maoists) when the Centre and state government are seen committed to ensuring development and peace in the disturbed areas. So far, the banned outfit has released six letters, laying down conditional peace talk proposals. The ongoing decisive offensive against the Red ultras indicates there are no strong reasons to hold conditional dialogues with CPI (Maoist).
1st National Highway tunnel in the state
Chhattisgarh gets its first National Highway—2.79 km long completed in just 12 months by National Highways Authority of India. The tunnel is a part of the Raipur-Visakhapatnam Economic corridor. The twin-tube tunnel will substantially reduce the travel time between Raipur and Visakhapatnam. The accomplishment is expected to augment the regional trade and industry, opening up new scope for tourism and socio-economic integration. Vishnu Deo Sai government citing the tunnel as a historic step is optimistic that it will build a prosperous and empowered Chhattisgarh.
Raipur tops in water conservation efforts
The Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) has secured the No.1 spot across India under the Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB) 1.0 programme, completing 33,082 structures. RMC cited the award as a recognition of people’s power through the collective efforts intended to conserve water. Hyderabad (14,363) and Gorakhpur (14,331) followed in second and third place. At the state level, Chhattisgarh finished second with 4,05,563 structures, behind Telangana (5,20,362). RMC will receive `2 crore for surpassing the 10,000-structure milestone. A total of 67 districts nationwide have been recognised under three categories — `2 crore, `1 crore and `25 lakh.
Ejaz Kaiser
Our correspondent in Chhattisgarh
ejaz@newindianexpress.com