Political

Raipur, Dec 7 (IANS) Thirty-six legislators, most of them from the opposition Congress, were suspended from the Chhattisgarh assembly Tuesday for stalling its proceedings over the abduction and killing of children across the state.

The suspension of 34 Congress members and two of the Bahujan Samaj Party was announced by Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik after the slogan shouting MLAs stormed into the well of the house and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Raman Singh in the wake of the recent cases of abduction and killing of children across the state.

Amid mounting criticism from within the party, the Chhattisgarh government on Saturday disbanded the special police squad — known as ‘HM squad’ as it reports directly to state Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar — after a series of controversies involving its men.

“I have ordered disbanding of the special police squad, abiding by the directive of Chief Minister Raman Singh. It’s the Chief Minister’s wish and I follow it,” said Kanwar after his return from New Delhi.

A special team of the Chhattisgarh Police that reports directly to state Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar may be wound up ahead of the winter session of the Assembly following a series of controversies involving its men.

Kanwar’s own party legislators have accused the team — it is being called the “HM squad” because it reports to the Home Minister and not senior police officers — of indulging in “extortion” and framing people in cases of bootlegging and gambling.

A minor fire broke out on Friday at the State BJP headquarters in Raipur, fire officials said. No casualty was reported in the fire which was brought under control within half-an-hour, they said. According to the officials, passersby spotted smoke billowing out from the third floor, which houses guest rooms, of 'Ekatma Parisar' - the state headquarters of BJP, and alerted the party officials who in turn called the fire office.

Raipur, Dec 1 (PTI) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today expressed shock over the death of five employees in an explosion at a steel facility here and asked the factory management to pay adequate compensation to the families of the victims.

Singh asked officials of Euro Pratik steel facility to provide compensation to the kin of each of the labourers and other officials killed in the tanker explosion yesterday, sources said.

A top officer of CRPF stayed spent a night with his forces to boost their morale who have been fighting the Naxalites in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh.

K Vijay Kumar, the new director-general (DG) of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), spent a night with the jawans in a camp in a sensitive pocket of Dantewada district. The move is seen as a morale booster for the CRPF jawans combating the Left radical extremists in the dense forests.

Serious differences have cropped up within the Raman Singh Ministry in Chhattisgarh over a controversial mega town development scheme.

Senior BJP ministers and other party leaders have questioned various aspects, including acquisition of land, of the massive project, ‘Kamal Vihar’, proposed to come up on 14,000 acres around the state capital. The Raipur Development Authority (RDA) is executing the Rs 815.38-crore project.