Mumbai, Dec 5 (PTI) Chhattisgarh, the decade-old state with an abundance of natural beauty and rich in minerals, is gearing up to become the most preferred tourist destination in the country and has earmarked about Rs 300 crore to ramp up its infrastructure.
"We have spent around Rs 300 crore to develop 45 sites with basic three star amenities. Out of these, 33 sites are already ready," State Secretary Tourism, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs Subrat Sahoo told reporters here.

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh will open three residential schools for boys in areas worst hit by Maoist violence, a statement said Sunday.

"The government will construct three ashram (residential) schools for boys with 50-seat capacity each in Dantewada district with Rs.94.42 lakh (over $208,000) on expenditure," the statement said.

The ashram schools will come up at village Kasoli, Badepanera and Barsoor in the worst Maoist insurgency hit district of Dantewada. The public works department will construct the school buildings.

Raipur, Jan 6 (IANS) South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), India's largest coal-producing company, was relieved Thursday as the opposition Congress put off its decision to forcibly shut down production at its major mines in Chhattisgarh's Korba district.

The shutdown decision was deferred after SECL agreed to implement the key demands related to works to be done under corporate social responsibility (CSR) and to absorb those displaced by mines in Gevra, Dipka, Kusmunda and Korba areas.

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.

In a breather to Jindal Power Ltd (JPL), a company run by the family of ruling Congress party member of Parliament Naveen Jindal, an expert appraisal committee has recommended environmental clearance for its 2,400MW power project in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, which will require an investment of Rs.13,410 crore.

The expert appraisal committee is mandated to set the terms of reference for environment impact assessment reports. It recommends whether the environment ministry should approve a project or turn it down.

BL reported that NMDC Ltd has initiated a move this week to meet the burgeoning demand of Chhattisgarh sponge iron producers for iron ore.

Mr Rana Som CMD of NMDC told Business Line that “From Monday, we have started moving three rakes of ore a day, totaling about 12,000 tonnes, into Chhattisgarh to meet the requirement of mini steel plants located in the state and it will continue for some time.”

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.

According to the Chhattisgarh Government, around eight thousand people in the state are HIV positive.

Bulk of the total patients are in Raipur, P Anabalagan, Project Officer for Chhattisgarh Aids Control Committee said on Wednesday.

There are 3,870 patients in Raipur, 949 in DUrg, 845 Bilaspur, 495 Rajnandgaon, 360 Bastar, 263 in Mahasamund, 181 in Korba, 175 Kabeerdham, 150 Sarguja and 127 and In Raigard district.

The government is making all possible efforts for treatment of these patients, he added.

In a move aimed at maintaining fiscal discipline, the finance department had dropped most of the proposals submitted by various departments for inclusion in the second supplementary demands.

The state government is likely to present the second supplementary demand for grants for 2010-11 on the second day of the assembly session starting Monday. The size of the supplementary demands had been limited to Rs 1100-1200 crore.