Amarsinh announces parallel 'lok darbar' programme

GANDHINAGAR: Claiming Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s public contact programmes — ‘Jan Sampark’ and ‘Lok Darbar’ — had flopped, Leader of Opposition Amarsinh Chaudhary announced here on Thursday that his parallel programme to hold his first ‘lok darbar’ in Ahmedabad at the Tagore Hall in Paldi on July 4.
“As Congress legislature party leader, I plan to have zonal ‘lok darbars’ with local MLAs and party leaders participating,� Chaudhary said.Chaudhary''s announcement came exactly when the chief minister held his third Swagat programme in three months on Thursday on the ground floor of the Sachivalaya.
Meant to redress people’s grievances, and considered an alternative to the erstwhile ‘jan sampark’, the chief minister personally listened to 58 applicants out of a total of 130 his office had received.
Releasing his “open invitation� to the people, Chaudhary said,“We will listen to people’s problems, and after taking note of them refer these to the ministers concerned and even the chief minister if need arises. Those related with the municipal corporations and local panchayats will be taken up separately.�
The offer said, “The ruling BJP has closed the doors of the Sachivalaya for the people. Gram Sabhas have failed to solve people’s problems.�
Containing a photograph of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the colourful invitation is seen as Chaudhary’s attempt to re-establish himself politically after the defeat of his man in a South Gujarat assembly by-poll, leading to considerable loss of face for him.
Alleged Chaudhary, “The Gujarat government has been closing down one scheme after another meant for the poor. The Manav Garima scheme that provided kits to the poor worth Rs 3,000 to start self-employment has been put on hold because of lack of money. Instructions have reached the districts not to go ahead with it.�
The Opposition leader insisted that the mid-day meal scheme was yet to start in primary schools, which opened on June 12. Costing Rs 85 lakh daily, the coffers have no money for the scheme. Similar is the fate of other schemes.
The Gram Mitra scheme, involving appointment to five youths in each of the 18,000 villages at a stipend of Rs 1,000, which has been lying dormant for a year despite being re-introduced in March in the 2003-04 budget, also hasn’t taken off.
Referring to a statement by social justice and empowerment minister Ramanlal Vora that the Manav Garima scheme was being “restructured� by providing a loan of Rs 10,000, of which Rs 3,000 would be a subsidy, Chaudhary said, “This is an eyewash. Nothing has been done. It is not being implemented for want of money. I have got official papers on that.�
Chaudhary further said, “Instead of providing employment and housing, oral instructions have reached districts to bulldoze the houses and ‘larrigallas’ of the poor. We are receiving complaints from all over that the state has undertaken a campaign in the name of cleanliness drive. Already, such reports have come from Jetpur, Vyara and Olpad. More are coming in.�