Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel interacted with villagers and students during his Bhent Mulaqat programme at Maath village under Dharsiwa legislative assembly of Raipur district on Sunday.

Addressing the villagers, Baghel made various announcements including Middle School Maath to be upgraded as High School, Lift irrigation to be sanctioned at Gram Panchayat Maath, Mura, Pikrideeh, Bithiya, Mudpara and Tildadeeh, boundary wall to be constructed at Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society Maath, widening of road from Khauli to Bhadaha-Budgahan-Farhada to Kosrangi to be sanctioned under Ram Van Gaman Path, post for staff to be sanctioned at Community Health Centre at Gram Panchayat Fardaha, Swami Atmanand English Medium School to be opened at Gram Panchayat Ganiyari, Middle School Baraunda to be upgraded as High School, Primary Health Centre to be opened at Gram Panchayat and Jara-Kumhari, approach road to be constructed from Nakti-Kumhari to Purani Basti-Nayai Basti, Rs 1.92 crore to be sanctioned for construction of Gaurav Path in Kharora Nagar Panchayat, District Cooperative Bank to be opened at Saragaon village, Primary Health Centre Silyari to be name after Swargiya Indira Baniram Verma, Community Health Centre building to be constructed at Gram Panchayat Matiya, ITI Bagoli to be named after Swargiya Gunvantin Bai Baghel ITI and statue of Dr Khoobchand Baghel to be installed at Pendra Van. The Chief Minister said that he had come to know whether villagers are getting the benefit of the public welfare schemes of the State Government. Baghel said that the Congress Government in Chhattisgarh has formulated plans for all sections. First of all, the State Government has waived off the loans of the farmers. Along with paddy, the State Government is also procuring Kodo, Kutki and other millets at the support price. Chhattisgarh has ranked second after Punjab in paddy procurement in the country, so far 103 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been procured. About 23 lakh farmers in Chhattisgarh have been benefited by selling paddy. Earlier only 15 lakh farmers used to sell paddy, earlier the area was also 22 lakh hectare which has also increased now, Baghel added.

Farmer Nayak said that the farmers are benefiting a lot from the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana. Paddy procurement is being conducted efficiently. Farmer Nayak urged Chief Minister Baghel to increase the limit of selling paddy from 15 quintals per acre to 20 quintals per acre. Chief Minister said that the State Government wants to procure paddy in huge quantities to produce ethanol from it. However, permission has not been received from the Central Government for this. The rate of ethanol made from paddy has not been fixed. Chief Minister further said that the plant for making ethanol from sugarcane is about to start in Kawardha. Maize to ethanol plant will also start in Kondagaon in June. He added that if the Central Government gives permission, the State will buy each grain of paddy. Later, Baghel interacted with villagers and students at Charoda village. Dharsiwa MLA Anita Yogendra Sharma, Chairman of State Mineral Development Corporation Girish Dewangan, Raipur Cooperative Central Bank Chairman Pankaj Sharma, District Congress Committee (Rural) Raipur President Udhoram Verma, Saurabh Mishra, Ashwani Verma, Surendra Gendre, Arvind Dewangan, Chandrashekhar Shukla, Secretary to Chief Minister Siddharth Komal Singh Pardeshi, Raipur Collector Sarveshwar Narendra Bhure, other officials and public representatives were present.