Diamonds being mined illegally in Chhattisgarh: Congress

September 29th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's Cullinan mine, the source of the world's biggest diamond, has produced yet another unusually large, high-quality diamond, the mining company that made the find announced Tuesday. Petra Diamonds said the 507-carat gem was found alongside three more rough diamonds found at the mine Sep 24.

September 8th, 2009 SURAT - Diamond traders in Surat are expecting good business during the upcoming National Gold and Diamond festival week in China. The Indian diamond cutting industry was one of the badly hit sectors due to the global recession.

August 21st, 2009 RAIPUR - Congress General secretary Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the State Government in Chhattisgarh of not tackling the Maoists problem. Addressing a press conference here, he blamed the State Government for losing touch with the people at the grassroots level and thus 'creating Maoists'.

August 21st, 2009 RAIPUR - Maoist violence was continuing in certain parts of the country because development was not reaching the troubled areas, particularly in states like Chhattisgarh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said here Friday. Accusing Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of failing to reach the fruits of development to vast Maoist-hit areas, Gandhi said: "If the government fails to reach people, then problem begins, and this is the case in Chhattisgarh." "See how Andhra Pradesh tackled the Maoist problem, it actually took the central government welfare schemes to problem-hit areas, but in Chhattisgarh the government is not reaching trouble-hit areas," the Congress leader told a press conference here.

August 19th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Congress maintained silence Wednesday after a party legislator from Ambikapur seat, T.S. Singhdeo, was held at the Bhopal airport after security personnel found him carrying 10 live cartridges.

July 24th, 2009 PANAJI - Goa's Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar has alleged that nearly one-fifth of the state's mineral exports are illegally mined. Speaking during the question hour of the budget session of the Goa legislative assembly Friday, Parrikar also charged the government with being hand-in-glove with the illegal mining lobby.

July 14th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee on Tuesday called for a statewide shutdown in the wake of killing of 30 police personnel including a Superintendent of Police by Naxalites here. The opposition Congress in the State has been critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government in the state from time to time for its failure to contain Naxal violence.

June 17th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Congress would undertake a thorough review of its Lok Sabha poll debacle in Chhattisgarh, senior party leader Motilal Vora said here Wednesday. "The Congress performance in the Lok Sabha polls (in the state) was below our expectations.

May 8th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Congress party in Chhattisgarh Friday reiterated its demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into an alleged multi-million rupee scam in procurement of paddy from farmers by cooperative committees. 'Several thousand tonnes of paddy were procured only 'on paper' by the cooperative committees across the state during the paddy procurement season that ended earlier this year.

April 11th, 2009 RAIPUR - As many as nine candidates in Chhattisgarh have criminals cases pending against them and seven have assets worth over Rs.1 crore (Rs.10 million), a NGO said here Saturday. 'There are nine candidates with criminal cases pending against them contesting Lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh,' Gautam Kumar Bandyopadhyay, coordinator of Chhattisgarh Election Watch, told IANS.

April 8th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Wednesday rejected allegations by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi that the state government had misused funds provided by the central government under various welfare schemes. 'The allegations by the Congress MP Gandhi against Chhattisgarh for misuse of central funds lack facts,' Singh told a press conference at the state's northern city Ambikapur.

March 4th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Bharatiya Janata Party's Chhattisgarh unit hopes to be ready with its list of candidates for the forthcoming general elections by next week. Party leaders Sushma Swaraj has already taken the draft list to Delhi to place before the BJP's central election committee Thursday.

February 4th, 2009 RAIPUR - Mineral-rich Chhattisgarh has hit another goldmine: a fresh discovery of 90 million tonnes of coal and a little over 22 million tonnes of iron ore. 'Deposits of 50 million tonnes of coal have been found in Korba district and 40 million tonnes of coal in Raigarh district,' says the Economic Survey of the state government.

January 15th, 2009 RAIPUR - The opposition Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Chhattisgarh appear to have intensified bids to rope in a Lok Sabha MP expelled by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A source close to Tara Chand Sahu said several senior Congress leaders approached him soon after he was expelled from the BJP and now BSP leaders have also asked him to join the party.

December 31st, 2008 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government Thursday announced that it has split the state electricity board into five entities - one holding company and four others to manage transmission, distribution, production and trading. The new companies are - Chhattisgarh State Power Transmission Co.