Interim rail budget has let down Chhattisgarh: Raman Singh

July 20th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on the first day of the monsoon session Monday and was later adjourned for the day as opposition Congress members demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Raman Singh over the July 12 Maoist attack. The 38 Congress legislators in the 90-member house displayed paper-sheets bearing slogans such as "Raman Singh Istifa Do" (Raman Singh, Resign) and "Yeh Sarkar Nikammi Hai" (This government is incompetent).

July 19th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Sunday rejected reports that spurt in Maoist violence in the state was basically due to failure of intelligence network. Singh, who travelled Sunday to the site in Rajnandgaon district where Maoists killed 29 state policemen in an ambush July 12, said police had prior information of Maoists' possible attack in the district but police suffered casualties as it was a "well coordinated flash attack" of the rebels.

July 6th, 2009 RAIPUR/NEW DELHI - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Monday termed the union budget as "anti-poor" and aimed to serve the Congress party's "political interests". Singh, who is in New Delhi, told reporters that the budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament "is anti-poor.

July 3rd, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has said the rail budget for the current fiscal presented in parliament Friday is "disappointing" as it offered nothing but three new trains to the mineral rich state. Durg-Jaipur, Bilaspur-Hyderabad and Ambikapur-Jabalpur are the three new trains the state has got in the budget presented by Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee.

June 24th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has written to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, listing the state's demands, including that of four new trains and five new railway lines, to be incorporated in this year's rail budget, an official said Wednesday. "Since the railway budget is schedule to be presented July 3, Raman Singh has sent a letter to the railway minister listing out Chhattisgarh's demands," the official told IANS.

May 4th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Terming Manmohan Singh a weak prime minister, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Monday accused the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of not taking strict steps to fight terrorism. 'Under the leadership of a weak prime minister, the Congress-led UPA government has failed completely in combating terrorism,' he said at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri district.

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 30th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will stage road shows in all 11 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state from April 1. Party sources said Singh will travel in a special mini-bus in all constituencies and address at least five public meetings in each constituency besides holding road shows till campaigning ends April 14 for the state, which goes to polls April 16.

March 17th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Congress party Monday received a blow in Chhattisgarh as its former legislator and tribal leader Gopal Ram joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Ram announced his decision in the presence of Chief Minister Raman Singh at a party function in the Surguja district.

February 8th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government Monday allocated Rs.9.41 billion (Rs.941 crore), a hike of 22 percent from last year's allocations, for the police force to counter Leftist insurgency in the state. Chief Minister Raman Singh, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented a Rs.222.11 billion budget that levies no new taxes for the fiscal 2009-10.

February 8th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Bharatiya Janata Party Monday presented a Rs.222.11 billion budget which levies no new taxes for the fiscal 2009-10. The budget has a deficit component of Rs.11.85 billion.

February 5th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh skipped the three-day Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive meeting that began in Nagpur Friday as his mother passed away at a private hospital here. Sudha Singh, 84, died early Friday at the Ramkrishna Care Hospital where she had been since mid-December after she slipped into a coma at her native town Kawardha, some 125 km from here.

January 31st, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who holds the finance portfolio too, will present the state's annual budget Feb 9. Assembly speaker Dharamlal Kaushik told reporters Sunday that the budget session of the 90-member state assembly will begin Feb 2 and conclude Feb 20, and the annual budget to be presented Feb 9.

January 17th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh will start generating up to 700 MW power over the next three years using dust from coal washeries, Chief Minister Raman Singh said Sunday. Speaking at the two-day convention on 'Energy security from renewable energy sources' here, he said the country can narrow the widening demand-supply power gap by looking into options to generate power from non-conventional sources.

December 22nd, 2008 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Tuesday appointed nine legislators of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as parliamentary secretaries with minister of state rank - seen as a move to stem dissension among the newly-elected members. The nine are Siyaram Sahu, Komal Janghel, Bhaiyalal Rajwade, Bharat Sai, Omprakash Rathia, Vijay Baghel, Sidhnath Paikra, Mahesh Gagra and Yudhvir Singh Judeo.