The Hindu : Raje doles out sops during Yatra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

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Other States - Rajasthan

Raje doles out sops during Yatra

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, FEB. 21 . The Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, helped herself liberally on the first day of her "Dhanyawad Yatra'' (thanksgiving tour) of the State today in Jhalawar by announcing a "Jhalawar package''. Even as the Congress leadership in the State described the "yatra'' as a "misuse'' of Government machinery, Ms. Raje on the occasion sought votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Besides announcing a special deal for the backward district, bordering Madhya Pradesh, Ms.Raje promised to spend at least two days there every month as the month-long Yatra took off with much fanfare. Ms. Raje has represented the Jhalawar Lok Sabha seat five times in the past and is presently MLA from Jhalrapatan falling in the area.

Ms.Raje's set of sops for her home turf was imaginatively packed taking into account the needs of the predominantly agrarian terrain, which unlike other parts of Rajasthan has water sources and land fit to grow a variety of crops including oranges. Her list of promises included opening of a horticulture and forestry college, a diary plant and the status of small-scale industry to the cultivation of oranges and coriander.

From April, the Seed Corporation would have an outlet in the area while an airstrip, a 300-bed hospital, two trauma hospitals, a sport complex and renovation of the local bus stand would materialize in the near future. A special cell would be created for the redressal of public grievances.

The bonanza included a Rs.80-lakh drinking water scheme to cover 135 villages in the area and a "Jhalawar Mahotsav'' to promote tourism in the Hadauti circuit of Kota-Bundi-Baran-Jhalawar. The Government would try to promote the use of vermicompost and other bio-fertilizer by the farmers and would distribute one lakh bamboo saplings locally, it was announced at the meeting which was also addressed by the BJP State president, Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi.

The president of the Pradesh Congress Committee, Narain Singh, meanwhile, termed the "yatra'' as a "meaningless exercise'' being carried out 75 days after the formation of the State Government.

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