Raipur, March 8 : In a bid to bag the mandate of rural families to form the government for the third consecutive time, Chhattisgarh's BJP government has decided to speed up disbursal of paddy bonus, a touchy issue for this agrarian state.

Official sources said that in the next four months, each farmer out of over 10 lakh families will get his share in the Rs. 1,900-crore (approximately $340 million) bonanza forked out by the BJP regime in its recently proposed budget estimates.

Raipur, Jan 26 - Chhattisgarh's tribal population in the Maoist bastion Bastar Saturday defied Maoist dictates and celebrated Republic Day although the rebels blocked dozens of roads in forested interiors.

Reports from Dantewada, Sukma, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Kanaker, Bastar and Kondagaon districts which together form the Bastar region said tribals came out in large numbers to attend Republic Day celebrations.

Raipur, Jan 25 : It is entirely in fitness of things that Mahatma Gandhi be the brand ambassador of a campaign to combat alcoholism. It is slightly bizarre that the campaign has been launched in Chhattisgarh by a state-run firm that is engaged in liquor business.

"Chhattisgarh is the first state where its State Beverages Corporation Ltd. has launched an awareness drive for a liquor-free society to build a healthy society. It has made the Father of the Nation', Mahatma Gandhi its brand ambassador because he fought against this social evil (alcoholism) all his life," the corporation statement said.

Dantewada, Jan 18 : A chopper of the Indian Air Force (IAF), which was sent to rescue two army personnel who were injured in Naxal attack, went missing from Dantewada in Chhattisgarh today.

The chopper was, however, found around 40 minutes at Timarpur in Chhattisgarh, IBN Live reports.

The helicopter, which had gone from Jagdalpur to Sukma to pick the injured jawans, went off radar in the region.

According to certain media reports, suspects Naxals fired at the chopper.

Further details into the incident are awaited. (ANI)

Raipur, Jan 12 : Soumyajit Ghosh Saturday became the youngest men's National champion at 19, denying India's top player Sharath Kamal his seventh title while Shamini Kumaresan culminated her season on a high note by dethroning Poulomi Ghatak in the women's singles event at the National Table Tennis Championships here.

Top-seed Ghosh beat the 30-year-old Sharath 4-2 and took home the Maharaja Pitampura Cup and Rs. 2.30 lakh for his efforts, while Shamini won 4-1 to receive the Travancore Cup and a cheque of Rs. 1.45 lakh.

Raipur, Jan 5 : Vibha Rao, the chairperson of Chhattisgarh State Women Commission, on Saturday denied making the controversial remark that women are ''equally responsible'' for the sexual offences committed against them.

Raipur, Dec 25 - A CRPF trooper shot dead four of his fellow troopers and injured another at a camp in Chhattisgarh's Maoist-infested Dantewada district, police said Tuesday.

The incident occurred around 1 a. m. at a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Aranpur village, around 60 km from Dantewada town and 440 km from Raipur.

The Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corp (CMDC) has warned that it was considering moving court against the Coal Ministry's decision of cancelling the allocation of the Bhatgaon-II and Bhatgaon-II Extension coal blocks.

The Coal Ministry cancelled the blocks allocated to the CMCD, saying it failed to start mining even five years after the allocation. In addition, the ministry ordered the forfeiture of half of the bank guarantee (Rs 1.59 crore) of the company.

The coal blocks were allocated to the CMDC on July 25, 2007.

Domestic Steel industry is criticizing the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) for its iron ore pricing policy, pointing out that the government-owned company is exporting iron ore to Japan at a lower rate than its domestic sale price.

Anil Nachrani, president of Chhattisgarh Sponge Iron Manufactures Association, said that domestic steel industry was struggling for existence while the public sector mining giant was supplying iron ore to foreign countries.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) would double its production capacity in the state of Chhattisgarh, from 110 million tonnes to 220 million tonnes by the year of 2017-18, the state-run miner's CMD S. Narsing Rao said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters, Rao said, "If rail connectivity is established, then in the next 5-6 years production capacity from our subsidiaries would double from the current level of 110 mt."

Raipur, Sep 28 : Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Wednesday ordered a probe into the lynching of a tigress by a mob in Rajnandgaon district, a statement said.

"Singh held a meeting with Forest Minister Vikram Usendi and forest officials at his residence and termed the killing as 'extremely unfortunate and sad'. He announced a probe into the matter by the National Tiger Conservation Authority," an official statement said.

The chief minister said his government would take action based on the findings of the authority's probe report.

Raipur, Sep 20 : Senior officials here of the Essar Group have been questioned and others based outside Chhattisgarh will also be interrogated for allegedly paying 'protection money' to Maoists, a senior police official said Tuesday.

"Some Essar Group officers, including a general manager posted in Dantewada, have been interrogated and notices have been sent to several others for their role in payment of massive money to Maoists," Ankit Garg, superintendent of police (Dantewada district), told IANS over phone.

Raipur, Sep 6 : US President Barack Obama, President Pratibha Patil, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul... amongst the several leaders whose photographs were found in a deserted Maoist camp in Chhattisgarh, police officials said Tuesday.

The photographs, also including those of Chief Minister Raman Singh and some ministers, were found pasted at a camp in a jungle area in Raipur district that was deserted by Maoists after a fierce 15-minute gun battle, officials at the police headquarters told IANS.

According to official reports, Maoist rebels have killed 20 policemen and at least 20 civilians in the Dantewada district in the southern part of Chhattisgarh state in eastern India.

Reports are that the bus in which the people were traveling hit a land mine planted in the road in the late afternoon.

It was also reported that the Special Police Officers were civilians assisting the local and state police in their fight against the Maoists, also called Naxalites.

In a declaration, the company officials said that NTPC will produce another 660 MW by October 2010, commissioning a new facility of its coal-fired power plant at Sipat in Chhattisgarh.

The report said that two divisions of the Sipat facility in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district fabricate 1,000 MW.

As part of company's growth plan, NTPC plans to produce 1,980 MW extra power with another three plants having capacity of 660 MW each.

Maoists have attacked four CRPF camps in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh yesterday. Although gun battles have been triggered out but there is no report of any fatal accidents. Nearly 300 to 400 Naxalities have attacked on the CRPF camps of paramilitary personnel at Chintangufa.

Two weeks ago 75 CRPF servicemen and a policeman was killed in the Maoist strike. Despite setting off intermittent gun battles on the Maoists in all the four places by the Government since few days, there has not been any significant success for the State and the Central Govt.

India's largest private sector steel-maker, Tata Steel has informed that is the company is still interested in its Chhattisgarh project and has not dropped the plan. The company has planned to invest Rs. 20,000-crore to set up a steel plant over here. It has also signed the memorandum of understanding with the State government in the year 2005.

However, this huge delay in execution has created a question mark about the project. At the same time, the state is dealing with some serious Maoist violence in the state.

The construction work for a 1,600 MW thermal power facility in Chhattisgarh to be established by the Karnataka Power Corp Ltd (KPCL) will start by the end of current year (2010).

The Karnataka administration had entered into the agreement with Chhattisgarh in September 2008 to set up two units, each of 800 MW, at Godhna in Janjgir-Champa region.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regulates both states.

The KPCL project is said to aid Karnataka overcome a widening power shortage.

Raipur, Feb 9 - Fire-hit Bhilai Steel Plant, the largest unit of public sector Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), will soon return to its normal production of about 17,000 tonnes hot metal a day.

Production of hot metal in the unit based in Chhattisgarh's Durg district, about 30 km west of capital Raipur, was severely hit after a fire broke out in the cable tunnel of its power and blowing station (P and BS) early Feb 1. The P and BS supplies compressed air to the steel plant's blast furnaces which produce hot metal.

A raid by the income tax department at the residence of IAS Officer BL Agrawal of Chhattisgarh has found that the officer has 220 bank accounts and assets worth millions of rupees.

He had opened these accounts in many fake names as well as in the names of his domestic helps. Apart from his residence, raids were also conducted on the business establishments of his relatives on Thursday.