Raipur
On the first day of the Chhattisgarh Assembly’s monsoon session, the issue of teacher shortages in schools and irregularities in land leases in tribal areas was raised. The opposition attempted to corner the government on these matters. The Chief Minister announced that teacher recruitment would start soon, and the Revenue Minister stated that an investigation would be conducted if evidence of irregularities was provided.
Raipur MLA Motilal Sahu asked Chief Minister Vishnudeo Sai, “I have been informed that 1,954 teaching positions are vacant in my area. There are higher secondary schools in rural Raipur where most of the teachers are lacking.”
Sahu questioned, “There is a Hindi medium school in Mana Camp with only two teachers for grades six to eight. There is also a Hindi medium higher secondary school with only three teachers for grades nine to twelve. The lack of teachers is causing injustice to poor children.”
In response, the Chief Minister said, “I agree with the member’s concern, but while the national average is one teacher for 26 students, in Chhattisgarh, it is one teacher for 21 students. Nevertheless, there is still a shortage of teachers here.”
“There are about 300 schools in the state without teachers. We are implementing a rationalization process (where teachers from schools with excess staff will be transferred to those with fewer teachers). After rationalization, we will proceed with the recruitment of teachers.”
MLA Janak Dhruv mentioned irregularities in granting land leases to tribal families in Mainpuri, Gariaband, involving forged signatures of the sarpanch and secretary. Dhruv demanded an investigation by a committee of legislators. Revenue Minister Tankaram Verma responded that the collector had investigated the matter and found no issues, thus dismissing the complaint. Dhruv claimed that the officials providing information misled the minister and the Assembly.
Minister Tankaram Verma said, “This issue dates back to the Congress rule. If the MLA has any facts, provide them to us, and we will investigate.” Hearing this, Congress MLAs became angry. Umesh Patel said, “There is a case of forged signatures here; an investigation is necessary to find out where the signatures came from.”
Bhupes
h Baghel also stood up and said, “This matter is from December 2018, during the BJP government. Regardless of the government, an investigation should take place.” Speaker Dr. Raman Singh added, “The minister has already said, provide the facts, and we will look into it.”
After this, Jagdalpur MLA Kiran Dev raised the issue of insurance for tendu leaf collectors, but due to the end of the question hour in the Chhattisgarh Assembly, Dr. Raman Singh announced the conclusion of the question hour.
