Patna, March 23 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is facing the heat with hundreds of people, mostly poor, staging widespread protests against irregularities in the below poverty line (BPL) list in the state.
Angry demonstrations began after the state government announced its decision of not scrapping the BPL list, despite the exposure of irregularities in it. Hundreds of landless poor, who live below the poverty line, do not figure in the list, triggering protests.
This has become an embarrassment for Nitish Kumar's much-publicised 'sushasan' (good governance) and rule of law in the state.
People squatted, took out rallies, blocked roads, highways, trains, assaulted government officials and pelted stones at several places across rural Bihar.
"Protests against irregularities in the BPL list is disturbing for the administration as it has been spreading across the state," a state home department official said.
The outburst was targeted against the inclusion of names of rich people, including contractors, ministers, businessmen, armymen, petrol pump owners, in the BPL list prepared by the 15-month-old Nitish Kumar government.
The agitators complained that 'powerful people' managed to find place in the list with the help of officials, legislators and panchayat representatives. Even the names of over a 100 dead had shockingly found place in the BPL list.
Reports of angry protests poured in from Muzaffarparpur, Chapra, Gopalganj, Sitamarhi, Vaishali, Saharsa, Supaul, Madhepura, Araria, Jamui, Munger, Gaya and Aurangabad districts.
In Gopalganj, angry people beat up a village head and a panchayat secretary. In Supaul, the district magistrate and superintendent of police faced people's ire while in Jamui, many people were injured when police baton-charged them.
The state government blamed the opposition for the protests.
This is part of a well-orchestrated conspiracy by our political opponents with the sole intention of smearing the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, Nitish Kumar said.
But glaring irregularities did figure. In November, state Rural Development Minister Baidyanath Prasad Mahto, who owns a house in West Champaran district, land as well as a jeep, found his name in the BPL list. The list was being prepared under Mahto's supervision.
Last month it was reported that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Rameshwar Prasad Chaurasia and a former legislator from Nokha in Rohtas district also figure in the list.
After the issue was raised by opposition and ruling party members in the ongoing budget session of the state assembly, Mahto Thursday said that Nitish Kumar had taken up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to increase the number of BPL beneficiaries in the state.
Two people were killed and six injured in Matihani block of Begusarai district three days ago when police fired to quell a mob that attacked the block office there alleging irregularities in the distribution of food stamps for those in the BPL list. In another case, a woman on hunger strike died in Saharsa district.
The incidents gave the opposition an issue to attack the government. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad demanded a fresh survey of the BPL families in Bihar. He said that large sections of the poor had been left out of the list arbitrarily.
NDA leaders blamed the centre for inadequate grain stocks for the state's over 10 million people, categorised as below poverty line.
According to the revised BPL list prepared under the NDA government, the rural BPL population in the state varies between 6 million (on 13 points) and 12 million (on 20 points) with the urban poor still remaining uncovered.
The state government wants the adoption of a 16-point criteria to facilitate at least 10 million poor under the BPL scheme.
Angry demonstrations began after the state government announced its decision of not scrapping the BPL list, despite the exposure of irregularities in it. Hundreds of landless poor, who live below the poverty line, do not figure in the list, triggering protests.
This has become an embarrassment for Nitish Kumar's much-publicised 'sushasan' (good governance) and rule of law in the state.
People squatted, took out rallies, blocked roads, highways, trains, assaulted government officials and pelted stones at several places across rural Bihar.
"Protests against irregularities in the BPL list is disturbing for the administration as it has been spreading across the state," a state home department official said.
The outburst was targeted against the inclusion of names of rich people, including contractors, ministers, businessmen, armymen, petrol pump owners, in the BPL list prepared by the 15-month-old Nitish Kumar government.
The agitators complained that 'powerful people' managed to find place in the list with the help of officials, legislators and panchayat representatives. Even the names of over a 100 dead had shockingly found place in the BPL list.
Reports of angry protests poured in from Muzaffarparpur, Chapra, Gopalganj, Sitamarhi, Vaishali, Saharsa, Supaul, Madhepura, Araria, Jamui, Munger, Gaya and Aurangabad districts.
In Gopalganj, angry people beat up a village head and a panchayat secretary. In Supaul, the district magistrate and superintendent of police faced people's ire while in Jamui, many people were injured when police baton-charged them.
The state government blamed the opposition for the protests.
This is part of a well-orchestrated conspiracy by our political opponents with the sole intention of smearing the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, Nitish Kumar said.
But glaring irregularities did figure. In November, state Rural Development Minister Baidyanath Prasad Mahto, who owns a house in West Champaran district, land as well as a jeep, found his name in the BPL list. The list was being prepared under Mahto's supervision.
Last month it was reported that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Rameshwar Prasad Chaurasia and a former legislator from Nokha in Rohtas district also figure in the list.
After the issue was raised by opposition and ruling party members in the ongoing budget session of the state assembly, Mahto Thursday said that Nitish Kumar had taken up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to increase the number of BPL beneficiaries in the state.
Two people were killed and six injured in Matihani block of Begusarai district three days ago when police fired to quell a mob that attacked the block office there alleging irregularities in the distribution of food stamps for those in the BPL list. In another case, a woman on hunger strike died in Saharsa district.
The incidents gave the opposition an issue to attack the government. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad demanded a fresh survey of the BPL families in Bihar. He said that large sections of the poor had been left out of the list arbitrarily.
NDA leaders blamed the centre for inadequate grain stocks for the state's over 10 million people, categorised as below poverty line.
According to the revised BPL list prepared under the NDA government, the rural BPL population in the state varies between 6 million (on 13 points) and 12 million (on 20 points) with the urban poor still remaining uncovered.
The state government wants the adoption of a 16-point criteria to facilitate at least 10 million poor under the BPL scheme.
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