Land worth Rs 1,000 cr freed in MP's anti-mafia drive: Chouhan

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday said that under the ongoingcrackdown on mafia, the government has freed land worth Rs1,000 crore from them across the state.

He was speaking to reporters here.

''The government has freed land worth Rs 1,000 crore inMadhya Pradesh from the mafia as part of the drive againstthem...This operation will continue to deter the malefactorsto remain off the government land in the state,'' he said.

Chouhan said the drive was going on in an impartialmanner.

Replying to a query, he said that henceforth,permission will not be granted to open any new liquor shop inMadhya Pradesh and a campaign against alcohol consumptionwould be launched.

Addressing a public meeting in the city later, thechief minister said that help would be taken from the membersof the society to end the menace of drinking and drugaddiction.

He said that Rs 5,000 crore would be pumped in forGwalior in the next five years.

Addressing another function, he said that the 105-year-old annual Gwalior Mela would commence from February 15,adding that those buying vehicles there will get sops.

In his address, Union Agriculture Minister NarendraTomar praised the Chouhan-led BJP government for ''workingtirelessly for the uplift of Gwalior-Chambal region, which itwill continue to do''.

BJP's Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia said,''Gwalior would turn heads in the country considering the rapidpace at which its development is taking place.'' Later, Chouhan, Tomar and Scindia had a meal at thehouse of a sanitary worker named Ramsevak. The chief ministerhanded over a cheque of Rs 20,000 to Ramsevak to get his houserepaired.