Raipur: The winter session of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly began here on Monday, with members paying tributes to Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 other Army personnel killed in a helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu last week. The House also paid rich tributes to Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) MLA Devvrat Singh, former Lok Sabha member Gondil Prasad Anuragi, former state minister Rajinder Pal Singh Bhatia, ex-MLA Yuddhvir Singh Judev, and former state minister in the undivided Madhya Pradesh Moolchand Khandelwal and ex-legislator Manuram Kachh, who died in the last few months.
Soon after the obituary references, the House was adjourned for the day. The five-day winter session of the state Assembly is being held with all COVID-19 precautionary measures in place. As soon as the House proceedings began on Monday, Speaker Charan Das Mahant mentioned the demise of the six leaders, General Rawat and others, and paid homage to them. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Leader of the Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik, JCC(J) MLA Renu Jogi, BSP legislator Keshav Chandra and other members also paid respects to them and recalled their contributions.
Baghel said the helicopter crash on December 8 in which India’s first CDS, his wife and other personnel of the armed forces were killed, had shocked the entire country. ”Their untimely death is an irreparable loss to the country. Shri Rawat was a good strategist and a popular officer in the Army,” he said expressing his condolences to the bereaved families. Paying homage to Devvrat Singh, who was the legislator from the state’s Khairagarh seat, Baghel described him as an active and humble leader who he had been at the forefront of development in his area. The CM said Singh had discharged his responsibilities well as a parliamentarian and legislator, and his death is an irreparable loss to the state and the country. Singh, the four-term MLA and one-time MP, died on November 4 following cardiac arrest.