The High Court of Chhattisgarh stopped the State Government from taking over a welfare project entrusted to a Church agency more than a decade ago without explaining the move.

Raigarh-Ambikapur Health Association (RAHA) received a letter on 26 October 2006 saying the Government of Chhattisgarh had cancelled a previous government's order allowing the Church agency to manage the Integrated Child Development Service. Ambikapur and Raigarh dioceses neighbour each other in Chhattisgarh, which was part of Madhya Pradesh until 2000 and has been ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2003.

RAHA was authorized to run the project in 1995 by the secular Congress Government that ruled Madhya Pradesh at the time. The Chhattisgarh High Court stayed the recent government order since it did not specify the reasons for the takeover.

According to Holy Cross Sister Elizabeth, the director of RAHA, the letter from Amrita Beck, the deputy secretary of the State's Women and Child Development Department, dated 10 November 2006 said the Government was taking over the project. The order also said until the district collector made further arrangements, the district project officer would look after the scheme. However the government officials did not take charge of the project.

The project, based in Lundra near Ambikapur, was started by the Sisters of St Elizabeth in 1995 and then handed it over to the Sisters of St Joseph of Lyons six years later. St Joseph Sister Xess said the Government had funded the project from the beginning and there were no problems with this arrangement. The annual government allocation is Rs 5.1 million. RAHA promotes holistic health among the poor, mostly tribal villagers in the area served by Ambikapur and Raigarh dioceses as well as Jashpur diocese, formed this year from Raigarh. It provides pregnant women and children up to age 6 with medical care and supplemental nutrition. It also teaches trades to women who have dropped out of school and runs kindergartens for children. The project has 151 centres.

Evil design against Christianity

Sr Xess, a tribal nun, said the trouble started after BJP member Vijayanath Singh made a "false allegation" in the state legislative assembly in December 2005 that the Church agency used government funds to convert Hindus. The government set up a three-member team to probe the allegation. The team reported back that it had visited 15 village councils and contacted 72 village leaders but found no evidence of RAHA indulging in conversion activities. The probe team also said the agency had used government funds properly.

According to local media reports, the State Government ordered another probe after Singh continued to press his allegations. Latha Usendi, the State's Women and Child Development Minister, headed the second team, which probed the allegations in May and June 2006 and also cleared RAHA of conversion charges. Jesuit Bishop Patras Minj of Ambikapur said the BJP wanted to have Hindus run the project. He pointed out that the government had withheld project workers' salaries for seven months. The staff decided to stage a sit-in, but on the day before the demonstration, the agency received a message saying the Government had sanctioned the payment of salaries.

The takeover order said the Government would not take responsibility for the office staff, but would retain field workers. Several local Hindus confirmed that the Church agency did not try to convert people. "We have no complaints. All the complaints are from above," said Mahender Gupta, a Hindu medical Doctor. Sr Xess is worried about what would happen if the government gave control of the project to Hindu radicals. "I would feel sad if the poor people didn't get things as (they do) now," she said.