The UP Chief Minister reprimanded several civil servants for 'laxity' in discharging duty during her visit to Noida and Ghaziabad


Sunday brought a ton of woes for many Uttar Pradesh government officials. From lack of green cover to lesser number of cases registered by police, Chief Minister Mayawati found a number of reasons to pull up government employees as she went around Noida and Ghaziabad Sunday on her tour of the state's western parts.

Mayawati landed first at Noida's City Centre and visited the district hospital in sector-39, where she pointed out the lack of green cover around the hospital. Even as the Noida authority chairman tried to clarify that the hospital was to be shifted to the new building in sector-31, she was not satisfied and asked officials to launch plantation efforts on a massive scale.

She also noticed that there was no gap in the road divider near the front gate of the hospital, and asked officials to provide one to make it easier for people to reach the hospital.Mayawati then visited the sector-39 police station where she inspected the daily register and queried the less number of cases registered.

She asked her accompanying officials to take the name of the three police officials - Superintendent of Police (City) HN Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police Alankita Singh and Inspector R.K. Singh - about whom she would take a decision when back in Lucknow.

Mayawati next went to Ambedkar village at Raghunathpur in Hapur area where she inspected the school and asked the students about the quality of midday meal, free books and scholarship.She also inspected the daily register of Pilkhuwa police station.

From there, Mayawati reached Ghaziabad and inspected the register at Kotwali police station. She instructed the SSP to launch a massive hunt for organised criminal gangs, vehicle theives and other professional criminals.
She also visited the women's hospital and inspected each ward, issuing instructions about hygiene.

Her helicopter then landed at Pratap Vihar from where she visited the Kanshi Ram residential scheme. After visiting several other residential colonies of the area, she left for Baghpat. The visit was decided a day earlier so Noida officials, who were expecting the CM on the 27th of Febuary, had to make last minute arrangements.

District73!
Having created and renamed 11 districts, besides creating one and renaming another, BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has again decided to create a new district, sources say.  Although it seems no one is willing to go on record confirming Maya's plan officially,  it is a fact that Mayawati has been creating new districts to reduce the influence of her political rivals.  If finally established, it will be the 73rd district in the state. The new district will include Kunda of Pratapgarh and Dalmau and Unchaar subdivisions of neighbouring Rai Bareli district.

It was an action packed week that went by. Two important things that stood out: At last, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke. Phew!! And, the CBI got hyperactive, raiding everyone, questioning the `Rajas' of corruption.
On Wednesday, Feb 16, two days after Valentine's day, Manmohan Singh romanced the media. This time he took a different route. Instead of inviting the entire media to the sprawling Vigyan Bhavan, he invited just the editors of the electronic media to his house for tea, biscuits and served a few teaspoon full of anti-scam `medicine' (read excuses) . Signs of changing media preference. Poor print media!!
In the televised interaction with the editors, Singh proved that he has learnt a lot from his guru - the late P V Narasimha Rao. For those who have not known Rao, he was a master of silence. He allowed things to drift, maintained a stony silence and spoke a line or two only after all the dust had settled. But the difference then - there were no noisy and nosy TV anchors to grill the PM on shouting debate-packed news hours who, if given a choice, could be booked by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh for noise pollution.
The Prime Minister made a few candid admissions. Here are some of them:
That he had to place adharma before dharma due to coalition compulsions. He could not take action against A Raja, former telecom minster, precisely for this reason - fearing that the DMK will withdraw support and plunge the nation into a crisis or early election. He made it obvious that he was helpless. He said coalition dharma means some `compromises' had to be made. A Prime Minister who cannot take action that he is constitutionally bound to take is as bad as one who takes a wrong decision.
Singh also said he was `dead serious' in fighting corruption. Really? The why did he not take action against Raja when the facts were out in the open? Why is the government not serious in revealing the names of those who have stuffed black money in Swiss bank vaults? What about the Commonwealth scam? No action has been taken against Kalmadi. What about Sonia Gandhi's call for setting up fast track courts to try corruption cases?
How will PM defend the way Antrix Corporation, the commercial wing of ISRO, entered into a secret deal with Devas Multimedia? Now that the contract has been annulled, what message is the government sending out to the private sector? That legally binding contracts can be scrapped one fine day?

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the assembly elections in Assam, the BJP on Friday again took up the issue of corruption in the north-east, this time submitting a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil in which it alleged a Rs 63,000 crore scam in developmental work being carried out in the region.

Party president Nitin Gadkari appealed to President Pratibha Patil to direct the authorities to carry out a detailed investigation into the "loot".

Gadkari led a delegation to Rashtrapati Bhawan to hand over to Patil a memorandum on the issue as also a copy of the party's report on scams in the north-east.

The report claimed that if the level of corruption in the region was quantified, it could be to the tune of Rs 63,000 crore. "The scandals in the north-east have broken all records...there is a scam in PDS due to which poor are not getting their quota of rice which is sold in Bangladesh," said Gadkari, adding that the report was based on evidence collected using RTI.

"I have never felt like quitting, I will stay the course," the Prime Minister told television editors and bureau chiefs at a media interaction at 7 Race Course Road, his official residence.
"I never felt like resigning because I had a job to do," Manmohan Singh said in response to a question on whether he felt like quitting over the many allegations of corruption against his government.
"We have a lot of unfinished business to accomplish," he said, adding that he had "never thought of giving up half way".
"In a coalition government, there is a coalition dharma," he stated.
Manmohan Singh said he was not afraid of appearing before any committee, including a joint parliamentary committee (JPC).
There is, he said, an "entirely wrong impression that I was blocking the agreement on a JPC. I have always said my conduct should be, like Caesar's wife, above suspicion".

Calcutta, Feb. 16 : The BJP top leadership today met here to chart out an action plan to add vigour to the fight against corruption nationwide.

“A JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) probe on all the scams including Adarsh, the Isro scam and the Rs 1,000-crore scam in Dima Hasao (formerly NC Hills) and a statement from the Prime Minister on the issues will be demanded by the party,” said party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman.

“We had a separate discussion on scams in the Northeast in our executive meeting too,” said Sitharaman.

“The situation there is grave. The Tarun Gogoi government is the most corrupt in the country and has to go. We hope this election will teach the incumbent government a lesson.”

Asked whether the BJP, which has not done too well in the northeastern states, has any specific plans for the Assam election.

Sitharaman denied the lack of presence and was hopeful.

“The BJP earlier formed a government in coalition in Mizoram and has a strong presence in Assam,” she said.

She said the Congress has done very little for the Northeast whether it is the Gogoi government in Assam, which reeks of the NC Hills scam or the Arunachal Pradesh government which has signed MoUs with dubious companies, and has no right to stay on in power.

Later in the day, the party held a public meeting on the Shahid Minar ground, Calcutta, to mobilise support on the corruption plank.

Party president Nitin Gadkari and L.K. Advani spoke on skyrocketing food prices, nationwide corruption and called upon the people to overthrow the incumbent Left Front government in West Bengal.

Bihar and Gujarat were projected as model states by the party leadership and the promises were of new Gujarats and Bihars.

New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday sought a clarification from the UPA government at the Centre on the alleged tapping of over one lakh telephones across the country, describing it as a “cause of grave concern.”

Stating that this amounted to misuse of power, opposition leader in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said: "The government has to confirm that tapping is being done on consideration of security and also state how many phones are being tapped."

"Today on the basis of a case in the Supreme Court, media reports said that one lakh phones are being tapped in the country", he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting of National office-bearers of the party.

"It is a cause of grave concern... the country's law states that tapping can be done in extreme cases like security considerations or in case of a serious crime," Jaitley said.

Claiming that the alleged number of tapped phones was higher than even in police states, Jaitley sought an authoritative clarification from the central government on the issue.

"The figure is so large that it is frightening and phones are tapped simultaneously by the Centre and the states. We would like to know the exact number of phones being tapped and the ground on which they are being tapped", he said.

Pointing out that misuse of power was taking place, Jaitley said, "for consequences of what is being done, it is important that the government comes out with a clarification".

BJP leader L K Advani, party president Nitin Gadkari, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, Chattishgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Jaitley are here to attend the meet.

Guwahati, Feb 14 : The BJP would be petitioning President Pratibha Patil on scams worth Rs 63,000 crore in the Northeast. The party, in its report titled ‘Congress Governments: Loot of North-East”, alleged systematic loot of development funds by politicians, bureaucrats and government officials in all states of the region over the past few years. A three member fact finding team has prepared the report.

Assam, the BJP alleged, was the biggest culprit with scams exceeding Rs 20,000 crore.

“Our party president Nitin Gadkari will submit the report on the scams in the Northeast to the President (Patil). We will submit all documentary evidences to her,” BJP leader Kirit Somaiya said in Guwahati on Monday. “We will also request the Supreme Court to constitute a special bench to probe these scams.”

“Assam has become the most corrupt state in the country with underhand dealings in 11 vital services, as revealed in a study conducted jointly by Transparency International and Centre for Media Studies,” Somaiya said.

The level of corruption is ‘alarming’ in Nagaland, ‘very high’ in Meghalaya and Sikkim, ‘high’ in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, and ‘moderate’ in Tripura and Mizoram, he added.

The BJP singled out Assam on PDS, alleging rice meant for BPL families amounting to Rs 1,000 crore went straight to the black market. The party also alleged schemes such as NREGA were a major source of corruption in Assam.

Senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley would be highlighting the reports in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and seeking a debate on the scams.

New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday alleged corruption of Rs.63,000 crore in development projects in the northeastern states by the local Congress governments, and said it will approach President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek a thorough inquiry into the issue.

Releasing reports 'Congress governments' loot of North East' and 'Hydro Power Scam Arunachal - North East', brought out by a three-member party fact-finding committee, BJP president Nitin Gadkari said strict action should be taken against all those found guilty.

'I will meet the president with the records. The leaders of opposition in the two houses will meet the prime minister. We hope the government will order an inquiry in the interest of the country,' he said.

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who was a member of the committee which also included BJP vice-president Bijaya Chakravarty and general secretary Tapir Gao, said six northeastern states of Assam, Manipur, Arunchal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland and Mizoram had been hit by scams.

'Hydro power projects (in the northeast) are of Rs.400,000 crore. Kickbacks have been given per mega watt of projected capacity. Highly technical projects of crores of rupees have been given to new start-ups,' he said.

The Congress government that came to power in Arunachal Pradesh in 2004 signed 137 MoUs in two years and projects were awarded to dubious companies, Somaiya said.

Various investigative agencies as well as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had raised questions about the scams, including those relating to central schemes and public distribution system but action has hardly been taken against the scamsters, he added.

Somaiya said Assam had earned the dubious distinction of being the most corrupt state in the country on the basis of corruption in 11 vital services in a study conducted jointly by Transparency International and Centre for Media Study.

'The Gogoi government has been the most corrupt government in the country,' he alleged.

The party demanded special courts to try the accused in the scams, coordinated investigation by agencies such as the National Investigative Agency and Central Bureau of Investigation, special audit of all the scams, time-bound action on strictures of CAG, seizing property of those found guilty and recovery of the money swindled.

Attacking the Congress, Gadkari alleged that despite the talk against corruption by party president Sonia Gandhi, 'the loot of the country' had not stopped.

'How empty are Sonia's promises against corruption. The loot has not come down. The whole (Congress) house is behind (it),' he said.

Since the prime minister is an MP from Assam, the country expects tough action from him on cases of corruption in the northeastern states, Gadkari said.

He said the BJP was giving a final shape to an anti-corruption measure, which will be discussed at the meeting of its office-bearers in Kolkata Feb 16 and later sent to BJP-ruled states and serve as a guideline for governance.

Gadkari said he will also urge Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Murli Manohar Joshi to give directions to the government to present the CAG reports on the northeastern states.

He also said the party is preparing a vision document for the northeast.

SHILLONG: If the fallout of the 2G spectrum scam put Congress-NCP relations under strain at the national level, sniping between the two parties, as seen during the IPL controversy, has become all the more fierce in the northeastern part of the country.

A day after NCP's Meghalaya unit working president, E K Sangma, and seven other senior leaders joined Congress, NCP leader and former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma on Friday slammed the Congress-led Meghalaya government, saying the latter had no "respect for democracy".

"Meghalaya has been the worst state in terms of development. And now it is the worst where there is no rule of law, no respect to democracy and no respect for the Constitution," Sangma told mediapersons here. His outburst came a day after E K Sangma and seven other leaders all elected members of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) shifted their allegiance to Congress, paving the way for the ruling party to clinch power in the Garo council.

"I am happy to return to the parent party. I will be able to serve people better from the Congress fold," E K Sangma said. With the joining of the seven MDCs (members of district council), Congress now has 18 members in the 30-member GHADC. Following this, the state cabinet on Thursday night decided to revoke administrator rule in the GHADC and convene a special session for trial of strength and subsequent installation of a popular executive council. The GHADC was placed under administrator rule since April 1, 2010 in the wake of a political instability set off by allegations that the NCP had clung on to power despite losing majority.

Sangma, however, said the state government was "trying to forcibly install the executive committee of the GHADC in violation of a recent Gauhati High Court ruling that had asked the government to maintain a status quo".The Garo strongman said, "A division bench of the Gauhati HC had ruled that till the inquiry into the alleged financial irregularities in the GHADC is over, there cannot be any installation of the executive council (EC)."

A statement from the PMO spokesperson stated that the office had seen media reports alleging loss of government revenue in a contract entered into by ANTRIX (the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation) and Devas Multimedia Private Limited due to lease of space segment capacity which would use S-Band spectrum.
"The CAG's office and Department of Space have already issued statements stating the factual position on the matter. It is further clarified that no decision has been taken by the government to allocate space segment using S-Band spectrum to ANTRIX or Devas. Hence, the question of revenue loss does not arise and any such reports are without basis in fact," the PMO statement said.
Media reports had stated that the Department of Space, which comes directly under the Prime Minister, had allocated 70 MHz of S-Band spectrum to Devas Multimedia for Rs 1,000 crore. The actual value of this was estimated to be around Rs 2 lakh crore, the reports claimed.
The Opposition had demanded a clarification from the Prime Minister on the issue and immediate recovery of the lost revenue along with a thorough inquiry into the matter.
BJP had alleged that the allocation was done quietly and without bringing the issue into the public domain.
ISRO's new 'satellite' called 'scam band'
Bangalore-based Indian Space Research Organisation, that is busy planning to send another satellite to the moon and take a shot at Mars, is now caught in an orbit of a scam that is of astronomical proposition.
In a season that has made scams highly infectious, the `virus' of scandals orbiting huge chunks of money has touched India's premier research organisation, once considered to be sanitised from the influence of politics or purse.
The latest scam involves ISRO's deal with a Bangalore-based company called Devas Multimedia Private Ltd. This company got the scarce S-band spectrum for 20 years for a pittance. The company, not surprisingly, is owned by M G Chandrasekhar, a former scientific secretary at ISRO. Deutsche Telekom is a minority equity stakeholder.
ISRO managed to hide the agreement entered into by the space agency's commercial arm Antrix Corporation Ltd and Devas for six long years until the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) smelt a rat and called for the files. The media then scooped it out into public space, forcing ISRO and the Prime Minister's Office scramble for an explanation.
The estimated loss, according to The Hindu which exposed the deal, is a whopping Rs 2 lakh crore!! By comparison, the presumptive loss incurred in the allocation of 2G spectrum by the DoT, as estimated by the CAG, is Rs 1.76 lakh crore.
The new S-band scam looks likely to explode on the face of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh just days before the crucial Budget session of Parliament. ISRO comes directly under the PM. Also coming under the scanner would be the present Chief Minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan who was the Union Minister for Science and Technology.
The S-band spectrum was allocated without inviting competitive bids and organisational control systems were thrown to the winds, in this case, into outer space. The Prime Minister's Office, the Cabinet, and the Space Commission were not kept in the loop or properly informed about the contract details, including the underestimation of ISRO's costs.
Globally, this frequency band has been put up for money-spinning auction and has fetched governments billions of dollars. The ISRO spectrum is critical for providing mobile broadband services using 4G technologies such as WiMax and Long-Term Evolution.
The S-band (political opponents of the Congress call it `scandal band') is a gold mine due to the enormous commercial value for high-speed, terrestrial mobile communications. In 2010, the Union government got nearly Rs. 67,719 crore from the auction of just 15 MHz of similar airwaves for 3G mobile services.
The man at the centre of the scam, the then ISRO chief Madhavan Nair refused to comment when reporters asked about the scam in Thiruvananthapuram.
But late Monday night, ISRO put out a weak explanation saying: "The agreement entered into by Antrix and Devas on January 28, 2005 is already under review by the Department of Space and the government will take whatever steps necessary to safeguard public interest. A decision on the matter is likely to be taken soon."
The questions: Why did it take six years for ISRO to wake up? Had the media not exposed the deal, would it not have gone further, causing enormous loss? Why did ISRO keep quiet despite objections raised by the Union Cabinet.
What needs flagging here is that the Law Ministry had asked the Department of Space to nullify the deal between Antrix and Devas after the Department of Space had sought its view on the matter. Even the Space Commission in July 2010 had put its foot down and strongly objected to the deal. It went a step further recommending scrapping of the agreement between the two companies.
What is strange is that a Cabinet note had found something fishy and had asked ISRO to explain, but the space organisation sat over it and did not care to reply. This may have been deliberate, say sources.
According to the deal, ISRO was to launch two satellite developed by Devas Multimedia. In what looks like a trade-off, Devas was given access to 70 MHz of broadband spectrum in the 2500 MHz band.
Devas had also got trial spectrum from DoT claiming that it had developed a new technology. Sources say that the technology was not new and is in force in a few countries.
Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia is a start-up, founded in 2004, and headed by Dr. M.G. Chandrasekhar, former Scientific Secretary at ISRO. He was earlier Managing Director of the satellite radio company WorldSpace, which closed down in the face of stiff competition from FM radio services. The board of directors includes Kiran Karnik, a former President of Nasscom; Larry Babio, a former vice-chairman of Verizon, and Gary Parsons, a former Chairman of XM Sirius Satellite.
Source: Agencies & India Syndicate