Congress stages dharna
Joins others on Srikrishna report
Tribune News Service and agencies

NEW DELHI, Aug 16 — The Congress today staged a dharna before the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament in protest against the rejection of the Srikrishna Commission report by the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra and demanded that the state government accept the report in "total".

The decision to hold the dharna had been taken yesterday at a meeting of the five-member committee appointed by party president Sonia Gandhi to go into the report and suggest steps to be initiated by the party to punish those indicted in the report.

Senior party leaders Arjun Singh, Sharad Pawar, Pranab Mukherjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Madhavrao Scindia, Rajesh Pilot, Ahmed Patel, Oscar Fernandes, Tariq Anwar, R K Dhawan participated in the dharna along with other party leaders, AICC office-bearers and MPs.

CWC member Ghulam Nabi Azad told newsmen that the five-member team comprising besides him, Mr Arjun Singh, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Kapil Sibal and Mr Murali Bhandare, had after two days of rigorous study of the report, suggested short-term and long-term measures to be taken by the party on the issue.

Ms Sonia Gandhi had approved these measures to lodge the party’s protest against the decision of the Maharashtra Government, he said adding today’s dharna was the party’s short-term strategy.

In the long-run, Mr Azad said, the party would organise demonstrations at district-level all over the country particularly in Maharashtra.

The report of the Commission that probed the 1992-93 communal riots and serial bomb blasts in Mumbai following the demolition of Babri Masjid at Ayodhya, was tabled in the Maharashtra Assembly on August 6.

Meanwhile, buoyed by the participation of the Congress leaders in the all-party meeting called by the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha (RLM) chief, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, at his residence today, the morcha sharpened its attack on the BJP-led coalition government.

Though the meeting was not exactly a success, with the representatives of the Left parties, the BSP and the TDP not present, the RLM charged the Centre of being hand in glove with the Maharashtra Government.

The Opposition leaders demanded the sack of the Shiv Sena-BJP regime in Maharashtra following the indictment of their leaders by the Srikrishna Commission report on the 1993 riots in Mumbai.

The leaders demanded a special meeting of the National Integration Council to discuss the issue.

The Opposition leaders were of the view that the attitude and the approach of the BJP-led government towards the issue was posing a grave threat to the unity and integrity of the country.

The meeting also decided that a committee, consisting of leaders from the Opposition parties, be formed to coordinate and communicate with "secular" parties on the issue.

The committee, to be headed by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, will have Mr Buta Singh, Mr Ranjan Prasad Yadav (RJD), Dr Subramaniam Swamy (Janata Party) and Prof P.J. Kurien (Congress) as its other members.

Others who attended the conference were Laloo Prasad Yadav, former Prime Minister Chandrasekhar, Saifuddin Soz of the National Conference, Prof P.J. Kurien and H. Hanumanthappa (Congress) and Dr Subramaniam Swamy (Janata Party).

Meanwhile, briefing newsmen following the meeting, the RLM spokesperson, Mr Amar Singh, said the opposition parties which had attended the meeting had decided to launch a nationwide agitation on the Srikrishna report. He said that the meeting had decided that a delegation of opposition parties would meet the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan to demand action against those indicted in the panel report if the Centre failed to take any step in this regard.

Incidentally, while representatives of the TDP and the BSP did not attend the meeting, the Janata Dal had turned down the invitation earlier itself.

Although there was no representative of the Left at the meeting but the CPM sent in a communication to Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav extending the party’s support to him. The party general secretary, Mr Harkishen Singh Surjeet also met Mr Yadav earlier in the day and informed him of his party’s support.

Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav also received a communication from the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, who said that her party would try to fight the communal and authoritarian actions of the Shiv Sena-BJP combine.

Ms Gandhi in her letter wanted to know the suggestions emerging from the meeting.

Two corporations replace HSEB
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 16 — Power-starved Haryana has given a quite burial to the Haryana State Electricity Board (HSEB) and has instead created two corporations — the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited and the Haryana Vidyut Prasar Nigam.

As the name suggests the Haryana Power Generation Corporation (or GENCO as it will be popularly known) will deal with the generation of power while the Haryana Vidyut Prasar Nigam (TRANSCO) will look after the transmission of power. Though it was proposed in the Haryana Electricity Reform Act to create another company, which would be in the joint sector, for present the distribution of power would be under the charge of TRANSCO.

The Chairman of the erstwhile HSEB, Mr Ranjit Issar, has been appointed the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of TRANSCO with Mr P.K. Verma, Member Technical (Operations) of the board; and Mr P.K. Aggarwal, Member Technical (Generation), as the Director (Operation) and Director (Transmission) respectively. Mrs Baljit Bains, Member Finance, will be the Director (Finance).

The Commissioner and Secretary, Power, Haryana, Mr S.Y. Quraishi, IAS, has been appointed as the Chairman of GENCO in addition to his present duties. Mr S.C. Munjhal, Engineer-in-Chief, Operation and Maintenance, Panipat Thermal Plant, has been made the Managing Director of the new corporation, while Mr Narinder Singh, Engineer-in-Chief, Operations, HSEB, Panchkula, will be the director in the rank of Member Technical. Mr Narinder Singh was also holding the charge of Secretary, HSEB.

The first meeting of the Board of Directors of GENCO is scheduled to be held tomorrow afternoon.

There is an interesting story behind the naming of TRANSCO. The Government wanted it to be named as the Haryana Power Transmission Corporation Limited. But this name was already registered with the Registrar of Companies. Hence the corporation's Hindi name was registered.

Initially the division of the employees between the two companies has been done on the basis of "as is, where is". However, official sources say this is a provisional arrangement. Anyone affected by it can make a representation which would be considered by a committee which will be formed in due course of time. Legal experts say transfers made in the past couple of years are subject to review.

The sources say a golden hand shake policy was planned for the employees of the board but it was shelved after certain apprehensions were expressed by certain quarters.

The chairman and two members of the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Authority will be sworn in by the Governor, Mr Mahavir Prasad, tomorrow at a function to be held in Raj Bhavan. While a retired bureaucrat, Mr V.S. Ailawadi, will be the Chairman Mr Ramesh Chandra, a former Deputy Comptroller General of India, and Mr R.K. Chander, a Chief Engineer with the Central Electricity Authority, will be Member (Finance) and Member (Technical), respectively.

The companies have been formed to obtain a loan of Rs 2400 crore from the World Bank to reform the power sector.

One wonders if the two companies would be able to do what the HSEB could not do in 30 years or will the companies and the authority provide additional openings to the bureaucrats and technocrats, making the top heavier.