Haryana minister sacked
By Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 13 — The Haryana Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, tonight dismissed the recalcitrant PWD Minister, Mr Dharamvir Yadav, from the Council of Ministers on the recommendation of the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal.

Mr Yadav had described the Chief Minister as "vinash pursh" last evening, while levelling several allegations against him, including that Mr Bansi Lal was preparing ground to join the Congress.

The recommendation to sack Mr Yadav was sent to the Governor by the Chief Minister from Delhi where he is camping.

The Public Works Department has been allotted to Mr Karan Singh Dalal, who so far was holding the Agriculture and Legislative Affairs Departments. Now these departments have been retained by the Chief Minister himself.

Meanwhile, the Ministerial wing of the ruling HVP has launched a tirade against Mr Yadav for running down the Chief Minister. But the organisation wing of the party refrained from issuing any statement against the PWD Minister.

This indicates that while Mr Yadav would be isolated in the legislature wing of the party, he would not be expelled from the HVP. Till the continues to be a member of the HVP, he remains bound by party discipline on the floor of the House. He cannot support any other party.

An HVP functionary told TNS here today that the party leadership would not allow Mr Yadav to be of some use to any other party be expelling him from the HVP.

Three Haryana Ministers, Cooperation Minister Narbir Singh, Agriculture Minister Karan Singh Dalal and Labour and Employment Minister Ramesh Kaushik, did not show any mercy towards their colleague and described him as a "corrupt person". However, Animal Husbandry Minister Jaswant Singh merely denied the allegations levelled by Mr Yadav against Mr Bansi Lal and described them as "baseless and far from truth".

Mr Jaswant Singh had himself resigned from the Bansi Lal Cabinet in protest against the alleged privatisation of the power sector in the State when he was the Power Minister. But after some time he rejoined the Cabinet as Animal Husbandry Minister.

Asserting that he was firmly with the Chief Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh said the recent police recruitments were "extremely fair and based on merit". Mr Yadav had alleged that out of 1,800 constables recruited, 1,100 belonged to Bhiwani, the home district of the Chief Minister.

Describing the allegations levelled by Mr Yadav as "baseless, concocted and politically motivated", Mr Narbir Singh, Mr Dalal and Mr Kaushik said an inquiry ordered by the Chief Minister into the functioning of the Public Works Department had created panic among corrupt people, "including Mr Yadav".

They said the Chief Minister had allocated over Rs 60 crore to the department last year for repair of roads. However, during the Assembly session, at meetings of party MLAs and from the public, the Chief Minister received complaints that the necessary repairs had not been carried out. Mr Bansi Lal ordered an inquiry to assess the progress of the work done.

The loyalists said that the inquiry report would reveal as to who were involved in corrupt practices. They alleged during general transfers, complaints of the family members of Mr Yadav demanding bribes had been a common phenomenon, forcing the Chief Minister to take strong notice of the complaints. A number of Ministers and MLAs, they said, even demanded removal of Mr Yadav from the Cabinet so that the image of the party and the government was not tarnished. Mr Yadav was conscious that he could be dropped from the Cabinet at any time. Therefore, he "enacted a political drama of levelling false allegations to save his face".

Asserting that Mr Bansi Lal was making conscious efforts for the development of Ahirwal, the three Ministers said Mr Yadav's allegation that Mr Bansi Lal was preparing to join the Congress was "mischievous and misleading". They said Mr Bansi Lal had always been criticising the Congress at his public meetings and at other political platforms. They claimed there was no question of Mr Bansi Lal joining the Congress.

Expressing full faith in the leadership of Mr Bansi Lal the ministers said Rs 150 crore had been earmarked for the repair of roads during the current financial year and work would start after the rainy season. The police recruitment had been done purely on merit and in a fair and transparent way. All sections of society and youths of all districts had been given equal opportunity.

Meanwhile, sources in the Public Works Department say no money has been released to the department for the past few months, pending several preliminary inquiries into alleged financial irregularities and diversion of funds. An inquiry is on into an alleged bogus bill for about Rs 2 lakh for work supposed to have been done on the Thapli-Badishe link road in Panchkula district.

A bill for Rs 2.25 lakh for work done (or not done on a link road from Nautla to Dacrog in the same district is also under scrutiny. Similarly it is being inquired under what circumstances the work of the Panchkula civil hospital was transferred from one division to another as also why certain projects at Yamunanagar were similarly transferred by Mr Yadav.

The Government is also trying to find out why an inquiry against a contractor and certain department officials was hushed up, though the incident took place under the previous government. The sources say the contractor was issued a cheque for Rs 87 lakh on the same day when the work on the Delhi-Mathura road was allotted to him in 1992.