M A I N   N E W S

Union, UP Secys shifted over Taj row
Tribune News Service and PTI

New Delhi/Lucknow, September 12
In continued aftershocks of the Taj corridor controversy in bureaucracy, Union Environment Secretary K.C. Mishra and Uttar Pradesh Finance Secretary N. Vajpayee, whose names figure in the CBI report on the project, were today relieved of their charge and asked to wait for their next postings.

Mr Mishra has been accused by the CBI of tampering with files pertaining to the start of work on the Rs 175-crore heritage corridor project at Agra. He was questioned by the CBI last month and the report of Central Forensic and Scientific Laboratory had alleged that he did “interpolations” of files.

Mr Mishra had been put on a compulsory wait, the sources added.

Efforts to get in touch with Mr Mishra went in vain.

In Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh Government transferred Secretary Finance N.C. Vajpayee who was questioned twice by the investigating agency in connection with the case.

The decision of the two governments came a day after the CBI submitted its report to the Supreme Court which had directed the agency to conduct an investigation into the controversial project and ascertain the guilty.

According to the CBI, which submitted its report to the Supreme Court into the alleged irregularities and malpractices in the construction of the Rs 175-crore project yesterday, Mr Mishra made “interpolations and tampered with the files in order to cover up his omissions”.

The CBI has accused the senior official of tampering with the files to cover up his lapses in failing to approve the “proposal of the joint secretary and special secretary”, asking the Uttar Pradesh Government to proceed with the work of the project only after getting statutory clearances and approvals.