The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Mayawati’s tenure is mafia rule: SP

Bulandshahr, February 25
Taking a dig at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, the Samajwadi Party today said her tenure was marred by corruption and there was no parallel anywhere to scams like NHRM and MNREGA.

Addressing an election rally here at Pahasu town today, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav described Mayawati's tenure in the state as "mafia rule".

While pulling up the Congress for its claim of providing high share of reservation to the minority community, the SP leader said, "Our party will support the Congress if the latter gives 18 per cent reservation to Muslims in government service.” Ridiculing the Chief Minister's decision of dismissing several of her Cabinet ministers for graft, Akhilesh wondered why did Mayawati took 45 months to realise that half of her ministers were corrupt.

At another election rally in Noida, Akhilesh alleged that the Mayawati government had wasted Rs 40,000 crore on installing statues across the state. The ruling BSP has looted government funds, he told a poll rally there.

Meanwhile, actress Nagma addressed Congress rallies at Dadri and Dankaur areas in Greater Noida. Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Rajeev Shukla accompanied her at both the rallies. — PTI

Notice to Cong candidate

Kanpur: Ajay Kapoor, Congress candidate from the Kidwainagar Assembly constituency here, was issued a show-cause notice by the district administration for getting himself photographed while voting on Thursday during the fifth phase of polling in the state elections. The presiding officer at the polling booth, P Gopicharan, was also issued a notice in this regard.

On Friday, his photo appeared in various newspapers showing him casting his vote which was violation of ballot secrecy, the district administration said today.

Kapoor and the booth presiding officer P Gopicharan have been booked for violation of Section 128, 131 of Representation of People Act, 1951.

Both have been asked to file their reply to the show-cause notice within three days. — PTI

Poll Snippets
Women voters outnumber men
There has been a significant increase in the participation of women in the Uttar Pradesh elections. During the five rounds of polling so far, the voting percentage of women has been a whopping 60.3 per cent — a jump of 19.3 per cent over 2007 when it was just 41 per cent.
In contrast, the voting percentage for men has gone up by merely 6 per cent — from 49.3 per cent in 2007 to 55.8 per cent now.
‘Unconnected’ village boycotts poll
During the fifth phase of polling in 13 districts, voters in nine polling stations spread over four districts boycotted the elections. Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha ascribed this to “developmental issues”.
Voters are resorting to boycott due to lack of development in their villages. Pahadpur village on the banks of Nakatiya river in Bareilly is in need of a bridge over the river and a road connecting their village.
The village reportedly has not been able to marry off 20 of its young men as no one wants to send their daughters to this ‘unconnected’ village.
No Cong move to make Ajit’s son CM
Congress general secretary and UP in charge Digvijay Singh has denied any move to make RLD chief Ajit Singh’s son the CM in case the RLD-Congress alliance managed to get the required numbers.
Recently, another general secretary and senior Congress leader Parvez Hashmi had hinted at such a possibility during an election meeting at Bulandshahr.
Digvijay Singh clarified that Hashmi had, in all probability, been misunderstood. “How can a party contesting 46 of the 403 seats become the leader of the House? The situation would have been different if the RLD had merged with the Congress. In that case, it would have been the prerogative of the Congress legislature party to elect its leader,” Singh said.
(Compiled by Shahira Naim)

Before Samjhauta blasts, ‘bombs were tested in MP’
Rajinder Nagarkoti/TNS

Panchkula, February 25
In the Samjhauta blasts case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has come to the conclusion that before the briefcase bomb was planted in the cross-border train near Dewana railway station in Panipat in February 2007, similar bombs were tested in the Bagli forest area of Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh.

Kamal Chauhan, recently arrested from Indore for planting a bomb in the Samjhauta Express, has disclosed to the NIA that the demonstration and training in planting of bombs (Improvised Explosive Devices) had taken place in the forests of Bagli. In the demonstration, Lokesh Sharma and Kamal Chauhan were taught use of the digital timer.

Sources said initially, pipe bombs were tested in Depalpur town in Madhya Pradesh. These tests were carried out by Sunil Joshi, who is now dead. Not satisfied with the results, Joshi, with the help of electrician Ramji Kalsangra, who is absconding, had improvised the bombs and they later developed briefcase bombs.

Sources added that when the briefcase bombs were tested in Bagli, accused Sunil Joshi, Ramji, Sandeep Dange who is absconding, Lokesh Sharma and Kamal Chauhan were present there.

Kamal Chauhan had disclosed to the NIA that he, along with Lokesh Chauhan, had reached Delhi to plant bombs. Sources added that Kamal had disclosed that Lokesh had taken the briefcase which he was carrying, had boarded the train and was waiting there. Lokesh then came back, took the other briefcase and went to another compartment. After planting the bombs, both had left the station, Kamal disclosed to the NIA.

JD(U), BJP attack Katju; Cong, RJD back him

Patna/Gaya, February 25
Press Council of India Chairman Markandeya Katju’s utterances on alleged violation of press freedom in Bihar drew sharp reaction from Nitish Kumar’s ruling JD (U) and BJP while opposition Congress and RJD backed the former Supreme Court judge.

Justice Katju, who alleged that the media in Bihar was targeted if it wrote against the government, today said his remarks should not be considered as his final opinion and a three-member panel had been constituted to probe complaints of the journalists.

The former judge made the remarks only to hog headlines in newspapers, JD(U) spokesman Shivanand Tiwari said while rejecting the charge of curbs being put on the media in Bihar.

Objecting to the remarks, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said they were improper.

“Katju is in the habit of making such uncalled for, unwarranted and ‘anaap shanap’ (nonsense) ... He should join active politics instead of making such remarks,” he said.

Supporting the judge, Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahai said there was truth in his observations that release of government advertisements was being used to force newspapers to write positive news about the state.

Kumar's arch rival, Lalu Prasad said due to pressure from the state government, the media was forced to act as its "mouthpiece".

Justice Katju said a three-member panel had been constituted to probe complaints of the journalists.

Bihar government too would be free to present its views before the panel which would comprise members of PCI sub-committee Rajiv Ranjan Nag, Arun Kumar and Kalyan Barua, Katju said.

The panel would inquire into complaints of harassment faced by reporters writing against the state government in newspapers or magazines and would submit their report to him. "I hope we will be able to ensure fair, independent and impartial inquiry to find out the truth of the complaints," he said. PCI would take action after receiving the inquiry report, he said. "Journalists are being dismissed or removed or shunted out or advertisements are being withheld to newspapers for writing against the government," he said.

In a veiled attack on Kumar, Modi and Tiwari, Justice Katju said, "I wonder that those who were sent to jail while opposing Emergency have clamped undeclared emergency on press in Bihar." — PTI

telecommunications scam
CBI books BSNL’s former CMD, other top ex-officials

fresh case

n The CBI has registered a case against the then BSNL Chairman-cum-Managing Director Kuldeep Goyal, Director Consumer Mobility RK Agarwal, the then General Manager Pradeep Narang and then DGM Strategic Planning Anil Kumar besides two private companies
n The officials allegedly abused their position and facilitated award of Leased Service Area contract for development of WiMax services to Starnet Communications in 2009, though it did not fulfil eligibility criteria
n Starnet Communications is considered to be having close links with A Raja

New Delhi, February 25
Premises of a former BSNL chairman, its three top officials and a company believed to be close to former Telecom Minister A Raja were today searched by the CBI in connection with an alleged Rs 535 crore scam in award of contracts for WiMax services.

The agency has registered a case against the then BSNL Chairman-cum-Managing Director Kuldeep Goyal, Director Consumer Mobility RK Agarwal, the then General Manager Pradeep Narang and then DGM Strategic Planning Anil Kumar besides two private companies, CBI sources said.

Nine teams of agency officials carried out searches in Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Chennai and Kolkata, they said.

The officials allegedly abused their position and facilitated award of Leased Service Area (LSA) contract for development of WiMax services to Starnet Communications in 2009, considered to have close links with Raja, even though it did not fulfil eligibility criteria, they said. The eligibility conditions stipulated that the company should have a turnover of Rs 100 crore.

"It is alleged that the said company did not have the required qualification of Rs 100 crore annual turnover for the last two years," CBI said in a statement. There was an estimated wrongful loss of Rs 535.50 crore to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, the agency said.

The agency has booked Directors of Starnet Communication Rajesh Bhatt and S Manoharan in connection with the case and carried out searches at their offices in Kolkata and Chennai. Another company Wellcom Communications was searched during the operation, sources said.

The BSNL officials allegedly hatched a criminal conspiracy and facilitated the award of franchisee for three LSAs to Starnet by "dishonestly and intentionally withholding the sale of tender documents in a fraudulent manner, and, diluting the eligibility conditions," they said.

WiMax technology (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is used for providing high-speed internet connections in large areas through wireless means. In 2009, Ampoules and Auto Private Limited owned by Rajesh Bhatt submitted their bid for the service when Raja was Telecom Minister, CBI sources said. — PTI

NRHM scam: CBI carries out more searches in UP

New Delhi, February 25
The CBI today carried out fresh searches across 23 locations in Uttar Pradesh in connection with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam. The searches are being carried out across 12 districts including Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Meerut and Jhansi at the residences of health department officials of the state, who had held the posts of Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) and Deputy CMOs, CBI sources said.

The agency had yesterday registered four new cases in connection with alleged embezzlement of funds under the mission by the then CMOs in collusion with private drug suppliers to procure inferior medicines at exorbitant rates.

In its search operation yesterday, several people close to former Family Welfare Minister of the state Babu Singh Kushwaha — an accused in the NRHM scam — including Guddu Khan, were searched, they said.

There are allegations of gross irregularities and manipulation in award of contracts by CMOs to various private parties. “It has been found that there were groups of private parties which were active in a number of districts and through their influence on public servants, they procured contracts of huge amounts in various districts,” Mishra said.

CBI has found in its preliminary inquiry that Mission Directorate of NRHM in Uttar Pradesh had received thousand of crores of rupees as funds between 2005 and 2011 for running schemes like Mission Flexipool, Immunisation, Reproductive Child Health (RCH) and National Blindness Control Programme.

Besides, funds for civil construction and upgradation of hospitals were received by them. “The funds under the said scheme were channelled to the respective health societies of all the districts in Uttar Pradesh and were utilised by the respective CMOs,” she said. — PTI

Bihar gives up on RTE, says doesn’t have funds
Sanjay Singh/TNS

Patna, February 25
The Bihar Government has made it clear that it was not possible for it to comply with the provisions of Right to Education Act within the stipulated three-year time-frame. Education Minister PK Shahi blamed the meager resources and the Centre’s alleged discriminatory attitude towards resource allocation.

Shahi was Bihar’s Advocate-General before Nitish Kumar chose him for the post of Education Minister. Admitting the constitutional obligation to comply with the RTE Act, he said under the prevailing circumstances, Bihar could not implement it in all its schools within three years.

Bihar is far behind in meeting with the parameters laid down under RTE Act. Going by the latest statistics, hardly 5.3% schools in the state conform to the norms of pupil-teacher ratio while the national average is 38.9%. Similarly, the teacher-classroom ratio of the state as per the norms defined in RTE Act is just 54.2% against the national average of 74.3%. Bihar would require nearly 3.30 lakh additional teachers to bring the teacher-student ratio in its schools to 1:30. For this, the state would need Rs 28,000 crore from the Centre as a one-time grant.

According to Shahi, the Centre will have to come up with state-specific plans and provide adequate resources. He said the Centre can not have the same yardsticks for Bihar and Gujarat or Karnataka when it came to financial allocation. Saying that the Centre was not providing funds to the state under the ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ (SSA) or ‘Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan,’ he said the state had not even received 25% of the sanctioned funds under the SSA and it had not got a single penny under the other scheme in 2011-12.

“Under this situation, how does the Centre expect the state to make its schools self-reliant?” he said.

The RTE Act that came into force in April, 2010 has made it mandatory for the state to provide free and compulsory education to all the children in the age group of 6-14. The three-year deadline for full implementation of the Act ends on March 31, 2013.

Italian ship searched, weapons seized

Italian arms experts on their way to merchant vessel Enrica Lexie in Kochi on Saturday. — PTI

Kochi, February 25
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) today seized several weapons from the Italian merchant vessel Enrica Lexie during a search to trace the firearms used by two marines who allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen.

"We have seized many weapons and we will zero in on the right weapons after the ballistic examination,” police sources said, as the search progressed in the presence of a 10-member Italian delegation, including two ballistic experts who were flown in from Rome this morning.

Italian Consul General, Giampaolo Cuttillo was also present during the search along with his country's ballistic experts Major Flebus Luca and Major Fratini Paolo.

The SIT of Kerala police began the search around noon with forensic and fingerprint experts on board the vessel berthed here.

The two arrested marines - Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone - have been charged with murder in connection with the killing of the Indian fishermen on February 15. — PTI