Round The States

New Delhi, 30 December 2010

Corruption Year 2010

ANDHRA, SIKKIM JOIN BANDWAGON

By Insaf

Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim are the latest entrants in the year-end season of corruption scandals. Already under siege with the CWG and 2G Spectrum mega scam, the Congress is now saddled with graft charges against its former Chief Minister K Rosaiah in Andhra. A Hyderabad local court has directed the State government’s anti-corruption bureau to register a case against Rosaiah and 16 others for their alleged involvement in a land-scam worth Rs 200 crores. The former CM came under the scanner after a group of petitioners claimed that nine acres of land, in the Ameerpet village and mandal of Hyderabad, was handed over by him to a private party during his term. The court has asked the bureau to submit a report before January 28. The timing of this case couldn’t be more inappropriate for the Congress High Command as it gives the Opposition further ammunition against the UPA’s corruption-ridden governance. Worse, it will force New Delhi to silence its guns against ‘tainted’ Yeddyurappa in Karnataka.   

Up north-east, Sikkim’s Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling is too caught in the corruption cross-hairs. The CBI has sought clearance to investigate Chamling and several of his Cabinet colleagues in an assets case. Scandalously, Chamling stands accused of amassing nearly Rs 23 crores in Sikkim and outside by abusing his official position first as an MLA from 1985-94 and then as Chief Minister since 1994. More, he awarded 26 hydro electric projects to companies in violation of all norms. Adding to Chamling’s woes, the Comptroller and Auditor General has also come down heavily on favouritism shown by him to his relatives’ business ventures which caused a huge loss to the State exchequer. While the Centre is silent, the CBI has requested the Chief Secretary for a sanction to register a case. What next?

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Chhattisgarh’s Thieves

Forget Maoists, thieves are the latest encumbrance for the Chhattisgarh State Government. Whereby, its much-touted rural solar electrification project in the ‘red zone’ has become a money-making source for the robbers, especially in villages located inside forests and on hilly terrains. Ironically, while the Naxalites have facilitated the State’s electrification plans in remote areas, the burglars think otherwise. Coming in gangs from across the State they take away photovoltaic panels as a hapless police looks on. Another problem is that the thieves damage panels while trying to remove these. Interestingly, the Maoist cadres have found a new use for the solar equipment: recharging mobile phones and other electronic gadgets. Creditably the Government has so far provided electrification to 1400 villages but over 2000-odd villages still need electricity. Also under a project for Ashram Shalas, solar power plants have been installed in 950 tribal hostels, benefiting hundreds of students. Who will show light to the Government to bell the thieves?

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Punjab MLAs Poor Record

The UPA’s flagship Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan has failed to make any impact in Punjab where the dropout rate stands at over 40 per cent across primary, middle and high schools. Call it a coincidence but over 42 of the State’s 117 MLAs are school or college dropouts. This scandalous fact came to the fore in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s glossy Who’s Who. A cursory glance showcases how many legislators come with prefixes and suffixes like “under middle”, “under-matric”, “pre-engineering”, “pre-medical” or “BA Part I” and “BA Part II”. More scandalous, three MLAs are school drop-outs before class VIII. This is not all. Two Cabinet Ministers are only matriculates. Happily, 44 MLAs including Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the PCC Chief are graduates. The State boasts of its Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is an MBA from California. Undoubtedly, he is all set to give an impetus to educating his State MLAs.

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Leh’s Link To Tourists

As Leh grapples with the sweeping cold, it can warm its cockles that the Union Railway Ministry has approved the 498-km all-weather broad gauge Bilaspur-Manali-Leh railway line. Importantly, once through the line will prove to be a vital link to connect strategically important border areas in Leh and transport military supplies, keeping in view the communication upgrade being done by the neighbouring country along the border. This is not all. The railway line would give a leg-up to tourism in India’s snow clad areas. The Government’s seriousness is evident by the fact it has asked the Planning Commission to accord top priority to this project. There is also another proposal to link the Manali-Leh line with Pathankot-Joginder Nagar line in Himachal Pradesh. Clearly, this one proposal will facilitate free flow of tourism in the two States: Kashmir and Himachal.

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Another First By Bihar

Bihar has notched up another first. It has become the foremost State in the country to use the latest cell phones for centralized monitoring of road construction. From this month on, the Bihar State Road Development Corporation will deploy Android phones to help executive engineers keep an eye on road construction from district headquarters. Given that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar credits his stupendous success in the recent elections to the network of roads built in his first term. Since 2006-07, Bihar has constructed 23,606 km of roads besides augmenting and repairing 1,657 km of national highways. Not only the road department but Bihar’s State Bridge Construction Corporation too uses GPS enabled phones to help mobile inspectors track engineers on duty.  ‘Dial mobility’ to track growth seems to be Bihar’s latest catch-word.

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Bengal’s Potato Woes

Onions may be driving India to tears. But West Bengal is crying over potatoes too. The State is facing acute scarcity of this most-demanding vegetable which forced the Government to buy it from other States. After a bumper crop in March wherein it was exporting to neighbouring Assam, today it needs to import from the traditional potato exporting State Uttar Pradesh. Worse, it is saddled by rotten potatoes at high prices. With State elections round the corner, the Food Department is at its wits end of how to deal with the potato-onion double whammy. Against the backdrop that the State coffers are already stretched to the limits. It remains to be seen whether potatoes will become Buddhadev Bhattacharya’s Waterloo. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)