Lucknow, Keeping with its promise of giving fresh impetus to infrastructure in the state, the Akhilesh Yadav-led Uttar Pradesh government has expedited work on the ambitious Agra- Lucknow Greenfield Expressway project and has selected a consultant for the project. The consultant has been entrusted with the task of preparing a concept report on the project that will cut the travelling time between Lucknow and Agra from six hours to three-and-a-half hours. Officials told IANS that the eight-lane eco-friendly expressway is proposed to be constructed on a "minimum distance formula" through Public Private Partnership mode and is envisaged to provide a smooth link from Greater Noida to Lucknow via Agra. The consultant appointed for the expressway, covering a distance of 365 km, has been asked to prepare the "preliminary feasibility reports on economic, geographical, physical and social parameters" of the project. The expressway will also help motorists cover a distance of about 530 km from Greater Noida to Lucknow in five hours instead of current time of nine hours. Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner (IIDC) Anil Kumar Gupta said the government's move ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, The UP government on Friday scrapped former CM Mayawati's projects for Dalits and those named after their icons. The money allocated for such projects would be diverted to fulfill poll promises like Rs 1,000 monthly allowance for unemployed youth, pension to farmers above 65 besides laptops and PC tablets for students. Sources said the attempt was to ensure that welfare schemes benefit every section of the society and not just Dalits. The Friday's move would affect 26 schemes being handled by 13 departments involving Rs 4,861.72 crore. Most of this money was utilized for maintaining parks and memorials built in the memory of Dalit icons and scholarship programmes for Dalit students besides those launched in the name of BSP founder, Kanshiram. But the government clarified that work that had already started like in the case of Kanshiram Awas Yojana will not be stopped. But such projects will not be renewed. The government also stopped reservation of government contracts for SC/ST bidders that Maya introduced in June 2009, saying it was affecting the quality of work and a more competitive bidding process would benefit the state. The decisions were cleared at ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, The Janata Dal (U), joined by its arch political rival RJD, on Thursday criticized Karnataka Police and central agencies for arresting Muslim youths on terror charges from different parts of Bihar "without informing the local police". Raising the issue during zero hour in Rajya Sabha, JD(U) member Shivanand Tiwari demanded action by the home ministry against the agencies responsible for such arrests which were made without taking the state police into the loop. He said even after the recent meeting on NCTC, where everyone spoke about cooperation and coordination, Karnataka Police picked up many youths from certain areas of Bihar in a unilateral action. "Why didn't the Karnataka Police inform Bihar Police? Is not such an act questionable?" asked Tiwari. Supporting the contention, RJD member Ram Kripal Yadav said it was condemnable that "we are treating Muslims as terrorists without concrete evidence". An eight-member team of Karnataka Police had arrested Chinnaswamy Stadium blast suspect Mohammad Kafeel Akhtar alias Kafeel from Barsamela village under Keoti police station area in Darbhanga district on Sunday. Akhtar is an Islamic Studies teacher at ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Samajwadi Party today said the next President should not be chosen on the basis of whether the person belongs to the backward, minority or scheduled caste community. Asked whether the party would support Pranab Mukherjee's candidature for the President's post, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said, "I have not heard anybody's name. Nobody has told me about this" "As far as the President is concerned, whether the person is from minority, backward or scheduled caste community, it does not matter," he said when asked if the next President should be from the minority communty. Asked about his meeting with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday, the SP Chief said, "This is not my first meeting with her. It is understood that if two political parties will meet, they will discuss something. "I have met her many times and it is obvious that when two political parties meet, they will discuss politics also. If that can be shared with you, we will definitely do so," he said. After an hour-long meeting at Yadav's residence, Banerjee had said that they would meet again and take a joint decision after further consultations. Yadav had yesterday said ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Holding that the President should always be a political person, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today refused to express his opinion on probable candidates for the forthcoming election to the country's highest office. "We cannot discuss presidential election at this moment, When candidates are announced, then you can take my view," he told reporters outside Parliament House. Yadav was asked whom his party will support during the Presidential election. On whether the President should be a person with political background, he said, "The President should always be a political person." Pratibha Patil, the country's first woman President, will demit office on July 25 after completing her five-year term. Samajwadi Party, which is an outside supporters of UPA, had on Tuesday said that it would favour an eminent Muslim candidate for the top post. ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Defending his remarks over the presence of several corrupt politicians and people with criminal background in parliament, Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev on Wednesday said it was not the first time that he has raised the issue, and added that his statement was bothering only dishonest people. "I have not said anything new. I have been repeating this thing for quite long. Honest and dignified politicians do not have problem to what I have said," Baba Ramdev told media here. "There are many good people present in the parliament and various parties but there are also some people who are corrupt, dishonest and several others who are characterless and against whom serious charges have been levelled and there are not only charges of bad character, corruption or crime but their image is also tarnished," he added. Earlier on Tuesday, Baba Ramdev had said that parliament consists of goons, corrupt, murderers, illiterates and urged people to up the ante to protect the sanctity of the temple of democracy. "We have made people who are demons in disguise to sit in parliament but they do not deserve to hold these prestigious positions and be in power. But the system is still ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, In a significant development, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is not in favour of bringing the post of CM under the anti-corruption ombudsman -- the Lokayukta. "The Samajwadi Party had made its stand clear on the issue of Lokayukta in its manifesto before the assembly elections. We had promised, if voted to power, the Lokayukta institution will be strengthened to fight corruption. However, we are not in favour of bringing chief minister under Lokayukta," said Yadav, in reply to the media query that a committee headed by UP Lokayukta has recommended bringing the chief minister under the jurisdiction of the ombudsman. However, he added, that he had not gone through the recommendation submitted by the committee. The committee headed by UP Lokayukta Justice (rtd) NK Mehrotra in its report has proposed a complete revamp of the power structure of the institution, setting up a special investigation wing and authority to initiate suo moto action against corrupt public representatives, NGOs and educational institutions among others. The proposals also want every elected public representative from gram pradhan, municipal corporators, MLAs, ministers to the ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Vice President Hamid Ansari's candidature for the upcoming presidential polls gained momentum on Tuesday, when RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav supported him over former President A P J Abdul Kalam. "Our Vice President Hamid Ansari should be made the President. He is a good candidate for the President's post. He should be upgraded as the President," an agency report quoted Lalu telling reporters in what marked the first public advocacy for any of the contenders for who succeeds Pratibha Patil in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Although Lalu has often acted in tandem with the lead player of the UPA, there were no indications to suggest that he could be echoing Congress's views. Senior sources in Congress insisted that the outspoken RJD chief spoke on his own. Yet, his campaign for Ansari - the first by any senior leader for any of the putative aspirants for the office of President - can help Congress hold its own against efforts by others to thrust their choice on the party by brandishing "secular" considerations. Lalu's backing for Ansari comes against the backdrop of incessant speculation in certain quarters that SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is working with West Bengal CM ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, The UPA narrowly escaped another 'Team Anna moment' at the Prime Minister-chaired National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) meeting on Tuesday, with CMs Nitish Kumar and Akhilesh Yadav coming in handy to counter the agitated civil society representatives, who were demanding immediate closure of hydroelectric projects on tributaries of the Ganges in Uttarakhand. The government did not give in to the demands at the meeting, and managed to avoid a face-off turning into a public relation disaster. The meeting concluded with the decision that a multi-disciplinary group of experts would be set up to assess the fate of the projects based on the reports submitted by IIT-Roorkee and the Wildlife Institute of India. Also, the PM will meet agitating G D Agarwal, who is undergoing treatment at AIIMS, soon. But the decisions came amid high drama, with the members of Team Agarwal and others talking about the ailing activist's absence. The government had agreed to include Prof Agarwal's agenda in the NGRBA meeting after he went on a fast demanding closure of existing projects on the Ganges. Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, convener of Ganga Seva Abhiyanam and ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, The spat between Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and Jama Masjid's Maulana Ahmed Bukhari was resolved by party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday. Mulayam accepted nearly all the demands of the Maulana and ended up giving him preeminence over Azam Khan. Shortly after meeting Mulayam, Maulana Bukhari told reporters that the purpose of his visit was to ensure adequate representation of Muslims in important positions in the party and government. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was accompanying Bukhari, said Umar Ali Khan (Bukhari's son-in-law) will file his nomination for the MLC elections. He said the next vacancy in the council will be filled by a Muslim and reiterated that Muslims would get due representation in the government. "We will ensure adequate representation of Muslims in the cabinet. The mistakes in shortlisting names for the cabinet won't be repeated," said Mulayam. Bukhari had reportedly told him that only three Muslim MLAs were shortlisted for the cabinet instead of five keeping in the mind the ratio of Muslim MLAs in the party. Political analysts said the crisis possibly began with Bukhari wanting to send his son-in-law to the council and ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, While the CBI is yet to complete its probe into the Rs 5,700 crore NRHM scam, it has suddenly got proactive about a Rs 26 crore ayurveda scam that took place in Uttar Pradesh between 1993 and 1995 when SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav was the chief minister. On March 30, the CBI moved the Supreme Court to prosecute UP's panchayati raj minister Balram Singh Yadav. Significantly, the move coincided with Mulayam's tough posturing and comments that mid-term polls were less than a year away. Balram also happens to be a Mulayam loyalist. "The question is not what the CBI is up to, but what the Congress is up to. Is it using CBI to tame Mulayam?" asked a political analyst. Like the NRHM scam, the CBI probe into the ayurveda scam, too, was ordered by the high ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, The Akhilesh Yadav-led Uttar Pradesh government has decided to re-examine the excise policy of the previous Mayawati government to help increase revenue. An official order to this effect was issued Sunday evening where it clearly spelt out that with the aim of raking up more revenue, the state government would be revising the excise policy of the state. Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani, in an official release, said the decision was being taken with a view to increasing the state's revenue earnings from the excise department. However, until a new policy is approved of by the state cabinet, an interim notification has been issued. The present excise policy, initiated by the Mayawati government, pegs the target revenue receipts for 2012-13 at around Rs.8,000 crore and till February Rs.7,256.80 crore was achieved, which was much higher (29.3 percent) than previous year's at Rs.5,610.60 crore. While the new policy, its guidelines and targets are yet to be known, it would be in complete contrast to that of the Mayawati government, which had allotted wholesale rights of liquor distribution to Gurdeep Singh Chadha alias Ponty Chadha, a businessman known for his ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, A day after climbing the watch tower of his official bungalow to ask after his guards' well-being, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, on Friday, sprang another surprise on unsuspecting officials. Issuing orders to scale down his security cover, Akhilesh has now said his fleet will be reduced from 40 to eight vehicles. Pack up orders were also issued to the specialised hospital kept operational at the CM's official residence. Nearly 22 pharmacists, a dozen nurses, four hi-tech ambulances and specialist doctors on 24x7 duty, manning the medical unit, have also been sent packing to locations where they can be more ``constructively employed''. According to conservative estimates, an annual expenditure of over Rs 2 crore was incurred towards keeping the unit functional. For a bureaucratic lobby that had become used, during the previous regime, to pumping up the CM's security, Friday's order came as a shock for many. A senior official of the Estate department said while there was no upper limit to the number of cars that accompanied a chief minister, former CM Mayawati's convoy was the largest any UP CM has had, yet. After the current downsizing of his fleet, however, ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav slammed Team Anna as "den of criminals', renewing the face-off between the civil society group and MPs barely days after the Lok Sabha censure. Reacting to "offensive statements" made by Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal, Mulayam Singh Yadav said Team Anna was a 'den of criminals' and Anna Hazare was surrounded by corrupt people. RJD chief Lalu Prasad said, "He (Kejriwal) is a frustrated and discarded person. We should not take notice of what he says. He will go mad in a few days." The attack from top Yadav duo showed the friction remained between the political class and the Lokpal group despite hopes that Lok Sabha censure would cool the tempers. Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar this week concluded a debate by saying that any comment which lowered the dignity of parliament was "unwarranted and unacceptable". However, the mild rap contrasted with tempers during the discussion when members sought breach of privilege proceedings against the civil society bloc. SP chief Mulayam Singh had sought their summoning to parliament to seek apology from them. The Team Anna came under attack from the political class after Kejriwal called ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Janata Dal (United) today slammed Team Anna for comments against party's national president Sharad Yadav during social activist Anna Hazare's fast at Jantar Mantar here. "Team Anna has used insulting language against Sharadji. This is undemocratic and also an insult to Parliament," JD(U) Delhi unit chief spokesperson Prabhat Ranjan said. Mr Ranjan said Mr Yadav is one of the most honest politician of the country and he has always fought for the common man. "Sharadji always fights for the common man from streets to Parliament," he added. Mr Ranjan said comments against Mr Yadav were highly condemnable and it shows Team Anna's mentality. He alleged that Team Anna was not clean and honest. He said there were charges of irregularities against several team members including Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi. Mr Ranjan said the team should stop "drama" at a public platform. Team Anna member Manish Sisodia had commented against Mr Yadav after showing footage of the JD(U) president's speech on Lokpal in ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday joined the chorus with the other political giants in predicting the mid-term Lok Sabha elections. Addressing party workers on the occasion of the birth anniversary of socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Loihya, Mulayam exhorted party leaders to be ready for the mid-term polls which can which can take place within an year, although the term of present lok sabha is till 2014. Mulayam, who has made his son Akhilesh chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and has decided to play a bigger role in the national politics, also said that era of big parties ruling the country is over and coalition politics will play a major role in the coming election as well. So far, Mulayam has been cooperating with the UPA government but giving it outside issue based support but now he has hinted that the Congress cannot take SP's support in parliament for granted. The SP had recently bailed out the Congress led UPA government on the issue of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha but at the same time the SP supremo had also made it clear that his party will not join the government at the centre ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, The Samajwadi Party (SP) is not joining the Congress-led central government, party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav said Monday. "We are not joining the government," Mulayam Singh said, in response to persistent queries if the SP was planning to join the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. He quickly added that his party was backing the central government from the outside only to prevent "communal forces" from taking power in New Delhi. The SP took office in Uttar Pradesh this month after scoring a thumping ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday took oath to office here, to become at 38, the youngest chief minister of India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh. Along with him, 47 ministers were also sworn into office. They included 9 Cabinet Ministers and 28 Ministers of State. Thursday's swearing-in ceremony tok place nine days after the Samajwadi Party secured an absolute majority in the seven-phased state assembly elections. Akhilesh and his party won 224 of the 403 state assembly seats. Akhilesh had invited top leaders across party lines to the ceremony, including UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, CPI-M's Prakash Karat and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Akhilesh Yadav's name was proposed in a key party meet by senior leader Azam Khan, and was supported by the members of the Samajwadi Party at the legislative board meeting. ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, It was in 1994 that Akhilesh, then around 20, was clicked with his chief minister father Mulayam Singh Yadav for the first time ever during a special photo shoot for a news magazine. A little over 18 years later, Akhilesh will be clicked with Mulayam once again on Thursday, but with a difference. This time it will be their first ever photograph with Akhilesh as CM. What will however remain unchanged , is the venue: Akhilesh will take his oath of office at a grand function on the La Martiniere College grounds, exactly the same spot where their photoshoot was done in 1994. What will make the show more special will be a host of country's top political personalities, including L K Advani, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandra Babu Naidu and Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav, turning up for the ceremony. Industrialist Anil Ambani, Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan and a host of VIPs will also witness history as it is made when Akhilesh will become the youngest ever CM of Uttar Pradesh. Though invitations were also sent to Mamata Banerjee and Jayalalita, both of them have are unlikely to turn up. Though political analysts started reading into the list of ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Stating that illegal coal mining is rampant across Madhya Pradesh where natural resources are found in abundance, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Sharad Yadav on Sunday said the mining mafia responsible for the killing of Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Narendra Kumar should be booked under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). "I am very upset over the death of senior police official in Madhya Pradesh. He was a young man and since mining mafia in the state is in a very powerful position as well as fearless. The driver is not only responsible for the murder, since he is not in a powerful position and cannot have the audacity to kill the most senior police officer in the district," said Yadav. "So, the mining mafia should be booked under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code," he added. 2009-batch IPS officer Narendra Kumar Singh was mowed down by a tractor-trolley in Madhya Pradesh''s Morena District on Thursday. Singh, who was posted at Banmore as Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), had taken on the mining mafia by seizing number of trucks and tractors engaged in illegal quarrying. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a ...
Read Full Story