WB puts rider to urban development aid Friday, October 12, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
GANDHINAGAR: The World Bank has made it clear to the Gujarat government that the demand for the $150 million urban development loan would be met only if the state agrees to comply with the conditionality of raising user charges on water, making it metered, as also other urban utilities.
A top bank official told TNN here on Thursday that a proposal is lying with the WB to provide a $150 million loan to the state for urban infrastructure for the six cities of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar as also 40-odd municipalities.
"The matter is in process right now. It would be final in a year," the official said.
"Final negotiations will start soon. A WB team was here a fortnight ago to make an assessment of the requirement. The earlier Gujarat demand for $350 million has been revised to $150 million," the official said, adding that, "another major conditionality would be slum upgradation."
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Main accused in ISD racket case held Friday, October 12, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD:The city crime branch arrested the main accused, Prakash Vinjani on Wednesday in connection with the ISD racket unearthed from Kubernagar last month.
The police also suspects that at least two employees of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd may be involved in the racket.
Three persons have been accused in this case unearthed by the crime branch following a tip-off from the telephone department where it was learnt that ten telephone lines were operating from a single building in Kubernagar.
Later investigations revealed that at least 24 lines had been operating from this building where a connection had been established with the United States via a dish antenna.
The other accused is the owner of the building Pandu Soni. The building had been rented to the accused for four months and it is assumed that the racket was in operation since then.
Further, the police suspects that the accused had established contact with someone in the US who was paying them in American dollars.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Suresh Mehta gets his due in Modi’s cabinet Thursday, October 11, 2001
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
GANDHINAGAR, OCTOBER 10: There are many surprises and disappointments in the allocation of portfolios by Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
He has given Suresh Mehta full charge of a comprehensive industries portfolio. Former chief minister Keshubhai Patel had retained him as Industries minister but taken away the charge of the salt industry and information technology from him.
But Modi has caused a big disappointment by putting former irrigation minister Nitin Patel at the helm of the Finance Department.
By leaving out allocation of the Revenue, Irrigation, Roads & Buildings and Forest & Environment Departments, Modi has clearly hinted at the possibility of the inclusion of more Cabinet-rank ministers besides ministers of state, who in any case will be appointed.
The Panchayats Department hasn’t been given to anyone so far, but sources say this may be given to an MoS with independent charge. The Chief Minister will be handling the General Administration, Home, Information, Narmada, Ports, Planning, Energy, and Mines portfolios. He has also created a new department of Science & Technology which will remain in his charge.
While Nitin Patel has been given the finance portfolio, there is a general feeling that when the state’s financial situation is very grave and there is urgent need to mobilise and create more resources, a more finance and industry-savvy man was needed as the Finance Minister.
Moreover, all the dreams of development of the new chief minister would go awry without a comfortable financial situation of the state government and secretariat sources feel that Patel is not quite suited to the Finance Department. The new ministers Purshottam Rupala and I.K. Jadeja, who had been taken by the Keshubhai Cabinet since 1995, have also been given Agriculture and Health & Family Welfare respectively. Another anomaly that the outgoing chief minister had left in not giving the Agriculture Department a cabinet-level minister has thus been corrected.
Another interesting aspect is that the Labour & Employment Department has for the first time being given a cabinet-rank minister, with a view to giving it a fillip and improve employment opportunities to the large number of jobless youth in the state.
The department has been given to Kanjibhai Patel who earlier had the Forests & Environment Portfolio. The Forests Department is reported to be in a complete mess with several factions among officials and corruption rampant.
Other ministers have retained the portfolios they held in the Keshubhai Patel cabinet. Narottam Patel gets Water Supply, Capital Projects and Urban Housing: Anandiben Patel gets Education (primary, secondary & adult), besides Women & Child Welfare; Kaushik Patel retains Energy, Petrochemicals and Planning; and Fakirbhai Vaghela retains Social Justice and Prohibition. Vaghela used to also hold the salt industry portfolio; it has now gone to Mehta.
Source - Indian Express
Customs moles scuttle raids through 'leaks' Thursday, October 11, 2001
BY AMIT MUKHERJEE, TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: 'Moles' in Customs department in Gujarat are posing a problem for the department. Information from the preventive wing about raids are being leaked out by some staff, undermining the efforts of the department and resulting in low yields by raiding parties.
According to sources, the problem of leaks from the department had gone to such an extent that even if the information collected pointed at huge stocks of smuggled items, raiding parties often returned empty handed.
In one recent incident the commissionerate had planned state-wide raid towards the end of last month which yielded seizures worth Rs 19,66,623.
"In fact, due to leakage of information from the department, plans of raids in Ahmedabad had to be dropped," confirmed a senior Customs official.
The operation was launched on September 27 with a view to curb illicit trafficking and sale of smuggled goods in various parts of the state. Although the raids were based on specific intelligence, the seizures were not significant enough.
The places raided by the department include some of the biggest grey markets for electronics like Surat, Valsad, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar Bhuj and Porbandar -- some of which are considered to be shoppers' paradise where cheap foreign items are available.
These markets are well-known to stock goods worth crores of rupees, but seizures following raids were meagre.
Most raids are conducted on the basis of specific intelligence, confirmed officials in the preventive wing. "Only based on proper information and evidence do we raid locations, where unless and till alerted the offender cannot escape."
At Ahmedabad, senior officials handling preventive operations said information was available on specific premises dealing in electronic goods like toys, mobile phones and music systems. But just before the department could act, 'moles' in the department alerted those on whom the raids were to be conducted.
A senior official stating that the 'mole' has been identified, said there is no proof to act against him. "But definitely this would be kept in mind during future departmental planning and operations," the official in the preventive wing asserted.
Commenting on the issue, Chief Commissioner Gujarat Mahendra Prasad said: "Although the matter has not been reported to me as yet, I will probe into the details of it and ensure that stern action is taken against the official involved."
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
BJP organisational changes on hold Thursday, October 11, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: The widely expected organisational changes in the state Bharatiya Janata Party may have to wait for a while as Chief Minister Narendra Modi won't like to open too many fronts simultaneously.
Though the party duo of Rajendrasinh Rana (president) and Sanjay Joshi (organisation secretary) were blamed in equal measure for the BJP debacle in the by-elections -- as also was former chief minister Keshubhai Patel -- both Rana and Joshi have been shadowing Modi ever since he landed in Gandhinagar.
They promptly dumped Patel and played a behind-the-scenes role in the ministry-making exercise, in consultation with party president Jana Krishnamurthy and state in-charge Madanlal Khurana.
In fact, during the election debacle in the panchayat and municipal elections last year, Patel had squarely blamed the party organisation for not being able to project the performance of the state government before the people.
Sources said while the party leadership had talked of a 'package' to revive the fortunes of BJP, it is planning to delay the organisational overhaul which is required to inject some adrenaline into the party.
One view is that Modi himself will be calling the shots at the party level once he settles down, while the other is that he would like to install his close ally and friend, Dilip Sanghani, in Rana's place.
When contacted, Rana told TNN that he has not received any indications regarding changes in the party organisation and the workers have been asked to fan out in their respective areas and start spreading the new message given by Narendra Modi, who had brought desired results in the 1995 and 1998 assembly elections.
While unfolding the plan for strengthening the party organisation to face the challenge posed by the Congress, Rana said a meeting of the 30-member working group was scheduled for the end of this month. The meeting will chalk out a fresh strategy for the party.
When asked whether the high command would go for changes in the party set-up, Rana quipped, "At the moment, there is no indication regarding changes."
An effective programme will be announced soon to rejuvenate the party cadre that had turned inactive, or were frustrated, because the problems put forth by them had not been attended to.
As per the revised constitution of the party, the state president has to serve a term of three years.
Accordingly, Rana's term would expire within a year. This is his second term as party chief. The next presidential election will be guided by the new norms.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
