October 1, 2001 - October 2, 2001

AMC looks for WB funding for e-governance project Tuesday, October 2, 2001

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: All those who have been at the receiving end at the hands of babudom at offices of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation may have reason to rejoice.

E-governance, with World Bank's blessings, may soon sweep the AMC, overhauling the years' old work culture that is often accused of inefficiency and corruption.

The civic body on Saturday submitted a proposal worth Rs 7.42 crore to World Bank officials for installation of e-governance at AMC. The commissioner of AMC, K Kailashnathan, said: "E-governance at the corporation is targeted at strict monitoring on all departments and better work efficiency."

Aided with a 64 kilo bytes per second (KBPS) dedicated connection to be provided by Reliance, the corporation is hoping for a financial grant from World Bank (under its capacity building programme) to finally turn computer savvy.

Once the system is in place, the municipal commissioner sitting at his office will be able to see whether his fellow officers have met their targets or not or even whether the safai kamdars have reported to work or not. And, all that with the tap of a few buttons on the keyboard.

The AMC has asked for more than 100 64 KBPS lines for its zonal and ward-level offices while a connection having capacity of two mega byte per second will be installed at the corporation headquarters _ Sardar Patel Bhavan _ in Astodia.

Departments like town planning, health, birth and death registrar's office and legal will be put online for intra-departmental use. "Progress of official files, jobs assigned, response to public queries and complaints, updates on legal cases will all be available online at once for the civic authorities to monitor. There will be greater transparency in all our departments and a high standard of efficiency can be maintained," said Kailashnathan.

Apart from efficiency, the masses would be able to lodge and follow-up their complaints and queries through emails to AMC or by registering their grievances at the corporation's website _ Ahmedabadcity.org.

The deputy municipal commissioner of north zone, Utpal Padia, who is in-charge of information technology at AMC, said: "While it will mean less leg work and no more standing at queues in corporation's offices, e-governance will see speedy disposal of applications, complaints and clearance of new projects or revamp of civic infrastructure."

Padia informed: "We are also working on a system that would enable Amdavadis to call up and feed their complaints or queries directly into our computer system through voice mail. E-governance will mean paperless work at all offices under AMC. And a total change in our work culture, one that will be geared to face challenges of a new millennium."

AMC authorities say that once the WB grant is passed, e-governance _ complete with a new set of rules for all corporation employees _ will be in place at the civic body in a period of six months.

News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]

Modi likely to replace keshubhai Monday, October 1, 2001

Source Rediff.com
Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi
Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Narendra Modi, backed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, BJP president K Jana Krishnamurthy and RSS bigwigs, is likely to be Gujarat's new chief minister.

"Modi is best suited for the job. There is a TINA [there is no alternative] factor working even amongst the alternatives!" a senior Gujarat minister quipped.

Over the last two days, at least 20 top BJP politicians and ministers from Gujarat have been summoned to New Delhi, ostensibly to seek their views on Patel's successor. Krishnamurthy and his predecessor, Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre, met them.

One legislator, however, said the session "was more like a briefing why Modi will be good for Gujarat".

The MLA said the party's central leadership had only one concern: how to win the assembly election due in 18 months.

Interestingly, most of the ministers rediff.com spoke to were not comfortable with Modi, but agreed that there was no alternative.

Modi is believed to be a man of strong likes and dislikes. And some ministers are afraid of his 'arrogance'. They claim that over the last three years he has not even bothered to keep in touch with any of them. One senior minister remarked, "He never even smiled at us."

Gujarat's bureaucracy is also averse to Modi becoming chief minister, believing that his lack of administrative experience will be a weakness. But as a BJP politician put it, "When the Centre asked us for an alternative, we had no name."

Gujarat Industry Minister Suresh Mehta was one of the names in contention, but a confidant said Mehta "finds this seat too hot" in view of the problems facing the state.

Kashiram Rana and Vallabhbhai Kathiria, both willing candidates, lost out because neither has impressed the party leadership or cadres by their performance in Delhi. The official line, however, is that both are Lok Sabha members and the BJP cannot afford to lose any support in the House at this time.

Modi's supporters say he is being chosen because of his strong belief in Hindutva, his refined media skills and his ability to mobilise the cadres. He will rouse Sangh affiliates like the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad. "We lost the recent by-elections because the Sangh Parivar was inactive," they argue.

Keshubhai submits his resignation Monday, October 1, 2001

Source : NDTV.com
Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel has submitted his resignation to the BJP central leadership. The decision to replace Patel came after a two-hour long meeting between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Home Minister L K Advani, BJP President Jana Krishnamurthy, Vice President Madan Lal Khurana among others.

Soon after the meeting, a high-level committee headed by party President Jana Krishnamurthy was constituted to look into the issue of leadership change.

Some of the names doing the rounds as replacements to Keshubhai Patel are:
Gujarat's Minister of State for Heavy Industries Vallabh Kathiria, a member of the dominant Patel community.


Gujarat assembly's Speaker Dhirubhai Shah, who could be a consensus candidate.


Suresh Mehta, a moderate and the second-most important man in the Gujarat cabinet.


BJP National General Secretary Narendra Modi who may have the central leadership's support but not so much at the local level.
Earlier, the BJP high command had declined to rule out a change of guard in Gujarat following the ruling party's defeat in recent by elections in the state. (With PTI inputs)

News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]

Keshubhai stunned as Vajpayee tells him to quit Monday, October 1, 2001

By Pankaj Vohra, Hindustan Times
(New Delhi, September 30)
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Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is understood to have asked the Gujarat chief minister, Keshubhai Patel, to step down from his post. The Prime Minister conveyed his decision to Patel when the two met at the former's residence this morning.
Sources said, Patel was both taken aback and surprised at the Prime Minister's suggestion and wanted to know why he should relinquish office. He is believed to have told the PM that if he was asked to quit, he would prefer to leave politics altogether.

Sources further revealed that subsequently, Gujarat BJP leaders were summoned to Delhi to apprise them of the developments. While some reached the Capital tonight, others were expected to arrive tomorrow.

The Gujarat BJP leaders will first hold discussions with top central leaders including Jana Krishnamurthi, Kushabhau Thakre, Madan Lal Khurana and Narendra Modi. They may then meet the PM and LK Advani before any final decision on Patel's replacement is taken.

The BJP's central leadership has been holding wide-ranging consultations with various leaders to discuss the future of Patel since the past several days. He got a reprieve when no decision could be taken last week.

The BJP high command is unhappy ever since the results of the by elections in Gujarat were announced some days ago. A number of dissidents in the party had shrilled the pitch for the CM's removal and had sought the high command's intervention. Madan Lal Khurana, vice president in-charge of Gujarat, had indicated last week that a change was not ruled out.

Patel has also been under fire because of poor handling of the post earthquake situation as there has been growing feeling that the relief measures were not handled effectively. He also faced criticism after the results of Gujarat municipal polls where the BJP did not fare too well.

Sources said that several names were doing the rounds as possible successors. Narendra Modi and former CM Suresh Mehta were emerging as the front runners. The final decision would be taken by Vajpayee and Advani.
Soucre - Hindustan Times
Related News : Keshubhai Patel asked to resign

Keshubhai Patel asked to resign Monday, October 1, 2001

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NDTV Correspondent

Monday, October 1, 2001 (New Delhi):