Latest News

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has ordered to stop work all construction activities at various sites, as her government is now cornered by the Supreme Court.

The state government was completely shaken as the apex court summoned state Chief Secretary Atul Kumar Gupta for a personal appearance before the bench on November 4 to explain why work was not stopped despite repeated orders.

This followed stern directives of the Supreme Court that took serious note of “flagrant violation” of its directives on a lawsuit seeking suspension of all such construction activity.

A top official in the chief minister’s secretariat told on Tuesday evening, “We have stopped all construction work with immediate effect and that includes even those sites which were not subject matter of any pending writ petition.”

Denying any violation of the court orders, the official asserted, “There was no question of defying the honorable court’s orders.

We had brought all construction activity to a halt at each of the sites that were subject matter of the pending petitions.”

Lucknow: The Mayawati government has removed Director General of Police Vikram Singh and replaced him with Karamveer Singh.

Vikram Singh, a 1975 batch IPS officer, had been heading the UP police force since the Mayawati government came to power in the state in 2007.

No official reason has been cited for removing Vikram Singh in the orders issued last night.

Karamveer Singh, also a 1975 batch officer, returned to the state last week after a deputation at the Centre where he was posted as Special DG in Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Karamveer Singh’s return to the state had sparked speculation about a change in DGP.

The Mayawati government has been under fire from the opposition for alleged deterioration in law and order across the state.

UP chief minister Mayawati, appealed to the Dalit in context of the construction of the Dalit memorials, that if her opponents demolish these memorials, it would lead to disruption of law and order across the entire nation.

She stressed to the party workers on Thursday, while laying the foundation stone of Kanshi Ram Green Garden, at a spot where there used to be a government jail, which was demolished stating that the demolition was necessary as the jail was overcrowded.

The land which was leveled after the demolition of the jail compound, would be developed as a lush green park in the memory of Kanshi Ram.

She even advocated that the Garden would be a good tourist spot and will eventually get some incoming funds for the government in future.

New Delhi: Mayawati government has stopped all the construction work related to its pet statue project, costing thousands of crores of public money.

Before this on Firday, the Supreme Court on Friday gave six hours to the Mayawati-led UP government to stop all construction work in Lucknow.

A bench comprising Justice B N Agrawal and Justice Aftab Alam warned the state government of dire consequences for ‘playing with fire.’

Taking suo motu cognisance over news reports that the Mayawati government was going ahead with construction despite an assurance given to the apex court, the bench directed the government to remove all machinery from seven construction sites in Lucknow within six hours.

“We generally do not go by newspaper reports. We ignore them. But it is a very serious matter. You are playing with fire. Our orders cannot be violated,” the court observed.

New Delhi: Construction work at the upcoming Noida Park by Uttar Pradesh Government is currently stopped by the Central Empowered Committee appointed by the Supreme Court.

The project is on hold until environmental clearance is obtained from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Environmentalists indicate the possible ecological impact the construction would have on the lives of the birds at the Okhla Bird Santuary which is located at a distance of barely 20 feet away from the construction site of the Noida Park. The noise, dust and light pollution as well as loss of greenery would impact it even further.

To add to this, Mayawati Government is also blamed to ignore the mandatory environment impact assessment which is necessary for the project. Nearly 6,000 trees had been chopped down already.

The Committee in its report submitted to the Supreme Court on Friday said, “The project area does not fall in the category of forest and does not require approval under the Forest (Conservation) Act; the project requires environmental clearance. Since the eco-sensitive zones around the national parks and sanctuaries have not so far been decided/notified, there is no legal bar against the implementation of the project on account of being adjacent to the Okhla Bird Sanctuary.”

However, “had this exercise been done timely, the project area in all probability would have fallen within the eco-sensitive zone.”

Recently came together two parties BSP-HJC has already announced on Thursday about their separation.

It is speculated that HJC wanted BJP to join the HJC-BSP tie up, which obviously BSP would not agree to as BJP is their prime rival. Giving 30 seats to BJP was something BSP was totally against.

Hence, BSP decided to stand alone with the 90 assembly seats on hand.

Earlier this year, INLD-BJP had split up and now BSP-HJC. Rumors are that each party from the broken up alliance, namely, HJC and BJP might come together.

Both parties are pointing finger at each other for the fallout. BSP general secretary Man Singh Manhera, says, “HJC has put certain conditions which are not acceptable to the party. BSP is a national party and we have to go by the party’s ideology.”

He says further, “BSP has never favoured the communal forces, so there is no question of getting into an alliance with BJP at the state level. Moreover, HJC president Kuldeep Bishnoi was taking the alliance quite casually. He didn’t turn up for any of our meetings in last two months.”

HJC’s party president Kuldeep Bishnoi said, “Mr Manhera is playing in the hands of Congress government. It’s a pre-planned strategy of Congress and BSP. HJC will contest on all 90 seats independently.”
With the ever changing political scenario and instability in the country, this fallout does not come as a shock either.

Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati Tuesday did not hide her ambitions as she urged people to vote for the BSP to ensure a pro-poor government.

Addressing an election rally at Kothi Meena Bazar ground here, she ended her speech minutes before the curtains were drawn on the fourth round of polling Thursday.

“Strengthen our hands and vote for BSP candidates if you want a pro-poor government at the centre,” she said in her 45-minute speech.

She said if any one irrespective of background can become a prime minister, why cannot an educated and politically mature Dalit leader become the next prime minister?

She spoke about the party’s policies on a range of issues like price rise, poverty, unemployment and job and education reservations.

Mayawati said the Congress-led central government was meting out step-motherly treatment to Uttar pradesh, which continued to lag behind in development.

“Power had gone in the hands of wrong people at the centre,” she said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Tuesday condemned the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) decision to give a clean chit to Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, the lone surviving suspect in the Bofors gun payoff case, and alleged that the Congress-led government was misusing the investigating agency.

“Congress misusing the CBI for its own interest has been evident. And now the CBI’s decision to remove Ottavio Quattrocchi from its list of wanted persons has once again unmasked the Congress,” Mayawati told reporters at a press conference here.

Terming the CBI’s decision as “unfortunate”, Mayawati demanded that the central government ensure that the investigating agency takes back its decision so that strict action could be taken against the accused.

She also accused the Congress of “influencing” the CBI after which the agency gave a clean chit to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

“By misusing the CBI, the Congress protects its corrupt leaders and targets its political opponents. Its (Congress) leaders are blatantly announcing that they can use CBI against political rivals for their own interest,” Mayawati said.

The chief minister also attacked the Congress-led central government for ignoring the development of her state.

She alleged that the central government’s claims of having provided financial assistance to Uttar Pradesh were false.

“It becomes evident with the fact that the central government has yet not released the special relief package of Rs.80,000 crore (Rs.800 billion) we had sought several months ago.

“The Congress-led central government has not provided any separate financial package to Uttar Pradesh,” she added.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Monday questioned the authenticity of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s letter, being used by the Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Lucknow candidate Lalji Tandon as an appeal to the people of the state capital for support.

After representing the prestigious Lucknow Lok Sabha seat for five consecutive terms, Vajpayee opted out of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls due to ill-health and handpicked Tandon to contest.

“Tandon is busy showing a letter in the form of an appeal purported to be made by Vajpayee in his support, but I fail to understand how such an appeal could have been actually issued by the former prime minister, who is too old and infirm,” Mayawati said.

When Vajpayee can neither walk nor talk and even does not understand anything due to old age and illness, how could he have written out an appeal for Tandon, Mayawati asked, adding, however, that she wished Vajpayee good health.

Attacking the other key contestant for the Lucknow seat – Nafisa Ali of the Samajwadi Party (SP) – Mayawati said it appeared that the SP does not have anyone capable enough to be fielded from Lucknow.

“That is why they first tried to usher film actor Sanjay Dutt from Mumbai, but after he was denied permission on account of his criminal antecedents, they imported yet another outsider,” she said.

Dismissing the Congress party as “dead” and “non-existent”, the BSP supremo showered praise on her own party nominee Akhilesh Das. “Akhilesh Das is a local man, who has done lots for this city. Earlier, he was in the Congress, where he felt very frustrated, so he opted for the BSP, where he is sure to shine.”

Reading out from a typed text, Mayawati slammed all her key opponents – the Congress, the Samajwadi Party as well as the BJP, while extolling her own party’s achievements. “The BSP government alone has delivered the fruits of development to the state and that too without any support from the centre,” she said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati Monday charged rival Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav with misusing the state’s development funds, saying that as many as 1,000 villages could have been developed with the amount.

“The money spent by Mulayam Singh for giving a facelift to (his native village) Saifai alone could have brought development in 1,000 villages of the state,” Mayawati said at an election rally in Etawah district. Saifai village is situated in Etawah, about 200 km from here.

“I could have also done the same for my native village in Uttar Pradesh. But, as chief minister I focused on all-round development of the state and took developmental schemes in villages only on the basis of backwardness.”

The BSP chief also accused Mulayam Singh of promoting dynastic politics.

“Mulayam must realise that the place where he has reached today is not only because of Ram Manohar Lohia. Icons like Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and others have also played an important role in helping people like Mulayam Singh rise.”

She said if this had not happened, Mulayam Singh and his family members would have been grazing cattle under a feudal lord.