Gadkari ministries get drubbing in funds

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

A Lokmat special report

Gadkari ministries get drubbing in funds 

Namami Gange budget cut drastically 

"Har Khet Ko Pani" gets Rs 1178 crore shocker  

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Feb 9

Road Transport, Shipping, Water Resources and Namami Gange Minister Nitin Gadkari may have earned applause across party lines for his performance. But his wings have been clipped by none other than the Prime Minister Narendra Modi when it came to granting funds for  Namami Gange project and Irrigation.

In 2017-18 when Gadkari took charge of the ministry from Uma Bharti, the Namami Gange project was granted Rs 700 crores. Next year i.e. 2018-19, government allocated a whopping Rs 2300 crores to the ministry so that Ganga can be cleaned before the Lok Sabha polls. However, the ministry could spend only Rs 750 crores only as most BJP ruled states were lukewarm to clear sewage projects.

Even during 2019-20 Budget presented by Piyush Goyal, Namami Gange project was granted Rs 750 crores only. Interestingly, the PM's most ambitious irrigation scheme “Har Khet Ko Pani” saw a drastic cut in funds. While Rs 2018-19, the government had granted Rs 2181 crores to the Gadkari's ministry which spent it too, this year (2019-20) only Rs 903.92 crores were given.

While the government blamed Gadkari for the slow implementation of the projects, Gadkari said that most of the sewage projects fall under the BJP ruled state governments of UP, Uttrakhand, Himachal, Jharkhand, Haryana etc. The worst performer is UP itself where only 11 of the 43 projects could be completed. The pace has not picked up even after Yogi Adityanath government came to power in early 2017. In Bihar, not a single project out of 26 could be completed though Nitish Kumar is an ally. The  Arvind Kejriwal government of Delhi did not complete any of the 11 sewage projects. However, things have started moving after Gadkari personally requested him to do so.

Even as an estimated 5 crores pilgrims took a dip at the confluence of the Ganga, about 2,782 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage continues to flow into the Ganga. Of the 136 sewage projects planned across eight States to create 3,252.28 MLD sewage treatment capacity at a cost of Rs 20,623 crore, only 31 projects with a capacity of 468.19 MLD have been completed.

Of the total treatment capacity created, the share of new projects is just 0.06 MLD, while that of old projects is 468.19 MLD. About 887 MLD capacity has been created through ‘rehabilitation’ of old STPs.

Ends

PM shifts NHAI chief for 'non-performance'

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

“You don’t give grape juice to a Sugar patient” Modi told IAS officer  Raghav Chandra

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Feb 16

The Modi government has sent shivers down the spine of the bureaucracy. If three senior IAS & IPS officers have been sacked unceremoniously for “non-performance”, National Highway Authority of India chairman Raghav Chandra removed in a mid-night order recently.

The sudden removal of Raghav Chandra took even the Road Transport & Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari by complete surprise.

Highly placed sources in the Prime Minister’s Office say that Chandra was responsible for his own sacking. It so happened that the PM called for a review meeting of projects of the NHAI. The PM holds such review meeting one-on-one basis with the heads without the presence of Ministers concerned to review projects.

When the PM asked Raghav Chandra about the progress with regard to the Rs 10,166 crores 14-lane

Delhi-Meerut Expressway project, Chandra reportedly explained difficulties in completing the project in time. It was in December 2015 when Modi had laid the foundation stone of the project not only easing Delhi’s traffic congestion but also to woo the BJP’s crucial vote bank in the Jat heartland and trading community. The total land required for three packages is 348.6 hectares of which 343.36 hectare had already been acquired when Modi laid the foundation stone.

What sealed Chandra’s fate was that he went a step further and started explaining to the PM how the NHAI is completing other important projects in UP.

The PM, sources say was losing his patience and told Chndra curtly, ““If you give grape juice to a sugar patient, can he survive ? The sugar patient requires Bitter Gourd  (karela) juice.” And the meeting ended abruptly. It was 12.30 midnight when the meeting ended and Raghav Chandra’s transfer orders were on the website of the government website next morning.

For Gadkari, it was another shocker as he had seen three chairmen at the NHAI during his three years’ stint. Raghav Chandra was shunted out to an insignificant post as secretary, national commission for Scheduled Tribes. Yudhvir Singh Malik, who was cooling his heels as special secretary in the Niti Aayog, was sent to NHAI. Malik shot into prominence when he banned Nestle’s products as chairman of the FSSAI. The ban was removed by courts and Malik was shunted out to NITI Aayog a year ago. Interestingly, Gadkari had no clue either of Chandra being shunted out or Malik being brought in.

Umang Narula, an lAS officer belonging to the Jammu and Kashmir cadre and CMD of India Tourism Development Corporation was sent back to his parent cadre. It is learnt he was slow in divesting ITDC hotels.