Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and senior bureaucrats were surprised after the head of a nationalized bank questioned the government’s stability. Fadnavis had recently convened a meeting of bank and financial institution chiefs, senior bureaucrats from the finance, public works, urban development departments and managing directors of Cidco and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation to explore the possibility of securing a loan for the Rs 42,000crore Nagpur-Mumbai Expressway.

The response was lukewarm, but the managing director of a nationalized bank expressed doubts on the government’s stability. The banker’s contention was that in projects where the repayment period was more than a decade, the government’s stability is essential. If the successor regime is not keen on the project, then its fate hangs in balance and there is uncertainty over loan repayment. In the case of the Enron power project, the Congress regime approved it in 1993, but the Sena-BJP government led by Manohar Joshi dumped the same.

Killer red tape

A day after the death of 23 passengers in the Elphistone Road station stampede, Union ministers Suresh Prabhu and Nitin Gadkari realized that key projects could not be completed due to red tape. Railway minister Piyush Goyal echoed the same sentiment. Goyal had taken steps to end bureaucratic delays, entrusted more powers to general managers and divisional railway managers. At the launching of the Nagpur Metro, Gadkari slammed the railway administration. Prabhu’s statement on the delay in starting work for the Elphistone Road station footover bridge was critical of the railway administration. Sena MP Arvind Sawant was informed that the railway ministry had sanctioned Rs 12 crore for the bridge, but the proposal was ignored and tenders were not floated. Prabhu had blamed the administration for its lackadaisical approach for not issuing a work order. Sawant took up the issue of crowds on suburban station with Prabhu on umpteen occasions. There was lack of seriousness at all levels, as a result proposals were approved on files, they never saw the light of day, said Sawant. Goyal must bring in a new legislation on the lines of the one enacted by Maharashtra for time-bound approval of proposals.

Twist in irrigation scam probe

Activists Praveen Wategaonkar and Anjali Damania had mobilized documents to highlight corruption in allotment of irrigation projects in Konkan region during the tenure of NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare. They invoked the Right to Information Act to secure documents pertaining to Kalu, Balganga and Kondhane projects. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had granted permission to the ACB to conduct an open inquiry against Pawar and Tatkare in December 2014 . The ACB then led by Pravin Dixit completed the probe and found that there was substance in the complaints made by Wategaonkar and Damania. Separate criminal cases were filed for corruption in the three projects, water resources department staffers and contractors were arrested and politicians’ statements were recorded. While the names of politicians were missing in the FIR, it was expected that the ACB would establish their role while filing the chargesheet. Wategaonkar and Damania were disappointed when they found that the chargesheet was silent on their role.

