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BJP MP's company got Rs 1,350cr dam deals illegally

[email protected] (TNN)
October 1, 2012
Ajay-Sancheti

Mumbai, October 1: A non-existing company owned by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Sancheti bagged irrigation projects worth Rs 1,350 crore in Maharashtra in 2007-08.

The firm, Shakti Kumar M Sancheti Ltd, was renamed SMS Infrastructure in November 2005. Yet, Sancheti was awarded contracts by the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) under the name of the old company. "Once the name of a company is changed, the old name ceases to exist and the new name comes into existence. The Sancheti group used the old name as well as the new name concurrently to obtain more contracts than permitted,'' said officials. Government sources said VIDC's norms permitted a maximum of three contracts to a single contractor. Its tender condition clearly stipulated that in case of violation, the contractor would be blacklisted.

Sancheti is a close aide of BJP president Nitin Gadkari and his family has RSS links for the last three generations. His uncle, Chainsukh Sancheti, is the BJP MLA from Buldhana district.

Documents accessed by TOI reveal that the now defunct firm (Shakti Kumar) went on to bag four contracts; two in Gosikhurd in Bhandara district, one in Amravati district and another in Yavatmal district collectively worth Rs 1,350 crore. (VIDC later cancelled one of the tenders because it was awarded at an exorbitant rate.)

Simultaneously, SMS Infrastructure also procured projects worth an additional Rs 389 crore between 2006 and 2009.

Sancheti was not available for comment despite several attempts to contact him.

MPs protest 250% dam cost escalation

In November 2011, two MPs wrote to Union water resources minister Pawan Kumar Bansal about the unusual increase in the cost of the Purna barrage-2 (Ner Dhamana) irrigation project. The work was awarded to Sancheti. BJP's Haribhau Jawale and Shiv Sena's Nandrao Adul complained that its cost had shot up from Rs 182 crore to Rs 638 crore. "The design finalization was done way ahead after the tender was awarded. This resulted in excess expenditure by more than three times,'' said Jawale's letter. He further said that the original 2008 administrative approval was obtained without following due procedure. "If tender had been awarded post-finalization of design, it would have saved a lot of money and resources. As a result, cost of irrigating the land is estimated at Rs 9.19 lakh a hectare whereas the normal cost is around Rs 2 lakh a hectare,'' he added. The Centre had imposed a condition that the project be completed within the sanctioned amount. "However, reality seems to be far different as the project cost is revised drastically. Definitely, there seems to major manipulation causing undue benefit to certain vested interests,'' said Jawale. He urged the minister not to sanction the revised estimate as it was an "unrealistic'' one.


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News Network
June 2,2020

New Delhi, Jun 2: India on Tuesday reported 8,171 more COVID-19 cases and 204 deaths in the last 24 hours as the country's virus count inches closer to two lakh, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total number of cases in the country now stands at 1,98,706 including 97,581 active cases, 95,527 cured/discharged/migrated and 5,598 deaths.

Cases in Maharashtra have crossed 70,000 including over 30,000 recovered while Tamil Nadu's COVID-19 tally jumped to 23,495.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The Centre has written to all states and Union Territories stating that smartphones and tablet devices should be allowed for hospitalised Covid-19 patients so that they can interact with family and friends through video conferencing, which would provide them psychological support.

Though mobile phones are allowed in hospital wards, the missive was issued following some representation from the kin of patients alleging otherwise.

Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) in the Health Ministry Dr Rajiv Garg in the letter to the principal secretaries of health and medical education of states and Union territories said appropriate protocols for disinfecting devices and allotting timeslots can be developed by the hospital concerned to facilitate contact between patients and their family.

He underlined that administrative and medical teams should be responsive to the psychological needs of patients admitted in Covid-19 wards and ICUs of various hospitals.

"Social connection can calm down patients and also reinforce the psychological support given by the treating team. Please instruct all concerned that they should allow smartphones and tablet devices in patient areas so that the patient can video conference with their family and friends," stated the letter issued on July 29.

"Though mobile phones are allowed in the wards to enable a patient stay in touch with his or her family, we received representations from the patient families from some states stating mobile phones are not being allowed by hospital administrations because of which they were not being able to stay in contact with the patient," said Dr Garg.

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News Network
May 19,2020

May 19: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's office on Tuesday said the Uttar Pradesh government has demanded that the 1,000 buses the party wants to ply for ferrying migrant labourers back to the state be handed over in Lucknow this morning and alleged that the move is politically motivated.

It also alleged that the demand shows that the UP government lacks the intention to help those stranded at the state's borders.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday had accepted the Congress' offer to run 1,000 buses to bring migrant labourers back to the state, a proposal which had triggered a war of words between the two sides.

In a letter to Additional Chief Secretary Avneesh Kumar Awasthi, Priyanka Gandhi's private secretary Sandeep Singh said a letter was received from the UP official at 11.40 am via email, in which it has been stated that 1,000 buses with all documents be handed over at Lucknow by 10 am on Tuesday.

"In a situation when thousands of workers are walking on the streets and thousands of people have gathered at the UP borders at various registration centres, sending 1,000 empty buses to Lucknow is not only a waste of time and resources but is also inhuman and the product of an anti-poor mindset," Singh said in the letter in Hindi.

"This demand of your government seems politically motivated. It does not seem that your government wants to help our labourer brothers and sisters who are facing a disaster," the letter said.

The state government had asked Priyanka Gandhi, who had made the offer, to provide it with a list of buses along with the names of their drivers and conductors.

Subsequently, her private secretary Singh had given details of the buses and its drivers to the UP government in an email.

"All details of the 1,000 buses are attached with this e-mail. Out of them, a few drivers will be reverified and those details will also be mailed to you in a few hours. I hope you will give permission for those buses to ply as soon as possible," Singh had said in the communication to the UP government on Monday.

The Congress leader had recently written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, seeking permission to run 1,000 buses at her party's expense.

The party had then accused the BJP-run UP government of ignoring the offer.

"The offer made to the chief minister through the letter on May 16 in connection with migrant labourers has been accepted," Additional Chief Secretary Awasthi (Home and Information) had said in a letter to Priyanka Gandhi's private secretary.

A little later on Twitter, Priyanka Gandhi, who is the Congress general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, had thanked Adityanath.

"Thank you for allowing us to run 1,000 buses at the expense of the Congress to help thousands of brothers and sisters walking on the roads in Uttar Pradesh," she had tweeted in Hindi.

She had said the Congress will stand with these people during the difficult time they face.

In a television interview earlier on Monday, Adityanath accused the Congress of playing politics over the plight of migrant workers.

Singh in his letter on Tuesday also expressed surprise at the chief minister, saying his government was demanding the details of buses since the last three days and asserted that the details were provided immediately after the letter from the UP government was received in this regard.

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