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Weekly Edition Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49939 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 4 No. 22 CITY EDITION 26 Pages Rs. 8.00 www.thehindu.in
mi Prasad Maurya, who visited
the village on Friday. BSP gen-
eral secretary Naseemuddin
Siddiqui visited the village on
Saturday.
A delegation of the Bharati-
ya Janata Party also visited Ka-
tra Sahadat Ganj village. BJP
spokesman Vijay Bahadur
Pathak said a delegation com-
prising the partys Aonla MP,
Dharmendra Kashyap, B.L.
Verma and others visited the
village and met the bereaved
family members. Though the
village is in Badaun district, it
comes under the Aonla Lok
Sabha constituency, repre-
sented by Dharmendra Kash-
yap of the BJP.
1,000-crore Nirbhaya Fund
had been spent. There could be
nobigger example of the lackof
sensitivity of the Congress and
Mr. Gandhi.
Ms. Mayawati will visit Ka-
tra Saadatganj on Sunday, her
rst to meet the kin of an af-
fected family in years. A BSP
spokesman said Ms. Mayawati
would visit Badaun on June 1
to meet the family members of
the two cousins and be with
them in their time of sorrow
and ensure that justice is deliv-
ered to them.
Ms. Mayawatis proposed
visit follows a report submitted
to her by the Leader of the Op-
position in the Assembly, Swa-
LUCKNOW: Facing criticism
from all sides on the deterio-
rating law-and-order situation
in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minis-
ter Akhilesh Yadav on Satur-
day decided to recommend a
CBI inquiry into the gang rape
and murder of two minor girls
at Katra Sahadat Ganj village in
Badaundistrict. A formal letter
making the request would be
sent to the Centre soon, an of-
cial spokesman said.
When officials told Mr. Ya-
dav at a review meeting that
the families of the two cousins
wanted a CBI investigation, he
decided to recommend it, the
spokesman added.
The girls family members
donot want aninvestigationby
the State police. The ve ac-
cused include two policemen,
Chhtarapal and SarveshYadav,
who have been dismissed from
service.
Bahujan Samaj Party presi-
dent Mayawati demanded a
CBI investigation on Friday.
Congress vice-president Rahul
Gandhi, who met the girls
family members on Saturday,
too demanded a CBI inquiry.
The Bharatiya Janata Party
criticised Mr. Gandhi for vis-
iting the village. Party State
unit president Laxmikant Baj-
pai said that after patronising
the Samajwadi Party for the
past two years despite its mis-
deeds, criticising it now was
beyond comprehension. Not a
single penny from the Rs.
U.P. to seek CBI probe
into Badaun rape, murder
Atiq Khan
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi interacts with
women at Katra Sahadat Ganj village where two
sisters were raped and hanged from a tree, in
Badaun district on Saturday. PHOTO: PTI
MEERUT: The father of one
of the two girls raped and
hanged in Badaun district
said he had refused to
accept any compensation
fromthe government as
that would convey he had
settled the matter with
the accused.
The Uttar Pradesh
government had
announced an ex gratia of
Rs. 5 lakh to each of the
families of the victims.
On Saturday, Congress
vice-president Rahul
Gandhi met the families
of the victims at Katra
Sahadat Ganj village. Mr.
Gandhi attacked the
Centre and the Uttar
Pradesh government for
failing to deliver justice.
He spent 20 minutes with
the families of the two
sisters. Mr. Gandhi said
only a CBI probe would
bring out the truth as the
Uttar Pradesh police was
biased, inefficient and
corrupt. Taking a dig at
Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Akhilesh Yadav,
the Congress leader said
Mr. Yadav felt he had
completed his duty by
announcing the ex gratia.
DIG, Bareilly, R.K.S.
Rathore told The Hindu
that all the ve named in
the FIRhad been
arrested.
I want justice,
not money, says
victim's father
C.K. Chandramohan
NEW DELHI: Signalling a break
from the past, the Narendra
Modi government on Satur-
day announced the aboli-
tion of all Groups of
Ministers (GoMs) and Em-
powered Groups of Minis-
ters (EGoMs) for greater
accountability and
empowerment.
Nine EGoMs and 21 GoMs
were set up by the previous
UPA government to take de-
cisions on various matters
such as corruption, inter-
State water disputes, admin-
istrative reforms and gas and
telecom pricing, before
bringing them for the Cabi-
nets consideration.
During the UPA-II, 27
GoMs and 24 EGoMs were
formed with former Defence
Minister A.K. Antony head-
ing most of the EGoMs.
A press statement issued
by Mr. Modis office termed
the initiative a major move
to empower Ministries and
departments. While allocat-
ing portfolios to his Council
of Ministers, the Prime Min-
ister said all important pol-
icy matters would be their
domain.
The issues pending before
the EGoMs and GoMs will
now be processed by the
Ministries and departments.
This would expedite the
process of decision-making
and usher in greater ac-
countability in the system,
the statement said. Wher-
ever the Ministries face any
difficulties, the Cabinet Sec-
retariat and the Prime Min-
isters Office will facilitate
the decision making
process.
The announcement came
two days after Mr. Modi un-
veiled his 10-point agenda
with a directive to the Minis-
ters to prepare a list of issues
that they will take up in the
rst 100 days in office, with
focus on efficiency, delivery
systems and
implementation.
The former Minister and
Congress spokesperson
Manish Tewari said that the
GoMs and the EGoMs were
meant to operate as a single-
window clearance on issues
related tovarious Ministries.
This will ensure greater accountability
B. Muralidhar Reddy
Modi scraps GoMs, EGoMs
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya
Janata Party must act as a
bridge between the people
and the government,
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi told general secre-
taries of the BJP on
Saturday.
Calling for cooperation
between the government
and the organisational
wings of the party, and in-
dicating that he personally
would oversee it, Mr. Modi
told the leaders that such
interactions would contin-
ue.
On Sunday, Mr. Modi is
scheduled to visit the BJP
headquarters to interact
witha larger groupof party
functionaries. Page 10
Varghese K. George
Cooperate with government,
Modi tells party functionaries
NEW DELHI: Water Resources
Minister Uma Bharti will chair
an apex council to supervise
the water projects on the
Krishna and the Godavari.
The panel will have the
Chief Ministers of Andhra Pra-
desh and Telangana as its
members. The apex council
would be constituted shortly.
Gargi Parsai
Council for Krishna, Godavari projects
CLASSIFIEDS
Pages 6, 7 & 8
MAGAZINE
4 Pages
LITERARY REVIEW
4 Pages
BRIEFLY
Private FM channels
may be allowed to
broadcast news
MUMBAI: Information and
Broadcasting Minister
Prakash Javadekar said
here on Saturday that his
heart lay in permitting
independent, private news
radio broadcasts on FM
channels. Mr. Javadekar
said the radio industry
could hope for some good
news when the third
phase of FMexpansion
took place in the country.
Another report on Page 18
U.P. replaces Chief
Secretary
LUCKNOW: The Akhilesh
Yadav government in
Uttar Pradesh on Saturday
removed Chief Secretary
Javed Usmani and
appointed Alok Ranjan in
his place. A 1978 batch IAS
officer, Mr. Ranjan said he
would try to ensure clean
administration. Page 10
AHMEDABAD: Two bureaucrats
fromGujarat, in the Narendra
Modi government in the
State, are headed for the
Prime Ministers Office.
The State government re-
ceived an order on Friday
conrming the appointment
of A.K. Sharma as Joint Secre-
tary and Hiren Joshi as Offi-
cer on Special Duty in the
PMO. Mr. Sharma, a 1988
batch IAS officer of the Guj-
arat cadre, was Additional
Principal Secretary in the
Chief Ministers Office,
whereas Mr. Joshi was Officer
on Special Duty, Information
Technology, to the CM.
Mr. Sharma, as chief exec-
utive officer of the Gujarat
State Infrastructure Board,
was part of the key team of
officials who managed the Vi-
brant Gujarat summit. As
OSD IT, Mr. Joshi is said to
answer queries on social
media on Mr. Modis behalf.
Besides these two, Mr. Mo-
di, government sources said,
has taken a team of his per-
sonal staff with him to Delhi.
They include Jagdish Thakk-
er, a veteran in the CMO, who
served as Public Relations Of-
cer to several CMs. Howev-
er, his stint in Delhi, it seems,
will be temporary and he is
likely to return to Gujarat.
Mr. Modis personal assist-
ants in Gujarat O.P. Singh,
Tanmay Mehta and Dinesh
Thakur have also gone to
Delhi.
2 bureaucrats from
Gujarat move to PMO
Rahi Gaikwad
From Gandhinagar
to South Block
NEW DELHI: As part of its 100-
day agenda, the Modi gov-
ernment has set the ball roll-
ing on redesigning the
Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Guaran-
tee Scheme.
The objective is to ensure
that the assets created un-
der the scheme augment ru-
ral productivity, besides
providing jobs to unskilled
rural labourers.
The Modi government
plans to leverage the rede-
signed MGNREGS for devel-
opment of villages. The BJP
manifesto promised to link
the scheme to agriculture.
Minister for Rural Devel-
opment, Drinking Water,
Sanitation and Panchayati
Raj Gopinath Munde will on
June 5 and 6 discuss with
the Rural Development Sec-
retaries of all States the
process to be adopted for
drawing up MGNREGS
plans that will address the
specic requirements for
productive assets of each vil-
lage.
Mr. Munde is scheduled
to meet officials of the States
present on these two days in
Delhi for the Ministrys
quarterly review meeting.
Sources associated with
the 100-day agenda told The
Hindu, requesting anonym-
ity, that the task of designing
the village-specic plans
would be left to the district
headquarters.
Puja Mehra
UPA agship scheme to be rejigged
Another report on Page 11
NEW DELHI: The nial above the
dome of Humayuns Tomb a
vertical pole of Sal wood en-
cased in nine copper utensils
with a brass nish was
knocked down by the storm
that struck the Capital on Fri-
day evening.
A lightning conductor at-
tached to the nial, which
holds the auspicious inverted
heart-shaped kalash (pitcher),
was also dislodged by winds
that blew at 92 kilometres per
hour. This was replaced onSat-
urday. The structure is more
than 45 metres above the
ground.
Archaeological Survey of In-
dia (ASI) Director-General Ra-
kesh Tewari visited the world
heritage monument on Friday
night and put in place a four-
week-long restoration
schedule.
Mr. Tewari told The Hindu:
The wooden support holding
the kalash and other motifs is
broken. There is no structural
damage to the dome or the
monument and the nial has
been secured. The restoration
will be documented. It will be
decided as to which parts may
be retained and which parts re-
placed. The wooden shaft will
be replaced.
The work would be done by
the Aga KhanTrust for Culture
(AKTC), which completed the
tombs restoration last year
and has a 10-year memoran-
dumof understanding with the
ASI until 2017 for restoration
of more than 30 monuments in
the Nizamuddin area.
AKTC project director Rat-
ish Nanda said the wooden
pole, around ve metres tall
and 0.2 metres thick, was re-
placed more thana century ago
and had since rotted under the
impact of water and chemical
action from metallic
installations.
The wooden core dates
from1912 when the British re-
placed the original with a thin-
ner section, which has now
snapped. Matching wooden
support is being sought and
will be xed in a manner to
prevent water ingress... Since
the nial was determined to be
stable when repairs of the
dome were carried out by the
AKTC in 2009, it was not dis-
mantled to inspect the wooden
core, he said.
Mr. Nanda explained that
the nial, at its height, is sus-
ceptible to signicant wind
load and damage. Modernma-
terials and technology will be
used in the repairs to ensure
survival for another ve centu-
ries at least, he added.
An official attached to the
Union Culture Ministry, who
spoke on condition of anonym-
ity, said: The nial is bothdec-
orative and auspicious. There
should be control over the
amount of renovation work by
private agencies and there is a
need for the ASI to review their
functioning.
Storm knocks down nial on Humayuns Tomb dome
Pheroze L. Vincent
The dome of Humayuns Tomb without the nial
on Saturday. PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
Diesel costlier
by 50 paise
NEW DELHI: Diesel prices
were on Saturday hiked by
50 paise a litre, excluding
state levies, the second
increase in rates three
weeks. Page 10