Saturday, April 7, 2012

“రాజకీయాల తీరుని మారిస్తేనే రాష్ట్రాన్ని రక్షించుకోగలం: యువతతో జేపీ” plus 4 more

“రాజకీయాల తీరుని మారిస్తేనే రాష్ట్రాన్ని రక్షించుకోగలం: యువతతో జేపీ” plus 4 more


రాజకీయాల తీరుని మారిస్తేనే రాష్ట్రాన్ని రక్షించుకోగలం: యువతతో జేపీ

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 06:50 AM PDT


Let us not ignore core issues, Dr. JP counsels youth

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 06:33 AM PDT

In our obsession with the future of certain politicians, we are failing to discuss the core issues that revolve round politics, said Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan here today.

"We frequently discuss how Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy's YSR Congress Party will fare in by-elections, the efforts being put in by TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu to make his party relevant and the growing schisms within the Congress. But we are not seriously concerned about eradicating corruption, improving education and healthcare, drinking water and power supply and infrastructure."

Addressing a group of students and youth who have come forward to devote a part of their time for transforming society, Dr. JP said that people in general focused on some burning issues to get immediate relief but not on resolving them for good. "We are missing the wood for trees", he pointed out.

Dr. JP cited a number of instances to drive home his message. People are concerned about drinking water availability in summer but fail to appreciate that the nearly Rs.7000 crore – Rs.8000 crore spent under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the State has not been utilized to preserve and augment groundwater. They launch an agitation against an increase in the power tariff but ignore the grave crisis in the energy sector. A Government which could not bring down transmission and distribution losses and prevent wasteful use of electricity is now determined to execute lift irrigation schemes which cost Rs.3 lakh to Rs.4 lakh an acre. If the schemes materialize, the Government will have to spend Rs.20000 crore to Rs.25000 crore a year on their maintenance. The Government will be spending Rs.60,000 an acre under the scheme whereas the income from that piece of land does not exceed Rs.25000. In contrast, he recalled that as Prakasam District Collector he provided irrigation facility for two lakh acres by incurring an expenditure of a mere Rs.45 crore on lift irrigation schemes and bore-wells. Again in the wake of the transfer of an official probing the liquor mafia, the discussion centered on who benefited from it and not on providing autonomy to crime investigation agencies.

Dr. JP counseled the youth to focus on changing the nature of politics and bettering society. We have the technologies and resources to build a better India, he added.

ఏసీబీకి స్వయంపత్తికోరుతూ శ్రీనివాసరెడ్డి కేసులో లోక్ సత్తా న్యాయపోరాటం

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 05:18 AM PDT


Lok Satta to wage legal battle: Transfer of ACB SIT chief

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 05:15 AM PDT

The Andhra Pradesh Government has betrayed its scant respect for democracy and good governance by transferring a top official investigating the liquor mafia in the State, charged the Lok Satta Party here today.

Addressing a media conference, Lok Satta Party leaders Bandaru Ramamohan Rao and P. Bhaskara Rao said the Government effected the transfer of ACB Additional Director, K. Srinivasa Reddy, heading the Special Investigation Team, to serve ruling party interests.

Pointing out that the transfer came in the wake of a truce brokered by the Congress High Command in New Delhi between Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and State Congress President Botsa Satayanarayana, the Lok Satta leaders said it amounted to the Center blessing the State leaders to persist with their policies of loot and plunder. The transfer came at a time when people felt that at long last a battle against the liquor mafia had been launched. The liquor mafia has been ruining the lives of millions of people through unbridled sale of liquor and spurious stuff through illegal outlets.

Mr. Ramamohan Rao and Mr. Bhaskara Rao said that the Government in its bid to save the PCC President, Ministers, legislators and others facing allegations of receiving huge kickbacks from the liquor mafia has demoralized the bureaucracy. The Lok Satta Party will wage a legal battle against the transfer of Mr. Srinivasa Reddy and for grant of autonomy to the ACB.

The Lok Satta leaders recalled that the Central Bureau of Investigation had emerged by and large as an independent agency working under the supervision of the Central Vigilance Commission following a Supreme Court judgment in the Vineet Narayan case in 1997. The Supreme Court had in 2006 suggested in the Prakash Singh versus the Government of India case initiation of reforms in police administration to prevent political interference in crime investigation.

The ACB should be autonomous and work under the supervision of a strong and independent Lokayukta, they added.

The Lok Satta leaders asked why IAS and IPS officials, who had alleged witch-hunting in the wake of some CBI investigations, remained silent when a colleague of theirs had been shunted out for discharging his duty.

Good public transport system must: Dr.JP

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 10:54 PM PDT

A good public transportation system was a must if cities have to survive and it was essential that citizens support the elevated metro rail project instead of causing hurdles, said Lok Satta founder-president and Kukatpally MLA Jayaprakash Narayan.

Addressing a gathering at the Miyapur metro rail depot on Friday, he pointed out that top cities in the developed world had an efficient public transport system.

"It is very difficult to live in cities without it," he said. Initially, he did root for the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) but realised that too much of road widening was not possible.

"We need to inculcate the culture of utilising public transport," he said.

Mr. Narayan said the Hyderabad Metro Rail project was being taken up under the public, private partnership mode with less of a government burden. But he wanted it to be integrated with MMTS and RTC with a single transport authority for seamless travel through a single ticket.

Admitting that there were quite a few private properties being acquired for the project, he called for adequate compensation for those losing properties and livelihoods.

Mr. Bikshapathi Yadav said it was a matter of pride for people of his constituency as the depot was being built at Miyapur.

Courtesy: The Hindu