BJP spreading misinformation about my house: Akhilesh
Lucknow, June 13 : Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of spreading misinformation about the house he vacated and also targeted the media for coming under pressure to show concocted pictures about alleged damage done at his residence he occupied till last week.
The former Chief Minister alleged that senior IAS official Mrityunjay Narayan and the OSD to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Abhishek, visited the residence before it was given to the Estates Department and threw it open to the media as part of a conspiracy.
Questioning the motive behind these high-profile visits, a visibly upset Akhilesh Yadav warned the officials not to stoop so low as government changes.
Rubbishing charges that he had even ripped off taps from the sprawling bungalow, he held two steel taps and dared the government to show him the inventory. Even one item was missing, he would immediately pay for it.
"Things like taps are generally stolen by drug addicts... If our government comes to power again, we will find out who these drug addicts among the bureaucracy were," he said, his voice choking with anger.
Akhilesh Yadav has been accused by the government of badly damaging the residence he was forced to vacate following a Supreme Court directive.
After vacating his sprawling house, on which officials say the previous government spent Rs 42 crore, the authorities have alleged widespread damage, including ripping up of floorings, tiles as well as electrical and plumbing fittings.
The government has ordered a probe into the issue and a cross checking of the inventory of the bungalow is underway.
Governor Ram Naik has also taken cognizance of the matter and asked the state government to thoroughly probe the issue and ensure that the damages to the house, built at public expenses, are recovered.
The 45-year-old Akhilesh Yadav also targeted the Governor but without naming him and said people who were sleeping otherwise had woken up now.
The Samajwadi Party chief claimed that the BJP had been badly hit by back-to-back defeats in elections in Kairana, Phulpur, Noorpur and Gorakhpur and so it was resorting to a misinformation campaign against him.
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Illegal sand mining has created environmental crisis in National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday said rampant illegal riverbed sand mining has created an "environmental crisis" and wreaked "havoc" in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, causing a grave risk to the gharial (long-snouted crocodile) preservation project.
Slamming the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for their utter failure in dealing with the issue, the apex court directed them to install high-resolution Wi-Fi-enabled CCTV cameras along all routes frequently used for illegal sand mining in the area.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta directed that live feed of such surveillance cameras shall be placed under the direct control, supervision and operational oversight of the superintendent of police or the senior superintendent of police of the concerned district and the divisional forest officer.
It said these officers shall ensure continuous and effective monitoring of the CCTV feeds by designating appropriate officers.
"It can't be gainsaid that the issues involved are of great concern in as much as the rampant illegal mining activities in the river bed have created an environmental crisis and havoc in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary causing a grave risk to the very project of gharial preservation of which the state governments themselves were proponents and were under an obligation to foster and promote," Justice Mehta said while pronouncing the order.
The bench directed the authorities in these three states to initiate prompt and necessary action under law if any instance of illegal mining or allied activities comes to light.
It said the authorities shall ensure seizure of vehicles or machinery found involved in illegal sand mining and also initiate prosecution of persons involved in it.
The bench, which passed several other directions, posted the matter for hearing on May 11.
The top court passed the order in a suo motu case titled 'In Re: Illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Sanctuary and threat to endangered aquatic wildlife'.
The National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 5,400-sq km tri-state protected area.
Besides the endangered gharial, it is home to the red-crowned roof turtle and the endangered Ganges river Dolphin.
Located on the Chambal river near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the sanctuary was first declared a protected area in Madhya Pradesh in 1978 and now constitutes a long and narrow eco-reserve co-administered by the three states.
On March 13, the top court took suo motu cognisance of news reports about rampant illegal sand mining on the banks of the Chambal river.
