Four out of 17 Gujarat ministers face criminal cases, 16 are ‘crorepati’
Ahmedabad(PTI): Four out of the 17 ministers in the new BJP government in Gujarat face criminal cases, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has said. As many as 16 ministers including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel are `crorepatis' or own assets worth Rs 1 crore or more, it said.
The new council of ministers was sworn in on Monday following the BJP's landslide victory in the Assembly elections.
Minister of State for Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Parshottam Solanki faces two charges of cheating and dishonesty under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, one charge of `forgery of valuable security' under section 467 and one charge of forgery under section 465, the ADR report said.
Three other ministers -- Harsh Sanghavi, Rushikesh Patel and Raghavji Patel -- face relatively minor charges such as disobedience of order passed by public servant under IPC section 188 and defamation under section 500, among others.
ADR, which works for electoral reforms, said the report is based on self-sworn affidavits of MLAs.
Average assets of ministers are Rs 32.7 crore, against Rs 3.95 crore for the previous 25-member ministry. Minister with the highest declared assets is Balvantsinh Rajput. He owns assets worth Rs. 372.65 crore, the report said.
Bachubhai Khabad has the lowest declared assets of Rs 92.85 lakh. Six ministers have studied between 8th and 12th standard, eight ministers have completed graduation or post-graduation, and three ministers are diploma-holders.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel (60) holds a diploma in civil engineering.
Three ministers are below 50 years of age. Harsh Sanghvi (37) happens to be the youngest member of the council of ministers while Kanubhai Desai, 71, is the senior-most member.
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
