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Journalism of Courage
In Mayawati’s Uttar Pradesh, aggressive politics is taking its toll on geography. As elephants — the BSP election symbol — brought to Lucknow for the Mahapardafash rally, criss-cross the main roads, green trees are being felled on a lage scale to clear up the way.
The April 14 rally, billed as the ‘‘biggest ever political congregation in the state’’, is expected to see Mayawati making some ‘‘big revealations’’ to counter Samajwadi Party’s CD campaign that had sought to tarnish her political image.
A lawyer Sangam Lal Pandey has moved an application before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad HC seeking direction for restraining the state government, Lucknow Nagar Nigam and the Lucknow Development Authority from cutting tress near Ambekar Maidan and also in vicinity of the huge Ambekar statue at Hazratganj. ‘‘Green trees of neem, sheesham, peepal, mango and tamarind have been cut with no protests from anywhere,’’ said Pandey. The application will come up before the bench tomorrow.
Sources said the BSP has booked four special trains at a cost of Rs 4.5 lakh each to ensure proper transportation to the party workers who will start pouring in to Lucknow from April 12.
The state Appointments Department has issued a GO to engage officials including 29 PCS officers for duties at the rally. ‘‘They will be posted at parking slots with attached special jobs from April 10 till the end of the programme,’’ said directives of the DM Navneet Sehgal whom they will report to tomorrow.
While the rally will be held at the Ambekar maidan, provisions have been made for recreation of the rallyists at the Laxman Mela Ground where a model Ambekar village has been put up. The DM and the SSP Anil Agarwal have already held several rounds of meetings with the DRM Northern railway, R.K.Bansal, to give a final shape to additional trains and also measures to avoid tragedies like that at the Charbagh railway station during the Dhikkar Rally in November last year in which 16 rallyists were killed in a stampede.
As many as 41 companies of paramilitary forces, 3 SPs, 14 ASPs, 32 DySPs, 4,600 constables and 822 SIs will remain on the prowl on city streets from April 10. In the meantime, senior officials under leadership of the state chief secretary are busy finalising the ‘‘revelations’’ about the SP which the CM will make at the rally.
In one of the latest CDs that the SP had released, Mayawati was seen reportedly saying not to offer anything to gods and instead give these for the party coffers. Orders have already been issued to DMs and SPs to prepare a list of beneficiaries of the government largesse doled out from the discretionary fund by Mulayam during his tenure as CM.
