Inside Track

At whose cost?The government paid a hefty interest of Rs 2.5 crore per day on money raised from the markets during the four years the con...

At whose cost?

The government paid a hefty interest of Rs 2.5 crore per day on money raised from the markets during the four years the construction work on the Sardar Sarovar dam was stayed by the Supreme Court. This is only part of the avoidable financial burden on the exchequer created because of the legal maneuvers of environmental activists like Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan who were determined to stop the project.

By now the cost of the dam 8212; estimated originally at around Rs 20,000 crore 8212; has escalated to around Rs 30,000 crore. Few seem concerned over the delay and consequent loss of such mindboggling amounts. No one seems to bother about the waste of public funds anymore. I am reminded of the Gujarati phrase kaun na baap ni diwali burn up money freely when it is not at your father8217;s expense. Besides a substantial portion of the court8217;s valuable time was utilised in listening to the arguments from a battery of legal luminaries representing the state governments ofGujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the Union of India and the Andolan. A hundred volumes of legal arguments running into over 100,000 pages were presented to the court before it finally lifted the stay and gave an interim order fixing the height of the dam at 85 metres.

At the risk of sounding politically incorrect and insensitive towards social issues, I wonder whether the practice of filing PILs and issuing stays has not gone rather too far. Ensuring accountability and responsibility on the part of governments is important, but surely the other side should also display some sense of responsibility and consider the costs to the nation of its obstructionist behaviour. If projects are to be environmentally evaluated and norms enforced, then activism should begin at the drawing board stage, not when construction work is well underway. If the project has been started, it is obvious that legal action can only delay but not kill the project altogether.

Just coincidence?

Once ishappenstance, twice may be coincidence, but if it is more than three times one smells a conspiracy. The cold war between the BJP8217;s two titans, Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani, has been whispered about for long. Some go further and speculate that Advani has no interest in saving the Vajpayee government. They question why the normally shrewd Home Minister has tripped up so frequently contributing further to the shaky Vajpayee government8217;s problems.

After the nuclear tests when the PM was trying to reassure the international community of its peaceful intentions, Advani talked of adopting a more pro-active approach towards Pakistan and of the need for hot pursuits across the border. After the Graham Staines murder even as the government tried to prove its secular credentials, Advani gave the Bajrang Dal a character certificate. By bringing up the question of former Bihar governor Sunder Singh Bhandari8217;s transfer from the state, Advani ensured that Bhandari8217;s transfer would became an issue and the Congressdeveloped cold feet about backing President8217;s rule in Bihar. In a speech in Haryana, Advani proclaimed that the government would not be blackmailed by one- and two-member parties; insulted on his home territory, Om Prakash Chautala withdrew support to the ruling coalition.

It was at Advani8217;s press conference that Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.R. Kumaramangalam fired his fusillade at Jayalalitha, which was the proverbial last straw for the whimsical AIADMK boss. Last week, while Pramod Mahajan and other BJP leaders maintained that the BJP had the requisite numbers minus Jayalalitha, Advani conceded to the press that the arithmetic was not in their favour.

Taken for granted

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TMC boss G.K. Moopanar has reason to be deeply hurt. He has made it very clear that Sonia Gandhi has only to ask him and his party MPs will do her bidding. But there is no response from 10 Janpath, even though Moopanar put in a request for an interview with madam8217; several months ago. Moopanar was offended in October lastyear when his old foe T. Ramamurthy was installed as state president of the Tamil Nadu Congress. Now salt has been rubbed into Moopanar8217;s wounds with Sonia attending Subramanian Swamy8217;s tea party and profusely greeting Jayalalitha, who had even questioned how an Italian could become prime minister of India. But, then, Moopanar has three MPs and Jayalalitha 18. Besides, at least two TMC MPs will cross over to the Congress regardless of what Moopanar decides.Calendar art

Congress MP from Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, Maganti Venkateswara Rao was so delighted with a computer-generated picture of himself standing side by side with Sonia Gandhi, while his parents, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi smiled benignly down on the couple, that he made it into a calendar. Reddy distributed the brightly coloured calendar on behalf of his MRC group of companies throughout his constituency. Now some of his party rivals have complained to 10 Janpath that the picture is downright blasphemous and Rao is trying to withdraw thedistributed calendars.