MUMBAI, Dec 5: In a near-Pavlovian response, Ministers of the State cabinet, who till a couple of days ago, needed to be goaded by the Chief Minister to make their presence in the Mantralya felt more often, are now thronging the secretariat. But when poll bells toll, their warning echoes are known to do strange things to politicians. And one such dreaded echo nagging the members of Joshi Cabinet is the fear of model code of conduct.After the dissolution of the 11th Lok Sabha and the subsequent certainty of mid-term polls, the members of State Cabinet are scurrying around to get several of their long-pending proposals cleared before the Election Commission clamps the code by which the State Government will be restrained from any policy decision that can directly or indirectly influence the electorate. The code will also put a complete ban on transfer of officials who are directly or indirectly connected with the election work. In addition, the cabinet members will be prohibited from holding official meetings either in Mantralaya or any part of the State.In their hectic race to beat this code, most of the Cabinet members have asked their private secretaries to prepare a list of pending proposals and draft new ones on a war footing so that the same could be placed for approval.``Once the Election Commission declares the election programme for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, the government will virtually cease to exist till the final results are declared. Now, we will have to rush our files to get the approval of the cabinet,'' a senior Shiv Sena Minister told The Indian Express.Most frantic are Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, Public Works Minister Nitin Gadkari, Housing Minister Sureshdada Jain and Finance Minister Mahadev Shivankar. If the code of conduct comes into force in a day or two, then Gadkari's ambitious programme of laying foundation stones for 40 flyovers in the metropolis during December-January will be buried. In fact, Gadkari had sensed the pitfall and hence rushed through the programme to lay the foundation stone for the much delayed Mumbai-Pune Expressway on November 30 without waiting for a date from Prime Minister IK Gujral who was supposed to grace the occasion. The programme was put off twice as Gujral could not make it due to security and other reasons. Finally, Gadkari fell back on Bal Thackeray to lay the foundation stone for the prestigious project. Another major policy decision which will have to be taken before the code of conduct is promulgated is the one on recommendations of the Sukthankar Committee on dilapidated and old buildings in the metropolis and surplus textile mills land. Since last four Cabinet meetings, Joshi has been postponing the decision on these two issues for one reason or the other. On December 2, his birthday, it was expected that he will announce the decision on the recommendations of the Sukthankar Committee. Apparently, the alliance government is all set to accept the recommendation of the committee that the ownership of flats in the buildings reconstructed by the Repair and Reconstruction Board should be transferred in the names of the present occupants. A decision on the controversy over the disposal of surplus land and hutments on the textile mill land too has been deferred on several occasions.Expressing the general fear of his colleagues Mahadev Shivankar said that major policy decisions like the one on resource mobilisation will have to be deferred if the code of conduct comes into force in next two to three days.``Chief Minister Manohar Joshi will have to take decisions on all these policy matters within next two to three days otherwise, we will be in deep trouble,'' a senior BJP Minister added.The Minister said the complete failure of the alliance government to provide free houses to slumdwellers will be the main poll plank in the metropolis. ``There is no doubt that it was not be possible to provide houses to 40 lakh slumdwellers in five years, but we should have been in a position to at least provide 10,000 houses in two and half years,'' the minister added. Pending projects* Sukthankar panel report on old buildings and surplus mill land.* Stone-laying for 40 flyovers in Mumbai* Policy decision on resource mobilisation
