Jayanthi Natarajan sat on 350 files that had clearances
Former Union minister Jayanthi Natarajan who quit Congress on Friday. (PTI photo)
NEW DELHI: Issue of green clearance was indeed a major irritant during Jayanthi Natarajan's tenure (2011-13) as environment minister, not only for private industries but also for public projects and defence infrastructure.
No one would have probably complained had it been for adhering to green laws and procedures. If one looks at the 350-odd files Natarajan and her office sat over at the time of her resignation in December, 2013, it may be clear that the files mainly related to those projects which had approval of expert appraisal committees.
And by the time the Congress leadership realized implications of keeping projects pending, it was too late. Still, her successor M Veerappa Moily could manage to clear projects worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore before the model code of conduct for 2014 general elections came into force in early March.
READ ALSO: Full text of Jayanthi Natarajan's explosive letter to Sonia Gandhi
The key approvals given by him included one on the South Korean steel giant Posco's Rs 52,000 crore steel plant in Odisha. It ended eight years of wait for a project that would involve the largest ever foreign direct investment in India.
The government had then got it done by putting a condition for clearance on Posco where the company would have to spend on "social commitments" and delink the plant from its port project. It raised the project cost but the company readily agreed for it.
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Govt to review projects flagged by Jayanthi Natarajan
Jayanthi Natarajan was sacked because of corruption charges: Congress
"If the government had got it done in January, 2014 by making certain rooms for it through conditions, it could have easily done it before. It shows the project got stuck because the government of the day might have opted for it," said an official who was involved in the process.
Posco was not the lone example. Moily quickly approved many projects within the first 30 days of taking additional charge of the ministry in December, 2013.
Many big-ticket projects worth over Rs 10 lakh crore had got stuck due to non-clearance on one pretext or the other during Natarajan's tenure. She had, in fact, inherited many of the pending files from her predecessor Jairam Ramesh.
The pendency during the period showed how the 'environmental clearance' issue (green tape) during the UPA regime had become a tool to stall projects by virtually replacing the 'Licence Permit Raj' (red tape regime) of the pre-1990s era.
Vedanta project of bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills in Odisha also showed how it was stalled under Jairam Ramesh's tenure to fulfill the promise of Rahul Gandhi to the local tribals. The permission was, however, formally denied during Natarajan's tenure under the Supreme Court's order which was later flagged by Gandhi as a trophy in political rallies in the state.
Moily tried to undone many things which were done during Natarajan's and Ramesh's tenures. Obviously, he had a mandate for it from the top, signaling a major shift in the Congress Party's stand from pro-environment to pro-industries barely three months before the 2014 parliamentary election.
Surprisingly, the list of stalled projects also included defence projects that were crucial from the security point of view. The ministry under the NDA government cleared all those projects that had already got nod from the expert committees under the UPA regime but remained stuck.
No one would have probably complained had it been for adhering to green laws and procedures. If one looks at the 350-odd files Natarajan and her office sat over at the time of her resignation in December, 2013, it may be clear that the files mainly related to those projects which had approval of expert appraisal committees.
And by the time the Congress leadership realized implications of keeping projects pending, it was too late. Still, her successor M Veerappa Moily could manage to clear projects worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore before the model code of conduct for 2014 general elections came into force in early March.
READ ALSO: Full text of Jayanthi Natarajan's explosive letter to Sonia Gandhi
The key approvals given by him included one on the South Korean steel giant Posco's Rs 52,000 crore steel plant in Odisha. It ended eight years of wait for a project that would involve the largest ever foreign direct investment in India.
The government had then got it done by putting a condition for clearance on Posco where the company would have to spend on "social commitments" and delink the plant from its port project. It raised the project cost but the company readily agreed for it.
READ ALSO
Govt to review projects flagged by Jayanthi Natarajan
Jayanthi Natarajan was sacked because of corruption charges: Congress
"If the government had got it done in January, 2014 by making certain rooms for it through conditions, it could have easily done it before. It shows the project got stuck because the government of the day might have opted for it," said an official who was involved in the process.
Posco was not the lone example. Moily quickly approved many projects within the first 30 days of taking additional charge of the ministry in December, 2013.
Many big-ticket projects worth over Rs 10 lakh crore had got stuck due to non-clearance on one pretext or the other during Natarajan's tenure. She had, in fact, inherited many of the pending files from her predecessor Jairam Ramesh.
The pendency during the period showed how the 'environmental clearance' issue (green tape) during the UPA regime had become a tool to stall projects by virtually replacing the 'Licence Permit Raj' (red tape regime) of the pre-1990s era.
Vedanta project of bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills in Odisha also showed how it was stalled under Jairam Ramesh's tenure to fulfill the promise of Rahul Gandhi to the local tribals. The permission was, however, formally denied during Natarajan's tenure under the Supreme Court's order which was later flagged by Gandhi as a trophy in political rallies in the state.
Moily tried to undone many things which were done during Natarajan's and Ramesh's tenures. Obviously, he had a mandate for it from the top, signaling a major shift in the Congress Party's stand from pro-environment to pro-industries barely three months before the 2014 parliamentary election.
Surprisingly, the list of stalled projects also included defence projects that were crucial from the security point of view. The ministry under the NDA government cleared all those projects that had already got nod from the expert committees under the UPA regime but remained stuck.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Jayanthi-Natarajan-sat-on-350-files-that-had-clearances/articleshow/46071845.cms?prtpage=1
Party defence is UPA self-goal: ‘Jayanthi Natarajan faces corruption charges’
No Congressman was ready to say why the UPA II government did not act against her after her resignation if they were aware of what she had done.
Written by Manoj C G | New Delhi | Posted: January 31, 2015 4:10 am
Rattled by Jayanthi Natarajan’s outburst against Rahul Gandhi and the high command, the Congress hit back Friday but its reaction ended up being a self-goal: an explicit admission of corruption in the UPA II government.
Rushing to the defence of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress said Natarajan was removed as environment minister in December 2013 in the wake of “serious allegations” of corruption against her. It even suggested that the ruling party could be in possession of “culpable material” against her which forced her to attack the Congress.
Her former cabinet colleague Anand Sharma went to the extent of saying that top industrialists had told him in 2013 that files were being cleared from Chennai, Natarajan’s home town and that they were being asked to take the files to a particular OSD (officer on special duty) there.
M Veerappa Moily, who succeeded her as environment minister, said she had held back many files which “surprised” him. “There were heaps of files. We were surprised because normally we never keep so many files pending for decisions.”
Sharma claimed top industrialists complained about the state of affairs in the environment ministry during a CII roundtable meet in Mumbai in August, 2013.
“In Mumbai, they did complain to me about her bitterly. They said in the presence of senior secretaries of the Government of India that files were cleared from Chennai. Specific complaints were made in their presence. Why should a cabinet minister take files home. I did not take files pertaining to my ministry to Shimla. They (industrialists) complained that they were asked to take the files to a particular OSD there… They told me that I should understand the reason when they were asked to go to a specific OSD,” he said, adding that “hundreds of files” had to be collected from Chennai after she resigned.
At the AICC briefing, spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi alleged Natarajan was acting at the behest of her new “political masters” who may have got evidence against her. He said there was “serious allegations” against her which led to her removal.
“It is clear that the pressure (has been) exerted by the same persons who coined the phrase Jayanti Tax and possibly all the culpable material which these persons have now… perhaps that is the reason for the press conference and the letter. We deprecate and condemn such pressure tactics. But that is the obvious reason,” Singhvi said.
But no Congressman was ready to say why the UPA II government did not act against her after her resignation if they were aware of what she had done.
Asked about it, Singhvi said there is a “difference between provable charges and information and serious allegations and removal for the latter is possible not necessary a legal proceeding… Serious allegations don’t mean legally chargeable, but they can certainly mean politically requiring a removal from the post like that of minister.”
So, why didn’t the Congress come out with these facts earlier? “We exercised restraint. We are responding today to the lack of exercise of restraint by her,” Singhvi said.
So wasn’t this an admission of corruption in the UPA II? “The UPA II being corrupt and serious charges against an individual are two, sky and earth, things,” Singhvi said.
The Congress said there was nothing wrong in Rahul Gandhi raising issues of environmental protection with her when she was the minister. “Any Congress worker, any MP or MLA is entitled to bring to the minister’s attention complaints from aggrieved quarters and the minister should act,” Singhvi said.
At Birla office, I-T found entries marked ‘payment’ for ‘Project J (Environment)’
Written by Ritu Sarin | New Delhi | Posted: January 31, 2015 4:13 am | Updated: January 31, 2015 4:49 am
With Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar indicating that projects dealt with by former UPA environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan will be put under the scanner, a set of entries in documents recovered by the Income-Tax Department from the office of the Aditya Birla Group during a raid in October 2013 could also be up for scrutiny.
The raid was conducted as a follow-up to the CBI probe into the group’s alleged role in the Hindalco coal allotment scandal.
Two annexures, categorised as Annexure A-1 and Annexure A-2, are now part of the appraisal report prepared by I-T’s investigation wing and as first reported by The Indian Express (on January 15, 2015), the assessment wing has a March 2016 deadline to complete its report
the findings. A scrutiny of the 167-page appraisal report shows that there are 13 entries listed on Page 2 of Annexure-2 which are called “payments under Project – J, Environment and Forest” and these add up to Rs 7.08 crore. Dates of these entries are between January 9, 2012 and February 2, 2012.
the findings. A scrutiny of the 167-page appraisal report shows that there are 13 entries listed on Page 2 of Annexure-2 which are called “payments under Project – J, Environment and Forest” and these add up to Rs 7.08 crore. Dates of these entries are between January 9, 2012 and February 2, 2012.
The two Birla executives whose statements were recorded by the IT sleuths after the search were also questioned about these “Project J” entries but they did not provide specific answers. Their statements on nature of entries found in the recovered documents, too, form part of the appraisal report.
Anand Kumar Saxena, Deputy General Manager (Accounts) of ABMCL (Aditya Birla Management Corporation Pvt Ltd) said the entries were a “summary of unaccounted cash receipts already recorded.” Shubhendu Amitabh, Group Executive President, said: “The notings on this page relates to a proposal project which was under contemplation upon by me in course of my real estate financing activity. This was only at a proposal stage…”
The IT Department had recovered Rs 25.13 crore in cash from the Delhi office of ABMCL during the search. On December 19 last year, The Indian Express gave a written questionnaire to the company asking, among other things, details on these 13 entries listed under “Project – J, Environment and Forest.” No response was received.
When asked about these entries today, an ABMCL spokesperson said: “We don’t know how this matter is being remotely connected to us and make no sense of any suggestions of payments being made to the former Environment Minister.”
Natarajan was unavailable for comment.
Natarajan was unavailable for comment.