:: Dilip Cherian

Roadblocks on highway

By Dilip Cherian

May 03 : Netas may go on electoral road shows but the march of new roads has halted. Some say it’s the financial meltdown that has impacted road projects. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has apparently had to shelve projects worth Rs 70,000 crore and can no longer guarantee completion of its various highway projects. Moreover, last year, NHAI had set itself a worthy target of Rs 1,700 crore in toll revenue on the back of increased collections. But that was before the meltdown. Now it is struggling gamely to reach that magic figure. And with the NHAI complaining to the Centre that the Orissa government is preventing it from collecting toll from a newly-opened highway, we can expect even toll collections to dip further. Or will matters improve after elections? Nobody knows.

But more worrisome for NHAI bosses is the delay in completing prestigious road projects. A. Didar Singh, member finance, NHAI, believes that around 60 projects slated to be completed by 2009 will not meet the deadline due to lack of bidders and procedural delays. Even in the capital, the proposed flyover at Badarpur is unlikely to meet its Commonwealth Games deadline due to a lingering dispute with another government agency over land acquisition. In fact, NHAI may also end up shelling out a hefty penalty for the delay. Surely that can’t be blamed on the economy!

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Power play

Dark horse V.S. Sampath, secretary power, has pipped heavies like Maharashtra chief secretary Johny Joseph, Karnataka chief secretary Sudhakar Rao, former power secretary Anil Razdan and law secretary T.K. Vishwanathan to the post of Election Commissioner. He will join the Election Commission while Navin Chawla has taken over as the new Chief Election Commissioner. Mr Sampath’s appointment has set tongues wagging. Sources variously suggest the hand of Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy or former Andhra Pradesh governor and presently Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in his appointment.

Mr Sampath’s appointment came barely two days after United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson and All-India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi’s political tour to Karimnagar in Andhra, fuelling speculation that the rank outsider’s name was suggested by none other than chief minister Reddy.

With Mr Sampath moving to Nirvachan Sadan, the big question is who will succeed him at the ministry of power. According to sources it’s a toss-up between 1973 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer U.N. Panjiyar and 1973 batch UP cadre IAS officer Ajay Shankar.

Watch this space for updates.