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A Tag On The Taj

Rebuffed by Delhi, and with documentary evidence out on the Taj corridor scam, CM Mayawati is in a spot <a href=pti_coverage.asp?gid=50>Updates</a>

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A Tag On The Taj
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  • Documentary evidence with Outlook points to the fact that on November 1, 2002, Mayawati's government under orders of state environment secretary R.K. Sharma okayed the release of Rs 17 crore to the National Projects Construction Committee (NPCC) for starting work.

  • Minutes of a meeting confirms the decision taken by the Mission Management Board on October 12, 2002, granting formal approval to the project. Signatories include state tourism minister Nasimuddin Siddiqi, UP chief secretary P.L. Punia and other senior environment, tourism officials of the state government.

  • At the TTZ meeting on January 25, 2003, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials had told the commissioner, Agra, that no permission of any kind had been sought for work at the site.

  • A UP government order states explicitly that expenses over Rs 10 crore requires the Public Investment Board's clearance. The chief secretary is board chairman and it's impossible the CM didn't know what her top bureaucrat had given accent to.

  • To ward off those raising objections, a signboard at the construction site claimed the project had Supreme Court approval. This was crudely erased after the apex court took up the case.

  • At a ministry of forests and environment meeting, UP officials were clearly told that as per ASI guidelines no construction work would be allowed within 500 metres of the prohibited area around the Taj.

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