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Mumbai, 30 September, 2019.

The government is not building the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial out of respect and love for the warrior king, but since the beginning it has been a money making project for them. The extent of corruption in the project is more than one thousand crores..

Infact, the large scale corruption in project is proving to be a dark chapter in 59 years of political legacy of the state and after this the devotees of Shivaji Maharaj will not forgive the government who has played with their emotions, said Sachin Sawant, general secretary and spokesperson of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Commitee in a joint press conference with Nawab Malik, spokesperson of the NCP.

Speaking to media persons on the issue at Gandhi Bhavan on Monday, Sawant and Malik exposed the murky dealings in the Shiv Smarak project once again. This is the second part of the expose, a similar press conference was held a few days ago on the same issue.

In the previous press conference it was proved with proof that the negotiations undertaken by the government to bring the project cost down was objected by senior officials in the department.

The short listed contractor for the project, L&T had submitted a Rs 3800 crore bid which the government brought down to Rs 2500 crore through negotiations. The auditor department has raised objections to the negotiations and has also sought a detailed inquiry into it.

Sawant and Malik both said the government’s base price for the tender was kept Rs 2692.50 crore but L&T company’s bid was Rs 3826 crore, 42%higher than the government’s estimate. In this situation, the government should have re-called for fresh tenders, but the estimated price will be lesser by more than one thousand crores after the changes in the design.

The government is giving a perception that the have saved public money by negotiating with the L&T to bring down the already inflates bids. It is a scam of more than one thousand crore.

What is surprising is that even after knowing that they do not have the right to change the design and negotiate the bids the government still went ahead and did it.

In a meeting of the committee under the chief secretary it was expected that a legal advice from the law and judiciary department or from the Attorney General of the state should have been sought on whether the government can negotiate with the bidder. But instead, in a surprising move, M/s Aegis India Pvt Ltd the project consultant said that they have on their own appointed a well-known legal consultant whose opinion will be sought on the tender issue. And said that the report from the legal consultant will be submitted in the next meeting. The committee gave it’s approval to this unsolicited and uncalled for proposal.

As per the proposal, Aegis India Pvt Ltd, took a legal opinion from former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and retired judge VN khare. But when the report submitted by these two legal experts were studied it was found to be word to word same. And prime facie it looked like it was written by the same person, said Sawant.

Point number 13-22 in the report submitted by Rohatgi and point number 12-20 in the report submitted by retire judge Khare are word to word same.

Both the reports were tabled in the chief secretary chaired meeting on February 22, 2018.

It was expected that before the reports were approved, they would be sent for scrutiny to the law and judiciary department. But, the government was in such hurry to give the contract to L&T that the report was verbally approved by the law and judiciary department secretary Shri. Bhagwat. Shri. Bhagwat has no relation to the tender related subject. Based on the all this, Chief Minister have his approval to the project on February 28,2018. The public works department sent a letter seeking L&T’s approval for the project. All the changes were studied by L&T in just one day and approved the project on March 1. And that day itself Chief Minister handed over the letter of allotment to the company. From the entire sequence of events it is amply clear that everything was being done to benefit L&T.

For the legal opinion that Mukul Rohatgi gave he has sent a bill of Rs 15 lakh to Aegis India on 17 February, 2018. The public works department wrote to the Rohatgi and Khare on 12 October 2018 asking them whether the legal opinion was indeed given by them and also whether they received the payment for it from Aegis India. The department also asked them to submit the receipt of receiving the payment from Aegis.

It’s been over a year since the letter was written, but neither Rohatgi nor Khare has submitted the receipt. After a proper Inquiry it will be revealed if the payment was given by contractor company.

What is even for serious is that after the Supreme Court gave oral orals to stay the project on 11 January 2019, but in July 2019 Mukul Rohatgi representing as a lawyer to L& the matter before Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on the issue, which is a clear case of conflict of interest.

On one hand Rohatgi gave legal opinion in favour of L&T based on which the government gives them the contract, and on the other hand Rohatgi also represents L&T in court. This shows the level of irregularities involved in the project.

Vinayak Mete who is being asked by the government to defend the project today, had also written to Chief Minister on 15 September 2015 pointing out the corruption in the project exactly on the lines of Congress and NCP.

He has also said that the government was pressurising the officials to release Rs 80 crore to L&T. The letter written by Mete points towards the corrupt practices in the project.

He also said that will signing the agreement many important elements of the project were not included. Also departmental officers were threatened with suspension or inquiry to get them to sign the agreement and work order of the project. The work order which is usually issued once, in this was issued three times and so there must be an investigation in the entire process.

Despite such serious irregularities chief minister has not yet announced an inquiry in the project. This silence from the government on such serious issues shows that the government is aware about corruption.

Also the demand of give a mobilisation advance of Rs 81 crore to L&T for which the government is pressuring the departmental staff, is also an unheard thing in Maharashtra.

To release the advance is an attempt to give the company benefits without they having to do any work, this was also said by Mete in his letter.

And so all the allegations made by Congress and NCP about the corruption in the project are all being proved right said Sawant. He also said that both Nawab Malik and himself will complain to the Chief Vigilance Commissioner’ and if needed approach the court.

• Name : Ashutosh Gowariker.
• Date of Birth : 15th February 1964.
• Wife/ Spouse : Sunita Gowariker.
• Hometown : Kolhapur.

Ashutosh Gowariker is a multitalented mature director, producer, actor. Though he is a Marathi guy but he has acquired a reputation and a special place in bollywood. He is the owner of AGPPL that is Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Pvt. Ltd.. He has many super hit films to his name. Lagaan, Swades, Jodhaa Akbar, Mohenjodaro, Khele Hum Jee Jaan Se, What’s Your Rashee, Ventilator. He is one of the directors who always come up with some unseen and unheard stuff from History. It makes his films epic and different. His each film is different, right from different era to different facts.

Swades was the first film which was produced under AGPPL but Lagaan gave birth to AGPPL. Lagaan was directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and produced by star itself, Aamir Khan. While doing Lagaan this brilliant director had Swades’s concept in mind, which encouraged him to start his own production house. He recently acted in a Marathi film Ventilator which was produced by bollywood diva Priyanka Chopra. He has acted in his young age in bollywood film Chamatkar.

Ashutosh Gowariker is basically from Kolhapur. He is married to Sunita Gowariker. He has a kind of a talent which finds its ways even in unsuitable conditions. He is one of the best directors in India. Also he has received many awards for his finest films.

World’s best footballer Lionel Messi will not play again for Argentina this year after being handed a suspension and fine for his criticism of South American Football Confederation.

The Barcelona superstar accused the South American governing body of being “corrupt” during the Copa America.

He was already banned one game, a World Cup qualifier, in the wake of the row, but further punishment has been dished out.

Messi will be given a three-month ban from international duty which will see him miss Argentina’s friendlies with Chile and Mexico in September and Germany in October.

The 32-year-old superstar was shown a red card in the third-place play-off against Chile at the start of July. Argentina won the game, but Messi fumed and did not appear on the pitch for the medal ceremony.

When asked why he wasn’t present, he told reporters at the time: “Because we don’t have to be part of this corruption, this lack of respect towards the whole Copa.

India made a heavy weather of a modest run chase after debutant pacer Navdeep Saini led an impressive bowling display but still managed to beat West Indies by four wickets in their first T20 International match in Lauderhill, USA on Saturday.

Chasing 96 for a win, India huffed and puffed before reaching the target with 2.4 overs to spare.

None of the batsmen contributed big with opener Rohit Sharma top-scoring with 24 while captain Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey making 19 each.

Saini claimed three wickets for 17 while Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets to restrict West Indies to 95 for 9 after they were put to bat.

India struggled in their run chase and they were reduced to 32 for 2 in the seventh over with opener Shikhar Dhawan (1) and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant (0) dismissed cheaply.

Rohit’s 24 came from 25 deliveries with the help of two fours and two sixes on a pitch which was not easy to bat on.

Veteran off-spinner Sunil Narine (2/14) did not allow India to get off to a good start by removing Rohit and Pant in consecutive deliveries in the seventh over.

Pant was out the first ball he faced while playing an irresponsible shot.

Manish Pandey was out in the 12th over and Kohli followed him two overs later as India found themselves at a spot of bother at 69 for 5 in the 14th over with 27 runs still needed. Krunal Pandya (12) added 19 runs with Ravindra Jadeja (10 not out) before he was out in the 16th over.

But the target proved too small in the end as Washington Sundar (8 not out) hit a six to take India to 98 for 6 to wrap up the match in 17.2 overs.

Earlier, Saini claimed three wickets in an impressive spell as India restrict a reckless West Indies to a paltry 95 for 9.

Opting to field, all the six Indian bowlers got at least a wicket apiece with Saini returning with figures of 3/17 in his debut match. The Indians were also helped by the reckless approach of West Indian batsmen.

There was no substantive partnership in the West Indies innings with the highest being the 34 between captain Carlos Brathwaite (9) and top-scorer Kieron Pollard (49) for the sixth wicket.

Nicholas Pooran (20) was the only other West Indies batsman to score double digit figures. India opened bowling with off-spinner Washington Sundar (1/18) and got a wicket in the second ball itself with John Campbell slapping straight to deep midwicket fielder Krunal Pandya.

The other opener Evin Lewis fell in the second over with pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/19) beating him with a knuckle ball to rattle his timber. Both the openers failed to open their accounts as the West Indies were reduced to 8/2.

Despite the two quick wickets, the West Indians continued to be aggressive in their approach and Saini exploited the situation by claiming two wickets in two balls in the fifth over.

Pooran, who was looking dangerous after hitting two sixes, went for a big shot but the ball ballooned up in the air for wicketkeeper Rishab Pant to take an easy catch.

Shimron Hetmyer (0) then dragged the ball onto the stump for Saini’s second wicket. West Indies procession to the dressing room continued with Rovman Powell (4) felling to Khaleel Ahmed (1/8) the next over — 6th — as they were reduced to 33 for 5 at the end of Powerplay.

Jammu and Kashmir Governor, Satya Pal Malik on Saturday said that security situation in the state developed in a manner which required immediate action.

He said that there were credible inputs which were available to the security agencies regarding terrorist attacks on the Amarnath Yatra.

The Governor added that there has been intensified shelling on the LOC by Pakistan which was responded to effectively by the Army.

Interacting with a delegation of political leaders led by National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, the Governor said, it is the responsibility of the state to provide security to all its citizens.

He said security to the citizens has to be provided by the State, even at some inconvenience which is being done.

He also said that the state has no knowledge of any changes to constitutional provisions.

The Governor requested the political leaders to ask their supporters to maintain calm and not believe exaggerated and unfounded rumours being circulated all around.

International Film Festival of India (IFFI) started way back in 1952, is an ‘A’ grade film festival accredited to the International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations (FIAPF) and is one of the oldest and most prestigious festivals in Asia.

IFFI showcases a collage of the best of contemporary and classical films from around the globe. The festival welcomes an array of world renowned filmmakers, actors, technicians, critics, academicians and enthusiasts to celebrate Cinema and the Art of Filmmaking through its Presentations, Master Classes & Panel Discussions, Co-production Seminars etc.

Year 2019 marks the Golden Jubilee edition of International Film Festival of India which is organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in collaboration with Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), every year from 20th-28th November, 2019.

To commemorate this important event, a competition for designing a Postage Stamp along with the First Day Cover is launched by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on the MyGov platform.

The contest is open from 1st August, 2019 to 15th August, 2019. The winner will receive a Certificate of appreciation and travel and hospitality for 2 nights and 3 days to become a part of 50th IFFI.

In Jammu and Kashmir, two JeM terrorists have been killed, and an army soldier sustained injuries, in a fierce gunfight in the Malmapanpora Warpora area of North Kashmir’s Sopore.

Earlier, a gunfight broke out between the terrorists and a joint team of forces following the launch of a cordon and search operation on the basis of specific input about the presence of terrorists in the area.

During another encounter in Shopian, two JeM terrorists have also been killed. The Body of a slain terrorist has been retrieved and identified as Zeenatul Islam. He was affiliated to the banned terror outfit JeM. He was involved in a series of terror attacks on security establishments & civilian killings.

Mobile internet services remain suspended in Shopian as a precautionary measure.

Soccer body CONMEBOL suspended Lionel Messi from international matches for three months because of accusations of corruption he made at the latest Copa America.

The South American body also said Friday that it fined the superstar in USD 50,000 for his comments after Argentina’s 2-1 win against Chile in the third-place playoff of the tournament in July. Messi and Argentina can still appeal the decision, which stops the striker from playing in four friendlies this year.

The 32-year-old will not play for Argentina matches in September against Chile and Mexico, plus another two in October versus Germany and another adversary to be picked. Neither Messi nor Argentina’s soccer association has made comments about CONMEBOL’s decision.

Messi is already suspended from the first match of the South American World Cup qualifiers next March because of the apparently undeserved red card he received against Chile. The Argentine was sent off for only the second time in his career after a shoving match with Chile midfielder Gary Medel, who also was ejected. Messi avoided the medal ceremony in protest and later said Argentina “shouldn’t take part in this corruption.”

The Argentinian also said the tournament was set for hosts Brazil to win. Messi had already complained against Copa America refereeing after Argentina’s 2-0 loss to Brazil in the semifinals. When asked if he feared being suspended for his comments, he said “the truth needed to be told.” Messi later sent an apology to CONMEBOL for his remarks.

In Chhattisgarh, security forces on Saturday gunned down seven maoists in an encounter in Rajnandgaon district Saturday morning.

The encounter occurred around 6 am in the forest near Sitagota village under Baghnadi police station area, when a team of District Reserve Guard was out on an anti-Naxal operation.

So far, seven bodies along with a huge cache of weapons, including one AK-47, have been recovered from the spot.

Search operations are still on.

Meanwhile, security forces deactivated three major IEDs in Sukma district in Chhattisgarh. According to security officials, naxals had planted three IEDs of ten kg each to target security forces.

However, with the alertness of security forces the IEDs were timely detected and deactivated. The operation was successfully conducted by CRPF 228 battalion and district police.

Name : Gauri Nalawade.
Birth Date : 11th August 1987.
Hometown : New Bombay.

Gauri Nalawade is well known as Vaidehi from serial Swapnanchya Palikadle. She won many awards for this character. Before joining Swapnanchya Palikadle she worked in Avghachi Sansaar and a promotional video of Sachin Pilgaonkar’s Eka Peksha Ek. She also acted in Avadhoot Gupte’s recent film Kanha. She was also seen in film Family Katta.

Gauri Nalawade was born and brought up in Navi Mumbai. She pursued her education from Bharati Vidyapeeth. She entered acting filed little late, after her graduation.

Dipti Bhagwat Biography