Anna Hazare's team is ready for direct political dialogue

According today report Anna Hazare said there is no reason why Parliament can't pass the Lokpal Bill within next two weeks and his team is ready for direct political dialogues with open minds.

Reiterating that negotiators should only be political, Hazare said, "If the Prime Minister puts Prithviraj Chavan as negotiator I will be more than happy. Lets start the process of direct political dialogues, we are with open minds". Downplaying the health concerns as his fast entered the eighth day on Tuesday, the 74-year-old anti-corruption crusader said, "My health is fine, I can continue like this for a week or more".

Troubled by reports of people drinking and turning rowdy at the Ramlila Maidan, Hazare said, "I appeal to supporters not to take law into their own hands".

Anna Hazare on Monday said that Lokpal Bill negotiations cannot happen with non-government mediators and added that he can talk with the Prime Minister's Office or Rahul. He also added that he was ready to talk with Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.

He said that no official mediator has approached him or his associates till now and also added that would not speak to anyone without the presence of his advisers.

Demanding that the Lokpal Bill introduced by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government in Parliament be withdrawn immediately as it was weak and cannot fight the corruption menace, Hazare stated that state level Lokpal mechanism cannot be diluted.

Hinting at some flexibility on the issue of excluding judiciary under the Lokpal, Hazare said that this demand could be discussed during the talks. He, however, added that the Judicial Accountability Bill must be strengthened if judiciary has to be kept out of the Lokpal.

Government has difficulty to provide houses to mill workers

 Providing accommodation to mill workers, the state government is now contemplating to give cash instead of houses to them.

With only 20,000 houses can be constructed on the acquired land, the government is finding it difficult to provide housing to 1.5 lakh mill workers.

After the Shiv-Sena and the MNS joined hands to corner the government on the issue, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday called a meeting to explore other options to solve the problem. Senior ministers said they should not buckle under the Shiv Sena and MNS pressure on mill workers demand for houses which was impractical and instead insist on handing over cash to justify every body.

A senior cabinet minister said.“The only option before the government is to acquire the mill land and sell it so that the money raised will be distributed among the mill workers.”

As per the policy decision taken by the successive governments for the last 15 years, one-third of the mill land was to be reserved for construction of houses for the workers. However, successive CMs amended the rules. At the end, it was decided that a mill worker has every right to demand house on the mill premises.

Resettling them in the distant suburbs would embolden other industries, which have been shut, to make similar demands from the government.

NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal said, “The government is committed to the promise made to the mill workers. But the bigger challenge is how to accommodate all 1.5 lakh workers. Some solution, which would be acceptable to the mill workers union and families, has to be worked out mutually.”

The formula, which is being worked out, is to acquire one-third land from the mill workers and sell it at the commercial rate to private sector.

The funds collected would be divided among the 1.5 lakh mill workers. According to rough estimates, each mill worker would get around Rs6 to Rs8 lakh.

R R Patil gets respite, CM says he is doing well

Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil who had come under fire in the wake of serial blasts got a respite with Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan praising him and stating that he was doing 'extremely' well.

Speaking to reporters after an all-party meeting called in the wake of serial blasts, Chavan said that Patil is doing extremely well and overseeing the probe into the blasts.

The chief minister also stated that he was working in close cooperation with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.

Chief Minister's comments came against the backdrop of controversy over his remarks that the crucial Home Ministry was not with the Congress but with the coalition partner, earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Eknath Khadse who was present at the meeting said that he advocated about enacting stronger laws on the lines of POTA and TADA to deal with the menace of terror.