This Article is From Sep 08, 2010

Mayawati in trouble with Supreme Court again

Mayawati in trouble with Supreme Court again
New Delhi: Another memorial dream of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has hit a road block. The Supreme Court has questioned the scale of constructions at an upcoming ecology park dedicated to her mentor and Dalit Leader Kanshiram.

In July 2009, the court had cleared this project on the condition that no monuments will be erected here. Since then, as the park budget inflated from 200 crores to a mammoth 600 crores and the construction activity got bigger, activists moved court.

The Supreme Court has asked the Mayawati government: "The way in which materials are dumped show that you are proposing to construct a huge structure. We want to know whether you have violated our orders. Why are you wasting so much steel and cement?"

The state government has said it's only constructing boundary walls, toilets and water fountains.

The court has given it two weeks to prove this claim.

"Till 2009, on this 195-acre area, the old jail of Lucknow stood. Mayawati shifted the jail for this park," said Sangam Lal Pandey, the petitioner.

Activists say adjoining it is another 60-acre, half-built memorial dedicated to Kanshiram. The court stayed its construction also. Activists say Mayawati plans to merge these two projects in future.
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