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Vajpayee confident of smooth sailing for his government

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said on Thursday that his government was strong enough to continue smoothly.

Apparently buoyed by the recent lease of fresh life given to him by the All India Anna DMK's Jayalalitha, the prime minister remarked, "It may be the wishful thinking of our opponents that this government should fall, but let me assure you we are here to stay."

He went on to equate the desperation of the Opposition to the tale of two cats, which waited eagerly for a milk pitcher hanging overhead to fall. "You see, the pitcher never came down and eventually the two cats ended up fighting between themselves," he quipped.

He was speaking at a special function, organised with much fantare, for laying the foundation stone of a much-awaited Rs 480 million project for electrification of the 74-km Lucknow-Kanpur rail route. Railway Minister Nitish Kumar was beside him, along with UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and top officials of the railway ministry and the UP government.

This was Vajpayee's second visit to Lucknow since he assumed office. Political observers felt the visit was prompted by repeated criticism of neglect of his constituency. As if to assuage the feelings of his constituents, the prime minister spent a full day in Lucknow after undertaking an aerial survey of flood ravaged parts of eastern UP where, earlier in the day, he also made a stopover at a relief camp in Gorakhpur.

Vajpayee inaugurated a community centre, built out of the local MP's constituency development fund. He then laid foundation stones of four major projects, that would transform Lucknow into a budding metropolis. Besides rail electrification, these included three fly-overs across railway crossings at some of the city's busy thoroughfares and a new railway bridge over the River Gomati.

The prime minister also cautioned against the economic crisis which, he felt, seemed to be engulfing the entire South East Asian region.

"Could anyone have ever imagined that a prosperous country like Japan would have to face any kind of economic depression?" he asked. 'But now that such a crisis is visible in Japan, it is high time we too issued a warning to save ourselves from such a situation."

In Lucknow this morning, following Kalyan Singh's handing over of a memorandum seeking central assistance, Vajpayee spoke at length about the central government's initiatives in tackling the flood menace in different parts of the country. "This time it is not the usual kind of floods, but what we were facing was an unprecedented national calamity that had caused unprecedented damage not only in Uttar Pradesh, but also in other states like Gujarat, West Bengal, Bihar and several North Eastern states."

And giving the UP government a pat on the back for doing "an excellent job in conducting rescue and relief operations", he added, 'Both the state government and the personnel of defence services merit our thanks and appreciation."

Describing restoration of normal life as the biggest challenge now, he went on to add, "Since the poor were the worst hit victims of the natural calamity, rehabilitation of the infrastructure including shelter, will have to be accorded the highest priority." While announcing an additional grant of Rs 1.5 billion (in addition to the Rs 2 billion announced yesterday) for expeditious restoration of damaged infrastructure including roads and highways, railway tracks, telecommunication network and irrigation channels and 'bundhs' along rivers.

"I understand that including the balance of previous years, a total amount of Rs 28 billion is available to the state for the current year for rural development works; after seeing the devastation I have realised that financial norms applicable for rural development schemes in normal years will have to be relaxed in this situation." He also stressed upon the need for "massive employment generation schemes to be taken up from now onwards till the harvesting of Rabi crop in February next year" as a succour to the flood ravaged population of the state.

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