Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has written a fresh letter to UP Chief Minister Mayawati over alleged irregularities in implementation of MNREGA in seven districts and demanded a CBI probe into it.

In a 14-page letter to Mayawati, Ramesh cited the instances of alleged irregularities and corruption in implementation of the scheme in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Kushinagar, Mirzapur and Sant Kabir Nagar.

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi landed in Varanasi on Tuesday morning and went on a tour of villages in Naxal-affected Chandauli and Mirzapur districts of eastern UP. He held chaupals and interacted with the villagers, asking them about their problems, implementation of Centrally funded schemes, especially MGNREGA and whether payments were made regularly.

Days after Chief Minister Mayawati wrote to the Prime Minister, saying Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh had a political motive in seeking a CBI inquiry into the alleged fraud in the MGNREGS in seven districts of UP, her Rural Development Minister Daddu Prasad has now written directly to Ramesh, blaming his ministry for stalling important initiatives by not responding to the state government’s requests.

Heavy rains have wreaked havoc in eastern Uttar Pradesh leaving 28 people dead, while the water level in major rivers is rising.

While 18 people were killed in incidents of wall and house collapse in Jaupur district, 10 deaths were reported from Mirzapur district which received 120 mm and 150 mm respectively since Saturday, officials said on Sunday.

Lucknow The steel ministry on Monday sought support of the UP government in getting land for setting up industrial projects in the state.

‘‘Development (of Uttar Pradesh) is not possible without industrial growth. But there are problems in getting land here due to some reasons. I ask the state government to support the ministry, which is ready to whatever is needed for the purpose,’’ Union steel minister Beni Prasad Verma said reporters on Monday.

The monsoon remained subdued in parts of North India on Monday, including Punjab and Haryana, even as the flood fury was unabated in Uttar Pradesh.
Major rivers continued to overflow, inundating a number of villages in Uttar Pradesh and disrupting the transmission of Doordarshan and AIR in Bareilly.

Accepting the logics and rational of the state the Central Planning Commission has approved the annual plan of Rs 47000 crore for the 2011-12 on Monday in Delhi.

LUCKNOW: The Mirzapur forest division is facing threat from an elephant. While, residents of Madihaan range of Mirzapur are living under fear, forest officials, on the other hand, are trying to track the wandering elephant.

While the Yamuna Expressway is back on track after last month

Lucknow: The forest department has come up with plantation targets for the year 2010-11. The department will plant saplings covering over an area of 55,000 hectares in the coming year. The plantation exercise will begin this month with the advent of monsoon.