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Delhi Minister denied permission to go abroad

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI MAY 16. In what is being described as a politically motivated move, the External Affairs Ministry has refused permission to Delhi's Transport Minister, Ajay Maken, to travel to California to attend a four-day international conference on environment beginning May 18 and also receive the Clean Cities International Award for Delhi from the United States Energy Department.

Mr. Maken is the second Congress leader to be denied permission to go abroad within the last one week. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, was denied permission recently to visit the U.S.

In a communication to the Delhi Government, the External Affairs Ministry has stated that the Minister cannot be given permission to travel abroad for receiving the award as there is some protocol discrepancy involved in the whole affair.

It is pointed out that the person presenting the award is below the stature of the Minister's rank which is why permission cannot be granted. The Ministry has cleared the name of Chief Secretary, Shailja Chandra, to travel to California to receive the award on behalf of the Delhi Government. The award has been conferred for progressive and successful implementation of the CNG transport programme in the Capital by the Sheila Dikshit Government.

Originally the Chief Minister was to have received the award on behalf of the Delhi'ites in California on May 21. The U.S. Energy Department had invited her personally to receive the award but due to preoccupations back home, she had nominated Mr. Maken to go on her behalf and receive the award. The award presentation was to be preceded by a four-day conference on successful implementation of the CNG programme for a clean environment. Interestingly, the same External Affairs Ministry had granted permission to Mr. Maken to attend a conference on the same subject held in October last year.

Sources in the Delhi Government termed the rejection of Mr. Maken's papers for visiting the U.S. as "petty politics" aimed at taking away the credit from the Delhi Government for the massive achievement on the CNG front. "If Mr. Maken had gone abroad, he would have received the award and that photograph could have been used by the Congress Government during its election campaign or in the run-up to the elections to highlight its achievement on reducing pollution in the Capital.

"This is a totally politically motivated move and certainly vested interests have played a big role in this whole affair," a senior Minister remarked.

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