Telecom secretary R Chandrasekhar says “no” for now on CAG suggestions of taking back spectrums

AS PRESSURE on telecom minister A Raja to resign got mounted both inside and outside the Parliament in the wake of 2G spectrum scam, his secretary Rentala Chandrashekhar, 1975 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, remained composed though he chose to take on the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for its suggestions on pulling away of spectrums.

While talking to a group of industrialists in New Delhi on Thursday, R Chandrasekhar said there is no proposal before the Department of Telecom to take back any spectrums from any of players as suggested by CAG. The meeting was organized by industry lobby Assocham.

In fact, these days there have been more gossips than serious work in Sanchar Bhawan housing the Department of Telecom that was pulled up by CAG for allocating precious 2G spectrum at the throw away price of Rs 9,000 crore leading the government t lose revenues worth estimated Rs 176,000 crore.

Though the alleged scam is likely to have political fallouts including possible sacking of the minister himself, it has raised many questions against senior bureaucrats. PJ Thomas, current Central Vigilance Commissioner, for example, is still hauled up for his role of defending the 2G auction when he was telecom secretary. For the record, he became DoT secretary only after the reported scam was over thereby there is no direct involvement of him in any financial irregularities.

But there have been questions now why did CVC wait for the retirement of DoT secretary Siddharth Behura, a 1973 batch UP cadre IAS, on September 30, 2009, before the case was transferred to the CBI? The case was handed over to the CBI only in October 2009.

Global Window: China closes lobbying offices

China has closed 625 local government lobbying offices in Beijing. Those offices are widely considered a symbol of bloated bureaucracy and abuse of public resources. The numbers of such offices located in various parts of Beijing have dramatically risen in recent years as it was easy for local governments to lobby for central government funding if they were located near the capital. 

Power Corridors witness a week of two strong Chandrasekhars – KM and Rentala

IT WAS KM Chandrasekhar because he was undoubtedly the man of the moment in the last-minute fight to virtually save the Commonwealth Games. As a few participating nations strongly objected to the hygiene condition of the Games Village and termed the living condition as “filthy”, PM banked not on any minister, but on his B-team (Bureaucrats’ team) headed by cabinet secretary and 1970 batch Kerala cadre IAS, KM Chandrasekhar. No wonder, PM cut short his cabinet colleague and sports minister MS Gill when the latter wanted to give a presentation about the progress of the work.

Cabinet secretary specially directed his officers to hold briefing for heads of foreign missions and Press Information Bureau for foreign and Indian media about issues related to hygiene, delays and other glitches associated with the Games. The clean-up work in the Games village was done in a war-footing and everyone including those foreign missions which severely criticized the preparation only a few days ago, came out in public to say “Woh”!

That KM Chandrasekhar was the “real boss” was also indicated when Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell was asked to meet him. Fennell who was reportedly denied an appointment with the Prime Minister had a one-and-half hour long meeting with the cabinet secretary on Friday. At the direction of the cabinet secretary, all heads of missions and chiefs of bureaus of newspapers are likely to be taken to various venues on Saturday to counter the negative publicity.

The other Chandrasekhar that turned a newsmaker this week was Rentala Chandrashekhar, a 1975 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, who formally assumed charge as the secretary in the Department of Telecommunications, a post which was held by him in addition to his substantive charge of secretary, department of information technology. A post graduate in chemistry and computer technology, R Chandrasekhar had earlier served as joint secretary in the ministries like commerce and defence.
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