PM speaks on Nagpal saga, Akhilesh adamant (Roundup)

The Samajwadi Party Monday hardened its stand on suspended IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, saying any official in the wrong will face the music, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government was seeking details on the case from Uttar Pradesh.

As the war of words between the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the temperamental ally Samajwadi Party entered the third day, the prime minister broke his silence, two days after Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote to him seeking justice for the 28-year-old Nagpal.

Despite mounting criticism of the suspension of Nagpal, who acted against a mafia mining sand illegally from rivers, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav again justified his government decision.

He said his government acted in line with service rules. "Any official who does a wrong will be punished... There are no two thoughts about this," he said at a function in Lucknow.

"If an officer makes a mistake, he or she is punished," he added. "That is how a government works."

Nagpal, a former sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in Noida, was proceeded against for allegedly ordering the razing of a mosque wall. But most people believe it was her drive against the politically-influential sand mafia that did her in.

Akhilesh Yadav demanded to know why the media was giving so much prominence to Nagpal, and cited the cases of many other officials who were suspended across India.

Drawing an analogy, he said that "many of us" would have been reprimanded by parents and class teachers.

In New Delhi, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav declared that Uttar Pradesh didn't need IAS officers.

"Withdraw all of them, we will manage with our state officers," the aggressive Rajya Sabha MP told the media. The central government, he said, could call back all IAS officers from Uttar Pradesh.

The UPA-Samajwadi Party row only deepened, with Manmohan Singh saying that there were rules governing government officers.

"They (rules) will be followed. We are in touch with the state government to get details of the case," he said.

Upset over Sonia Gandhi's intervention vis-a-vis Nagpal, the Samajwadi Party reiterated it will oppose the Congress-sponsored food security bill in parliament.

Manmohan Singh has appealed for support from all parties for the bill.

In a related development, the National Green Tribunal Monday restrained sand mining from river beds across the country without prior environmental clearance.

Issuing notice to chief secretaries of all states, it said largescale mining was going on in clear violation of laws, causing massive losses to the state.

A five-member bench headed by tribunal chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar asked the states to respond by Aug 14.

"We restrain any person, company, authority to carry out any mining activity or removal of sand, from river beds anywhere in the country without obtaining environmental clearance ... and licence from the competent authorities," the order said.

The tribunal said removal of minerals from river beds was threatening their flow, forests on river banks and harming environment in the areas.