Author: Times News Network
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 13, 2006
Introduction: Ramdas Kadam said he had passed
on information about the location of a huge stockpile of explosives and RDX
but the state failed to act
The Democratic Front government was lambasted
in both houses of the state legislature on Wednesday. It was accused of lacking
political will and the intelligence failure to avert the blasts dominated
proceedings.
In his reply to a day-long debate, deputy
chief minister R R Patil declared a reward of Rs 25 lakh for anybody who could
provide definite information about the culprits responsible. However, his
rhetoric failed to impress the opposition when he tried to defend his department
saying that while terrorists used highly sophisticated technology for attacks,
his department had to request industrialists for uniforms.
The home minister also touched off a sensitive
issue when he claimed that the Union home ministry had not given any specific
information about the possibility of serial bomb blasts in the city. He said
Union home minister Shivraj Patil had told him on Tuesday that his ministry
had given intelligence information about possible bomb blasts but there was
no specific information about time or location.
Meanwhile, the Sena-BJP shred to pieces the
disaster management plan which, they claimed, failed to live up to expectations.
"It was the people of Mumbai who reached out first. There were no stretchers,
ambulances or police," said leader of opposition Ramdas Kadam.
Kadam created a flutter when he declared that
he had passed on information about the huge stockpile of explosives and RDX
that was stored in a secret underground location. "I had personally given
leads to Patil about the location of the RDX and names of those linked to
the stock. The man concerned with all this is a fanatic and I had given details
about him. But the state government failed to act," Kadam said.
The BJP leadership, too, came down heavily
on the DF coalition. "There should be a judicial inquiry into the blasts,
which should be provided with all the information that has been shared by
the Central intelligence agencies with the state government," BJP leader
Gopinath Munde said. BJP MLA Devendra Phadanvis said the state was at fault
as despite intelligence inputs, it failed to act. "It is not intelligence
failure. Rather it is a political and administrative failure," he said.
