From rxpgnews.com
All criminals would be put behind bars: Mayawati
By IANS,
May 13, 2007 - 5:38:30 PM
Lucknow, May 13 - Undoing the 'wrongs' of her sworn political foe and predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav is on top of the agenda for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati who took office Sunday.
The 51-year-old Bahujan Samaj Party - president, who created history by becoming the state's chief minister for a fourth time, told a press conference shortly after taking oath: 'I wish to restore the rule of law and end the jungle raj unleashed by the previous Samajwadi Party regime in the state.'
Warning anti-social elements that had allegedly thrived under the previous regime, Mayawati declared: 'All criminals will be sent behind bars, which is where they deserve to be.'
Asserting that the new government will probe all 'shady deals' of the previous government, she said: 'Whatever the Samajwadi Party government did against the larger public interest anywhere in the state would be inquired into and anyone found guilty of corruption would not be spared at any cost.'
Disbanding the previous government's much hyped Uttar Pradesh Development Council, headed by Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, was among her key announcements on the first day.
Swearing to root out corruption at all levels in the government, Mayawati - the country's first Dalit woman to head a state government - made it clear that she would also ensure justice to 'all those who did not get a fair deal under the Mulayam regime'.
'I understand that a number of undesirable persons were provided official security,' she said. 'That would be withdrawn with immediate effect.'
Clearly disapproving of the unemployment dole initiated by her predecessor for unemployed graduates, the BSP chief promised to ensure jobs to them. 'We will create employment instead of giving away such doles,' she said.
Affirming that her government would not allow any kind of communal tension to prevail in the state, Mayawati promised full security to the minorities as well as the downtrodden and underprivileged classes of society.
'The life and property of people belonging to all religions will be protected and nobody will be allowed to indulge in violence in the name of religion,' she asserted.
Mayawati also decided to scrap all major decisions taken by her predecessor after the Election Commission's February announcement of the assembly elections. 'We will review and inquire into each of these decisions,' she added.
To the bureaucracy her message was: 'Officials found guilty of inefficiency or dishonesty will not be just transferred or shifted, but they will be severely punished.'
She mentioned electricity, water, education and health as among problems that deserved 'immediate attention.'
Admitting that the state badly needed development, Mayawati added, 'but before I can chalk out any such plans, I have to see the state of our treasury. I must find out whether Mulayam Singh Yadav has left any funds or not, otherwise we will have to devise new means to raise resources so that such tasks can be taken up in due course.'
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