New Delhi: After a deeply divided Cabinet, the Maharashtra government partly tabled the Action Taken Report in the state Assembly on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks on Tuesday.
Heated discussions were held on Monday and Tuesday on the report of the Ram Pradhan Committee that investigated the 26/11 terror attacks with some ministers proposing another panel to study it and others questioning why only former Mumbai Police commissioner Hasan Gafoor had been singled out for transfer.
The report was discussed threadbare at the Cabinet meeting on Monday evening.
Worried by the possibility of an Opposition onslaught on the ruling Democratic Front government over the report, some Cabinet members have proposed setting up another committee to study it in detail, an official said.
Many state ministers have said that the report had clearly spoken of "intelligence failure" and questioned the appointment of D Shivananandan, commissioner of the State Intelligence Department at the time of the terror attacks, as city police chief.
The Opposition also blamed the government for avoiding a discussion and said that was why the report was only tabled on the last day of the current session of the Assembly.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan defended Gafoor, who has been blamed by the 26/11 report.
“(I) don’t think that there was any failure from the part of Mumbai Police commissioner. There are some parts of the Pradhan report which pertain to Kasab's trial. Sharing such sensitive information could adversely affect the course of the trial. We are not withholding any other information,” said Chavan.
The issue of the sudden transfer of 17 Indian Police Service officers last Saturday and the fate of then Maharashtra Director General of Police A N Roy also came up.
After the report was submitted last fortnight, the government had set up a two-member committee comprising Chief Secretary Johny Joseph and Additional Chief Secretary (home) Chandra Iyengar to prepare an action taken report (ATR).
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had said the Pradhan Committee report and the ATR would be presented before the legislature simultaneously.
Tuesday was the last day of the legislature's Monsoon-cum-Budget session.####
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