Will trace 'extraneous influence' during Jayanthi's tenure as Environment Minister: Javadekar

Alleging that the prime minister under the UPA government was powerless, the Environment Minister also accused Congress President Sonia Gandhi of interfering in important decisions during her party's rule at the Centre.

"She (Natarajan) has mentioned certain files and she has not mentioned certain files but she indicated what was happening. But one thing is clear, that the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) was in office, but not in power.

"The power was concentrated in 10, Janpath (residence of Sonia Gandhi). So, we will definitely look into the cases mentioned and hinted at, where some extraneous influence has happened. We will see if there is any trace of such extraneous influence," the minister told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

Natarajan had written to Sonia Gandhi alleging that she had received specific requests from her son and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on environmental clearances and, consequently, had rejected big ticket projects.

Javadekar had earlier termed it a "serious issue" and said he would review the files regarding which allegations of extraneous influence have been made.

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India to bring comprehensive climate legislation: Javadekar

"I am happy to announce that in the next budget session, we are going to have a comprehensive climate legislation which will ensure a better environment," Javadekar said at the Globe COP20 Legislators' Summit in Lima.

Raising the issue of climate finance, the minister said the Green Climate Fund must become a reality.

"From 2012, we were expecting to start with USD 10 billion every year to reach USD 100 billion by 2020 and then continue with USD 100 billion per year. But today, the fund was a meager USD 9.7 billion. So, that will be a main point of deliberation in Lima," he  said.

Source: News in Hindi and Newspaper 

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