Mediaman-turned-MP nurtures his segment

ANAND: Dipak Patel or Dipak ''Sathi'', better known as the managing editor of a local daily who shot into fame last year for the multi-crore Charotar Nagrik Sahakari Bank (CNSB) scam, is now on bail.
In his first brush with electoral politics, Patel remained loyal to Patels and used most of his MPLADS funds on rural roads in his constituency, dominated by Patels.
Water works and rural electrification did get some funds. Yet, almost Rs 50 lakh of works he proposed in 2003-04 pertained to roads and drainage works in urban pockets of Anand.
Congress MLA from Bhadran, Ramsinh Parmar says, "He has focused on his Patel vote bank in rural areas and done little for assembly segments like Kshatriya-dominated Bhadran and Borsad."
Nearly half of his Rs 10 crore grant was for roads, the major one being the RCC road joining Sojitra-Sarsa road to Eye Hospital at Chikodra costing Rs 5 lakh.
"The road is now in a bad shape causing inconvenience to patients who ended up with fresh injuries before getting their eyes checked," says Bhalubhai Parmar of Sojitra.
Of the Rs 10 crore released from his MPLADS fund since 1999-2000, Rs. 7.26 crore had been actually spent. Some 40 works are in progress. In the past two months, 194 proposals have been forw arded from his office, to ensure his votebank was in tact before the fund lapsed.
Except Borsad and Bhadran, which are with the Congress, the assembly segments of Khambhat, Sarsa, Petlad, Sojitra and Anand are represented by the BJP — considered the richest belt in the state, thanks to its NRIs who flush in the dollars and pounds.
Patel''s personal assistant, Arvind Patel, who manages his MPLADS says, "He wanted a new ST stand with modern amenities. We had already released Rs 25 lakh. We were ready to spend up to Rs 40 lakh but the project did not get the administrative approval."
Sources in the government say, "He has sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for an underground drainage line at Vallabh Vidyanagar but it is yet to receive administrative sanction as we have not received the plan estimate." Dipak Patel says, "We are trying to cover maximum residents of Vidyanagar under this plan as drainage is a serious problem in the area."
Patel also gave funds for 10 computers and accessories worth Rs 2.5 lakh to three schools at Sarsa, Samarkha and Anand. "Most of my funds have been directed to the needy from rural areas without any distinction of voters," he claims.