tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Tuesday, December 22, 1998
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Delhi-Lahore bus service from Jan
NEW DELHI, Dec 21 (PTI) — The much awaited Delhi-Lahore bus service, expected to give a major boost to Indo-Pak relations, will begin from January next year, Delhi Transport Minister Parvez Hashmi said here today. "Two new excellent quality buses from Ashok Leyland are being procured by January 20 and the service can be started immediately", Mr Hashmi told reporters. The service twice a week to and fro would be running on alternate days with the Samjhauta Express, he said.
Bail plea rejected
JHABUA, Dec 21 (PTI) — The bail applications of the nine accused, arrested in connection with the rape of four nuns at Nawapada in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh in September, was rejected by the District and Sessions Judge today. The nine accused hail from Dhebar, Roopkheda and Narwali villages of the district.

MLA surrenders
PATNA, Dec 21 (PTI) — Suspended BJP MLA Dhruv Bhagat today surrendered before the court of designated CBI Judge S.K. Lal in a conspiracy angle case of the fodder scam. Bhagat was evading arrest ever since the special court issued an arrest warrant against him after taking cognizance of a CBI charge sheet in the case a couple of months ago. The Special Judge remanded Bhagat in judicial custody in Beur Central Jail.
Youth kills father
MADHEPURA (Bihar) Dec 21 (PTI) — Enraged by the remarriage of his father, the son killed the father, stepmother and their infant daughter in Bihar's Madhepura district, the police said here today. Fifty-year-old Razak Ali of Tarsua-Bargaon village allegedly abandoned his first wife and children a couple of years ago and took a second wife. He had frequent fights with his son Mohammed over the second marriage. On Saturday night, Mohammed shot dead his father in a fit of anger and hacked to death his stepmother and stepsister.
Bail to oil dealer
NEW DELHI, Dec 21 (PTI) — The Delhi High Court today granted bail to Kamal Kumar Aggarwal, a leading oil dealer, arrested by the police in connection with the adulteration of mustard oil which caused outbreak of dropsy in the Capital and claimed more than 60 lives in August this year. Mr Justice D.K. Jain asked Aggarwal to furnish a bail bond of Rs 50,000 and surety of a like amount before the trial court. The bail plea of Aggarwal, owner of "Kohinoor" brand of mustard oil, was earlier rejected by the trial court and the high court.
‘Write off’ expenses
NEW DELHI, Dec 21 (PTI) — The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, has asked the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, to write off part of the huge security expenditure incurred in countering the decade-old insurgency in the state, official sources said here today. Dr Abdullah, who called on Mr Vajpayee yesterday, said the Centre should bear part of the Rs 830 crore spent on fighting militancy in the state, sources said. The meeting was attended by Union Home Minister L.K. Advani, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Jaswant Singh.
White paper
CHENNAI, Dec 21 (PTI) — Taking the cue from AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalitha, the Janata Party today demanded a white paper on the economic situation and immediate convening of a special Parliament session to discuss ways to combat the country's economic crisis. "The Vajpayee government may be woefully bereft of talent, but if the Prime Minister is clueless he should at least convene a special session of the Lok Sabha, see Parliament's collective wisdom", party president Subramanian Swamy said here in a statement.
Food poisoning case: 4 arrested
JAMSHEDPUR, Dec 21 (PTI) — Four persons, including a shopkeeper and a cook, have been arrested in connection with food poisoning of at least 200 students of the Regional Institute of Technology (RIT) while the administration has sealed two edible oil godowns for suspected adulteration. The police said besides arresting the shopkeeper who allegedly supplied the cooking oil to the mess, it had seized three tins of mustard oil of the brand used in the college mess. The cook of the mess was among those arrested.
Now 'Kudrat' song is 'Chidi ki chhakki'
Tribune News Service
HISAR, Dec 21 — The producers of the feature film Kudrat have changed the wording of the song 'behan di takki' to 'chidi ki chhakki', following a directive from the Censor Board of India. Rakesh Sethi, a social activist and Hisar district Vice-President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha had filed a petition seeking a ban on the song. The court had summoned lyricist Dev Kohli, music director Rajesh Roshan, singers Abhijeet and Purnima, producer Romu N. Sippy, director Rajan Sippy, actors Akshay Khanna and Urmilla Matondkar and the Gramaphone Company of India (HMV) on January 8.
Retirement age
NEW DELHI, Dec 21 (UNI) — The government today denied any proposal to reduce the retirement age of central government employees, which was fixed at 60 in May this year. In an official release, the Department of Personnel and Training said no note recommending reduction in the age of retirement to 58 had been put up or circulated by the department for consideration of the Prime Minister or the Cabinet. Some sections of the press had carried reports to the effect that the final decision for rolling back the retirement age was pending with the Prime Minister.
Supplementary grants
NEW DELHI, Dec 21 (UNI) — The Lok Sabha today passed the supplementary demands for grants for 1997-98 with an assurance by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha that the government was determined to check the fiscal deficit at 5.6 per cent despite difficult financial situation. Replying to the debate, Mr Sinha said his ministry was "extremely strict" in regard to the demands for additional resources. "My stand has been that those who are asking for additional resources should locate the matching resources. A strict discipline to minimise the cash outflow of Rs 1300 crore is being maintained", he said to his critics.