Tuesday, November 3, 1998

Two arrested for extortion
NEW DELHI, Nov 2 — The Delhi Police arrested two school teachers on Friday in extortion cases from Malviya Nagar. They were identified as Rakesh Sinha, a resident of Ghaziabad and Deepak, who taught in a government primary school in South Extension.

4,000 kg drugs burnt in Delhi
NEW DELHI, Nov 2 — About 4000 Kg of drugs seized during the past 10 years by the investigating agencies of the Delhi police and the Delhi Government were destroyed by burning today.

Noisy scenes in Karnataka House
BANGALORE, Nov 2 — The Karnataka Assembly today took up for discussion an Opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion against the J H Patel Ministry with Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge presenting a 23-point charge sheet.

2 BJP workers, CPM man killed
KANNUR, Nov 2 — Two BJP activists and a CPM activist were stabbed to death today in the third incident of political killings in 24 hours near Thalassery in Kerala’s Kannur district, fuelling tension in the area.

Ahluwalia incurs wrath of Cong
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 2 — The Congress today said disciplinary action would be taken against Mr S. S. Ahluwalia, its former Rajya Sabha member from Bihar, who had been served with show-cause notice for his outburst against the party’s central leadership.

The party spokesman, Mr Anil Shastri said the former MP had not replied to the show cause served on him after he criticised the party president last month and charged, instead, Mr Ahluwalia had chosen to send another missive.

Mr Ahluwalia, yesterday in a letter to the party president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, assailed the leadership for including those party members in the Delhi campaign committee who were allegedly involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The party spokesman said it was incorrect on Mr Ahluwalia’s part to make public a letter written to the Congress President and said there were fora available in the party to air grievances.

“It is incorrect and against the norms of the Congress party,” he said adding that party members should refrain from making their views public specially through the media.

Asked to comment on Mr Ahluwalia’s charge, Mr Shastri said the party would not like to join issue with the former MP from Bihar.

On the BJP charge that by inducting some leaders who were allegedly involved in the riots, the Congress was not sensitive to the feelings of the Sikh community, the party’s spokesperson, Mrs Ambika Soni, said, “Whom we appoint to which post in the party is our internal matter.”

Meanwhile, a group of Congress activists staged a ‘dharna’ outside the AICC headquarters at 24, Akbar Road, demanding expulsion of Mr Ahluwalia from the party for his statements against the President.

SAD-BJP deadlock on seats unresolved
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 2 — Filing of nominations for the November 25 Delhi Assembly poll picked up today as returning officers received 18 nomination papers from aspiring candidates.

Since filing of nominations began on October 30, the election office here has received 26 nominations, mostly from independent candidates.

The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election committee met this morning to finalise its list of aspirants.

The list will be forwarded to the party high command for perusal and a final list is likely to be announced on November 4.

Among those who have already announced their decision not to contest are former Delhi Chief Ministers, Sahib Singh Verma and Madan Lal Khurana, Delhi Assembly Speaker, Mr Charti Lal Goel and Mr Satish Chand Khandelwal, sitting MLA.

A senior party leader said that the deadlock on seat sharing with the party’s allies at the Centre including the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is yet to be resolved.

He said, the SAD was keen on fielding its candidates from at least five seats — Vishnu Garden, Tilak Nagar, Jangpura, Gandhi Nagar and Subzi Mandi or Model Town. The BJP, however, was only willing to accommodate it in three of the five seats.

Senior BJP leaders said that the INLD is also keen on fielding its candidates in at least two Assembly segments with support from the BJP.

The President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), Mr Avtar Singh Hit told the Tribune News Service here today that he is meeting senior BJP leaders tomorrow to finalise seat adjustments.

Mr Hit said that his party wants to field candidates from five seats including Vishnu Garden, Hari Nagar or Tilak Nagar, Kalkaji, Jangpura, Rajouri Garden and Gandhi Nagar. He said that the BJP, on the other hand wants to field candidates from Vishnu Garden, Jangpura (Bhogal), Rajouri Garden, Gandhi Nagar and Subzi Mandi.

He said, his party is also holding talks on an alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal.

Most Congress aspirants today assembled at the residence of Mr Vijay Bhaskar Reddy and at the All India Congress Committee headquarters to know their fate.

The selection committee of the Congress has prepared a list of about 150 to 200 names for the 70 Assembly constituencies in Delhi.

The short-listed names will be forwarded to the Central Election Committee where a final decision is expected to be taken.

DPCC sources said the number of Sikh and women representatives was likely to be doubled as compared to the 1993 Assembly polls.

The President of the All India Shiromani Akali Dal (Babbar) today announced the formation of the United Akali Dal. Mr Babbar said that the Dal comprises All India Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic), All India Sikh Conference, All India Lubana Sikh Sanstha and his own party.

Mr Babbar said that the UAD is keen on seat adjustments with the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and on fielding candidates from Hari Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Vishnu Garden and Jangpura (Bhogal).

Bhai Jasbir Singh Rode, head of the All India Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic) said that the UAD is keen on fielding candidates for two seats in Rajasthan including Sangharia in Bikaner and Karanpur in Ganganagar.

Mr Balwinder Singh Talwandi, President of the Delhi Shiromani Akali Dal, the breakaway group of Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) said that the party plans to contest from Timarpur, Jangpura (Bhogal), Kalkaji, Shahdara and Vishnu Garden. He said that the party has received ten applications and the names of the candidates would be finalised by its six members.

Asked whether his party would join the United Akali Dal, Mr Talwandi said, “The question does not arise.”

He said that his party is open to an alliance with the Congress or any other party that does not have an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal).

Dalai Lama authorised to make policy

SARNATH, Nov 2 (UNI) — The Parliament-in-Exile of Tibet has authorised supreme Tibetan leader Dalai Lama to formulate the crucial policy regarding political future of Tibet for the proposed summit between the Dalai Lama and top Chinese leader Jiang Zemin.

Professor Sardhong Rinpoche, Chairman of the Parliament-in-Exile, told UNI here yesterday that the Dalai Lama might undertake a “pilgrimage” to Mount Wutai in mainland China in near future. This historic event might also bring some good news for the Tibetans living in Tibet and in exile, Prof Rinpoche said.

Mount Wutai, which the Tibetans call as mountain of five peaks, is considered the abode of two Bodhisatvas, Manjushree and Maitraiyanath, who preached the message of peace and non-violence to the Chinese.

Prof Rinpoche said the Dalai Lama would soon make an announcement regarding the Tibetan stand to be adopted in the proposed summit.

“Much depends on the Chinese leadership on whether this first-ever direct dialogue between the Dalai Lama and them would succeed,” he added.

He said the Tibetan leadership was of the opinion that the USA and other western countries could help in creating a favourable atmosphere for the success of the summit but “we do not favour a mediation by any western power in resolving the Tibetan problem.”

The Tibetan leader said the countries of the Himalayan region, especially India, could play a role if the need for any mediation arose.

The Dalai Lama, in his “Tibetan Uprising Day” message, released on March 10 this year had favoured mediation by India in resolving the Tibetan problem. The Indian Government did not respond positively to the suggestion made by the Dalai Lama.

He said the policy of one nation and two systems cannot be applied to Tibet as the case of Tibet was entirely different from that of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Historical facts regarding polity and culture of Tibetan people reveal that in some respects, Tibet deserves more freedom, he said.

Elaborating the middle path approach of the Dalai Lama, Prof Rinpoche said the matter relating to defence and external affairs could be left to Beijing and in the remaining areas, Tibet should be granted freedom to manage its own affairs.

The division of Tibet into six areas should end and the whole country should be brought under the control of Lhasa, he said.

US award for Indian space scientist

NEW DELHI, Nov 2 (UNI) — In spite of recent US Hostility towards Indian science an Indian space scientist has been nominated “man of the year,” by the prestigious American Biographical Institute.

Prof Pritiranjan Sengupta was given the award for his ‘’outstanding accomplishments to date and the noble example he has set for his peers and the entire community,” the citation from the world’s foremost biographical institute said.

A cousin of Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen, Professor Sengupta also is a product of Calcutta’s Presidency College where the two were contemporaries. He is the first Indian to win the award.

The high point of Professor Sengupta’s distinguished career in science, management and education is what the scientific world knows as “Sengupta’s model of solar activity and radio communication.”

According to Professor Sengupta the model answered a problem which long perplexed solar scientists — why the sun’s corona is about 200 times hotter than the strata below it.

The space scientist posited that while the sun’s gravity sucks all gas particles downwards the ones with the greatest energy filter up and reach the corona.

The model opened up a new area of high-tech research in radio communication, solar physics and in the rarefied area of energy flow through plasma.

Though still a visiting professor at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Professor Sengupta has been living a retired life in Delhi for the past three years but devotes time to consultancy on administration and education.

Connected with education reform for more than 15 years, Professor Sengupta developed a new approach to technical and professional education which is relevant to the current technology revolution.

The Sengupta model continues to be discussed and cited by UNESCO, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and finds concrete expression in the North-Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) in Arunachal Pradesh which he founded and served as the first Vice-Chancellor.

Four other technical universities funded by the World Bank or the ADB have been built on the basis of his model, including one in Brazil and another in Algeria.

A double doctorate in electronics and electrical communication engineering from IIT, Kharagpur, he has served as Professor at Harvard and Pennsylvania University. He is closely associated with Prof Van Allen of the Van Allen radiation belt fame.

In 1988, Professor Sengupta was honoured with the prestigious international Grawmeyer Award for his contribution in the field of education. This was the first time that it went to an educationist outside the developed world.

MCD censured for illegal constructions

NEW DELHI, Nov 2 (UNI) — The Delhi High Court has censured officers of the municipal authorities and other departments for their failure to prevent unauthorised constructions of huge markets and buildings in the Capital.

A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice K S Gupta in a recent judgement passed strictures against officers of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and other departments and reversed the order of a single judge for leniency against a young officer, found to be responsible for the growth of one of such construction.

The judges said, “We are constrained to observe that in all likelihood such unauthorised constructions of huge markets and buildings cannot be undertaken without the connivance of the officers of municipal authorities and other departments”.

“We are firmly of the view that the punishment for those who may be responsible, directly or indirectly, for coming up of such unauthorised constructions shall be deterrent. Public interest would be the casualty if while awarding the punishment in such cases leniency is shown”, they observed.

Upholding the dismissal of the MCD officer, a junior engineer, for his failure to prevent the unauthorised construction of a four-storeyed market, the Bench said, “A message is required to be sent that despite the position an officer may hold in the hierarchy, he would be severely dealt with in case of direct or indirect involvement in the unauthorised construction of the nature with which we are concerned”.

Setting aside the court’s earlier judgement, the Bench allowed the appeal filed by the MCD against the order and imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on the junior engineer, Mr Avinash Chandra Gupta.

In the present case, unauthorised construction of a market took place during the tenure of the officer between April 20, 1981, and November 2, 1982, within the area under his jurisdiction and the authorities after a departmental inquiry had inflicted punishment of dismissal.

However, when the matter came up before a single judge of the high court, his punishment was ordered to be converted into a minor penalty of stoppage of two increments keeping in view of the young age of the officer.

The judgement said as a junior engineer it was the duty of Mr Gupta to check and take appropriate action against unauthorised construction within the area under his jurisdiction.

Two arrested for extortion
From Our Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Nov 2 — The Delhi Police arrested two school teachers on Friday in extortion cases from Malviya Nagar.

They were identified as Rakesh Sinha, a resident of Ghaziabad and Deepak, who taught in a government primary school in South Extension.

Rakesh was a music teacher in private schools. He also used to take tuitions in New Friends Colony until 1994, but was unemployed at present the police said.

He reportedly made plans with a friend, Deepak to extort money from his rich patrons in Friends Colony through anonymous threatening letters and intimidating calls under the assumed the names Razak and Abdul, claiming to be members of the Dawood Ibrahim and Abu Salem gangs.

One such letter was posted to Rajesh Verma, a resident of New Friends Colony, and a Senior Vice-President, Milkfood Limited. He was asked to pay Rs 50 lakh.

The suspects used to make extortion calls from Ghaziabad and different places in the capital.

On October 31 the police traced a call to a PCO in Malviya Nagar in South Delhi. Rendezvous was fixed at Moti Sweets in Malviya Nagar. The suspects, who went to receive the extortion money were identified as “Kaalu Gulab”. The police arrested the suspects when they reached the rendezvous.

The suspects had also given threatening calls to some other families in the New Friends Colony, including the Rajgarhias, and Umesh Shroff of Hotel Hyatt Regency.

4,000 kg drugs burnt in Delhi
From Our Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Nov 2 — About 4000 Kg of drugs seized during the past 10 years by the investigating agencies of the Delhi police and the Delhi Government were destroyed by burning today.

The drugs were burnt in the presence of a committee constituted by the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi under the chairmanship of Mr B.K. Gupta, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime). The members of the committee, A.D.M. Manoj Kumar, S.D.M. K.S. Meena, DCP PCR, Uday Sahay and DCP Vigillance Arvind Deep were also present, police said.

The drugs constituted heroin, hashish, ganja, poppy straw, bhang, morphine and cocaine. The drugs were burnt on the Eastern side of the Yamuna, the police said.

Noisy scenes in Karnataka House

BANGALORE, Nov 2 (UNI) — The Karnataka Assembly today took up for discussion an Opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion against the J H Patel Ministry with Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge presenting a 23-point charge sheet.

Mr Kharge accused the government of being unresponsive to people’s aspirations and said it should be thrown out.

Two separate no-trust motions tabled by Mr Kharge and BJP floor leader K S Eswarappa on October 29 when the House commenced a short session were clubbed together by Speaker Ramesh Kumar.

The motion is expected to be put to vote on or after November 6 after Mr Patel’s reply.

Noisy scenes were witnessed during which BJP members were engaged in a wordy duel with CPM member G V Sreeramareddy and Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha member Vatal Nagaraj delaying the commencement of the debate.

Both Mr Nagaraj and Mr Reddy insisted that the House should immediately take note of Union Home Minister L.K. Advani’s remarks against the Patel Government in Gulbarga on Saturday.

Mr Reddy’s certain remarks saw the entire BJP block vociferously protesting and in the resultant melee, certain remarks made by the members were expunged by the Chair.

Mr Kharge castigated the Janata Dal Government for its "failure on all fronts". Dissidence in the ruling party had reached its peak, leading to political instability and adversely affecting the administration. "Corruption is more rampant and developmental works have come to a standstill," he added.

He alleged that the government was protecting those who had committed irregularities in awarding contracts for the Upper Krishna project and the Visvweswaraya Canal modernisation works. Even the Estimates Committee of the state legislature had recommended a CBI probe, he added.

Mr Kharge said the government had failed to project the real picture of the monsoon havoc to the Centre. The relief assistance of Rs 709 crore sought from the Centre was inadequate.

The state should have sought at least Rs 600 crore more. He said the compensation was not extended to the affected people. Lakhs of people had been rendered shelterless and standing crops in about three million acres was destroyed.

Intervening, Mr Patel thanked the Opposition leaders for the motion and said he would reply to every charge they had made.

Mr Patel said he would not be present in the House as he was leaving for Mumbai where he would call on senior Janata Dal leader and former union minister Prof Madhu Dandavate, who is not keeping good health.

From there, he would go to Delhi tomorrow to hold discussions with the Planning Commission on the state’s Annual Plan.

2 BJP workers, CPM man killed

KANNUR, Nov 2 (PTI) — Two BJP activists and a CPM activist were stabbed to death today in the third incident of political killings in 24 hours near Thalassery in Kerala’s Kannur district, fuelling tension in the area.

Kunhiraman, a 36-year-old BJP worker, was killed near his house this afternoon, close on the heels of the killing of another worker of the party Purushothaman, a 40-year-old bus conductor who was hacked to death, police said.

The assailants of Kunhiraman hurled bombs to scare away passers-by, the police said.

The murder of Purushothaman, who was killed after being called out of his house late last night, came apparently as a sequel to the murder of a CPM worker at Poyiloor yesterday morning.

Tension ran high in Panoor and surrounding areas near Thalassery even as strong contingents of police were deployed to restore peace.

Meanwhile, a general strike called in protest against the attack on the CPM worker passed off peacefully in Peringalam assembly constituency today. CPM and BJP workers marched through the streets mourning the killing of their workers.

The president of the Kerala unit of the BJP, Mr C K Padmanabhan, said in a statement here that political violence in the Thalassery area was the direct result of the policies being pursued by ruling CPM.

Court orders compulsory retirement
NASIK: The Bombay High Court has ordered the compulsory retirement of the Additional District and Sessions Judge of the Malegoan court, M.S. Ganachari, following several allegations levelled against him. District and Sessions Judge D.S. Zoting (Nasik) served the notice to Ganachari on Saturday in the middle of a court proceeding. Ganachari stirred up a controversy when he slapped a court employee and granted bail to two women, suspected of being involved in the “Mangla murder case”, from Taharabad in the district. — PTI

Telescope keeping an eye on asteroids
KOCHI: A 1.8-metre-long telescope in the USA is looking for asteroids of “appreciable sizes” in the earth’s neighbourhood to warn earthlings of possible collisions, according to eminent astrophysicist, Prof Jayant V. Narlikar. “With their trajectories charted out we can predict if any of them will come dangerously close to the earth in the future and take preventive action”, he said. Asteroids generally lie beyond Mars, although a few of them may occasionally come closer to the earth, thus raising the spectre of an impact, Prof Narlikar said. — PTI

Militants gun down student
AGARTALA: Tribal guerillas shot dead a student, injured two others and kidnapped a businessman in Tripura on Sunday night. The police said the militants raided a house in Udaydafadarpara under Kalyanpur police station in west district and opened fire killing Saroj Debbarma, a class 10 student, and injuring two others. A businessman was kidnapped at gun-point by militants from Killa in South Tripura. Security forces rushed to the spot and launched a combing operation to nab the militants and rescue the businessman. — UNI

NCERT chosen for UNESCO award
NEW DELHI: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been chosen for this year’s Asia Pacific Centre for Educational Innovation for Development (ACEID) Excellence in Education award instituted by UNESCO. The award is in recognition of the outstanding contribution to UNESCO’s work in the promotion of educational innovation for development in the Asia-Pacific region, an NCERT press release said. — PTI

MP seeks central forces for poll
BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Government has sought 385 companies of central forces to maintain law and order and ensure smooth conduct of Assembly elections in the state. State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) A.K. Vijayavargiya told reporters here on Monday that as polling in all 320 constituencies were to be held in a single phase on November 25, additional arrangements have to be made for vehicles and security forces. — UNI