 |
Saturday,
April 28, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
|
TMC not leaving NDA, says
Panja Case against Sheila Dikshit
dropped SC reprimands own Bench AP Deputy Speaker
resigns |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Laloo sacks Ranjan
Yadav Cong takes exception to PM’s remarks Armed youth held at Red Fort Budget session with many
firsts North India in
Parliament Candidate
killed in Bihar Fire destroys crop in 6 villages Prem Bhatia scholarships
|
|
TMC not leaving NDA, says
Panja Kolkata, April 27 On the other hand the “TMC rebel leader”, Mr Ajit Kumar Panja, MP, in a letter written last evening to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr
G. M. C. Balayogi, conveyed to him that he would continue to sit along with the NDA members in the Lok Sabha since the TMC was not withdrawing from the NDA. Mr Panja also expressed his desire to be present at the election meeting of the Prime Minister, who along with Mr
L. K. Advani and Mr George Fernandes, would be coming to Kolkata some time next week to campaign for BJP and NDA candidates. The TMC had decided on Wednesday to formally write to the Lok Sabha Speaker, conveying the party’s decision to withdraw from the NDA as demanded by Mrs Sonia Gandhi. But the following day, the decision was suddenly changed by Ms Mamata Benerjee who, according to party sources, got irritated at the Congress propaganda that the TMC had yielded to Mrs Gandhi’s demand and that forced her to reverse the decision. The “TMC chief whip, Mr Sudip Bandopadhyya, said there was no immediate need for them to formally write to the Lok Sabha Speaker about their decision to withdraw from the NDA. “We had already conveyed to the Prime Minister and it was his duty to communicate to the Speaker”, he
said, adding that if formality demands, we can also write to the Speaker after the Assembly polls but not now”. Strongly reacting to TMC new decision, Mr Pradip Bhattacharyya, WBPCC (I) vice-president, remarked “the decision is unfortunate and will create more ill feelings among us”, while angry Ghani Khan Chowdhury, criticising Ms Banerjee’s “high-handedness” felt it was a direct insult to Mrs Gandhi. Mr Bandopadhyya reiterated that at a meeting at his New Delhi residence on March 17, a unanimous decision was taken in the presence of Mr Ajit Kumar Panja and all other MPs that the TMC would withdraw from the Vajpayee Cabinet as well as the NDA on Tehelka issue. Accordingly, Mr Panja and Ms Mamata Banerjee had resigned from the Cabinet. Mr Panja, however, alleged that no such meeting was held on March 17. He said at a meeting at MP Khonkokar Ahmed’s flat in the capital on March 15, a decision was taken unanimously that they would resign from the Cabinet on the Tehelka issue. But there was no decision of the TMC withdrawing from the NDA. On the contrary, it was decided that the TMC would support the Vajpayee Government from outside. But on the Tehelka issue, they would not support the government on the floor of the Lok Sabha, Mr Panja stated. He also circulated copies of the resolutions of the March 15 meeting which he himself had presided over. Mr Panja said he would continue to support the Vajpayee government inside and outside the Lok Sabha on all issue excepting Tehelka. “We were in the government and had been party to all the decisions taken by us in the Cabinet and hence it should be our moral and legal duties to now stand by those decisions”, he said. |
|
Case against Sheila Dikshit
dropped New Delhi, April 27 The court also rejected all 2,319 affidavits filed by the transporters after March 31 for obtaining special permits to operate their vehicles till September 30 on the strength of the confirmed orders placed by them for CNG buses and CNG kits. The refusal was likely to increase the transport crisis in Delhi. A three-judge Bench comprising Mr Chief Justice
A. S. Anand, Mr Justice B. N. Kirpal and Mr Justice V. N. Khare dropped the contempt initiation in view of the Delhi Chief Secretary P.S. Bhatnagar’s affidavit stating that the Chief Minister and the Transport Minister held the Supreme Court in highest esteem and never intended to belittle it or tarnish its reputation. The Chief Secretary’s affidavit pointed out that if any adverse impression had been created by their statements, they were sorry for it, and tendered their apology. Rejecting the affidavits of the transporters, the judges ordered that the original documents, if any, filed by them along with their affidavits would be returned to them. The judges had earlier fixed March 31 as the last date for filing of affidavits by the transporters, stating that they had placed orders for CNG buses and kits. On the basis of such affidavits, the Transport Department had been directed to issue special permits for running buses till September 30. The judges extended by four weeks the time given to the Bhure Lal committee to report on the issue of clean fuel to be used in the Capital for operating transport vehicles. They asked the committee to determine whether low sulphur diesel could be regarded as clean fuel not causing any air pollution. The court directed the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to file an affidavit within four weeks, stating the quantity of kerosene being supplied in Delhi to ascertain adulteration in diesel. |
|
SC reprimands own Bench New Delhi, April 27 In their order of reference dated January 13, 1998, the two judges doubted the correctness of the scope attributed to Section 10 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 in a Constitution Bench judgement in the Gammon India Ltd. vs Union of India case (1974). The Constitution Bench, headed by Mr justice
S. P. Bharucha, before which the matter in question (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd vs Mumbai Shramik Sangha and others) came up for hearing on April 25, found that there was no justification for the two-judge Bench to doubt the 1974 Constitution Bench
judgement. UNI |
|
AP Deputy Speaker
resigns Hyderabad, April 27 This is the first political challenge to the Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu
Naidu, after the assembly elections in September, last year. Though none of the Telugu Desam Party legislatures have so far openly supported the newly formed regional party, several political leaders from the Telengana region belonging to the Congress, the BJP and the Bharatiya Jana
Sangh, have expressed sympathy with the cause without pledging support to the new political outfit. The Left parties, however, have strongly opposed the move. |
|
Laloo sacks Ranjan
Yadav Patna, April 27 As the sacking has come on the eve of the RJD national executive meeting starting tomorrow, the dissidents too are hell bent to part ways, but the final decision rests with Ranjan Yadav who is reportedly wary of splitting the party now. In a letter written to Rajya Sabha General Secretary, Laloo Yadav has informed him about the removal of Ranjan Yadav and named Ramdev Bhandari as the new incumbent. The dissident leader, Dr Ranjan Yadav has termed the move as “illegal” and a move showing “utter frustration” of Laloo Yadav. He said that the MPs only have the power to elect and remove the leader of the parliamentary party and added that they would now have to decide about the participation in the national executive meet for which Laloo has invited him and other dissidents. The dissidents are mounting pressure on Ranjan Yadav to split the party as they are in no mood to take Laloo’s “autocratic decisions” lying down. Ranjan Yadav is reportedly in no hurry. He wished the things to take an automatic turn after Laloo Yadav was chargesheeted and sent to the Ranchi jail. But now when he has been sacked twice from party posts, he may well consider to split the RJDPP and hold a parallel national executive meet in Delhi. On April 21, Laloo hint of an imminent expulsion of many top leaders and close lieutenants of Ranjan including himself. In the light of all these developments, tomorrow’s national executive meet becomes the cynosure of all eyes. Major political upheaval is expected and the least one expects is some firework in the meet, if the dissidents chose to attend. If they boycott, the split chances would only be boosted. |
|
Cong takes exception to PM’s remarks New Delhi, April 27 Talking to mediapersons, Congress spokesperson Jaipal Reddy said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had conveyed the sentiment of every Congress member when she had a word with Home Minister L. K. Advani minutes after the Lok was Sabha was adjourned. Mr Reddy said that the party did not want to end the session on an acrimonious note and staged a walkout in the both Houses of Parliament today to register its protest over the government’s dilly-dallying on the issue of instituting a JPC on Tehelka. He said that the budget session would go down in history as a session of “succesive scams” including those related to the Balco sale, stock market, customs, telecom and Tehelka. Mr Reddy accused the government of brazenness in not accepting the demand on the
JPC. |
|
Armed youth held at Red Fort New Delhi, April 27 A defence spokesman said that the youth tried to enter the historic fort through Lahori Gate at 6.20 a.m. He was immediately challenged by the Army sentry deployed there. The youth, who was found to be in
possession of a knife, was overpowered by the sentry and other Army personnel on duty. He was later handed over to the area police station where an FIR was lodged, the spokesman said. The interogation of the arrested youth was on, he added. On December 22, six Lashkar-e-Toiba militants had entered the Red Fort and opened fire killing, three persons, including two Armymen.
UNI |
|
Budget session with many
firsts New Delhi, April 27 “I do hope that this will be a one-time deviation from the schedule of Parliament and will not be seen as a precedent to be quoted in future.” This is what the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr G.M.C. Balayogi, had to say on the curtailed session that saw the Opposition disrupting proceedings for days together to press for their demands. The furore over the Tehelka issue claimed 73 hours and 49 minutes of the scheduled time in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha lost 13 days, which amounted to 58 hours. Moreover, for the first time the two Houses were adjourned two weeks in advance to enable members to campaign for the forthcoming Assembly elections. The session had the dubious distinction of passing the Railway Budget without any discussion, which was a record of sorts. The disruption of the Parliament proceedings for days did not come cheap. According to the Speaker, the cost of running the House was Rs 17,000 per minute. In terms of business, the passage of the General Budget and the Railway Budget were the only saving grace. A host of other important business was lost due to the protests inside the House. To begin with the government had identified 36 Bills, which were to be given top priority in the session. These included the one on the protection of plant varieties and farmers’ rights, insurance laws, prohibiting smoking in public places, inter-state water disputes and electricity. Several Bills, which had been referred to various parliamentary standing committees, did not see the light of the day. These included the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 1998, the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill, 2000, and the Freedom of Information Bill, 2000. There were several pending businesses from the earlier session too. The lack of interest among the members to carry on business in the two Houses was reflected by the fact that the session was curtailed under the pretext of the assembly elections. “Elections have their own place and significance in our political system”, but it was also necessary to maintain the sanctity of the schedule of Parliament, the Speaker said. Mr Balayogi said the stalemate and its final resolution “has some lessons to be learnt by every section of the House. I would certainly like to hope that being wiser by this experience, such things will not be allowed to be repeated in the House in the interest of parliamentary democracy”. The leader of the Rajya Sabha, Mr Jaswant Singh, said for the members in the Treasury Benches the premature curtailment was not a matter of delight. Congressmen too expressed unhappiness over curtailed session, but were quick to put the blame on the government. Even after the session was adjourned sine die, they maintained that the government was to blame for the irregular session as they had not taken the Opposition into confidence. For MP Ajay Chautala of the INLD, the session was nothing to cheer about. So much of public money was wasted due to the short-sightedness of the Opposition, he lamented. Moreover, he felt that as the people’s representative, the MPs should set an example and not behave like this. The Speaker on his part has decided to convene a meeting of chief ministers and presiding officers of state Assemblies and councils for drawing up a model code of conduct as it was imperative to do so “otherwise wrong signals would go outside on our democracy”. |
|
Tripathi to head stock scam JPC
New Delhi, April
27 |
|
North
India in Parliament New Delhi, April 27 During the same period, 4,12,335 tonnes of wheat was procured from Haryana by the FCI and 1,55,905 tonnes of paddy. The FCI has procured 713 tonnes of paddy from Himachal Pradesh, while no wheat was procured from the state, the Minister informed. The FCI was authorised to undertake open sale of wheat from Punjab only during the months of July, August and September, 2000, at the rates of Rs 700, Rs 750 and Rs 800 per quintal, respectively, whereas the open sale of wheat for the rest of the country was Rs 900 per quintal. Subsequently, the scheme was extended to all zones of the country and the rate for the North Zone was fixed at Rs 650 per quintal, the Minister said. The total consumption of N (nitrogen)fertiliser in Punjab was 1023.6 metric tonnes (MTs) during the year 2000-01, while that of P (phosphate) and K (potash) during the year was 289.6 MTs and 24.9 MTs, respectively, the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today. The total number of 15 active non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are operating in Punjab under the scheme of free distribution of Hindi books operated by the Central Hindi Directorate, the Minsiter of Human Resource Development, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today. Twelve districts have been affected by the recent drought conditions in Himachal Pradesh, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Shripad Y. Naik informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Approximately 46.64 lakh people have been affected by the conditions of drought in the state while 0.88 lakh ha of cropped area is reported to have been affected, Mr Naik informed. A total of 61 green cards have been issued to exporters in Punjab, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Mr Omar Abdullah, informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply. The corresponding numbers in the other states of the northern region are Delhi (81), Chandigarh ( 2), Haryana (18), Himachal Pradesh (2), and Jammu and Kashmir (2). Prasar Bharati Corporation has been disseminating information regarding the policies and schemes of the government amongst the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Also, under the J & K special package, the expansion and upgradation of All India Radio and Doordarshan are under implementation. This will increase the electronic media coverage in border areas, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Ms Sushma Swaraj, informed the Lok
Sabha. |
|
Candidate killed in Bihar Patna, April 27 The candidate Ahilya Devi was killed last night by the rival group at Nandlalpur village under the Mufasil police station in Munger district, it said.
PTI |
|
Fire destroys crop in 6 villages Hanumangarh, April 27 According to information, the fire first broke out at Surewala village at about 11 a.m., when the produce caught fire lit up to burn stubble in a field. However, the loss was not heavy. After about half hour similar incident occurred at Srinagar village destroying the crop. In another incident at Amarpura Theri, the fire destroyed crop in about 50 beegha. This was followed by a similar incident at Pannawali village where the crop was destroyed in two murrabba area. In the evening, at about 4 p.m., a fire broke out because of short circuit at Ratankheri village of Tibbi tehsil destroying crop in 75 beegha. The fire was, however, brought under control after three hours. Reports of a similar incident have also come from Tarasinghwali Dhani in the Tibbi tehsil. Prem Bhatia scholarships New Delhi, April 27 The trust offers three scholarships of Rs 60,000 each every year. While one scholarship is sponsored by the
K. C. Mahindra Foundation, the other two are sponsored by the Sir Dorabji Trust. The applications, along with a synopsis of the proposed subject of research and three clippings of published work, should reach the office of Mr Ajit Bhattacharjea, chairman and convenor of the Prem Bhatia scholarships, latest by May 31, 2001.The proposal should be sent at the address : The Press Institute of India, Sapru House, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
