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| Tuesday,
July 10, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Discuss Pak temples, VHP asks PM Vajpayee-Musharraf fellowships soon DMK to boycott probe panel Notice to
TN Govt on ex-minister’s petition |
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Petition on Taj’s upkeep dismissed
BJP executive meeting now from Aug 3
Cong slams govt on ceasefire Para-teachers face
bleak future Centre to review rural development projects US societies honour Paroda
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Discuss Pak temples, VHP asks PM New Delhi, July 9 “Mr Vajpayee should take up the temple issue with General Musharraf on his own,” the VHP General Secretary, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, told The Tribune. Asked whether the VHP would submit a memorandum urging the Prime Minister to take up the temple issue, he said, “We are not submitting any memorandum. However, he (Mr Vajpayee) should take up the temple issue on his own.” “Only a few temples are left in Pakistan and those existing are also in bad shape. Several temples came under attack in Islamabad following the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, in Ayodhya and the Mumbai riots,” the VHP leader said. The VHP’s demand of seeking reconstruction of damaged temples in Pakistan comes at a time when it has made an elaborate plan to construct a Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya anytime after February, 2002. Meanwhile, the Delhi unit of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal today called on the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to reorganise itself by giving representation to different religions. “We are not calling for the dissolution of the PSGPC. We are only demanding its reorganisation,” said the President of the Akali Dal, Delhi, Mr Paramjit Singh Sarna. The SAD (Badal) has demanded the dissolution of the PSGPC as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has been the controller of Sikh shrines and its religious authority should be respected. “Along with other issues, the summit should also take and resolve the long-standing concerns of the Sikh community regarding easy and unhindered access to Nankana Sahib and other historical gurdwaras in Pakistan,” Mr Sarna, in a memorandum to the Prime Minister, said. Mr Sarna, who was earlier the President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, said he had met the then Pakistan President Rafiq Tarar and they had agreed to remove restrictions on the visit of Indian pilgrims to Pakistan. “Earlier, a fixed number of pilgrims could visit Sikh shrines only on four occasions during a year. Now, they have agreed to allow unlimited number of pilgrims to visit Nankana Sahib and other historical shrines any number of times during a year,” he said. He said the Pakistan authorities had even agreed to get these gurdwaras repaired and rebuilt by babas of “kar seva” and had accepted the request of allowing ragis and granthies from India to stay in Pakistan for a limited period to train their Pakistani counterparts. The memorandum urged the government to open the Wagah road for free flow of traffic between India and Pakistan and to build a highway which would help the pilgrims to visit Nankana Sahib and return the same day. A corridor facility should be provided to Gurdwara Kartapur Sahib in Pakistan, where Guru Nanak spent the last 15 years of his life. |
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Summit security: Agra crime rate drops Agra, July 9 The city which at one time had gained notoriety in crime because of its proximity to what was generally known as the dacoit belt has for the last few days surprised the authorities as no major crime incidents have been reported. Senior police officers said this was because of the intensified patrolling, preventive detention of alleged bad characters and suspicious characters, additional vigil at the entry points and close monitoring of the city by senior officers. Traders and citizens who generally complained about the security which generally precedes VVIP visits are happy that at least the crime rate has come down even though temporarily. Tourist to this historic city which boasts of one of the wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal, are also happy that the usual harassment by touts had lessened considerably. The presence of uniformed policemen and in plainclothes at the monument has had its salutary effect. A group of foreign tourists said they were surprised that they were hardly accosted by touts and guides when they went to see the Taj Mahal. Senior police officers said this was generally the case in any city whenever there was heavy deployment of personnel for whatever reasons. The district police officers and the citizens in general, however, hope that this trend would continue even after the summit. |
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Vajpayee-Musharraf fellowships soon New Delhi, July 9 Announcing this here today at the inauguration of two-day India-Pakistan Conference on “Development perspectives in new millennium,” ICSSR chairman M.L. Sondhi said the fellowships would be located in 27 research institutes of the ICSSR across the country. The selection would be made on merit through international selection procedure. In her inaugural address, Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha, Ms Najma Heptullah, said the two countries had a shared history, geography and destiny. “Cooperation and not conflict will determine our place in the world,” she emphasised. Ms Heptullah said since the two countries had common cultural roots, confrontation and antagonism were artificial and unsustainable. Mr M.J. Akbar, Editor-in-Chief of The Asian Age, said problems of 50 years could not be solved in an instant but there was a mood for change. He called for establishing links between the two countries which would survive the strains. Referring to the Musharraf-Vajpayee
summit, he said: “The dialogue is a demand that has risen from the ground level and the political leadership is responding to it.” Mr Hamid Haroon, Editor-in-Chief, The Dawn, said excavations at Baluchistan had shown existence of pre-Indus civilisation, about 10,000 years back, in which the various communities co-existed and India and Pakistan should put behind their bitterness of 50 years. He said the prolonged conflict over Kashmir had prevented the two countries from forging solid ties. Prof Sondhi said conflict between the two countries was not inevitable and if there was goodwill, peace would prevail. Maintaining that the India and Pakistan should seize the opportunity provided by the Agra summit, Prof Sondhi said social scientists conference would contribute to removing bitterness and prejudice. |
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DMK to boycott probe panel Chennai, July 9 “The appointment of the commission was ‘mala fide’ and so we will boycott it,” he said when newsmen sought his comment on the panel at the Apollo Hospitals from where he was discharged after two days of medical examination. The DMK would carry on the fight till action was taken against the guilty police officers, he added. When pointed out that there was a general opinion among the public that Chief Minister Jayalalitha was in no way affected by the action initiated against her government by the Centre and that the latter had not taken any stringent action, Mr Karunanidhi said “we will wait and see what other action the Centre is going to take.” Asked what kind of an agitation his party would launch, he said it would be decided at the party’s executive committee meeting to be held by the end of this month. On PMK leader
S. Ramdoss quitting the AIADMK-led secular front and trying to rejoin the NDA, he said discussions in this regard would be held with the Prime Minister.
UNI |
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Notice to TN Govt on ex-minister’s
petition New Delhi, July 9 The judges directed the state government to file its reply and said that they would take up the bail plea of Mr Ponnuswamy after two weeks. Mr Ponnuswamy is already serving his sentence. The charge against him is that as Education Minister in 1993-96 he abused his position as a public servant. He acquired property in his own name and in the names of his wife, daughter, cousin and brother to the extent of Rs.77,49,337.77. The trial court convicted him and sentenced him to undergo three years’ imprisonment and the other accused were awarded one year’s imprisonment. On appeal by Mr Ponnuswamy, the Madras High Court by an order, dated April 12, 2001 upheld the trial court’s order convicting him and acquitted the other two accused. |
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Petition on Taj’s upkeep dismissed New Delhi, July 9 A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice D.K.Jain, threw out the petition after it was told that the Taj Group of Hotels’ involvement was limited to maintenance of the monument and its environs in accordance with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) guidelines. The Tata Group was there only for the maintenance of the Taj complex and not to take any financial benefit, the court was told. According to a recently signed MoU, the Taj Group of Hotels and the ASI joined hands towards the preservation and upgradation of facilities at the Taj Mahal. The 15-month-long project will not only involve conservation of the monument but also include development of some of the 33 lost Moghul gardens around the Taj, besides a collaborative study on the long-term preservation of structure itself. The hotel company is supposed to invest Rs 1.87 crore in the first phase of the upgradation of tourist facilities, putting up new lighting system around the monument, development of gardens, cleaning up the surroundings, pathways and fountains. The project will not involve a complete takeover of the monument by the corporate as the property will still be with the government and the revenue generated by the tickets and renting of shops around the Taj will go to the government exchequer. In return of its efforts the private company could only put up billboards in the complex.
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Rain hits traffic in Mumbai Mumbai, July 9 Suburban trains on both the Western Railway as well the Central Railway’s main and harbour sections were delayed by 30 minutes to an hour as the heavy downpour submerged the tracks making it difficult to run the trains. Outgoing the incoming mail and express trains were also delayed because of the heavy showers. Road traffic was also disrupted and buses were diverted at several places as water gushed into low-lying areas. Several buses and private transport went off the roads.
UNI |
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BJP executive meeting now from Aug 3 New Delhi, July 9 The Executive Committee originally to meet from July 18, was postponed to maximise the participation of leaders in its deliberations, party spokesman Sunil Shastri told reporters. Some leaders had expressed inability to attend the July meet saying they were busy, he said. There is virtually no change in the agenda of the Executive Committee, the apex decision making forum of the party, he said. The Executive Committee would pass an economic and a political resolution, taking the latest scenario into consideration. The Indo-Pakistan summit between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf would also be discussed. Asked about the BJP’s stand on involving the All Parties Hurriyat Conference in the summit, Mr Shastri said the party was firmly against any third party role. |
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Cong slams govt on ceasefire New Delhi, July 9 “It is clear that the present Government has no perception, comprehension or understanding of the sensitivity of people of Manipur, Assam and Nagaland. This mess has been created by inconsistent flip-flop approach of the Union Government,” Congress spokesman Anand Sharma told newspersons here. “They started first playing the cynical game in Manipur ignoring that Manipur is a sensitive border state...they undermined the political stability of Manipur and played the game of opportunism,” he said adding “these contributed towards the volatile situation there.” |
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Para-teachers face
bleak future Sriganganagar: Hundreds of para-teachers recruited last year at the level of gram panchayats face uncertain future, as neither their service rules have been framed nor their services allotted to any department. The state government had, as part of its drive to increase literacy level in the state, recruited these teachers with the help of the village headmen, imparted them training for some months and posted them to villages all over the state. This is from where their sorry tale starts. Enquiries by The Tribune revealed that the respective Block Development Officers (Primary) washed their hands off the entire matter by claiming that their responsibility was only for the 28-day initial training, from June 2 to June 30, 2001. The teachers would have to fend for themselves after that and would serve at the pleasure of the village headmen and the villagers, they said. Sources said rules were such that a group of five or more villages could file an application in the panchayat stating their displeasure at their performance and they would be sacked without giving them an opportunity of being heard. Some of the teachers are already victims of village politics. They do know whom to contact to discuss a problem, seek guidance or complain about the harassment caused to them by the villagers. Officials at the BDO level feign ignorance about the issue. Some officials claim that the scheme was so loosely drafted that while the state government managed to fulfil its promise of recruiting more teachers to increase literacy rate, they did not want to be burdened with the salary bills. As a result, the rules were so vague that the teachers did not even know which department they were serving and who their boss was. It seemed they had only duties but no rights, an official observed. The candidates who were selected and had hoped of serving the state Education Department after some years, but felt disappointed and their ephoria faded. Many affected teachers point out that this was unprecedented, since in the past, rules were framed for gram sevaks and they were placed under a department and avenues for grievance redressal were defined. Their remuneration, Rs 1,200 per month, was fixed and they could hope for justice in case of any wrong-doing. The teachers alleged that this time the government wanted to rectify this mistake and had drafted such vague rules that they had been and without an assurance security from the very begining of their career. In the past, their service record was maintained at the Zila Parishad and the Panchayat Samiti level but this time the government, in its wisdom, chose the “village headman as their judge and executioner”. They also alleged that they would draw their salary from the funds earmarked for various development works in the village and in case there were none, they would receive no salary for months together. It is interesting that their attendance would not be marked at the school they were teaching in but on a muster roll maintained largely by the illiterate headman along with the villagers working for the ongoing projects in the village. On the other hand, the government, fearing an agitation by the teachers, assures them through newspaper advertisements that their services would be regularised after five years. This is a cruel joke since the present government has only two years of its term left. “What then?”, they question. |
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Centre to review rural development projects Dehra Dun, July 9 Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, Mr Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Rural Development, said he had called a meeting of the Rural Development and Panchayat Ministers of all states on July 11, to discuss various issues. He was here to review the rural development programmes of Uttaranchal being run with the assistance of the Central government. The major issues of the meeting would be to scrap the parallel bodies set up by many states at the panchayat level, make sure that the panchayat elections in all states were held at due time and form a monitoring agency to review the utilisation of funds. Earlier, after reviewing the ongoing projects of rural development in the state by holding a meeting with the concerned ministry and higher officials of the state Mr Naidu said, the situation of utilisation of funds in the rural development programmes in the state would have to improve considerably as there was no shortage of funds. He announced the sanctioning of state institute of rural development which will be built with the help of the central government at Rudrapur, Rs 36 crore for Integrated Waste Land Development projects in the districts of Nainital, Almora, Bageshwar, Uttarkashi, Pithoragarh, Pauri and Dehra Dun, Rs 25 lakh under the Samgra Awas Yojna, Rs 60 crore for development of rural roads during the current financial year and Rs 40 crore for sectoral reforms project in one of the chosen districts. |
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US societies honour Paroda New Delhi, July 9 This recognition has been given to Dr Paroda for his contributions to the development of agriculture and agricultural research and education. |
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