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Thursday,
August 30, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Pak troops
digging trenches MiG
fighter jets airworthy, says Jaswant Singh ’84
riots: another cop confirms police role |
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Papers contain
Bofors’ financial details Rang Mahal
gutted Poachers
kill forest officer Kala-azar
drugs “substandard” |
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Janambhoomi
trust may get
land NORTH INDIA IN
PARLIAMENT Heated
debate on education policy Sonia
flays Centre on starvation deaths AI
disinvestment referred to privileges panel Indian CBMs
‘unreciprocated’ Digvijay should quit: BJP Vajpayee
opens jewellery exhibition V.P.
defends treatment ‘Implement’
national blood policy Novel protest by powerless residents 2 ISI
agents held 1 held
for forged pay orders
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Pak troops digging trenches New Delhi, August 29 According to information available from the Union Home Ministry sources, Pakistan rangers and troops are upgrading their defences. “Available inputs indicate that Pakistan Rangers are upgrading some of their existing positions by fortifying them,” the sources said, adding that “they have also been constructing bunkers.” In a written reply to a question from Nana Deshmukh in the Rajya Sabha today, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr Vidyasagar Rao, admitted to the new development along the 200-km international border. He informed the Upper House that apart from constructing bunkers and constructing and maintaining their defences, the Pakistan Rangers had during April and May this year conducted summer training/exercise. The minister said frequent flag meetings at local commanders’ level with the Pakistan Rangers were held to bring down the incidents of unprovoked firing on Indian civilians working in fields. It may be recalled that the Pakistan Rangers had been indulging in unprovoked firing from across the border to disrupt the fencing initiated by the BSF to check infiltration. |
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MiG fighter jets airworthy, says Jaswant Singh New Delhi, August 29 Replying to a question, he said MiG variants constitute the bulk of fighter aircraft fleet and account for the bulk of the flying hours of the IAF. A high-level committee headed by scientific adviser A.P.J. Abdul Kalam made 84 recommendations for the safety of the aircraft. He said the government had already implemented 45 of the recommendations while 12 were in various stages of implementation. However, 10 suggestions were not accepted. The minister said human error accounted for the substantial percentage of accidents and that steps were being taken to improve the quality of training. With a view to getting wider perspective and scientific analysis for preventing accidents, a number of independent agencies are involved in examining some cases of accident investigations. |
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’84 riots: another cop confirms police role New Delhi, August 29 Mr Harbans Singh (66) told the commission that when a message about some Sikhs carrying kirpans in an area was flashed, the directive from the other side was to send a force to “arrest them immediately”. On the other hand, he said, numerous messages about attacks on gurdwaras and the houses of Sikhs elicited no instructions to take action against anyone. Mr Harbans Singh is the second policeman to level such charges against the Delhi police while deposing before the commission. Earlier this month, another Sub-Inspector Hari Nihal Singh told the panel that he heard anti-Sikh messages on the police wireless system on the day of Mrs Gandhi’s assassination. These messages included instructions to the police personnel not to help the Sikhs or lodge their complaints and not to record, in the log book, messages about incidents concerning the Sikh community.
UNI |
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Papers contain
Bofors’ financial details
New Delhi, August 29 The CBI sources said the details related to the money paid by Bofors to various agents who helped in clinching the deal for sale of nearly 400 155-mm Howitzer guns to India. The sources said after securing the requisite permission from the trial court for the complete scrutiny of the documents, the CBI would decide its future course of action in the case. The CBI would file an appeal before the trial court on
September 3 for overall scrutiny of the documents received from Sweden.
PTI |
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Rang Mahal
gutted
Kolkata, August 29 First it was a fall from grace for the theatre as it was being used for commercial purposes and then this tragic fate. The rubble of the theatre now stands witness to this once thriving hall as the blaze, which broke out around 2.20 a.m., completely razed the hall. Fire Department officials here said 30 fire engines fought for over two hours to douse the flames. The stage and the windows of the theatre, besides all materials of the decorators suffered heavy damages.
UNI |
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Poachers
kill forest officer The incident occurred last evening in the Birjani area of the park when deputy forest ranger Bipin Chandra Pandey along with two other forest guards was returning after patrolling. The forest officials saw the poachers in army uniform passing through the area having taken forest guard Dayal Singh Rana as their hostage. When challenged, the poachers fired indiscriminately on the officials, killing Pandey on the spot. Two forest guards, Hira Singh Halsi and Janardan Pathak, were seriously injured in the incident and have been admitted to a hospital in Haldwani where their condition is stated to be serious, they said. The incident follows a series of attacks on the officials of the world famous park by armed poachers who had been eluding the police since more than a week now. More than seven park officials have been injured so far in such attacks. Five poachers had entered the Reserve donning Khaki uniforms similar to that of the rangers. When the other rangers realised that they were poachers, they accosted them at about 5 p.m. The ensuing exchange of fire left Pandey dead and Janardhan Pathak and Hira Singh Halsi injured. Rana was freed. Mr Samir
Sinha, Deputy Director of the Corbett Tiger Reserve, (CTR) said the combing operations have been further intensified in the CTR and was confident the poachers would soon be nabbed.
UNI, PTI |
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Kala-azar drugs “substandard” Patna, August 29 As the state government and the Centre are locked in a battle over whose responsibility is it to tame the giant killer disease and state government having banned the use of SAG after the death of six kala-azar patients terming it fake or sub-standard. On written complaints from the state Health minister, Mr Shakuni Chowdhary, the Union Health Minister and a kala-azar expert himself, Dr C.P. Thakur had announced a CBI probe into the affair if the SAG drugs supplied by the Centre proved to be sub-standard. Now it seems the CBI probe will be on as the five batches of SAG supplied by the Centre to Bihar have turned out to be sub-standard. Informing this the state Drug Controller, Mr S.K. Sinha, said the drugs were manufactured by Toshika International Limited, Chandigarh and supplied to Bihar by a NOIDA-based Central Government undertaking, Hospital services Consultancy Corporation (India) Limited. The state government had sent the samples to the Central Indian Pharmaceutical Laboratory in Ghaziabad on March 31. The Centre too had collected samples of SAG and has sent them for chemical tests. The report is awaited. The kala-azar figures in the state would reveal the extent of the menace of the disease in the north Bihar districts. These government figures, that are often the tip of the iceberg of a problem, too are disastrous. In Vaishali district, adjacent to the state capital, so far 80 persons have died in the last three years (since 1998) and at present 2538 persons are infected. Unofficial figures make the Kala Azar deaths in the district in the last 20 years as at least 1000. In Madhubani district, the official figures put the Kala Azar death toll at 17 for the same period. All blocks of the district are kala-azar affected in the government list. There are 479 patients. Similarly Samastipur, Madhepura and Motihari districts have 1000, 404, 408 affected persons. The government list contains the names of only those patients who come to government hospitals or health centres. In north Bihar, most health centres are almost non-functional and that is why most prefer private treatment. |
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Janambhoomi trust may get land
Lucknow, August 29 The sources said the Centre was considering the issue of handing over the land that was earlier given on lease to the Trust by the Kalyan Singh government in Uttar Pradesh in December, but was taken back after the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1993. They said the Central Government was discussing the issue with constitutional and legal experts. A decision was expected soon, they added. In his visit to Lucknow last week, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee had stated that the government was talking to the parties concerned to resolve the issue before March leading to protests from the Opposition in Parliament. In 1991, the BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh acquired 67.07 acres in and around the disputed Ram Janambhoomi Babri Masjid of which 47 acres were later handed over to the trust on a lease of Rs 1 per year for 99 years. After the demolition of Babri Masjid, the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao took the decision to take possession of the land acquired by the state government in 1991 along with an additional four acres totalling about 71 acres on January 7, 1993.
UNI |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, August 29 Earlier nine cases were registered by the Punjab Government against Dr Chohan. He was convicted in one case, discharged in another and seven cases were submitted as untraced. The Punjab Government was reviewing these seven cases, the minister told the House. Besides, one case was registered by the CBI under Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 on July 21, 1983, against Dr Chohan for committing, advocating, inciting and taking part in unlawful activities in foreign countries. This case had been reopened since his return to India in June, the minister said. Construction of 12 new schools, five vocational training centres, three poultry farms, two adult literacy centres, one hostel and five medical aid centres was undertaken in Leh and Kargil districts during the year 2000-01 under the Operation Sadbhavana. Besides this, two schools were revived and three villages were electrified, the Minister of State of Defence, Mr U.V. Krishnam Raju, told the Lok Sabha in a written reply today. All efforts had been made to educate the local population in Jammu and Kashmir to dissuade the terrorists from taking shelter in religious places. Besides, operational measures had also been instituted to prevent such misuse, Mr Raju said. On July 30, this year, three terrorists took shelter in a ‘Ziarat’ adjacent to a mosque at Goigam village of Baramula district. In the ensuing operation, all three terrorist, identified as Gulam Mustafa Khan, Zahoor Ahmed Zarar and Forroq Ahmed
reportedly from the Hizbul Mujahideen were killed, the minister said, adding that the local commanders had been authorised to deal with each situation on a case to case basis. The Himachal Pradesh Government reportedly received in November last a representation from the gram panchayat, Jangla, for the construction of the Badiyara-Maghara road in Shimla district. |
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Heated debate
on education policy New Delhi, August 29 Opposition
members said the policy would “divide the nation” and put the
clock back into “dark ages”. Union Human Resource Minister Murli
Manohar Joshi, defending the policy, said: “It would not communalise
the education system” and all facts of history should be brought
before children. Replying to the calling attention motion, which lasted for nearly four hours with members skipping lunch hour, Dr Joshi said he would not agree to the allegation that history was being changed. “I
do not believe that the policy would communalise the education system
in the country. All facts of history should be brought before the
children,” he said. The Union Minister said if the views of Karl Marx could be taught why not others, the students should have an opportunity to know why globalisation had failed in our nation. Dr Joshi said the policy had been formulated after taking the views of state education ministers, academicians, and non-government organisations. “It
envisaged a national system of education which would be based on a
national curricular framework containing a common core along with
other flexible components,” he said. Congress leader Eduardo
Falerio said the priority of the policy was “all cockeyed” and the
country must be saved from “this great leap backwards.” He said
since education was a concurrent subject there could not be a national
policy and the states would have to finally decide on the course of
action. The Central Advisory Board on Education must play a pivotal
role in this regard, he said. The Union Minister said the government had established a national council for the promotion of Urdu, Persian and Arabic and several measures were being taken for its promotion. Cine
personality Shabana Azmi said introduction of vedic courses in
universities was a mistake since it would not help in the country’s
progress. In an age of information technology and bio-diversity, she
said any expenditure on vedic courses was simply a national waste and
should be checked. The CPM member, Ms Sarla Maheshwari, wanted to
know why the government was so serious about the matter when
scientists and academicians had more than once expressed their concern
over the efforts to give up the laid down policy of the NCERT. |
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Sonia flays Centre on starvation deaths New Delhi, August 29 Charging the Government with being a “mute spectator” to the tragedy, Mrs Gandhi said during the Zero Hour that the crisis was worsening as several states were in the grip of a severe drought. Such a situation had arisen because of the government’s “bad policy and bad management” of public distribution system, she said. Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pramod Mahajan, said the Centre would coordinate with State Governments to find a way out to reach foodgrains to the affected people. Maintaining that distribution of foodgrains was the responsibility of the states, Mr Mahajan said there was no shortage of foodgrains with the Centre. Raising the issue, Mrs Gandhi said, “it is heart-breaking that deaths due to starvation are taking place in this
age. It is even more painful that this should be happening when we have over 60 million tonnes of buffer stock in our godowns.” “All this is entirely due to bad planning, bad management of our stocks and a bad distribution system,” she said, adding that “instead of mobilising on a war-footing, the government has been a mute spectator.” Mrs Gandhi said suggestions by experts and some Chief Ministers to set up foodgrain banks were ignored by the Centre and nothing significant had been done for months. The Samajwadi Party leader, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, said it appeared that the government was allowing people to die of starvation under “the pressure of multi-national companies.” |
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AI disinvestment referred to privileges panel New Delhi, August 29 Mr Dasmunshi quoted the note allegedly written by Union Cabinet Secretary T.R. Prasad to Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Brajesh Mishra, opposing the disinvestment in the airlines. Minister for Disinvestment Arun Shourie contacted the Cabinet Secretary who denied having written such a note. Mr Shourie referred the
matter to the CBI. The Congress, the Left and other parties had opposed its reference to the CBI and said it should have been taken up by the Privileges Committee of the Lok Sabha since it was raised in the House and was its “property.”
UNI |
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Indian CBMs
‘unreciprocated’ New Delhi, August 29 Stating this, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs today also said India was going ahead with the implementation of its unilateral CBMs. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had made light of the Indian CBMs, saying that the biggest CBM was Kashmir and described it as the core issue. He had then said relations between India and Pakistan could not improve unless the Kashmir issue was resolved first. |
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Digvijay should quit: BJP New Delhi, August 29 “Let the Congress, which had been making uninhibited allegations against Tehelka now ask the Chief Minister Digvijay Singh to resign,” National General Secretary of the BJP, Maya Singh said in a press note here. |
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Vajpayee
opens jewellery exhibition New Delhi, August 29 The most priceless of treasures belonging to the Nizam of Hyderabad is currently on display at National Museum here. The exhibition was officially inaugurated by the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee this morning. Burmese rubies, spinels and pearls from Basra and the of Gulf Mannar will be a part of the splendour which showcases rarities like the 184.75 carat uncut Jacob diamond, twice the size of the Kohinoor, and the third largest in the world, valued at a whopping Rs 400 crore was used by the last Nizam as a paper weight. Valued around Rs 10,000 crore these 173 pieces out of which 37 are priceless antiques were part of the collection of the Nizam of Hyderabad, some of these pieces belonged to the Russian treasury and were designed by master craftsmen. After the death of the last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, the collection passed on to the HEH Nizam Jewellery Trust and the HEH Nizam Supplemental Jewellery Trust. From the secured lockers of Hong Kong Bank in Mumbai, it was brought to the vaults of the Reserve Bank of India. |
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V.P. defends treatment
New Delhi, August 29 Mr V.P. Singh was reacting to media reports where it was reportedly pointed out that he was undergoing treatment at a private hospital despite facilities being available at government hospitals. The former Prime Minister, who is undergoing the treatment thrice a week since March 1997, said he had sought detailed information regarding various alternatives of the treatment from the Union Ministry of Health. “A life long chronic haemodialysis programme is not run at AIIMS for obvious reasons”, the Health Ministry’s communication to the former Prime Minister said. |
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‘Implement’ national
blood policy New Delhi, August 29 The members stressed on the need for implementing legislation, to make buying and selling of blood a criminal offence. They alleged that the people caught trading in blood cannot be implicated for want of suitable law. The delegation accompanied by five MPs from West Bengal suggested that to eradicate diseases spread from blood transfussion, private blood banks should not be allowed to function. They also demanded that media should be involved to spread the message of safe blood. It was also demanded that customs duty for the import of equipment needed for blood transfusion should be waived off and the procedure prescribed for getting grants from the government agencies should be made less cumbersome. |
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Novel protest by powerless residents Sriganganagar, August 29 The city has been plagued by frequent power cuts for the past many days and people have been forced to sweat it out. At their wits end, the people put their heads together and come up with the novel idea — if we cannot sleep, why should they. Temperatures have been hovering in the vicinity at 40 degrees celcius for the past many days. The city faces a peculiar problem since the old part of the town is fed by power supplied by Punjab while the new town is serviced by the state. The supply of the former is good but the latter is woefully inadequate, leading to regular cuts almost everyday. Today, led by senior activists of the local unit of the BJP, scores of protesters staged dharnas in front of power sub-stations and offices during the day and in the evening shifted their venue to the residences of department officials in various parts of the city. Sources claimed that in the wake of the “immense success “ of the experiment, it was decided that, henceforth, the residences of officers would be picketed by affected residents and the services of professional drum beaters and trumpet blowers utilised for the purpose. The protesters assembled in front of the local 320 kv station and raised slogans against the authorities. They later sat on dharna where leaders of the party addressed the gathering. Alleging that the Gehlot government, which completed 1, 000 days in power yesterday, had failed on all fronts, the leaders said every section of the population was feeling oppressed. The steep hike in power rates had been the last straw. The people were being virtually “ electrocuted “ by the power bills. The local MLA raised the issue with the state Power Minister who is said to have told him that there was a “breakdown” at the Suratgarh Super Thermal Power Plant
(SSTPP). Officials, while maintaining that the protest method had taken them by surprise, claimed that the situation would improve once the two units of the Kota Power Plant and another unit of the SSTPP start functioning. As compared to the peakload of 100 mw, only 72 mw were available yesterday. |
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2 ISI agents held Hyderabad, August 29 Abdul
Aziz, alias Ashrafi, alias Gidda (34), and Mohammad Nissar, a 29-year-old youth, who deserted city police force in 1993, were proceeding on a scooter near Sarojinidevi Eye Hospital at Medhipatnam here, when they were nabbed.
PTI |
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1 held for forged pay orders New Delhi, August 29 The police said the suspect approached the firm to arrange traveller cheques amounting to $ 27000 and $ 30,000 in cash in exchange of six bank drafts of the HDFC Bank, Punjabi Bagh, valued at Rs 2.4 lakh each totalling Rs 14,40,000. When Supreme Securities Ltd checked with the bank it was found that the pay orders were
forged. |
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Dehra Dun, August 29