Saturday, April 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India
 Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Sinha relents, gives sops to salaried class
Sacrifices Rs 2,157 cr on tax proposals
New Delhi, April 26
Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today rolled back some of the unpopular proposals in the Budget for 2002-03 to assuage the sentiments of the salaried class, sacrificing Rs 2157 crore of revenue in the process.

          Highlights

Not enough, says Congress
New Delhi, April 26
The Congress today said the partial rollback of Budget proposals by Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha was not enough to bring relief to the middle-class.

3 killed in Gujarat violence
Mobs set 200 shops, houses ablaze
Ahmedabad, April 26
At least three persons were killed and 30 injured as rampaging mobs set on fire 200 houses and shops in a major flare-up of communal violence in Ahmedabad and Mansa town of Gandhinagar district, taking the death toll to 44 in Gujarat since past Sunday.
In video (28k, 56k)

Carnage survivors’ tales of woe New Delhi, April 26 Many a heads hung in shame as about 20 survivors of the Gujarat carange recounted their nightmarish experiences. Riot victims of Gujarat break into tears during a Press meet in New Delhi on Friday.  — PTI photo

TDP may oppose government
New Delhi, April 26
A strong view gaining ground in Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party is that they should vote against the NDA government when the Opposition-sponsored motion on Gujarat is taken up in the Lok Sabha on March 30.

• AIADMK to abstain from voting

• NDA meeting tomorrow

New Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs, will be the new Foreign Secretary. He will replace Chokila Iyer on July 1. Ms Iyer is due for superannuation on June 30, an official press note said. TNS

LS adjourned for lack of quorum
New Delhi, April 26
Lack of quorum today forced the Chair to adjourn the Lok Sabha abruptly this afternoon at 4.45 pm during the discussion on the finance Bill. Despite the repeated efforts by the government and BJP Chief Whip Vijay Kumar Malhotra the requisite numbers could not be mustered.

12 killed in Pak mosque blast
Islamabad, April 26
A bomb killed 12 women and children in a mosque in central Pakistan overnight at a gathering of thousands of Shi’ite Muslims, hospital officials said today.

Pak bunkers destroyed
Twelve militants shot in Jammu & Kashmir
Jammu, April 26
Twelve Pakistani bunkers were destroyed and an unknown number of Pakistani regulars killed when Indian soldiers opened retaliatory artillery fire on frontier Pakistani positions across the Line of Control in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri district on Friday.

• No unilateral pullout: Pervez

Ex-pupil kills 18 in German school
Erfurt, Germany, April 26
Eighteen persons were killed in a bloodbath at a German school on Friday when an armed former pupil opened fire, police said.

SGPC Secy Bachan quits in protest
Amritsar, April 26
The supreme body of the Sikhs, the SGPC, was today embroiled in a controversy when its Executive Committee at its meeting held in gurdwara Alamgir, Ludhiana, decided to retire all employees who have crossed the age of 58.

FOLLOW-UP But for an uncle, all desert Ravi Sidhu Psychiatrist to examine PPSC chief’s low morale Patiala, April 26 Punjab Public Service Commission Chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu seems to be showing an interest in his principal avocation of journalism while in jail. He remains busy scanning both English and vernacular papers even as he has lost the battle to get medical treatment from either Chandigarh or Delhi.          Punjab page:  IT Dept moves special court            PPSC members for transparency