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Thursday,
June 12, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Defence panel meeting cancelled No structures in some trenches:
ASI ‘Consensus required to solve Ayodhya dispute’
Advani should ‘clarify’ on US
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Dhindsa apprises PM of Badal’s arrest
threat 7 held for thefts at IGI
Airport Mhow to be
Dr Ambedkar Nagar D.C. Gupta new
Finance secretary Laloo turns 56
BJP campaign panel meeting Actress Ramya enters wedlock
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Defence panel meeting cancelled New Delhi, June 11 Although the MoD chose to rephrase the reason for the cancellation by saying that the meeting had been “postponed due to inadequate response from the members”, sources in the ministry said the Defence Minister preferred other engagements than getting “embarrassed” again by being present for the meeting which would have been sparsely attended. Only a small number of members from the parties which are a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre would have attended the meeting with the Opposition members preferring to stay away in protest. Even at the last meeting of the consultative committee held here on May 2, just six members — four from the Lok Sabha and two from the Rajya Sabha — were present. There are a total of 31 Members of Parliament who form the consultative committee for the MoD. The sources said the meeting was apparently cancelled at the behest of Mr Fernandes, who is also the Chairman of the consultative committee for the MoD. Reports suggested that although the ministry said that the meeting had been “postponed”, no fresh dates for the meeting had yet been finalised. What apparently has also peeved the Defence Minister is the continuing absence of the members belonging to the allied parties. The sources said of the 31 members forming the committee, approximately half were from the parties which form part of the government at the Centre. However, just six of The consultative committee meeting scheduled for today was to have discussed an important issue — the country’s air defence. Various steps undertaken by the MoD for the development of weapons, including the missiles for air defence, were to have been taken up at the meeting. All three services—the Army, the Air Force and the Navy — were also scheduled to make presentations regarding their needs at the meeting. A six line press note issued by the office of the Additional PIO (Defence), Dr P.K. Bandhyopadhyay, said, “The meeting of the consultative committee for the MoD scheduled to be held here today has been postponed. This was an inter-session meeting of the consultative committee”. When asked whether it was due to the continuing embarrassment at the hands of the Opposition members that Mr Fernandes had chosen to cancel the meeting, Dr Bandhyopadhyay said the Defence Minister was the Chairman of the committee and had the right to cancel it when he wanted. |
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No structures in some trenches:
ASI Lucknow, June 11 “Anomalies detected in the Ground Penetrating Radar
(GPR) survey carried out by the Tojo Vikas International Ltd in January this year could not be detected at many trenches,” Mr Hari
Majhi, ASI team leader, informed the high court while submitting the progress
report. Tojo Vikas had carried out the survey under the directions of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court and had submitted its report suggesting the presence of “structural anomalies” beneath the earth at the disputed site. Based on this report, the court had asked the ASI to start an excavation to find out whether any remnants of a temple could be found there. “While checking the anomalies, indicated in the GPR survey report, these were confirmed partially in trenches F3, F6, F8, G9, J8, K8, L3 and ZC1 whereas these were not reported in trenches E6. “In trenches D6, E2, F2, G5 and L1, anomalies could not be confirmed due to structural activities at the upper level. However, no anomalies were reported from trenches B2, B3, B4, B5, B7, B8, B9, C3, C4, C6, C8, G7, K6, L4 and L7,” said Mr Majhi in his report. The report may come as a rude shock to the Hindu hardliners who had been claiming “discovery of temple remnants” during the excavation and who had earlier claimed that the GPR report was “proof” of presence of a temple beneath the soil. Digging is on in 82 trenches. Earlier digging started in 52 trenches and 30 more trenches were included in the list after an approval from the court. Counsel of the Sunni Central Waqf Board
(SCWB) Zaffaryab Jilani told The Tribune that of the 30 new trenches, no structural anomalies were found in 15, while in the rest some anomalies were there confirming the GPR survey report. |
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‘Consensus required to solve Ayodhya dispute’ Hardwar, June 11 The minister said the Ayodhya issue could become a powerful means of achieving social and communal harmony. “The Babri Masjid has already been demolished. Now it is time for construction. The issue, instead of being used for creating fissures in society, should be used for creating cohesion among different sections and communities”, he added. He further said the court verdict could not be a final solution. There have been cases in the past when the court verdicts could not be implemented.. Even for the implementation of the verdict of the court, a proper atmosphere had to be created through dialogue and negotiations among the two communities, so that one community did not regard the verdict as a victory and the other a defeat. Even if a legislation is to be enacted by Parliament in the matter, it is not possible without political consensus”, he remarked.
OC |
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Advani should ‘clarify’ on US
tour New Delhi, June 11 The Congress spokesman, Mr Anand Sharma, said Mr Ahmed Patel, political secretary to the Congress president, who was in charge of Kerala, was in the state to talk to all factions. “We are confident of resolving the problem,” he said. When asked about 24 Karunakaran loyalists complaining that the Antony government had been a failure in the past two years, Mr Sharma said the state government was secure. When questioned about the latest problems as being a result of the “liberal attitude” of the high
command towards rebels during the recent Rajya Sabha elections, Mr Sharma said that the high command had handled the Kerala developments in the best possible manner. Mr Sharma took a dig at the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, saying that he had gone on the foreign tour to escape the heat of controversies like the Liberhan Commission proceedings, CBI charge sheet in the Ayodhya case and karsevaks’ statements. The spokesman alleged that the wives of some of the senior government officials accompanying Mr Advani on his visit to the United States and Britain were travelling on public money. The party took exception to “accomodating” families of the Home Ministry officials in Mr Advani’s tour programme. The
government should clarify on the issue, he said. “We are not objecting to Mr Advani taking his family with him on his two-nation tour, but to their wives accompanying the ministry officials, which would cost the exchequer heavily,” the spokesman said. |
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Dhindsa apprises PM of Badal’s arrest threat New Delhi, June 11 In separate meetings with Mr Vajpayee and Mr Fernandes, each lasting about 25 minutes, Mr Dhindsa apprised them of the “worsening political situation” in Punjab and sought their intervention. Sources said Mr Vajpayee wondered how a leader like Mr Badal could be arrested even if threats were held out. The sources said Mr Fernandes told Mr Dhindsa that the situation had not arisen which required his intervention as NDA convener.
TNS |
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7 held for thefts at IGI
Airport New Delhi, June 11 The sleuths acting on a secret information yesterday that some persons would come to Bhagirath Place for selling the stolen pharmaceutical chemical, laid a trap for them. Accordingly last evening the sleuths spotted four employees of the handling agency — Veer Pal, the kingpin in the scandal, Sumer Singh, Yesh Pal and Ajeet Singh — and questioned them in Bhagirath Place in Chandni Chowk while they were trying to sell the stolen medicinal chemical Ciphlexin of Ranbaxy Laboratories, said the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Mr Deependra Pathak. Following their interrogation another employee of the agency and two businessmen who were their regular clients, were arrested by the Crime Branch. The accused have been identified as Sumer Singh, Veer Pal, Yesh Pal, Ajeet Singh, Ram Gopal, Rajesh Kumar and R.K. Sharma. Mr Pathak said the arrests were made on complaints by AAI and IGI airport officials about the mysterious theft and pilferage of high-value goods from the cargo during the past few months. During the past one year more than 600 cases of theft had been reported by the AAI security officers. An FIR had also been registered on November 17 last year about the theft of computer parts, ICs, watches and mobile phones and the Crime Branch had been working on the case since then. Mr Pathak said the root cause of the problem, was the handing over of the security responsibility at the cargo to private security companies. Some staff members of the private companies, in connivance with senior
officials, indulged in thefts. |
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Mhow to be Dr Ambedkar Nagar Bhopal, June 11 A Union Home Ministry communication dated June 4, 2003 has directed the Madhya Pradesh Government to issue the gazette notification in this regard after completing the necessary formalities. In July last year, the Union Home Ministry had turned down the state government’s proposal to rename Mhow on the ground that “all important documents relating to the
(Mhow) cantonment from the British rule period have been recorded in the name of Mhow and change in the name will create administrative problems”. Besides, renaming of Mhow as Dr Ambedkar Nagar was violative of Para 2(iii) of the Union Home Ministry’s guidelines (which says that a change of name of a city or town should not be made merely to show respect to some national leader), the Union Home Ministry communication had pointed out. |
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D.C. Gupta new Finance secretary New Delhi, June 11 While Mr Narayan gets the coveted post just 20 days before his retirement on June 30, for the first time in Finance Ministry’s history, the Expenditure Secretary will also hold the portfolio of Finance Secretary.
PTI |
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Laloo turns 56 Patna, June 11 He had a change of heart and he not only accepted the huge cake, but also agreed to cut it. His supporters had brought him this huge cake with icing in the shapes of a temple, a mosque, a gurudwara and a church, symbolising communal harmony. Laloo’s birthday is observed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal workers as ‘Communal Harmony Day’.
OC |
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BJP campaign panel meeting New Delhi, June 11 Party President M. Venkaiah Naidu and general secretary Pramod Mahajan, who is also the convener of the 15-member committee, will assess the response to the party’s campaign so far in the states, particularly the Congress-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and New Delhi.
TNS |
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Actress Ramya enters wedlock Hyderabad, June 11 Ramya, who made her debut in Telugu films with ‘Sankeertana’, shot to fame with a sterling performance in ‘Suthradharulu’. Her first film with Vamsi was ‘Chandralekha’. Vamsi has several hits to his credit including ‘Anthapuram’ and ‘Khadgam’.
UNI |
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