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Sunday,
August 31, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Muslim board to challenge ASI report Healing touch has no alternative, says
Mufti Vohra updates Advani on
J-K visit Not the right time to disinvest NFL: Dhindsa
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26 get Shiromani Awards
Naidu rules out scrapping of POTA Maya blames BJP for installing Mulayam Gegong Apang
joins BJP Order reserved on Yatri Nivas
release Police custody for Akshardham suspects 13 get life term
for murder
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Muslim board to challenge ASI report New Delhi, August 30 “The ASI’s controversial report will have no effect on the legal dimension of the Ayodhya case, as the whole issue before the court pertains to under whose possession the Babri Masjid was in 1949 when the idols of Ram Lala first appeared there,” the AIMPLB spokesman, Mr S.Q.R. Ilyas told UNI. “We will file our objections on the ASI report within one month, as the court has given us six weeks to react to it. We are consulting achaeologists to have their views on the ASI report and prepare our objections,” he said. The Board had obtained the court’s permission to take a team of experts, including archaeologists and historians, to Ayodhya on June 10 to witness the excavation and they would now appear as the board’s witnesses before the court. According to the AIMPLB spokesman, the ASI report is not only politically motivated but also contradictory to its interim report. Moereover, there were many discrepancies in its findings, inferences and analysis. The photographs, findings and maps produced by the ASI depicted different things, he said. Mr Ilyas said the ASI report was silent on the excavation findings at various layers that proved a Muslim habitation pre-existed at the place — the presence of graves, glazed pottery, tiles and animal bones. The ASI, in its final report
presented to the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court hearing the Ayodhya case on August 25 had said it had found evidence of a 10th century temple at the disputed site. The interim report of ASI had said that some structures made of lime and mortar and Mughal-period potteries had been found during excavations but the final report did not mention these. Meanwhile, the board also said it would “neither oppose nor support’’ the controversial Bill for banning cow slaughter in the country. “Banning cow slaughter not only affects Muslims, but also people in the North East, West Bengal and Kerala. Let Parliament take a decision on the issue,” the AIMPLB spokesman, Mr S.Q. R.Ilyas said. —
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Healing touch has no alternative, says Mufti Kolkata, August 30 “When we had suggested the healing touch policy long ago, many parties, including the BJP, objected to it. But today, there is a national consensus and even the Prime Minister has advocated it during his Srinagar visit,” Mufti Sayeed said during an interaction with city business houses here. Maintaining that there was no ready-made formula to counter terrorism in J&K, Mufti Sayeed said, “But I also must tell my adversaries that the thaw in militancy in the valley is not temporary...it is a permanent desire of the people who have voted for peace to live with dignity.” The Chief Minister, who has taken up a national confidence-building exercise that began with his Mumbai trip followed by Hyderabad, Bangalore and now Kolkata, said, “Kashmir is the soul of India and it is not simply Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s responsibility to restore peace there. The entire nation has to support us.” Hailing the Centre’s recently announced concessions in the information technology and excise sectors on the lines of the North-East package, he said the PDP-Congress government had also declared Srinagar and Jammu as economic free zones for hassle-free exports from the region and announced a common minimum programme to “win the hearts of people”. The Chief Minister said the recent visits by President A P J Abdul Kalam, the Prime Minister, Opposition leader Sonia Gandhi and over 100 MPs to the Valley had restored a sense of security in the minds of the people. “Bollywood film-makers Yash Chopra, Vinod Chopra and a lot many financiers have come to shoot in the valley recently. The President’s visit saw a huge turnout despite a bandh call by a section. This symbolises the expectations of the people,” he said. On his government’s focus to revive tourism in the state in a big way, Mufti Sayeed said efforts were on to streamline the bureaucratic mechanism and pave the way for a single-window system. —
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Vohra updates Advani on
J-K visit New Delhi, August 30 Asked whether he would hold talks with the Hurriyat Conference and other separatist organisations, he said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr Advani had already made things clear on the matter during their visit to the state. Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani had said he was ready to meet anybody, the including the separatist Hurriyat Conference. The meeting was also attended by Union Home Secretary N. Gopalaswamy and Intelligence Bureau Director K. P. Singh. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Home I. D. Swami said an “open invitation” had been extended to all groups in Jammu and Kashmir to hold talks with Mr Vohra. “The Hurriyat and other such groups can also meet the Prime Minister,” he said. —
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Not the right time to disinvest NFL: Dhindsa New Delhi, August 30 The disinvestment should be delayed for the next two years as the PSU is likely to get higher price than now, Mr Dhindsa wrote to Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It is not the right time to sell the government’s stake in the PSU as it would yield less than what could be acruded later, Mr Dhindsa told The Tribune. He said the Prime Minister has assured that he would consider the issue favourably when the matter is taken up by the Cabinet. Interestingly, the matter was recently raised by the Shiromani Akali Dal leaders Parkash Singh Badal and Gurcharan Singh Tohra, when they met Mr Vajpayee in the Capital. Stating that NFL was a profit making PSU and there was no need to rush with its disinvestment, Mr Dhindsa said prices of fertilizers have been decontrolled by the new fertilizer policy of the government. The Union Minister said the prices of fertilizer in the market has shown an upward trend and India being one of the largest consumer, it is not the right time for the government to divest its stakes from NFL. He said NFL is the country’s largest producer of fertilizer and accounts for 15 per cent of India’s total production. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizer headed by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav had observed that it was not in favour of disinvestment of profit making PSU and the government should review its policy. “Any disinvestment of these profit making PSUs (NFL and Madras Fertilizers Ltd) will pave the way for monopolistic evils in the industry,” the report said. The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment had recently approved transaction document and decided to take out Rs 300 crore as dividend, paving the way for inviting financial bids in the PSU. However, remaining reserves of the total of Rs 800 crore has been left untouched as the company’s two plants in Bathinda and Panipat would require at least Rs 150 crore each for modernisation. Tata Chemicals, Deepak Fertilizers and Indo Gulf group are among those who have shown interest in bidding for the NFL stakes. Bids for the sale of government shares were earlier aborted following changes in policy and pricing norms. It had offered 51 per cent stake in the company to strategic partner, thus diluting stakes to 46 per cent from the present 97 per cent. The new fertilizer policy aims to gradually move the production units to supply the fertilizer in the direction of parity with international prices based on the use of most efficient feedstock and state of the art technology. The scheme would be implemented in stages over the next two years. The farm gate price of urea is fixed at Rs 4,830 per tonne. On an average, a subsidy amounting to more than Rs 4,100 per tonne is borne by the government on every tonne of urea sold to the farmers. Subsidy on urea in 2002-03 is estimated to be Rs 7,004 crore, the Economic Survey said. Amongst states in the plain per hectare consumption was highest in Punjab with 173.38 kg per hectare and Haryana with 155.69 kg per hectare. The all India average is 90 kg per hectare. During the 1980s, kharif crops accounted for nearly one third of the total fertilizer consumption, whereas the rabi crops accounted for a much larger share. This has now changed and the consumption is more evenly spread between the two sowing seasons, reflecting more assured water availability in kharif season at all India level, the survey added. |
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26 get Shiromani Awards New Delhi, August 30 Past recipients of the awards instituted in 1977 by NRI Institute founder Jagmohan Singh include Mother Teresa, Field Marshal S.F.J. Maneckshaw, thespian Raj Kapoor, cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar and father of the
White Revolution Verghese Kurien. After the awards presentation ceremony, Mr Gujral wended away in a humourous vein about his constant “memory lapses” due to advancing age. One of the awardees, Border Security Force Director General Ajai Raj Sharma, had told him something while on the dais. “But I forgot what,” the former Prime Minister said, much to the delight of Sir Rob. Earlier, the tone was set by the Delhi Chief Minister, who presided over the function. Ms Dikshit commented modestly on her chosen field of activity saying, “This has not been my field of choice, but I find myself where I am... and here I am.’’ She received the Special Shiromani Award, 2002, for politics and governance, particularly for promotion of handicrafts, reduction of pollution and rehabilitation of slum dwellers. Others who got the awards included Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala (politics and governance), National Human Rights Commission Chairman A. S. Anand — in absentia (judiciary), National Minority Commission Chairman Tarlochan Singh (public service), University Grants Commission Chairman Arun Nigavekar (physics and education), Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Deepak Nayyar (Economics) and Union Minister of State for Information Technology Ashok Pradhan (politics). Bharat Hotels Chairman Lalit Suri (hotel industry), Cricket commentator Navjot Singh Sidhu (sport), Dabur India Managing Director V. C. Burman (industry), J and K Bank Chairman M. Y. Khan (banking), Doordarshan Director S. Y. Quraishi (social marketing), Reliance Infocomm Corporate President A. Shanker (management and telecom) and Veecom Group of Companies Chairman Vijay K Srivastava (business) were also awarded. Cheshire Homes-India Chairman Maj-Gen Virendra Singh (retd) (social and community work), Punjab and Sindh Bank Chairman N. S. Gujral (banking), BSF Director General Ajai Raj Sharma (services) and National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management Director General A. K. Goel (agricultural research) were also among the recipients. Padma Bhushan recipients Kuchipudi dance exponents Raja and Radha Reddy (dance), British Airways-India Commercial Director Alok Sawhney (sales and marketing), SGL Charitable Hospital founder Baba Kashmira Singh (social work), entrepreneur of Nabha Kanwarani Sohinder (exports), Senior Builders Managing Director Vijay Dixit (building and construction), Dr M. P. Rozario (teaching and administration) and Geeta Dudeja (teaching) wre the other awardees. —
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Naidu rules out scrapping of POTA Coimbatore, August 30 “There may be some instances of misuse of this Act, but there is no question of removal of POTA,” Mr Naidu told a press conference here. However, he refused to go into the details, saying that a committee constituted for its meaningful review was already at it. When reporters referred to the case of Mr Vaiko, general secretary of the MDMK, an NDA ally at the Centre, Mr Naidu said the BJP had already opposed the “misuse” of POTA against Mr Vaiko. Since the matter was before the court, it was not proper to discuss the issue now, he said. On scrapping Article 356, he said the BJP wanted the Article to remain in the Constitution. But there should be some safeguards against its misuse, Mr Naidu said. —
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Maya blames BJP for installing Mulayam Lucknow, August 30 Reiterating that the BJP was behind the formation of the Samajwadi Party (SP)-led government in the state after the fall of the BSP-BJP coalition, she said the statement of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Jammu yesterday proved that the BJP had made this government. Addressing a press conference here, Ms Mayawati said the presence of Defence Minister George Fernandes as an emissary of the Prime Minister and Mr Vajpayee’s statement that he was happy that Mr Yadav formed the government in UP showed that there was something “fishy” between the BJP and the SP. About Chief Minister Yadav’s announcement of waiving hiked tution fee for the students of colleges and universities and reducing the registration fee in government hospitals, she blamed the BJP and its leader Lalji Tandon for ignoring the demands of the people even as the BSP wanted to do so at the earliest. “I was forced not to interfere as both the departments were in the BJP quota.” She further said 14 hours electricity to the rural areas was also not a new announcement of the SP as the government was to declare such sops in the Budget Session which was slated from August 28. —
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Gegong Apang
joins BJP New Delhi, August 30 Mr Apang said he joined the BJP as he wanted his party to be “not merely a coalition partner” and he would make an effort to bring region into the “national mainstream”. “We will leave no stone unturned to fulfil the dream of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of bringing North Eastern region into the national mainstream,” Mr Apang, who was welcomed into the party fold by Minister of State for Home Swami Chinmayanand, party Vice-President Pyarelal Khandelwal and General Secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi at party’s central office here, said. With his joining the party, the total strength of BJP MLAs in the 60-member Assembly comes to 42 and Arunachal Pradesh becomes the first BJP-ruled state in the North-East. Describing the BJP as the symbol of nationalism, Mr Apang, who was enroled as a BJP member at a simple function organised at the party headquarters here, said they had joined the BJP for the development of Arunachal Pradesh and strengthening the unity of the country. Mr Apang said the North-East had a special significance in the Indian subcontinent. The Prime Minister understood this and had provided necessary support through various developmental schemes for the region. He had also ensured honest implementation of the scheme, the Chief Minister said. “Today is a special day in his life as Arunachal Pradesh capable of generating 30,000 mw of power is becoming the part of the national mainstream,” Mr Apang said. Mr Swamy said as per the special instructions of the Prime Minister, the government was giving special attention towards the development of the region. He said Arunachal would become the centre of transformation in the region and announced that a meeting to review the development programmes of the region would be held in Itanagar on September 26 and 27. Mr Khandelwal, welcoming Mr Apang and others into the party fold, said the BJP was spreading its wings in the region. Mr Khandelwal claimed that five members of the North Kachar Autonomous Council in Assam had joined the BJP. —
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Order reserved on Yatri Nivas release New Delhi, August 30 Additional Sessions Judge G.P. Thareja, who is hearing the eight-year-old case, reserved his order for September 3. The court on August 28 had initially asked Hotel Queen’s counsel Suruchii Aggarwal to give it an undertaking saying that the hotel would protect the rights of any person if claims regarding any property in that land arises and that it would obey all judicial orders regarding the same. But the counsel refused to give such an undertaking saying that she would file written arguments on the matter following which the judge reserved his orders. Sharma, along with other partners, had entered into a three-year licence agreement with the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) on November 10, 1994 for use of Baghiya restaurant the duration of which ended on November 10, 1997, Ms Aggarwal said. The police had allegedly recovered parts of the burnt body of Sahni from the tandoor at Baghiya in Ashok Yatri Nivas here on the intervening night of July 2 and 3, 1995. After the incident, the restaurant was abandoned by Sharma, Ms Aggarwal said, adding that the police had not taken possession of the property but only directed Hotel Queen not to remove anything from that place. —
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Police custody for Akshardham suspects Gandhinagar, August 30 Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Sailesh Oza said the court was granting the remand to allow the investigating agencies time to gather information regarding Ayub Khan, the third terrorist who had escaped during the incident in which 31 persons were killed. The court said queries regarding who provided local support and arms to the terrorist as well as the details regarding Saudi Arabia (where the plot was hatched) link remained unanswered. —
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13 get life term for murder Madhepura (Bihar), August 30 The convicts faced charges of attacking a person with sharp-edged weapons under Singheshwar police station of the district on November 26, 1994. Later, the victim, Buddhu Pandit, succumbed to his injuries in Patna Medical College and Hospital. —UNI |
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Centre’s interlocutor on J&K N. N. Vohra today met Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani and discussed the progress of talks being held by him with various sections in the state.
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