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Rajasthan blamed
for woes of Pong Dam oustees
Nitish denies
neglecting TN Salman case: stay
on proceedings extended PIA reopens
office in Delhi
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Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati pays her last respects to former BJP President Khushabhau Thakre during the latter's cremation at Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat in Bhopal on
Monday. — PTI photo Cold wave claims
36 more lives
1,000 medicos
court arrest Another engineer
dies in strange circumstances 6 cops injured in
clash
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Rajasthan blamed for woes of Pong Dam oustees New Delhi, December 29 Beas Construction Board (BCB) Secretary H.C. Chawla, in the Union Power Ministry, in an affidavit, placed before a Bench comprising Mr Justice S Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur, has stated that a sub-committee set up to assess the situation in resettlement colony at Ramgarh in Jaislmer district of Rajasthan, found that the state administration could not provide the basic facilites because the oustees had not moved there. The BCB Secretary in the report said the committee members “had found that though land had been allotted to the oustees and irrigation water was made available, the oustees had not moved to their allotted land to start cultivation. In the absence of occupancy, the Government of Rajasthan could not provide the other facilites.” The
report was filed following the court’s November 8 notices to the Central, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan governments on a petition by oustees, who had highlighted the “apathy” of the authorities concerned towards their rehabilitation and basic facilites even after the court’s 1996 directions. Besides, the failure to allot land to all the 16,352 families to be settled in Rajasthan, the oustees among other things, had raised the issue of lack of facilities even in the rehabilitated areas, forcing them to keep their families back in Himachal Pradesh for their children’s education. Oustees organisations - the Pradesh Pong Bandh Visthapit Samiti (PPBVS) and the Himachal Pong Dam Oustees Welfare Committee (HPDOWC) - in their joint petition had said since no drinking water, health, education, road and other facilities had been created in resettlement localities all these years, they could not risk shifting their school-going children to the area, where no educational institutions were available. These bodies had alleged that out of the 16,352 eligible families, land had been allotted only to 2,538 families, while allotments to 6,658 other families had been cancelled by the Rajasthan Government. The Himachal Pradesh Government, in its report, earlier, had admitted that it had only issued eligibility certificates (ECs) to 9,196 of the 16,352 families
required to be settled in the Indira Gandhi canal area in Rajasthan. And of these 2,538 allotments were intact and the remaining were cancelled by the Rajasthan Revenue Department. The sub-committee comprising officials of both Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh governments was set up by the Supreme Court-appointed panel to assess the situation. Though the court committee had asked the sub-committee to visit the other resettlement localities also, the BCB in its affidavit stated that it was yet to assess the amenities provided to the oustees in those areas. The Supreme Court had appointed the committee in July 1996 to examine the oustees’ problems. It had directed the panel to ensure that essential services like water, roads, schools and dispensaries were made available to them. The Bench had given two weeks’ time to the Rajasthan Government to submit its report. |
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Advani, Thackeray to discuss sharing of seats Mumbai, December 29 Mr Advani is already in Mumbai to attend a private function. According to the BJP sources here the Deputy Prime Minister will discuss advancement of elections in view of the BJP’s good showing during the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The talks will be held at Mr Thackeray’s house in the suburban
Bandra. According to the sources here, the two leaders will also discuss seat sharing by the two parties in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra. At present, the BJP is a junior partner in the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance. While the Shiv Sena contested 171 seats in the last elections, the BJP contested 117 seats. Observers here say the Shiv Sena wants the BJP to concede more seats in the forthcoming elections. On the other hand, the Sena is prepared to allow the BJP to contest more seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Such an arrangement, it is felt, will help the BJP work towards its goal of winning 300 seats on its own in Parliament. The two opposition parties are on a roll in Maharashtra what with the Telgi scam dealing a severe blow to the image of the ruling coalition in the state. Departing from tradition, the Shiv Sena-BJP also organised a number of farmers’ agitations across the state during the past few months. The two parties also successfully forced the Maharashtra Government to pay higher prices for the produce bought from farmers. |
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Chennai, December 29 Speaking after dedicating the Rs 46 crore newly-converted broad gauge line between Chengalpattu and Tambaram at Chengalpattu, about 60 km from here, he said there was no discrimination between any two states. “For me, Tamil Nadu is a favourite state. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, there is no discrimination,’’ he asserted. The Union Minister was reacting to the charge of State Transport Minister R Viswanathan, who was also present, that the project would have been completed much earlier but for the non-allocation of funds by the Railway Ministry. Stating that Tamil Nadu was the first state in the country to come forward to share the cost of Railway projects, Mr Nitish Kumar said: “The Railway Ministry is providing impetus to the projects in the state. There is no question of neglecting Tamil Nadu...Please don’t have this impression,’’ he told Mr Viswanathan, adding that “no one has so far accused me of favouritism.’’ Referring to Mr Viswanathan’s claim that only Rs 388 crore had been allotted during the past three years as against the total grant of Rs 2,533 crore, he said the funds were being allotted to each state based on a formula, under which 15 per cent weightage would be given to it, taking into consideration its area and population. The remaining 70 per cent would be allocated on the basis of the progress of the project. He said the Railways needed about Rs 44,000 crore for completing 233 different projects, identified by the ministry. However, the ministry was getting only half of the amount. Funds were now being mobilised under Prime Minister’s Railway Vikas Yojana and Golden Quadrilateral schemes, he said. The ministry was also outsourcing for finance from the Asian Development Bank and other sources for 313 million US dollars for various projects, he said.
— UNI, PTI |
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Salman case: stay on proceedings extended
Mumbai, December 29 Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R.D. Gate deferred the state’s petition as notice was not served on Salman earlier. He directed the actor’s lawyer, Mr Dipesh Mehta, to file a reply. Bandra magistrate S.Y. Sishode had earlier deferred the trial to January 15 as the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had stayed proceedings till today to decide the plea of the Maharashtra Government to transfer the case to other court. The stay was today extended to January 7. The Supreme Court had on December 18 asked the court in Bandra to go ahead with the case and decide during the course of trial whether the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was applicable to the actor or not. The prosecution, however, raised objection in the trial court, saying that the same magistrate had earlier recorded statements of three witnesses. Section 164 (6) of the CrPC provides that such a magistrate should refer the statements to another magistrate who is conducting the trial. The prosecutor argued that since Mr Shishode had recorded the statements, he could not conduct the trial and had to refer the case to some other magistrate for trial under the CrPC. The magistrate then asked the prosecution to approach the appropriate forum to decide the issue. Therefore, the state moved the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate who stayed the proceedings until the matter was decided.
— PTI |
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New Delhi, December 29 The airline also released its winter schedule which showed two weekly flights from Lahore to Delhi, two from Karachi to Delhi and two from Karachi to Mumbai. Mr Parwez Ahmed Khan, PIA’s country manager, said all arrangements had been made at the New Delhi and Mumbai airports to resume operations. The airline would deploy B-737s, A-310s and A-300s on the routes, he said. A dozen retrenched employees had been taken back on rolls. Air links between India and Pakistan were snapped after the December 13, 2001 terror strike on the Parliament building. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan-based militant groups. Before that, the PIA used to operate five flights a week from Karachi to Mumbai, three from Karachi to Delhi and four from Lahore to Delhi. Mr Khan said the airline would increase flight frequencies when the passenger traffic built up. “Karachi is a good point for onward destinations in the Gulf and the Far-East,’’ he said. “We also hope to connect Kochi, Calicut and Hyderabad eventually once the existing bilateral air services agreement is upgraded.”
— UNI |
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Thakre cremated with state honours Bhopal, December 29 A large number of dignitaries were present to pay their last respects to the departed leader. They included the Vice-President, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani and the RSS chief, Mr K.S. Sudarshan. Besides, several union ministers, chief ministers of the BJP-ruled states and party functionaries were also present. The Madhya Pradesh Government has declared a two-day mourning and closure of the state government offices across the state today. In Bhopal, even other offices and banks were declared closed today under the Negotiable Instruments Act. Thakre, 82, had passed away after a prolonged illness at the AIIMS in New Delhi yesterday. His body was brought to Bhopal by a special plane last evening and kept, for the people to pay their homage, at the palatial state BJP office building, which had come up nearly a decade ago mainly through the efforts of the late leader. Thakre was a jeevan-dani (vowed to a life-long bachelorhood). The RSS had drafted Thakre, along with two other jeevan-danis, Mr Pyarelal Khandelwal and Mr Narayan Prasad Gupta, in the early 1950s to build up the Jana Sangh in Madhya Pradesh. He virtually dominated the Jana Sangh, and then the BJP, in Madhya Pradesh during the past three decades, Mr Khandelwal and Mr Gupta having been gradually sidelined. In the last decade, a sizeable section of the party rank and file had started publicly accusing Thakre of partisanship — and they included the present Chief Minister, Ms Uma Bharati, and the state BJP chief and a former Chief Minister, Mr Kailash Joshi. Thakre was then shifted to the Centre, first as the general secretary and then as the President of the party. With that also came the rehabilitation of Mr Khandelwal and Mr Gupta. The latter was made a Rajya Sabha member while Mr Khandelwal was given important positions in the organisation. During the organisational elections in Madhya Pradesh three years ago, Thakre, then national President, had shown no interest in who should become the state unit president. It was said that the grand old man of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh was feeling that he had received enough brickbats for siding with the Sunderlal Patwa camp. That his hold over the organisation in Madhya Pradesh was slipping became more evident when his followers, led by a former Chief Minister, Mr Sunderlal Patwa, decided to celebrate Thakre’s “amrit mahotsava” (75th birthday) in a grand manner and presented him a purse of Rs 5 crore. Born on August 15,1922, Thakre completed 75 years in 1977 but the celebration had to be postponed because of the lukewarm attitude of the party men in general. Eventually, it was held in 2000. A purse of a mere Rs 1.55 crore (against the originally scheduled Rs 5 crore) was presented to Thakre on May 24 by Dr Vidya Niwas Mishra, former editor of Nav Bharat Times, as the Prime Minister, Mr Vajpayee, had conveyed his inability to come at the last moment even as senior party leaders and officials were waiting for him at the airport. The party problems apart, Thakre continued to command tremendous respect and affection from the people, and not only within his own party. Given to simple living, he would never use harsh words against any one in public or in private. |
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Cold wave claims 36 more lives
New Delhi, December 29 Even as most areas received bright sunshine after nearly four days of rain and cloudy weather, strong icy winds swept the region claiming 35 lives in Uttar Pradesh where 76 persons had died in the cold wave so far. Ten deaths were reported from Ballia, six from Pratapgarh, four from Allahabad, three each from Hamirpur, Bijnore and Lucknow, two each from Mahoba and Chitrakoot and one each from Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr. Chandigarh recorded its lowest in eight years at 1°C, six below normal. Jaipur experienced its coldest night of the season with 4.4°C, four degrees below normal. Churu was the coldest in Rajasthan with 1.1°C while Mount Abu, where the minimum hovered at freezing point for the past five days, the mercury rose to 1°C. Ground frost appeared at many places in Churu, Bikaner, Pilani, Sriganganagar and Jaipur and the Met office forecast more frost in western districts in the coming two days. Amritsar in Punjab was the coldest in the plains with -0.7°C. Ludhiana had a low of 1.4°C, Patiala 4.6°C Ambala 3.6°C and Hisar 5.5°C. Fog continued to disrupt normal life in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh where several trains were running hours behind schedule due to poor visibility. Kolkata: Both sub-Himalayan and gangetic West Bengal belts experienced moderate cold wave conditions for the past two days, as Darjeeling continued to have snowfall and Kolkata recorded season’s coldest day on Monday. Darjeeling, experienced snowfall with the mercury dipping to minus 2.5 °C during the day, keeping residents mostly indoors, but creating enthusiasm among tourists and those from neighbouring Sikkim to witness snow, Regional Metereological Centre sources here said. Kolkata experienced the coldest day of the season, with minimum temperature recorded at 12.6 °C (one degree below normal).
— PTI |
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Hyderabad, December 29 The medicos, belonging to Gandhi Medical College and Hospital and Osmania Medical College and Hospital, obstructed vehicular traffic at the RTC junction here from 11 a.m. to 11.45 p.m., forcing the police to arrest them for assembling without permission. They were later released. Andhra Pradesh Junior Doctors Association (APJDA) general secretary and Joint Action Committee executive member Y. Srinivas said the medicos were prepared for another round of talks if the government considered their three major demands. Earlier, the state had summarily rejected their demands for the abolition of user charges in government Hospitals, scrapping of payment seat quota in government medical colleges and cancellation of issuance of essentiality certificates to more private medical and dental colleges in the state, among others. A Tirupati report said a relay fast by the medicos entered the ninth day, with as many as 100 medicos, including girls, participating in the agitation in front of SVRR Hospital. APJDA coordinator R. Kullayappa claimed that the medicos’ agitation had checked the government’s move to hike the patients’ registration fee from Rs 2 to Rs 3.
— UNI |
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Another engineer dies in strange circumstances Gaya, December 29 Amit Kumar, an engineer with Gammon India Ltd posted at Sherghati in Gaya district, was attending a party with his colleagues and friends last night when he complained of uneasiness and began vomiting, Additional Collector Ajit Kumar said. He was rushed to hospital, but as his condition deteriorated those who had brought him there left, the official said, adding that the engineer died later. The mysterious death comes a month after Dubey, Project Manager of the National Highway Authority of India was shot dead on November 27.
— PTI |
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Allahabad, December 29 As the news spread, a group of students started pelting stones in the locality and indulged in arson damaging a dozen vehicles. They also threw stones at a police party injuring six personnel.
— PTI |
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in Mumbai on tomorrow to discuss the
electoral prospects of the two parties, sources here said. Mr Advani is already
in Mumbai to attend a private function.
Railways Minister Nitish Kumar today denied
that Tamil Nadu was being discriminated against by his ministry in respect of
allocation of funds and said he was according “very high priority’’ to the
state.
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate today
extended till January 7 the stay on proceedings in a hit-and-run case registered
against actor Salman Khan and directed him to file his reply on a petition filed
by the Maharashtra government seeking to transfer the case from the Bandra
magistrate to some other court.
In video (
