 |
|
|
Non-politicians occupy govt houses: Ministry
Govt to seek Portuguese nod
Govt can commute death |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Polling at 15 Bihar constituencies today
Naxals’ ‘operation jailbreak’ to impact 4th phase outcome
Jail attack: Uma writes to Kalam
Whipped by Rane, Sena discovers Mahatma Gandhi
Patient dies after ant attack
SC no to driving by conductors
Withdrawal of textbook glorifying
Hitler sought
Glories of oldest gurdwara of Jaipur
Telgi’s wife surrenders
|
|
Non-politicians occupy govt houses: Ministry
New Delhi, November 15 However, the ministry has informed the apex court that it had extended the allotments of certain persons with ‘Z-Plus’ security, including former Punjab Director-General of Police K.P.S. Gill, former Youth Congress President M.S. Bitta and Punjab Kesri Chief Editor Ashwani Kumar who faced terrorists’ threat. Prominent among the non-politician VIPs occupying ministerial bungalows are; Rajmata Gayatri Devi of Jaipur, Dr R.K. Caroli in the capacity of a social worker, family members of late Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, Sunil Dutt, freedom fighter Syed Mir Qasim and the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Jharkahand and Mizoram. The
annexure on action taken, filed with the affidavit in each case said in respect of the 11-Talkatora Road house occupied by K.P.S. Gill and 14-Talkatora Road bungalow of Bitta, the “latest recommendation is to continue the accommodations till March 30, 2006.” It said since the Union Home Ministry had been extending their security cover of these persons for a period of one year every year, they were being allowed to stay as per the existing terms and conditions, it said. In the case of Ashwani Kumar’s bungalow at 34-Lodi Road, the approval though had expired on August 5 last and eviction proceedings initiated, but on his request, the Home Ministry has now recommended to allow him to stay for a further period of one year, the action taken note said. While eviction proceedings had been initiated by the Urban Development Ministry against the family members of late premier Narasimha Rao, Sunil Dutt and Mir Qasim and against Dr Caroli, cases were pending with regard to the 91-Lodi Estate bungalow allotted to Rajmata Gayatri Devi and those to the states of Jharkhand and Mizoram. The State of Jammu and Kashmir was not entitled to retain the 2 and 4 Kotla Lane houses and even had “declined” twice the offer of alternative accommodation, the ministry said adding the Rajasthan Government was also occupying 30-Lodi Estate house illegally. The affidavit said as against the 545-member strength of the Lok Sabha, only 520 houses were allocated to its pool by the ministry. Similarly, against the requirement of 245 houses for the Rajya Sabha MPs, there are only 227 houses in its pool. The ministry also stated that of the total 465 unauthorised occupants, which also included hundreds of government officials, it had been able to vacate 116 houses in the intervening period of submitting the first report and the latest affidavit filed yesterday. During this period, 20 allotments had also been regularised as per the rules and policy guidelines, it said. |
|
Govt to seek Portuguese nod
Mumbai, November 15 Salem is presently being officially probed in two cases - Ajit Dewani and Pradip Jain murder cases. Dewani, secretary to film stars Manisha Koirala and Aftab Shivdasani, was shot dead allegedly by Salem men in 2001, while builder Pradip Jain was killed in 1997. Two police teams have been formed to question Abu Salem in this regard. CBI officials have clammed up on the progress pertaining to the Gulshan Kumar murder and the 1993 Mumbai blasts cases where Salem is wanted for questioning. Though CBI officials earlier told reporters that Salem had admitted to his role in both cases, they have since been silenced by the courts. Today
Salem was taken to St George Hospital for a routine medical check-up.
Thereafter, he was put to sustained interrogation at the CBI’s offices
in the city. “He is absolutely fine and normal. His diet is normal
and does get adequate sleep,” said CBI Deputy Inspector-General O.P.
Chhatwal. Salem’s lawyers met him yesterday. They had sat with him
for about an hour. “Salem wanted us to brief him on the status of the
Bombay bomb-blasts case. We also asked him whether he had confessed his
involvement in the 1993 blasts. He, however, denied any such confession,”
said Salem’s advocate, O. Siddique, adding: “Salem also asked about
Monica Bedi`s case and the legalities dealing with her.” Salem was
extradited from Portugal after the Indian Government sought the gangster
in eight cases for which he was wanted in Mumbai. In all, the
formalities would be completed in all others as per the protocols of
extradition. Meanwhile, CBI sources said here today Salem and his wife Monica Bedi married two Portuguese partners on papers to get citizenship of that country and avoid any chance of extradition. It was Salem, who first married a Portuguese girl and Monica followed the suit, the sources said, refusing to reveal the identity of the Portuguese partners of the gangster and his wife. The marriages took place almost an year before Salem was caught by the police in 2002, they said. Salem partially succeeded in his attempt as he received a permanent residency status for himself and Monica in Portugal, where laws allow such status to the spouses of the citizens, the sources said. “After
the residency status, the duo planned to apply for citizenship and in
that event it would have been difficult to have them extradited,” the
sources added. Salem ran out of luck in the intervening period when he was caught by the Portuguese authorities on the basis of a red corner notice issued by the Interpol against him. Recovery of the forged Pakistani passport added to his woes. The sources said while Salem claimed Monica to be his wife, they were yet to come across any document suggesting that both were married. The sources further revealed that Salem had three Indian and a Pakistani passport, while Monica had two Indian passports. Interestingly none of them tried to procure passports using their true names, they added. "The
passports possessed by Salem and Monica are genuine, but they have been
procured using false information.” The sources said Salem could meet as many lawyers he wanted in the stipulated one hour every alternate day, as per the directions of the TADA court. They denied that some of his lawyers were not allowed to meet him yesterday. |
|
|
Govt can commute death penalty: Patil
New Delhi, November 15 The government cannot interfere with the judicial process and ask the courts not to award him capital punishment, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said. But it has the power under the statute to commute a case of death sentence, Patil told NDTV. During the legal process for extraditing Salem and his girlfriend Monica Bedi in Portugal, India had assured Lisbon that Salem would not be hanged in case the courts gave him death penalty for the crimes committed by him. — PTI
|
|
|
Polling at 15 Bihar constituencies today
Patna, November 15 Nearly 40,000 security personnel, including about 15,900 Central forces, will be on duty and the border with Nepal would be sealed, Home Secretary H.C. Sirohi said. He said IAF helicopters would maintain aerial surveillance and security forces in speedboats would patrol the rivers in the constituencies in East Champaran, West Champaran, Sitamarhi and Madhubani districts, where polling was deferred on November 13 due to security reasons. “We are leaving nothing to chance as poll is being held barely two days after the sunday night Naxalite attack in Jehanabad,” Sirohi said. All four districts where polling will be conducted are Naxalite-affected and located close to Nepal where the Maoist rebels are locked in a bloody fight against monarchy. An electorate of little over 31.74 lakh are eligible to exercise their franchise at 3,415 booths to choose from a field of 119 candidates, including two ministers in the erstwhile Rabri Devi government — Rama Devi of RJD (Motihari) and Vishwamohan Sharma of Congress (Chanpatia). While NDA allies, JD(U) and BJP, have fielded candidates in eight and seven seats, respectively, Secular Democratic Front partners RJD, Congress and CPI-M have put up nominees in 10, five and two seats, respectively. CPI-M nominees will engage in a friendly contest with the RJD at Sugauli and the Congress at Bisfi. LJP and CPI are contesting 13 and two seats, respectively. — PTI
|
|
Naxals’ ‘operation jailbreak’ to impact 4th phase outcome
Jehanabad, November 15 JD (U) secretary-general Anil Kumar, who hails from this place, said while law and order was an issue in the Assembly elections, this incident had proved that not only the state government machinery but even the Central Government had failed miserably. “Security has been one of the primary concerns and demands from times immemorial and the Jehanabad incident along with the spate of killings and kidnappings in Patna in the past few days has created a deep sense of insecurity which is bound to influence the election outcome,” Mr Kumar said. “Thank God, the elections were held in Jehanabad on October 18 in the first phase, otherwise the four parties of the Secular Democratic Front would not have been able to win a single seat in this district,” a visibly angry student Devesh Singh said outside the jail. In Patna, where the election is due on Saturday, an office-bearer of the Kirana Vyavsayi Sangh Ramender Singh said a section of the trader is already contemplating to shift business to a safer place. “Crime is taking place because of a politician-police-criminal nexus and something drastic needs to be done,” Mr Ramender Singh said, adding that “we may decide to boycott the poll”. A cyber cafe owner in the Mauryalok shopping complex Anand Prakash said: “The rising crime graph and the killing of an industrialist last week had shaken all of us and we will think twice before casting our votes.” The BJP leaders like Uma Bharti have already started telling at the election meetings that the UPA government was responsible for the rising crime graph and incidents like the one that took place here. Ms Bharti told an election meeting the UPA’s soft policy towards Naxal outfits and scrapping of POTA were mainly responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in the country in general and Bihar in particular. A JD (U) leader on condition of anonymity said the incident here had come like a “boon” to us. |
|
Jail attack: Uma writes to Kalam
New Delhi, November 15 In a letter to Dr Kalam, the BJP leader, who is also co-in charge of the Bihar elections, said she was drawing his attention on this matter as “President rule in Bihar is on its last legs and it should not be remembered as an era of anarchy in the history”. Criticising the “total breakdown of law and order in Jehanabad district,” Ms Bharti said: “The nexus between the Naxalites, lack of development and involvement of politicians is a well-known fact in Indian politics. This unfortunate incident is a result of discredited political groups generating social tension in the state as a substitute for developmental politics.” The BJP leader said there are many unanswered questions related to this issue. These are: Why the leader of the Naxalites Ajay Kanu was shifted from the Beur jail to Jehanabad? Why was Bade Sharma, the Ranveer Sena leader, was put into the same jail? Jehanabad district is the epicenter of the Naxalite movement in Bihar. The person who decided to shift Kanu to Jehanabad is the real culprit, she said. “In spite of having all information, what steps were taken by the state administration and the Central Government is a very big question here? Was the Intelligence Bureau, the local administration, the Home Ministry and the state government sleeping all this while? |
|
Whipped by Rane, Sena discovers Mahatma Gandhi
Malvan, November 15 In Malvan, where Rane is seeking re-election on a Congress ticket after a 15-year innings with the Sena, Bal Thackeray’s party organisation has moved entirely to the other side. Rane’s lieutenants, who have been accused of murdering leaders of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party opposed to the Shiv Sena in the past, are all flexing their muscles against their old party. Senior Shiv Sena leaders, including Uddhav Thackeray, have been heckled and even its MPs and MLAs regularly roughed up by Rane’s men. “All the goondas were brought in as the Shiv Sena’s office-bearers by Rane. We had given him a free hand in Konkan and its only now we are realising his terror tactics,” admits senior Shiv Sena leader Diwakar Raote, who is overseeing Shiv Sena candidate Parshuram Uparkar’s campaign. The party made a last ditch attempt to get the elections postponed but afraid of the battering its injured image would take gave up the effort. With absolutely no muscle left of its own in Malvan, the Shiv Sena has now turned to Mahatma Gandhi for succour. The party has rolled out a “Shanti Rath” to counter what it calls Rane’s reign of terror. “Today, the Shiv Sena in Malvan is the real follower of Mahatma Gandhi,” says a party worker without any trace of irony. |
|
Patient dies after ant attack
Kolkata, November 15 Gauri Chakraborty, who was admitted to Sambhunath Pandit Hospital on November 5 with an eye infection after a cornea surgery, had complained of severe eye pain on Sunday. The nurse on duty had said the pain was normal in view of her ailment and left her unattended. But her son Soumen, who visited her yesterday at the hospital, found big black ants nibbling at both her eyelids and the patient helplessly writhing in pain. The family has refused to take the body without a post-mortem and has demanded a judicial probe into the death. “She died a ghastly death. We don’t even know the reason of her death till now. We suspect foul play by the hospital authorities,” Amitabha Kar, Chakraborty’s son-in-law, said. The relatives filed an FIR at the Bhawanipur police station yesterday, he said, adding they were also thinking of suing the hospital in a consumer court. As the incident acquired political overtones with activists of the Trinamool Congress staging demonstrations outside the hospital, Health Minister, Mr Surjya Kanta Mishra, said he had sought a report on the incident from the hospital authorities. The hospital Superintendent, Mr Sukumar Das, said a five-member inquiry committee had been set up to probe the incident. He, however said Chakraborty was a diabetic with very high blood sugar level and the family had been advised to shift her to the ICCU at the SSKM Hospital. — PTI |
|
SC no to driving by conductors
New Delhi, November 15 “When a person like the conductor of a bus, who has the obligation to make proper collection of the charges from the passengers on issuing tickets to them, is found to have passengers in the bus, even if it be only one, to whom he had not issued a ticket, it clearly amounts to a clear violation of the duty imposed on him,” the court said while partly allowing an appeal against an Allahabad High Court judgement. On the conduct of a conductor who starts driving the bus, the court said that by such an act, he endangers the public as well as the property of his employer. He puts the life of pedestrians and other vehicle owners using the road in danger, it added. Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) had moved the apex court against a High Court verdict which upheld a labour court order against dismissal of a conductor who was found driving a bus with a ticketless passenger. — UNI |
|
Withdrawal of textbook glorifying
Hitler sought
Gandhinagar, November 15 According to Fr. Cedric Prakash, Director of Prashant, painstaking research has brought out that the textbook contains historical inaccuracies, distortions and serious omissions, communally biased statements against Christians and Muslims and strong anti-women bias. Besides important personalities of the country like Mahatma Gandhi have not been given their due place while there is blatant idolizing of Hitler, factual discrepancies, atrocious language with grammatical errors. Most of these aspects are also found in the Social Science Textbook of class VIII, he observed . But the School Textbook Board says that what has crept into the books are mainly translation errors. Mr Prashant calls it a flimsy attempt at cover-up. This is not true because exactly the same biases are found in the Gujarati as well as English textbooks. Mr Prashant has demanded that only competent and unbiased professionals be appointed to the expert panel for the revision of the textbook and the names of the experts be made public in keeping with theRight to Information Act. Horrified that school textbooks in Gujarat were glorifying Hitler, the Israeli Embassy began working on plans to communicate it's displeasure to the Gujarat Government, even working on enlisting the support of Germany in the task. In a swift damage control move, the state government has appointed a new committee, this time headed by the Assistant Commissioner of central schools for Gujarat, Mr Sathyamurthy and a team of central school teachers. |
|
|
Glories of oldest gurdwara of Jaipur
Jaipur, November 15 Located on the S.M.S. Highway in the heart of the city, this tiny yet towering in term of its historic past, gurdwara is over two centuries old. The chronicles of Jaipur royalty reveal that in the 16th century, when Maharaja Mansingh I, one of the commanders of Akabar came back to Amber after winning the battle of Kabul and Kandhar, he brought with him a Sikh family of five craftsmen proficient in the work of enamelling ornaments of precious stones and gold. When the old capital of Amber was shifted to the Pink City founded by Sawai Jaisingh in 1727 A.D., these craftsmen were also brought here. It was on their demand that they were allotted a small garden later known as ‘Sikhon Ki Bagichi’. When Maharaja Ramsingh, known for his love for art and literature, occupied the throne of Jaipur riyasat, he allowed a descendent of that Sikh family, Sardar Gopal Singh to construct a gurdwara, which was consecrated with the installation of a pocket sized 'gutka' of Guru Granth Sahib. The gurdwara was then known as ‘Nanak Dev Satsang Sabha’. After Partition, Sikhs in large numbers came to Jaipur and subsequently, this shrine was converted into a full-fledged gurdwara. Followers of the Sikh faith in the city started coming here to pay obeisance. What lends extra significance to this shrine is its prized possession of the manuscript of the tenth collection of the ‘Bani’ of Guru Gobind Singh. The Granthi of the gurdwara, Sardar Amrik Singh claims that such a text is not available in any other Sikh shrine of Rajasthan. |
|
Telgi’s wife surrenders
Pune, November 15 Suffering from many ailments besides being a HIV patient, a wailing Shahida had to be lifted on to a wheelchair in which she was brought before the court of Special MCOCA judge B.N. Sardespande for surrender. The court had issued a process against Shahida on September 16 under various sections of MCOCA and IPC. Harshad Nimbalkar, her counsel, moved an application for her bail which was opposed by Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakre. Judge Sardespande after hearing the arguments of both the sides reserved his order until tomorrow. |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Videos
