New Delhi, September 14
With 15-year-old Pooja of Karol Bagh succumbing to her injuries today, the death toll in last evening’s serial bomb blasts officially rose to 21. Unofficial sources, however, continue to put the number of deaths at over 25.

Pooja died of splinter injuries received in the explosion at the Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh area in central Delhi, and was the fifth member of an ill-fated local jeweller’s family.

The blasts have irrevocably changed the lives of many forever, including that of a 60-year-old woman who lost four of her close relatives in the Gaffar Market explosion. Seven other relatives of Shanti Devi, who called herself the unhurt victim, were lying in hospitals with injuries. Shanti Devi was inside her house along with her husband Yashpal Singh when the bomb went off.

The injured relatives were rushed to Jassa Ram hospital where four of her family members died, while four others were operated upon for critical injuries. One of the family members was rushed to RML hospital, while two others are being treated at the Lady Hardinge hospital.

It was a long night for her as she went from one hospital to another where doctors told her that the chances of survival of four of the seven injured were very slim.

Families of other victims had to go through the same ordeal in various hospitals. A young mother was another living victim of the blast at the Gaffar Market, where she went to shop with 
her husband.

“The child was in my arms. Suddenly I fell down because of the impact of the blast. The child was no more in my hands,” she rues.

Meanwhile, frenzied relatives today thronged several of the city hospitals. The maximum activity was seen at the RML hospital, where most of the injured 
were taken.

Anxious relatives of some of the injured also staged a protest at the hospital when the police prevented them from entering the wards to look for their missing relatives. They alleged that the policemen were of no help and the hospital staff was ill-equipped to give them necessary information. They were subsequently calmed and assured of all possible help by senior police officers and doctors.

The blasts at the Central Park in Connaught place claimed the life of soon-to-be married Kamini, who along with her fiance Rawat Kashyap, had come to the city to appear for an examination. While Kamini died, Kashyap (27) is admitted to the ICU of the RML hospital, oblivious of the fate of Kamini.

According to RML hospital Chief Medical Officer (CMO), by the morning 31 out of the 60 persons admitted since yesterday were discharged. While 10 of those admitted were in a serious condition, another 19 were recuperating, he said.

Another victim, Chandrabhan, a driver with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), who was declared brought-dead from Karol Bagh, was the sole earning member for his family. His wife was seen weeping inconsolably waiting for her husband’s body. Critically injured Sanjiv broke down when he saw his brother for the first time since last evening after the blast at the bus stop on Barakhamba Road. “I am so relieved. The injuries have eased after seeing my brother Somesh,” Sanjiv said.

Friends and relatives of 26-year-old Amit Saxena could not believe that that the young travel agent from Kanpur was no more. “We never thought this would happen to him,” said his friend Sanjay.

The blast at the Barakhamba Road also claimed the life of a 20-year-old college student Babita, daughter of an employee of the Union Public Service commission (UPSC), of Timarpur locality of the capital. “She had said she will be going to Kamla Nagar market after finishing her work. And now see what has happened,” lamented her uncle Ram Narain Singh Negi.

New Delhi, September 14
India can conduct nuclear tests in the future, if necessary, but it has to be ready to face consequences, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee has said. "If the country considers it is necessary to conduct nuclear tests, it can do so. Nothing stops us in this (123) agreement. Therefore, we are entitled to conduct nuclear tests if it is found necessary," he told IBN-7 news channel.

Mukherjee said, "Every country has its own rules for nuclear tests and therefore we (India) also have sovereign right to go for the nuclear tests, if required."

However, he added that if the country conducts a test, it has to face consequences as witnessed in 1974 and 1998, hinting at possibility of sanctions as were imposed after the Pokhran I and II atomic tests.

On the BJP's opposition to his statement that India is committed to non-proliferation goals and maintaining its unilateral moratorium on testing, Mukherjee said the saffron party should not forget that it was BJP which, after the 1998 Pokhran explosions, declared unilaterally that India will not conduct any more nuclear tests.

"It was a senior leader of the BJP and the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who declared in the United Nations that we are ready to sign the CTBT," he said.

The external affairs minister said the UPA government has inked the Indo-US nuclear deal and got a waiver from the NSG without signing the CTBT and NPT which is not a "mean achievement".

Asked whether the Indo-US nuclear deal will be signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the US later this month, Mukherjee said, "Let's wait and see, the process has already started."

On whether the deal will see a smooth passage in the US Congress, he refused to comment, saying it will not be proper on his part to react how the US Congress would debate. But, he said he was hopeful that the deal will be ratified.

"India is free to conduct nuclear trade with any country be it France, Russia or UK and there is nothing like first among equals. For India, every country is equal," he said, when asked whether American nuclear companies will be given preferential agreement. — PTI

New Delhi, September 14
A loud bang and Guddi's life lay in ruins. For her family that migrated from Rajasthan years ago looking for a better life, it will never be the same again after the blast in Gaffar Market area here killed seven members of the household.

"My family is ruined," the weeping middle-aged woman said at the Lady Irwin Hospital where a number of blast victims are being treated.

Till last evening, Guddi's extended family was living on the footpath near the blast site working as rag pickers. Now seven of them are dead, four are battling for life and two others are missing.

"After the blast the only thing I remember is my family members lying on the road with blood splattered around," Guddi said.

The dead members of her family are a teenage girl Pooja, Ramlal (40), Billu (42), Raju, Sandhya (45) and his two children Ashok Kumar (22) and Saroj (25). — PTI 

New Delhi, September 14
Shattered glasses, police barricades, heavy presence of media and a partially opened market is the scene at the posh Greater Kailash-I M Block market, a day after the serial blasts in the national capital.

Several people from the nearby colonies, however, flocked to the market out of curiosity to see the blast site.

Radheshyam, an employee of Prince Pan Corner, a popular beetle nut and tobacco shop near which the second bomb was planted, said: “On weekends, our shop remains packed with the customers. And it was the same scene last evening but the people ran away for safety after the first blast in the market. It could have been a major tragedy if the blast had taken place here at first.”

Meanwhile, a CCTV camera which is placed right above the second blast site is expected to reveal vital clues of the blasts as the bicycle in which the explosive was supposedly planted was parked here.

CP comes to terms with blasts

A day after the serial blasts shook Delhi, the city’s business centre was unusually calm with tension writ large on the faces of the people shaken by the terror strike.

“Five people from my village lost their lives in these explosions. One of them had a cold drink stall near the Barakhamba Road where the first blast occurred. Rest of them used to work in the GK area,” said Niwas, an employee at the parking area in inner circle at Connaught Place, barely 100 meters from the Central Park blast site. — PTI

New Delhi, September 14
The proposed bill to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and state assemblies is unlikely to be implemented during the term of the present Lok Sabha.

This is because of certain technicalities involved in the passage of the Constitutional Amendment Bill, according to senior Congress MP E.M. Sudarshana Natchiappan, heading the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice.

“Though this Constitutional Amendment Bill can be passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha now, its operationalisation can take place only after the constitution of a new Lok Sabha because of time constraint,” he said.

He said the committee was working on a “compromise” formula on the Women’s Reservation Bill, which remained stalled due to the insistence by some parties on a “quota within quota” and was hopeful of arriving at a consensus on the issue which had been eluding for over a decade.

Besides the requirement of Parliament passing the Constitutional Amendment Bill with a two-thirds majority, the measure would have to go to state legislatures as at least 50 per cent of the state legislatures are needed to ratify it.

Observing that this process could take at least three months, Natchiappan said to make the formula implementable, another statute would have to be brought in and it could be possible only in the next Lok Sabha.

To break the deadlock over the contentious Bill in its present form, which was opposed by some parties like the Samajwadi Party, the committee has suggested that it should be left to the state legislatures to propose adequate representation in the assembly and the Lok Sabha for women and OBCs.

The reasoning behind the “compromise formula” was that state legislatures were better placed to decide the extent of representation in elected posts for women and OBCs.

The committee is at present visiting several states to elicit views of chief ministers and leaders of political parties on the Bill. It had already held talks with leaders in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.

Last month, the committee was given two more months to finalise its report.

The Samajwadi Party, the newest ally of the ruling UPA coalition at the Centre, had recently made it clear that it was against any haste on the measure.

However, the main Opposition, the BJP, said it would support the Bill in its present form and asked the UPA government to clear it in the coming session of Parliament. — PTI

New Delhi, September 14
As the Centre and the NSCN(IM) are negotiating hard over the redrawing of Nagaland's geography, vital documents comprising details of boundaries of the northeastern state have gone "missing" due to the callous handling by public servants.

The "original" documents, which include valid map of Nagaland, were kept with the ministry of home affairs first and then the Assam Government but could not be traced during the crucial meeting of the Local Commission, hearing the decades-old Assam-Nagaland border dispute.

The Nagaland government held the Assam Government responsible for carelessness leading to the missing of the documents while the Assam Government claims that these were not "original" but photocopies.

The records were considered to be vital as the two northeastern states have been involved in several violent border clashes during the last two decades and the NSCN(IM) has been demanding carving out of "Greater Nagaland" by extending the existing boundary.

"We have submitted the documents to the ministry of home Affairs during the course of our submission on the border dispute.But the MHA has passed on the documents to the Assam Government during whose custody the documents went missing," Nagaland's secretary (Border Affairs) H K Khullo told PTI.

The fact came to light when the Nagaland government told the Local Commission on Assam-Nagaland Border last week, in response to the direction of submitting the "original" documents, that it was not in a position to give the written statement unless its "original" documents which were purportedly lost by the Assam Government were returned. — PTI

Bangalore, September 14
Even as the BJP concluded its three-day national executive here today hoping to return to power soon, thanks to what it described as “all-round failure of the UPA government,” its prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani warned party leaders against indiscipline and shooting their mouth out of turn.

Making his concluding remarks at the end of the session, Advani asked, “Does this happen in any other party?”

Advani said, “Internal democracy (in the BJP)… should not be allowed to become our handicap,” adding further, “I am deeply upset by the tendency exhibited by some people to speak out of turn and even make public statements about prospective alliances and other aspects of our election strategy. These and other negative trends that give rise to the perception of disunity must be firmly curbed,” the BJP leader warned his party colleagues.

Advani’s remarks came in the backdrop of grave differences in the UP BJP, the home state of party president Rajnath Singh, over tying up electorally with RLD president Ajit Singh to improve the party’s prospects in western UP.

The BJP is leaving no one in doubt that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will succeed L.K. Advani as the next prime ministerial candidate of the party whatever be the result of 2009 general elections.

Narendra Modi has often stole the show at BJP fora like the last national council meet in Delhi. Again, he stole the march over all his second generation contemporaries.

Dehra Dun, September 14
The issue of Garsain in Chamoli district as the permanent capital of Uttarakhand is again coming to the fore putting major political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and main opposition Congress on the defensive and even threatening the ruling coalition between the BJP and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) in the state.

Ever since Justice Virender Dixit presented his final report about the selection of a site for the permanent capital of the state last month, most of the statehood agitators and their organisations are actively pressurising the state government to reveal the findings of the one-man commission and to declare Garsain as the permanent capital. The state government has not yet made the report public.

However, to the embarrassment of two major political parties namely the ruling BJP and the Congress, Dhirendra Pratap, a senior Congress leader and a former vice-chairman of the Uttarakhand Andolankari Samman Parishad, a government body has convened a meeting of all statehood agitators at Ramnagar on September 15 to demand Garsain as the capital.

Since, both the BJP as well as the Congress are non-committal on the issue of permanent capital, there is no hope that any senior leader of these two parties will participate in the Ramnagar meet.

"We have invited all parties and statehood agitators to press for our basic demand," Dhirendra Pratap told The Tribune.

UKD, a regional party that spearheaded the statehood agitation and now is part of the ruling coalition with the BJP finds itself in a peculiar situation.

"We are totally committed to Garsain as the capital and would press for our demand even if it leads to coming out of the coalition," said Kashi Singh Airy, a senior leader of the UKD who holds a ministerial-level rank in the state government.

Pushpesh Tripathi, a UKD legislator, Samar Bhandari, state CPI secretary and large number of statehood agitators are likely to participate in the convention that would demand speedy declaration of Garsain as capital, according to Dhirendra Pratap.

Phulbani (Orissa), September 14
Fresh arson took place in some places in Kandhamal where security was tightened today a day after exchange of fire between CRPF and rioters left two persons killed and about a dozen injured, official sources said.

Stray incidents of arson took place at some places in Raikia area in the wee hours. While nine houses were torched at Toposi village, another house was burnt at Dibadi village, according to Raikia police station.

All of Tumudibandh in the riot-torn district virtually became a fortress with heavy deployment of forces and strict enforcement of curfew after the shootout at Kurtamgarh where rioters had clashed with security personnel yesterday.

As tension gripped the area, security personnel in strength including five platoons of CRPF, Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Orissa State Armed Police (OSAP) were deployed in Tumudibandh area including Kurtamgarh, they said.

Curfew remained in force in Baliguda and Tumudibandh where senior officials were camping to monitor the situation in the wake of fresh violence though it was relaxed elsewhere from 6 am to 10 pm, a senior officer said.

Two persons were killed and about a dozen others, including a CRPF jawan, injured in the exchange of fire at Kurtamgarh yesterday, Tumudibandh Block Development Offier R.K. Das said, adding the injured were admitted to hospital. — PTI

Kolkata, September 14
With the West Bengal government today issuing newspaper advertisements announcing a rehabilitation package for Singur land losers, Tata Motors Limited expressed hope that the government’s initiative would evoke a positive response. “Tata Motors appreciates and supports the recent initiatives of the West Bengal government for Singur residents where it has acquired land for the small car project,” Tata Motors said in a statement.

The statement stated: “Tata Motors hopes these initiatives will evoke a positive response from the residents of Singur and that all stakeholders will contribute to creating a congenial environment for the long-term sustained operations of an industrial enterprise.” The West Bengal government today placed display advertisements in newspapers announcing a rehabilitation package for those persons whose land had been acquired for setting up the small car plant at Singur.

The company had earlier suspended work at the project on grounds that the atmosphere has not been congenial for carrying out operations there. — PTI

Jamshedpur, September 14
Close on the heels of an assault on employees of Bhusan Power and Steel Company in Jharkhand, anti-project activists have obstructed construction work of Jupiter Cement plant in Saraikela-Kharswan district.

The incident came a day after Chief Minister Shibu Soren had assured investors of adequate security. Hundreds of activists, mostly women, carrying lathis and traditional weapons arrived at the site in Hansdamoja village of Kharswan block and forced the labourers to stop the construction work in the presence of police force and a magistrate, the police said.

Though the land owners, who surrendered their land for the plant, came out in support of the construction work, the protesters outnumbered them, forcing the labourers to flee, it stated.

The activists belonged to the Jharkhand Disom Visthapith Morcha (JDVM), a wing of the Jharkhand Disom Party, the police said. The JDVM has been opposing the cement plant apprehending that the plant would not only displace several tribal families but also lead to degradation of their agriculture land. Plant deputy general manager Rajesh Pati said following the incident, the company had decided to suspend work for one week. — PTI

Patna, September 14
Kosi has brought unprecedented destruction and misery to parts of North Bihar but it has, for now, also managed to wipe out budding Naxalite-Maoist activities in the flood-affected zone.

While so far Purnia, Madhepura, Supaul, Saharsa and Khagaria have remained unaffected from Naxalite activities, of lately there have been reports of Naxal outfits trying to strengthen their base in the area. There have also been reports of incidents of violence from the borders of Khagaria and Saharsa.

While the floods are likely to have washed away with them these budding Naxal activities, police officials apprehend that if people in the affected zone are not properly rehabilitated and gainfully employed after flood waters recede, the areas has the potential of becoming a recruiting ground for Naxal activities.

“After all, who are Naxalites? They are largely the people who are not employed and get carried away by an ideology,” says IG (operations) S.K. Bharadwaj

As of now, the five flood-affected areas of Saharsa, Purnia, Madhepura, Supaul and Khagaria are not among the 18 worst Naxal-affected districts of Bihar, but two violent incidents reported from the zone in past two years indicates that Naxalite activities are spreading into these areas.

The flood-affected area is scarcely populated and bushy and some of the parts are also densely forested, thus, making them suitable place for shelter and taking positions.

What works for the flood-affected districts becoming possible grounds for Maoist activities is their proximity to Nepal. “India shares a very porous 726-km border with Nepal. So far there have been no reports of Nepalese Maoists having links or exchanging notes with those operating in India. For one, their ideologies are completely different. But if they decide to join hands, it will become difficult,” explains Bharadwaj.

To ensure that Naxal activities do not spread to the north-east region of Bihar, Bharadwaj says the police has stepped up patrolling along the border areas after the formation of the new government in Nepal. It was now also keeping a vigil on Maoists in Kosi region.