Lucknow, October 1
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today reiterated her stand that during the three-month status quo period, the Central Government should take over the security of the disputed site at Ayodhya.

Urging the Centre to take charge, Mayawati said: “If the Central Government’s irresponsible behaviour in the matter encourages some elements to take advantage of the situation and cause a law and order problem, the responsibility will be entirely of the Centre.” Appealing to the citizens to continue maintaining peace and communal harmony in the wake of the Ayodhya verdict, Mayawati underlined her government’s commitment to uphold the rule of law. Reacting to Mayawati’s charges, AICC General Secretary Parvez Hashmi said under the federal structure it was the responsibility of the state governments to maintain law and order.

“If the Mayawati government is not capable of implementing the high court judgment, it should resign and then we would take complete charge,” he quipped. Dismissing the CM’s charge that adequate Central forces had not been provided to the state in the wake of the Ayodhya verdict, Hashmi said: “The Centre always takes stock of the state police force before assessing the security requirement. When there were already 1.9 lakh policemen at the disposal of the state government, where was the basis for demanding such a huge contingent?” he questioned.

Meanwhile, clearly attempting to draw political mileage out of the Ayodhya verdict Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today declared that the Muslim community felt cheated and despondent by the judgment.

Reading out a statement he said he was disappointed at the verdicts that gave precedence to faith over law and evidence. “This does not augur well for the country, the Constitution and the even the judiciary. It would create problems in the future," said Yadav. Yadav hoped that the Muslims would go to the apex court that would decide on the basis of law and evidence.

He refused to answer questions and walked out after having the statement distributed.

However, the Uttar Pradesh Congress took strong exception to Yadav’s remarks and advised him not to say anything that could vitiate the atmosphere.

New Delhi, October 1
Leading historians and intellectuals have slammed the Ayodhya verdict, raising “serious concerns because of the way history, reason and secular values” had been treated in the Allahabad High Court judgment.

Calling the verdict a “blow” to India’s secular fabric, the group, including prominent personalities like Romila Thapar, DN Jha, KN Panikkar, Irfan Habib, Zoya Hasan, Prabhat Patnaik, Zoya Hasan, Jayati Ghosh and Madhu Prasad, questioned the court’s premise to base its judgment on the findings of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which had claimed that remains of a temple were found beneath the mosque.

“The judgment delivered by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute has raised serious concerns because of the way history, reason and secular values have been treated in it,” said a joint statement. “The view that Babri Masjid was built at the site of a Hindu temple takes no account of the evidence contrary to the fact turned up by the ASI’s own excavations - presence of animal bones throughout as well as of the use of ‘surkhi’ and lime mortar (all characteristic of Muslim presence) rule out the possibility of a Hindu temple having been there beneath the mosque,” the statement said. The group also alleged that the ASI’s findings were fraudulent.

“The ASI’s controversial report that claimed otherwise on the basis of pillar bases was manifestly fraudulent in its assertions since no pillars were found, and the alleged existence of pillar bases has been debated by the archaeologists.” “No proof has been offered even of the fact that a Hindu belief in Lord Rama’s birth site being the same as the site of the mosque had at all existed before very recent times, let alone since time immemorial.”

“Not only is the judgment wrong in accepting the antiquity of this belief, but it is gravely disturbing that such acceptance should then be converted into an argument for deciding property entitlement. This seems to be against all principles of law and equity,” the experts stated. — TNS

New Delhi, October 1
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, today termed the December 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid as an “unacceptable…. criminal act” saying yesterday’s judgment did not justify the demolition.

Replying to a question whether the judgment of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court diluted the case relating to the demolition of Babri Masjid, Chidambaram said: “…this judgment has nothing to do with the act that took place on December 6, 1992”. “That act was completely unacceptable and it was done by people who took law and order into their hands. That remains, in my view, a criminal act. Also, please don’t attribute to the judges any attempt to justify what was done in 1992,” he told reporters while giving out his routine monthly report on the functioning of his ministry.

The MS Liberhan Commission, in its report last year, had blamed leaders of the RSS, the VHP and the BJP of demolishing the Masjid. LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti are among those blamed.

New Delhi, October 1
Countering China's aggressive stance, the Indian Air Force today announced its plan of setting up a full-fledged airbase at Nyoma in the eastern part of Ladakh that will be capable of taking front-line fighters like the Sukhois, besides transporters and choppers.

Located just 20 km from the Line of Actual Control with China, Nyoma at present has a landing strip made out of compacted mud at a height of 13,300 feet and can take no more than the USSR-origin medium transporter AN 32. That, too, only during summer months and the engines of the plane have to be kept running lest they do not re-start at that altitude. With the IAF buying the Hercules C-130-J’s, which are build specially for such rough areas, Nyoma may be up and running.

This will be the eighth full-fledged air base in Jammu & Kashmir after Srinagar, Awantipore, Udhampur, Jammu, Leh, Thoise and Kargil.

The IAF has sent a formal proposal to the Ministry of Defence, chief of the Western Air Command Air Marshall NAK Browne told reporters today, while adding that it would take some four years for the airfield to be fully operational once okayed. “We are looking to operate all platforms of the IAF and the Army and fighters are very much part of our arsenal,” said Browne in reply to question if fighters will be based there.

The Sukhoi-30 MKI has been tweaked in manner that its engines start in the rarefied air at those heights. Tests of the same have been carried out at Leh located at some 11,000 feet. Other fighters like the MiG 29s need to be calibrated each time engines have to be re-started at that altitude.

The IAF needs more flexible options in that area the weather pattern is far better than the air fields at Leh and Thoise, besides it offers a greater advantage over Chusul located in Ladakh, Air Marshall Browne added. The neglected-yet-strategically located mud-strip at Nyoma was re-activated into an operational airstrip by compacting the mud when an AN-32 transport aircraft landed there last year.

As part of firming up its plans against the growing Chinese threat, the IAF is looking to build a hard surface at the 16,000-feet high Daulat Beg Olde, located just south of the Karakoram Range in northern Ladakh. The DBO, Nyoma and Fukche are all mud-strips that were reactivated in the past two years after China ramped up infrastructure on its side. Defence Minister AK Antony had this June visited Nyoma to inspect the infrastructure development activities.

Separately, the IAF will be ramping up its capabilities, alongside the border with Pakistan. Starting early next year, two squadrons of the Sukhoi 30’s will move to Halwara airbase, near Ludhiana, located just 150 km from Pakistan. The MI-17-V5, which is the latest version of the MI-17 series choppers, will be based at Suratgarh in Rajasthan from May-June next year. The Mi-35 attack choppers, on their return from UN duties, will also be based there. The first lot will start arriving at the end of this month.

Lastly, next year the modernisation of airfield infrastructure programme will be completed in Bathinda, making it the first airfield in the country to be upgraded to that level. In total, 30 out of IAF's 51 operational airbases will be upgraded in Phase-I over 42 months.

Mumbai, October 1
Cutting across party lines Maharashtra’s politicians have ganged up to thwart directives issued by the Bombay HC governing noise pollution. The ruling Congress and the NCP have joined hands with the Opposition — the BJP and the Shiv Sena — to allow noisy events like political rallies near schools, hospitals and religious institutions.

The Law and Judiciary Department of the Maharashtra government is in the process of drafting a proposal which would relax the noise pollution norms laws on public holidays and weekends when schools and other educational institutions are closed, revealed well-placed sources. Similarly, nursing homes and small hospitals which fall within the restricted categories would be removed from it, they added. The number of beds in a hospital would be a major criterion for being included in the ambit of the noise pollution rules, according to a senior state government official. The immediate provocation for the change in the noise pollution laws is a ban on political rallies at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park. 

Chandigarh, October 1
Chief Judicial Magistrate JS Sidhu today sent Dr Amit Musale and Dr Sujay Sonawane, who were arrested in the impersonation racket for admission to the PGI, to judicial custody of 14 days. The doctors were produced before the court after a remand of two days today.

The investigating CBI officer had sought judicial custody, as the interrogation of the two doctors was over.

CBI sources revealed that the students had allegedly given the money to one Gaurav Shalin and had not even filled the forms themselves. In some forms, the photographs of the students were present, while in others, the photograph of impersonator had been pasted by Gaurav Shalin.

The CBI is yet to nab prime accused Gaurav Shalin. It had conducted raid on Shalin’s residence on Tuesday when Dr Amit Musale and Dr Sujay Sonawane were arrested from the PGI hostel. Shalin’s wife had told the CBI that her husband had gone to Pune.

Phone call details of Shalin’s mobile number are being procured by the CBI.

The Tribune investigations have revealed that a large number of operators were active in the city during pre-medical entrance tests (PMET). Local operators, apart from those active at the national level, could land in the CBI’s net if the matter is probed thoroughly. Sujay Sonawane, a Maharashtrian, had taken admission in the PGI pediatrics department, while Amit Musale, who belongs to Nagpur, was pursuing his post graduation in the pharmacology department. 

Guwahati, October 1
Union Minister Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said the North-eastern region could act as a catalyst in ushering in a second green revolution as the region was endowed with enormous potential in agriculture and horticulture sectors that needed be tapped to the optimum level.

Addressing a two-day conference on, “Agriculture: Strategies, Policies and Practices for North-East,” organised by the Union Ministry of Agriculture, Pawar said agriculture productivity in the potent N-E region would be assessed every six months to initiate corrective steps to boost production in a big way.

He assured the agriculture ministers and officials of the region of toning up the Indian Agriculture Research Institute at Barapani in Meghalaya to provide better services to the scientific community.

Pawar said the region has to produce more to ensure food security and his ministry has taken the initiative in consultation with the state governments of the region to make tailor-made plans to suit the specific requirements of each state keeping in view the distinct physiography, topography, climatic and soil conditions varying from state to state.

Hyderabad, October 1
The country’s richest temple, Tirumala, is in the eye of a storm over massive corruption by its employees, including some senior staffers, who now face criminal charges.

The multi-crore scam pertains to illegal sale of ‘Arjitha Seva’ (paid rituals) tickets at exorbitant rates. Several startling facts came to light during a probe by the Vigilance and Enforcement Department, which has named three members of the autonomous temple board and some staffers for their involvement in the racket.

Taking a serious note of the irregularities, the state government issued a special order asking the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams to initiate action against the guilty. Based on a complaint filed by the temple authorities yesterday, the Tirupati police registered cases against six employees of the temple board.