Fire in Maha textile mill; four dead

Mumbai, September 22
Four industrial workers were killed when a fire broke out at a textile mill in Dombivali in adjoining Thane district in the wee hours today.

The fire broke out at Puja Fabrics factory in MIDC area of Dombivali around 3.30 am, fire brigade officials said.

Twelve fire tankers were rushed to the scene and fire-fighting operations are on. Around 18 workers were rescued from the site, they said.

The deceased have not been identified yet.The fire may have been caused due to mechanical problems, they said. —PTI

2G scam: Pranab refuses to comment

New York, September 22
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today refused to comment on a letter sent by his ministry to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 2G spectrum scam, saying he cannot make any remark on the matter is it is “subjudice”.

“The matter is subjudice. I cannot make any comment on it. The whole matter is under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court of India. We cannot make any comment on any matter that is subjudice,” Mukherjee, who is here to attend an India-US investor forum, told reporters here.

Separately, while addressing Indian and American business leaders at a high-profile USIBC roundtable, Mukherjee said the Finance Ministry letter to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat is out in the open only due to the Right to Information Act, which is one of the many steps the government has taken to flush out corruption and make governance transparent and accountable.

He said in the recent years, lot of authority has been given to the people of India through the RTI.

“In fact today a sensational news item has come and it is through the exercise of the RTI. A note was sent by Minister of Finance to Prime Minister. Somebody demanded through the use of RTI to have the copy of that note from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and... fact of the matter is somebody has produced that as a piece of evidence in a particular case,” Mukherjee commented.

He said whether the letter can be used in such a manner or not “is a different story.” A Finance Ministry document submitted to the Supreme Court in India says the Telecom Ministry could have gone in for auction of 2G spectrum licenses had the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram insisted on this. —PTI

Rupee down 41 paise at fresh 2-yr low against USD

Mumbai, September 22
The Indian rupee fell by 41 paise to an over two-year low of Rs 48.74 against the US dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange today after the American currency strengthened against other major rivals overseas.
Dealers said apart from dollar gains against major rivals overseas, weakness in the domestic equity market and sustained dollar demand from importers also put pressure on the Indian rupee.
Yesterday, the rupee fell by 28 paise to close at a fresh two-year low of 48.33/34 against the US currency on strong dollar demand from importers and some banks.
Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex fell by 299.62 points, or 1.75 per cent, to 16,765.53 in opening trade today. —PTI

Sensex plunges more than 700 points

Mumbai, September 22
Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex closed at 16342.42, down 722.73 points or 4.24 per cent. The 30-share index touched intraday low of 16316.03 and high of 16833.61 .

According to analysts, more correction is expected in the market and any bounce back of rally should be used to go short.- Agencies