|
|
|
|
|
AMRI Hospital tragedy
Karnataka Legislative Council |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Mullaperiyar dam row
India Art Fair to host artists from 20 nations
Indigenous bio-absorbable stents developed
Rahul discusses quota with Islamic scholars
Acclaimed cartoonist Mario Miranda dead
SP MP Rasheed Masood quits party, RS
Threat from ultras: Docs flee hospital
Syed Akbaruddin new MEA spokesperson
Murder in Jaunpur: BSP MP held
|
|
AMRI Hospital tragedy
Kolkata, December 11 The deathly silence inside the privately run centrally- airconditioned seven-storey multi-speciality hospital was broken occasionally by the shrill ring of the bell by a fire tender, as the almost deserted premises wore a haunted look with only a few patients remaining. Smoke was still seen emanating from some parts of the debris and water jet from a fire tender was used to douse it. The fire broke out at the hospital in Dhakuria in the early hours of Friday. Forensic experts failed to collect any evidence as the basement where the fire started was still under several feet of water. The experts could not get down to the basement to collect evidence to ascertain the cause of the fire and what materials were stored there, police sources said. The experts are expected to visit the hospital once again tomorrow to carry out their investigations, the sources said, adding that until the basement was drained out, investigation and collection of samples would not be possible. The basement was flooded by the fire brigade personnel for cooling the overheated basement and the walls and to ensure that no new fire started from any burning ember. The death toll rose to 93 today after the death of two persons. A female patient rescued from the fire-ravaged hospital died at a city nursing home. Medical director of the Belle Vue Clinic P K Tondon told PTI that 82-year-old Neela Dasgupta, shifted to the nursing home, died around noon. Tondon said she had some heart problems. Neela's daughter Jaya Dasgupta is the Development and Planning Secretary of the West Bengal government. Earlier in the day, West Bengal police constable Babulal Bhattacharya died at the AMRI Salt Lake Hospital where he was shifted. He also had some cardiac problems, doctors said. Several people gathered outside the hospital and placed wreaths and lit candles to pay respect to the hapless patients who died inhaling the poisonous smoke from the fire in the basement. A silent procession was taken out in the evening from in front of the hospital to pay respect to the dead and to protest the deaths of so many patients. Actors from Tollywood and law school students took part in the procession holding candles from AMRI Hospital to nearby Ramakrishna Mission headquarters in front of which the candles were placed. A young man, who risked his life to rescue a number of patients from the fire-ravaged hospital, is now fighting for his own life at a city hospital. On the fateful night, 23-year-old Shankar Maity, a resident of the Panchanantala slum adjacent to the AMRI Hospital's Dhakuria unit, entered the hospital with some neighbours in response to the cries of help by trapped patients. A group of people from Panchanantala went in a procession to AMRI, Dhakuria and gheraoed some officials in protest against what they described as the "indifference" of the hospital authorities to those who risked their lives in saving others. "We are not asking for money. All we are asking is that someone from the hospital should visit Shankar," said a processionist. Even as the annexe building, where the fire occurred, was sealed, there were only 18 patients at the unaffected main building, hospital sources said. "At present there are only 18 patients at the main building, which has 182-bed capacity," the sources told PTI here. — PTI
|
|
Karnataka Legislative Council
Bangalore, December 11 Gowda was sworn in as the CM on August 4. Since he is an MP, he has to get elected to the state legislature within six months of occupying the CM’s post. Sitting member N Shankarappa, who was elected to the legislative council from the MLA’s constituency, had resigned on October 14 to pave way for Gowda’s entry into the legislature. On the face of it, Gowda, who is supposed to get the votes of all the BJP MLAs in the House, should win the elections hands down. The BJP’s strength in the Assembly has reduced from 121 to 117 following Sreeramulu’s resignation and suspension of three MLAs who had campaigned for him in the Bellary (rural) bypoll. With ex-minister G Janardhana Reddy in jail for illegal mining, the BJP has 116 members who can cast their ballot. The non-BJP MLAs in the House add up to 103, with the main opposition party Congress having 71 MLAs, JD(S) 26 legislators and there being six Independent MLAs in the House including Sreeramulu. The ruling party will have a comfortable majority in the 225-member House even if the non-BJP legislators join hands to defeat Gowda. However, it was Sreeramulu, the BJP rebel- turned-Independent MLA, who first claimed that arithmetic for the December 22 bypoll might turn awry. Sreeramulu claimed he had the support of 22 BJP legislators who would vote against CM Gowda during the bypoll. He, however, subsequently backtracked on his claim and said he would not destabilise the government. A more deadly blow for Gowda came from his mentor Yeddyurappa who wanted to stage a return as the CM. Since the MLAs will be casting secret ballots for the December 22 elections, even a whip issued by the BJP cannot prevent BJP MLAs from voting against the party candidate. However, Yeddyurappa today told reporters that he had called up Opposition leaders and requested them to refrain from fielding any candidate against Sadananda. The former CM apparently realised that there was no chance of him being made the CM again and thought it prudent to back Sadananda Gowda’s candidature. It is well-known that ever since he was forced to quit the CM’s post, Yeddyurappa has been nursing the ambition of being anointed as the state party chief. However, so far, there has been no indication from the party’s high command of acceding to his demand. The Congress has already announced that it will field a candidate to challenge Gowda. The Congress candidate is expected to receive the support of JD(S) MLAs, Sreeramulu and his associates.
|
|
|
Mullaperiyar dam row
Theni(TN)/Kumily(Kerala), December 11 Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced convening a special Assembly session on December 15, asserting the state would not give up its rights over Mullaperiyar due to 'imaginary threats' on its safety and security raised by neighbouring Kerala. The AIADMK government’s decision came two days after a special session of the Kerala Assembly passed a unanimous resolution demanding construction of a new dam to replace the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam. Paneerselvam, a senior AIADMK leader, faced the ire of the protesters on the TN side of the border town of Kumily when he tried to persuade them to give up their agitation following a lathicharge to quell their demonstration, which left 50 persons injured. The police said Paneerselvam, the latest VIP victim of footwear attacks, escaped unhurt and was later taken away from the spot via another route. Violence broke out after a man told about 10,000 protesters on the Tamil Nadu side that he had been allegedly attacked by some persons while walking down a road in Kumily on the Kerala border, the police said. This led to the crowd pelting stones at some people on the Kerala side from where there was retaliation. The police used lathicharge to disperse the crowd while their counterparts also controlled protesters on the other side. The police said cases had been registered against more than 10 persons for indulging in violence. In Kerala, as tension mounted, the road to Theni remained closed and a large police contingent, including Rapid Action Force, was deployed to prevent marchers from Tamil Nadu from crossing over to Kerala. On the Tamil Nadu side, the police blocked roads to check marchers from pushing into Kerala. Senior police officials from both sides were in constant touch with each other to keep the situation tightly under control, officials said. Inspector General R Sreelekha, who was in Kumily to review the situation, said additional forces were deployed in the area today. Vigil was also stepped up on alternative routes, bylanes and forest trekking paths as well in view of the possibility of protesters filtering in through them, the police said. Kumily town, which has curio and spices shops normally busy with tourists coming to the close-by lake-side resort Thekkady on the banks of the Periyar river, wore a deserted look. The police asked shops to down shutters and put up metal barricades across the road and sealed the border checkpost, halting to and fro traffic totally. It said so far no untoward incident had been reported from any part of the area on the Kerala side where prohibitory orders are in force since early last week. Jayalalithaa said the solution to the Mullaperiyar issue lies in presenting sound technical and scientific data to the Supreme Court and convincing it about the "justness of our stand." "With regard to the present issue, neither my people nor I and my government have got anything against the people of Kerala or their government. We have no quarrel with the people of Kerala," she said. “Destroying their (Keralites’ in Tamil Nadu) property or causing injury to them and in the process, also causing ourselves pain is not a solution,” the CM added. — PTI
|
|
|
India Art Fair to host artists from 20 nations
Chandigarh, December 11 With an anticipated increase in the participation of blue-chip galleries from around the world, new state-of-the-art venues — custom built and designed for the fair — are being planned at the new venue, NSIC Exhibition Grounds, in New Delhi. With some new international partners joining in to create one of the largest network of art fairs in the world, the event is generating a lot of excitement in the capital and among the art aficionados. In this edition, the art fair is expected to feature 91 exhibitions from 20 countries and will present about 1,000 works of modern and contemporary artists. The exhibition will be spread over 12,000 sq.m. Last year, it is said that galleries were able to sell about 80 per cent of their works. Despite a hangover of the recession, the third art summit fetched some memorable deals - one of the works of Anish Kapoor was sold for Rs 1 crore. In order to attract a wider audience and to get better deals, Neha Kirpal, Founding Director of India Art Fair, earlier this year, divested 49 per cent stakes of India Art Fair to the Hong Kong International Art Fair, co-founders of Art Hong Kong; Sandy Angus, Chairman of Global Exhibitions Company Montgomery Worldwide; and Will Ramsay, founder of the Affordable Art Fair and Pulse Art Fair, thus becoming a part of the largest network of art fairs in the world. This year’s edition is set to present a diverse contingent of galleries - about 57 per cent of galleries are from Asia (including Indian galleries, which make up about half of the exhibitors), while 26 per cent are from Europe, and the remaining 14 per cent are from North and South America, the Middle East, Africa and Australia. Blue-chip international galleries participating for the first time include Hauser and Wirth (UK/Switzerland), Galleria Continua (Italy) and White Cube (UK), while Lisson Gallery (UK) will be exhibiting at the fair for the third time. Important presentations of European modern art will include Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Jean Miro and Pablo Picasso. World renowned contemporary artists expected to be showcased include Marina Abramovic, Antony Gormley, Mona Hatoum, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor and many more. For the fledgling tribe of art collectors in India, India Art Fair has been hosting lectures and conferences round the year. This too will be one of the major focus areas of the fair. The Collectors' Circle will aim at increasing knowledge and awareness about art to nurture younger collectors through talks, conferences, workshops and networking events and to connect new buyers and institutional collectors in India with global art. About 54 speakers and experts will give talks on different aspects related to art. Some of the influential names include Mark Quinn (artist), RoseLee Goldberg (art historian, critic and curator), Melissa Chiu (Director, Asia Society Museum New York, and Vice-President of the Society’s Global Arts Programming), Sophie Duplaix (curator, Centre Pompidou, Paris), Suzanne Cotter (curator, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation), Jan Dalley (Financial Times Arts Editor, UK) and Jack Persekian (Director of Anadiel Gallery, the Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem) among others. The Speakers’ Forum sessions will be free of charge. Also, expect a number of book launches on art during the fair. “India Art Fair has attracted unprecedented interest from international museums and private collectors. It has cultivated a whole breed of new collectors and art enthusiasts within India,” said Neha
Kirpal.
|
|
|
Indigenous bio-absorbable stents developed
Hyderabad, December 11 Christened as ‘Avatar’, the endovascular stent restores the blood flow by opening a blocked vessel, but more importantly, it releases a pro-healing drug during its life span of about 18 months. The stent then dissolves after fulfilling its life-saving vessel support role. Once the stent dissolves, the vessel can resume its natural functioning, said NG Badari Narayan, the Managing Director of S3V Vascular Technologies, which has developed the product. At present, metal stents are widely used to treat narrow or blocked arteries, but they have certain limitations. Unlike metal stents, ‘Avatar’ poses no danger of late stent thrombosis (clotting). Made up of polymeric bio-absorbable material, ‘Avatar’ stents can achieve very good results at an affordable cost. Once installed, this product releases anti-proliferative drugs for the first 90 days and pro-healing drugs during its dissolving phase. The idea was conceived by four technocrats while they were part of the 2010 batch of PGPMAX (Post Graduate Programme in Management for senior executives) at Indian School of Business (ISB). Badari Narayan, Dr Chava Satyanarayan, Aju Jacob and Ravi Prayagay got together and floated a company to manufacture the latest medical devices. Out of the total outlay of Rs 140 crore, the promoters brought in Rs 20 crore. Rs 30 crore would be raised from strategic investors and the rest through bank loans. A pilot plant will be ready by April 2012. It would be capable of manufacturing current generation bare stents and drug-coated stents, Narayan said. The integrated facility would be ready over the next 18 months and would have facilities to produce bio-absorbable scaffolds. The location for the integrated plant would be decided in a few weeks, he said. “It is a matter of pride for us at ISB that our students have produced a business plan to build a highly efficient world-class plant which will enable manufacturing of globally competitive medical devices at affordable costs. We are happy about transforming our business management students into entrepreneurs,” said Ajit Rangnekar, the ISB Dean.
|
|
|
Rahul discusses quota with Islamic scholars
Lucknow, December 11 During his first visit to the seminary, he reportedly spent time explaining the Congress party’s proposal to provide reservation within the OBC quota to backward Muslims. He clarified that the move was not an election sop but a part of the 2009 Congress election manifesto. Spending over two hours with the head of the AIMPLB, Gandhi apprised him of the steps being taken by the UPA II for the welfare of Muslims. Before returning to Delhi in the afternoon the Amethi, Rahul also met Governor BL Joshi to explain to him the political developments in the state. Briefing the media, UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said that Rahul Gandhi, who met youth Congress activists and office bearers of various front organisations and cells today, asked them to support the party’s candidates for the polls and ensure their victory by pushing aside personal differences. He once again reiterated the significance of formation of booth committees for the elections. Rahul remarked that the party’s graph was on the upswing as all non-Congress parties were targeting the Congress. He urged the party functionaries to shed the despair that had haunted the party for almost 20 years and fight for victory in a spirited manner. Lashing out against the BJP, he said that the party had no ideology except anti-Congressism. “The BJP is on a ventilator and will meet its end soon. The corruption in the Mayawati government is unparallelled and you should use the RTI and launch awareness programmes about the misdeeds of this government and expose its true face,” he said.
|
|
|
Acclaimed cartoonist Mario Miranda dead
Panaji, December 11 The veteran cartoonist, who has left an indelible mark in his field with his inimitable style, died in his sleep this morning at his ancestral home in Loutolim village, about 40 km from here, Gerald D’Cunha, a family friend of Miranda, said. Miranda’s creations like Miss Nimbupani and Miss Fonseca were regularly featured in ‘Femina’, ‘Economic Times’ and ‘The Illustrated Weekly of India’. Miranda studied at St Joseph’s Boys High School, Bangalore and did BA (History) from the prestigious St Xavier’s College in Mumbai. Initially, he was interested in joining the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS), but changed his mind and started studying architecture on his parents’ insistence, according to family sources. He soon lost interest in architecture too and ventured into arts. He started his career in an advertising studio and worked for four years before taking up cartooning. Miranda got his first break when ‘The Illustrated Weekly of India’ (now defunct) published a few of his cartoons. He also received an offer from ‘Current’ magazine. A year later, he was offered a job in ‘The Times of India’. He got an opportunity to travel abroad after winning the Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian scholarship. He went to Portugal and then to London, where he worked for newspapers and in television animations. During his career spanning several decades, Miranda illustrated numerous books including ‘Inside Goa’ by Manohar Malgaonkar, ‘A Family in Goa’ and ‘The Open Eyes’ by Dom Moraes. The artist received many national and international honours, including ‘Padma Bhushan’, the third highest civilian award of the country, in 2002 and Padma Shri in 1988. Miranda is survived by his wife and two sons. The last rites will be performed tomorrow. — PTI
|
|
|
SP MP Rasheed Masood quits party, RS
Lucknow, December 11 Ever since Khan has been rehabilitated in the SP following Amar Singh’s departure, Masood has been feeling short-changed as during Khan’s absence, he was being projected by the SP as its Muslim face. Now that Khan is back, Masood has lost his short-term stature within the party. Consequently, he today blamed Khan for his resignation, holding him responsible for destroying the party’s fabric and charged Mulayam Singh Yadav with remaining a silent spectator. Masood is all set to join the Congress along with his nephew Imran Masood, an SP MLA in the present Assembly. Junior Masood has been denied a ticket by the Samajwadi Party owing to its differences with Khan, who has ensured tickets to his supporters in
Saharanpur.
|
|
|
Threat from ultras: Docs flee hospital
Guwahati, December 11 The Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the BTC, Hagrama Mohilary confirmed that all the doctors of Rup Nath Brahma Civil Hospital in Kokrajhar had fled after they had been served with extortion demands by the anti-talks faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) led by Ranjan Daimary. Mohilary said each of the doctors in the hospital, which is the biggest one in all the four districts in BTC area, had been asked to pay Rs one lakh each by Saturday afternoon by the insurgents’ group. The panic-stricken doctors then decided to leave the hospital as well as Kokrajhar along with their families. The BTC chief said the situation in the BTC area was grave in view of stepping up of illegal activities by the NDFB faction led by Ranjan Daimary who is now in jail. He said not only doctors, but also teachers serving in government schools and colleges in BTC areas were being harassed by the insurgents’ group that was demanding money. The chief executive of the autonomous BTC will be meeting Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on December 13 to apprise the latter of the deteriorating law and order situation in the area. The NDFB (anti-talks) faction which recently declared unilateral ceasefire hoping for a call for dialogue from the government, has resorted to rampant extortion operations in the Bodo tribe-dominated BTC area. Some Bodo tribe civil society groups have been urging the government to start negotiation with the outfit that demands a sovereign Bodoland. The outfit led by its leader Ranjan Daimary who was arrested in Bangladesh and later handed over to Assam police, was behind the dastardly serial blasts that killed over 90 persons in Assam on October 30, 2008.
|
|
|
Syed Akbaruddin new MEA spokesperson
New Delhi, December 11 Akbaruddin succeeds Vishnu Prakash, who has been named as India’s next ambassador to South Korea. Since 2006, Akbaruddin had been on deputation to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Prior to that, the 51-year-old diplomat served the country in different capacities in Cairo, Riyadh and New York. He also held charge as the Joint Secretary (Administration) at the headquarters here. Prakash has been the MEA spokesperson since September 2008.
|
|
|
Murder in Jaunpur: BSP MP held
Lucknow, December 11 The MP, whose named had figured in the NRHM scam, was officially arrested in connection with a murder in Jaunpur, the constituency he represents. In September, Singh had been suspended from the BSP after he had visited the then ailing MP Amar Singh in AIIMS. Last month, however, he was reinstated after he reportedly apologised for the act.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Theni(TN)/Kumily(Kerala), December 11
