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Wednesday, July 22, 1998

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BJP meeting discusses price rise
NEW DELHI, July 21 — The issue of price rise today figured prominently at the Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Party meeting with MPs asking the government to intervene effectively to check the phenomenon...

Almati dam dispute goes to SC Bench
NEW DELHI July 21 — The Supreme Court today referred the dispute over the height of the Almati dam over the Krishna river to a five-Judge Bench...

Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, along with a BJP MP from the Outer Delhi constituency, undertaking a tour of Ambedkar Nagar on Tuesday. — PTI

Laloo denigrated Hindu Gods: BJP members
NEW DELHI, July 21 (PTI, UNI) — BJP and Shiv Sena members today objected to a remark by former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in the Lok Sabha saying it denigrated Hindu Gods...
Neighbour rapes 90-year-old
NEW DELHI, July 21 — A 90-year-old woman has been allegedly raped by her neighbour near a temple in Anand Parbat area, Central Delhi, the police said...
By 2000, Delhi will have 4 million vehicles
NEW DELHI, July 21 — Delhi is expected to have four million vehicles on road by the year 2000, the Central Road Research Institute has said in a report. If the traffic volume rises at the current rate, the average speed of vehicles in Delhi will be reduced to 11 km per hour...
Amarinder decries power tariff hike
NEW DELHI, July 21 — The Punjab Pradesh Congress president, Mr Amarinder Singh, today decried the decision of the Punjab Government to hike power tariff. Coupled with increase in bus fares, the move will severely affect the people, he said...
WFI official held in job racket
NEW DELHI, July 21 — The Assistant Secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Mr Vinod Kumar Chauhan, and two ticketing agents have been arrested by the Delhi Police for trying to send seven Punjab youth to Switzerland in the guise of wrestlers in July 1997 to find job...
HC asks college to admit student
NEW DELHI, July 21 — The Capital’s prestigious St Stephens College has agreed before the Delhi High Court to admit an aspirant to the B.A. (Honours) economics course, which he was alleged to have been denied under the Christian quota...
Pay-panel scale for DSGMC teachers

Jalandhar gets satellite money order station

Fogging begun to check dengue

BJP meeting discusses price rise
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 21 — The issue of price rise today figured prominently at the Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Party meeting with MPs asking the government to intervene effectively to check the phenomenon.
Sources said that some MPs asked the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, to adopt a tough line on the issue of price rise and suggested action against hoarders so that the government was not perceived as being a helpless spectator.
The meeting, which was chaired by the Prime Minister, was addressed by the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha. He explained in detail the phenomenon of recent price rise. Mr Sinha told the meeting that the government would import 1.5 lakh tonnes of edible oil to meet the expected demand during the forthcoming festival season.
The imported palm oil, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, would be supplied to the consumers through fair price shops, Mr Sinha said. He said that the government had already reduced the import duty on edible oil from 25 per cent to 10 per cent.
Moreover, the edible oil had been brought under the open general licence so that traders could import it without any hindrance, Mr Sinha, said hoping that these measures would help control the price line.
Describing the present price rise as "seasonal", the Finance Minister gave three reasons for the rise: deficit financing, money supply and administrative prices. He said vegetables, fruits and edible oil alone accounted for 86 per cent of the price rise in essential commodities.
Later briefing newspersons, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Madan Lal Khurana, said that the Finance Minister told the meeting that the price rise in essential commodities was 3.7 per cent in 1997. It was 5 per cent in April this year and today it stood at 7.5 per cent. Mr Sinha hoped that before the monsoon ends, the prices would stabilise.
Regarding onion and potato, the government would supply these items through NAFED at subsidised rates at Super Bazars and through mobile vans.
Speaking on money supply, the Finance Minister said that there was 17 per cent growth this year. The deficit had gone up by Rs 22,000 crore from the estimates last year. But on the administered price front, petroleum prices had been reduced from 15 per cent to 8 per cent this year, Mr Sinha stressed. The Railway goods fare was only marginally raised, he said.
The MPs asked the government to prepare a small booklet carrying all these facts so that the public could be properly informed.
The issue of salt was also raised by the MPs from Gujarat where the salt cottage industry is suffering because iodised salt was being promoted. Members from Gujarat urged the government to take steps to help the small cottage industry in Gujarat.

Almati dam dispute goes to SC Bench
NEW DELHI July 21 (PTI) — The Supreme Court today referred the dispute over the height of the Almati dam over the Krishna river to a five-Judge Bench to determine whether it had jurisdiction to hear matters arising from the award of an inter-state river disputes tribunal.
A three-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice M.M. Punchhi, Mr Justice K.T. Thomas and Mr Justice S.S.M. Quadri said in view of the bar imposed on the Supreme Court by Article 145(3) and section 11 of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, the Constitutional Bench will decide the court’s jurisdiction in this matter.
The Bench also directed Karnataka to file its reply to an application by Andhra Pradesh alleging the flouting of an high court order and the commencement of construction of gates at the dam.
Counsel for Andhra Pradesh, Mr A.K. Ganguly, alleged that the Irrigation Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka had reportedly given a statement that they would go ahead with the construction of gates at Almati unmindful of the order.
The high court had directed that the construction of gates could begin only in October, 1998, and to be completed in April next year. However, counsel for Karnataka Fali Nariman told the court that these were absolutely baseless allegations.
HYDERABAD: The Opposition Congress in Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday flayed the Telugu Desam Government for failing to prevent neighbouring Karnataka from going ahead with increasing the height of the dam.
Raising the issue as soon as the House assembled for the day, Congress members pressed for a debate on an adjournment motion moved by them.
Disallowing the motion, Speaker Y. Ramakrishnudu said he would post the matter for discussion under Rule 304 on Wednesday.
Stalling the proceedings for a while, Congress floor leader P. Janardhan Reddy accused the government of being indifferent to the widespread concern as the Almati issue was threatening to jeopardise the interests of Andhra farmers.
The two riparian states have been locked in a bitter dispute over the issue with Andhra Pradesh charging its neighbour with proposing to raise the dam’s height in violation of the Krishna water dispute tribunal (KWDT) award.
Denying the charge, Karnataka has been contending that it had the requisite sanctions from the Planning Commission and the Central Water Commission (CWC) for increasing the height and that it would not utilise even a single drop of additional Krishna water over and above the quantum of allocation made to it by the tribunal.

Laloo denigrated Hindu Gods: BJP members
NEW DELHI, July 21 (PTI, UNI) — BJP and Shiv Sena members today objected to a remark by former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in the Lok Sabha saying it denigrated Hindu Gods.
Trouble arose during question hour when Mr Yadav, while putting up a supplementary concerning foreign contributions received by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, made certain remark about Hindu Gods and goddesses.
Agitated BJP members were immediately on their feet protesting against Mr Yadav’s behaviour and accusing him of making casual reference to the Gods. This was countered by RJD and Samajwadi Party members.
Replying to supplementaries from Mr Ajit Jogi and Mr Subramanian Swamy, Home Minister L.K. Advani said the government would not spare any organisation violating the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
The minister stated this when Mr Jogi, as also Mr Rajesh Pilot, sought to know what action the government had taken against the VHP following alleged irregularities by it in receiving foreign donations.
The minister said there were as many as 12,136 associations covered under the FCRA Act and such organisations were given permission to receive foreign funds after much scrutiny by the government.
Lankan militants: The Centre and the Tamil Nadu Government are taking coordinated action to prevent any illegal activities by Sri Lankan militants in the state, Home Minister L.K. Advani informed the Lok Sabha today.
Considering that Tamil Nadu had a long coastline, elaborate arrangements had been made for preventing possible infiltration. The state government had intensified security arrangements along the coastline by setting up armed check posts as well as mobile patrols. Besides, the Palk Straits bay was being kept under continuous surveillance by the Navy and coast guard, Mr Advani said in written reply.
The Centre declared the LTTE an unlawful association on May 14. This had strengthened the hands of the state government in containing the activities of LTTE, he added.
In reply to another question, Mr Advani said while the overall situation in Jammu and Kashmir had shown improvement, militants had continued to resort to stray incidents of killings of soft targets, especially members of minority community, in remote areas.
Disturbed area: The Government will take a view on declaring Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir a disturbed area after receiving comments of various security agencies and the state government, Home Minister L.K. Advani said.
Mr Advani said in a written answer that no formal proposal had been received from the state government in this regard, though a demand was raised for declaration of Doda district as disturbed area during his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
Reimbursement: The Centre has reimbursed Rs 1045.31 crore to Jammu and Kashmir during 1990-98 as security-related expenditure, he said, adding Rs 131.91 crore was reimbursed to Assam for the purpose during 1990-95.
Police: In order to strengthen Jammu and Kashmir police, two more India reserve battalions would be created immediately and one more in 1999-2000, he said, adding Rs 5 crore would be made available for modernisation of the state police and 11 Border Police posts would also be established.
Weapons: Weapons seized during the past three years in Kashmir and North-East include AK series rifles, pistols, revolvers, carbines, UMGs, RPGs, LMGs, SLRs, sniper rifles, grenade launchers and rocket launchers.

Neighbour rapes 90-year-old
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 21 — A 90-year-old woman has been allegedly raped by her neighbour near a temple in Anand Parbat area, Central Delhi, the police said.
The woman, a resident of Gurgaon, was a regular visitor to a Baba Faridpur temple in Anand Parbat for the last several years, the police said.
Her nephews had bought her a small accommodation near the temple as she used to spend some days there.
The accused Om Prakash, a widower and divorcee, was her neighbour who lived with his two sons and elderly parents.
“Neighbours say Om Prakash provided the old woman with tea and snacks in the evening”, said a local police official.
On July 4 evening, Om Prakash went to the victim’s house in an inebriated state and raped her.
Later in his statement to the police, the accused claimed that since he was drunk, he went and slept on the old woman’s bed thinking it to be his house.
The medical report is awaited, while the victim — a widow for the past 75 years — has been taken back to her Gurgaon house, the police added.
Meanwhile, a 25-year-old man, Dheeraj, who was allegedly kidnapped by criminals of Bihar was rescued by North-East district police from the Samastipur railway station.
The police said the kidnapping plan was hatched from the Muzaffarpur jail by a notorious criminal Hazi. Eight persons have been arrested in this connection so far.
An acquaintance of his Ahmed, drugged him in the train and took him to Samastipur in Bihar on June 25. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of Rs 5 lakh which they later reduced to Rs 3 lakh.
In another incident, a one and half-year-old child, son of a slipper manufacturer, was rescued by the Central district police from Patna railway station on July 16.
The accused, identified as Mahesh alias Baijnath, worked as an employee in Harbans alias Laloo’s Chandni Mahal factory for sometime.

By 2000, Delhi will have 4 million vehicles
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 21 — Delhi is expected to have four million vehicles on road by the year 2000, a report said.
The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) in a report said that if the traffic volume rises at the current rate, the average speed of vehicles in Delhi will be reduced to 11 km per hour by the year 2000. The average speed on the Capital’s roads in 1988 was 25 km per hour.
The urban population has increased from 3.65 million in 1971 to 8.47 million 1991, while the vehicle population has gone up more than nine times from 0.20 million in 1971 to 1.8 million in two decades later, the report said.
The solution, the CRRI report said, lay in improving public transport, regulating urban expansion, increasing the freight movement by rail and putting in place efficient pollution control measures.
In addition to the vehicles registered in Delhi, it has been estimated that about 100,000 vehicles from the neighbouring states also ply on Delhi roads, adding to the congestion and pollution problems.
While the vehicle numbers have gone up more than nine times, the road length has increased by 2.6 times only, resulting in high vehicle density.
While the fast pace of urbanisation has necessitated the need for an efficient transportation system in Delhi, the public transport system has not been up to the mark, forcing commuters to shift to personal vehicles.
The haphazard and unplanned growth of Delhi has aggravated the problem, making it one of the most polluted cities in the world, the study said.
The phenomenal growth registered by motor vehicles in Delhi can be gauged from the fact that while the combined human population of Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta is about 3.5 times that of Delhi, the vehicular population of Delhi is more than that of the three other cities combined.

Amarinder decries power tariff hike
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 21 — The Punjab Pradesh Congress president, Mr Amarinder Singh, today decried the decision of the Punjab Government to hike power tariff. Coupled with increase in bus fares, the move will severely affect the people, he said.
Addressing a press conference here, the Punjab PCC chief said the power tariff hike will “totally affect industries in the state where steel plants are already closed and textile mills facing slump”.
Two former Congress MPs, Mr Surinder Singla and Mr Balbir Singh, also protested against the hike stating the move would have a “disastrous effect on the economy of Punjab”.
“Every year 2.4 lakh work force is added to the job market and if industries get hit due to power hike it will push up unemployment”, the PCC chief said.
He criticised the Punjab Government stating that this move would also burden those residing in rural areas.
He said while the exemption was only for using tubewells, all others had to put up with the raised tariff.
The PCC chief said raising bus fares by 42 per cent had burdened the common people and added the move was aimed at benefiting transporters union.
“Of this hike, 50 per cent will be retained by the State Government and rest will go to transporters. This fare hike was aimed at helping the transport unions, a majority of which were controlled by the Shiromani Akali Dal”, he charged.
In a separate joint statement, Mr Singla and Mr Balbir Singh said, the power hike would have “disastrous consequences on the economy of Punjab at a time when industry and trade are going through recession.”
Mr Singla said he feared due to recession and power tariff hike there could a flight of industry from Punjab since the non-agriculture sector was having to take the burden.
He said in addition monthly budgets of domestic consumers would upset due to the steep hike and termed it as an “extortion from people”.
Mr Singla charged that the Punjab Government with having failed to generate more resources through budget, had resorted to a “short-sighted” power tariff hike.
The MPs also suggested that the State Congress President should call a meeting of the Pradesh Congress Committee to decide on a ‘direct action’.

WFI official held in job racket
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 21 — The Assistant Secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Mr Vinod Kumar Chauhan, and two ticketing agents have been arrested by the Delhi Police for trying to send seven Punjab youth to Switzerland in the guise of wrestlers in July 1997 to find job.
Apart from the WFI official, two ticketing agents, Pradeep Kumar and Rajesh Goel who had promised them jobs for Rs 2 lakhs, were also arrested by the economic offences wing of the crime branch yesterday.
The crime branch of the Delhi Police said WFI Chairman, Mr G.S. Mandher, had sent a complaint in August last year that during the July 1997 wrestling competition in Switzerland, seven Punjab youth had tried to sneak to Europe as wrestlers along with the Indian team.
But according to Mandher, the Swiss authorities became suspicious about their credentials when during visa interview they failed to convince the board on their knowledge of the sport.
The seven youth were denied visa and the Swiss embassy informed the WFI about a possible racket.
During probe, it became clear that the WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Kumar had accepted money from the Punjab residents to send them to Switzerland on genuine documents so that at a later stage they could enter some other European destinations by road to evade detection after the expiry of visa.
Officers in the crime branch said most of those who enter these countries for petty jobs keep changing destinations and often work as daily wagers at restaurants and construction sites.

HC asks college to admit student
NEW DELHI, July 21 (UNI) — The Capital’s prestigious St Stephens College has agreed before the Delhi High Court to admit an aspirant to the B.A. (Honours) economics course, which he was alleged to have been denied under the Christian quota.
Mr Justice Anil Dev Singh was informed yesterday by the counsel for the Stephens College that it had been decided to admit Rohit Varkey George to the course as he has fulfilled all requirements necessary for the admission. During the furnishing of the admission form, Rohit had not submitted his baptism certificate.
In view of the submission, advocate Jayant Bhushan, appearing for Rohit, agreed to withdraw the petition and the judge disposed of the petition subsequently.
The college had said that the student, Rohit, was denied admission under the Christian quota as he had not submitted his baptism certificate.
The judge had asked the college authorities to produce before the court the records pertaining to the admission to the first year B.A. (Honours) economics course on July 20, by which date they should also clarify their stand on the admission.
The court had on July 3 directed St Stephens not to allot a seat in the course to any other student till the next date of hearing in the case on July 8, the order was later extended till yesterday.
Rohit, who scored 94.75 per cent in the Class XII Indian School Certificate Examination from Kottayam in Kerala, had moved the court alleging that he was denied admission to the course in an “illegal, arbitrary and discriminatory manner” even though students obtaining around 81 per cent marks had been given admission.

Pay-panel scale for DSGMC teachers
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 21 — The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee has agreed to implement the Fifth Pay Commission-recommended pay scale for the teachers employed in schools run by the committee.
The DSGMC runs 74 schools in the Capital.
“The teachers will get their wages according to pay commission scale” the president of DSGMC, Mr Jaswant Singh Sethi said, adding that “this would cost an additional expenditure of Rs 1 crore per month.”
The DSGMC had earlier increased the fees of students to pay the salaries of the teachers. However, it was reduced following an agitation by the parents and the Delhi High Court’s interim order.
The High Court had stated that the schools cannot increase their fees by more than 40 per cent.

Jalandhar gets satellite money order station
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 21— An exclusive access to national postal network in form of a satellite money order station at the Army post office at the Jalandhar cantonment is now available from today.
The need for a separate “satellite money order facility” at the Jalandhar cantonment was felt and a project was conceived. Concurrence was obtained from Maj Gen K.K. Srivastava, the Additional DG APS. The top authorities of Department of Posts at New Delhi and also the Chief Postmaster General of Punjab Circle, Chandigarh, were approached. The efforts yielded result. An exclusive access to national network has been sanctioned as a special case by the Department of Posts, New Delhi, a separate satellite money order station has been installed at the Jalandhar cantonment by relaxing normal rules.
This Vajra satellite money order station is first of its kind in many aspects. The Vajra Corps is the lone possessor of such an exclusive facility. All expenditure amounting to several lakhs of rupees will be borne by the civil Postal Department.

Fogging begun to check dengue
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 21 — The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has started fogging operations after a case of dengue fever was reported from the Trans-Yamuna area.
The first case of dengue was reported from Ganesh Nagar, even as cholera and gastroenteritis cases continue to came to hospitals.
A team of MCD staff immediately undertook a survey in Ganesh Nagar and inspections were carried out in about 450 houses.
The aedes aegypti mosquito, which spreads dengue virus, was reportedly found breeding in three houses. The house owners are said to have been challaned on the spot by the municipal staff.
Precautionary measures like fogging is being undertaken to prevent any spread of the disease.
Though the patient recovered within four days, the blood report released on July 17 showed that he was suffering from dengue.

In brief

Publishing house raided
KANNUR: The police raided a publishing house at Payyanur (North Kerala) that brought out the Malayalam version of Gopal Godse’s work, “May it please your honour”, and arrested an employee who was in charge of printing the book. Police sources here said the arrested employee, T. Nandanan, had been charged under Section 153(A)A of the IPC for intentionally causing communal disharmony. He was taken in custody by a special squad comprising the circle inspector and a sub-inspector of police. — PTI
Newly wed sister, 2 daughters killed
HYDERABAD: A dispute over inter-caste marriage led to the gruesome killing of four persons, including a newly wed couple, at Munchintal in the adjoining Ranga Reddy district on Monday night. The police said a 40-year-old man Yellaiah, irked over his sister, Shankeramma, marrying Narsimha outside their caste, killed his two daughters, Manjula (12) and Sivaranjani (10), believing that they too would become like his sister. — PTI
Indians excel in maths Olympiad
AHMEDABAD: A team of six high school students from India won three gold and three silver medals in the recently held 39th International Mathematical Olympiad at Taipei in Taiwan. Abhinav Kumar (Ranchi), Chetan Balwe (Pune) and N.V. Tejaswi (Bangalore) won gold medals while the silver medals were bagged by Rishi Raj (Ranchi), Soham Mazumdar (Jamshedpur) and Hariharan Narayan (Mumbai). — PTI
3 Army officers beaten up
NASIK: Five civilians were arrested for allegedly beating up army officials in the Devlali camp area over a petty quarrel here on Monday. The police said three army officers-Chamanlal Choudhari, Vikramkumar and Chandar Dadlani - were talking to a shop owner when a civilian, Mangesh B. Habde, told the officers not to speak loudly. An altercation took place among them over the issue following which the officers were beaten up with hockey sticks and lathis. — PTI
Five-star food makes Pt. Bhatt ill
JAIPUR: Noted classical maestro and international Grammy Award winner Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and his son, Sourabh, suffered food poisoning in Mumbai on Monday night, his family said here on Tuesday. Pt. Bhatt and his upcoming musician son vomited and ran high fever after taking dinner at a five-star hotel in Mumbai where they were staying, his son Salil Bhatt said. — PTI
First woman Mayor of Vadodara
VADODARA: For the first time in its civic history of 94 years, BJP corporator, Bharti Vyas was unanimously elected the first female Mayor of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation at its general body meeting on Monday. Dinesh Chokshi, who won 53 votes, was elected Deputy Mayor of the corporation defeating the rival candidate, Minaxi Patel, who secured 17 votes, according to a Vadodara Municipal Corporation spokesperson. — PTI