Monday, September 7, 1998

Jethmalani to take up
CVC issue
NEW DELHI, Sept 6 — Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani today decided to lodge a protest with the Prime Minister on the way "vital recommendations" of the Law Commission were withheld from the ministerial committee which drafted the Chief Vigilance Commission Ordinance.

Language issue: Punjabi bodies feel let down
NEW DELHI, Sept 6 — Several Punjabi literary organisations today accused the BJP-led Delhi Government for not granting the second language status to Punjabi despite a promise made by the party in its manifesto in the last assembly polls.

HC notice to Delhi on pending cases
NEW DELHI, Sept 6 — More than two lakh cases involving petty crimes are pending before the magisterial courts in Delhi alone. And in most of these cases, the undertrials have spent more years behind bars than what they would have if found guilty.

Central varsity teachers too end stir
NEW DELHI, Sept 6 — The Central university teachers today decided not to extend their strike even though they were not satisfied with the pay scales offered by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.

PM has tacit understanding with RJD: Paswan

Sunday clinic for health needs of elderly

Dropsy toll mounts to 49

Pawar favours Sonia as PM

Prasar panel favours neutral people: Sushma

NEW DELHI, Sep 6 (PTI) Vice-President Krishan Kant-headed three-member selection committee, which will select Prasar Bharati’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in place of sacked Surinder Singh Gill, "is in favour of neutral people," Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj has said.

Other members of the committee are Press Council of India Chairman Justice P.B. Sawant and government-nominee journalist T.V.R. Shenoy.

Mr Shenoy is not identified with the "BJP", even if we assume that he is one, even then the selection committee is in favour of neutral people", Ms Swaraj told "Eenadu TV" in an interview.

The minister said "it is the Vice-President of India who is on it. The other member is the Chairman of the Press Council of India Justice P.B. Sawant who again is not a BJP man by any standards."

Answering another question, Mr Swaraj said "there was no hurry, but there was an urgency’’ to issue the presidential Ordinance so as to restore the 1990 Prasar Bharati Act in its original form.

She said "and the urgency was because nobody was clear whether with the lapse of the old Ordinance, the old Act (1990 Prasar Bharati Act) had come into being.’’

The minister said there was an air of uncertainty among the information Broadcasting staffers, "and one cannot keep such an important, and big organisation in such a state of uncertainty for so long at least till November when the winter session of Parliament begins. And therefore I wanted to put a full stop to this state of uncertainty. This uncertainty was also creating a lot of problems.’’

She said the opposition allegation was totally baseless that she had deliberately not brought the Bill before the Rajya Sabha.

Ms Swaraj also denied opposition charge that the Ordinance had been issued only to remove S.S. Gill from his post in the Prasar Bharati.

"When I brought back the original Act, the 62-year age limit also came back and since Mr Gill happened to be above 62 that he had to go. Otherwise, all board members are there and I am not touching them," she said.

Tata airline project must take off: panel

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 (UNI) — The Rs 1475 crore domestic airline proposal of the Tata group, which was withdrawn a few days back, still continues to haunt political circles with a majority of members of the Standing Committee of Parliament on Transport and Tourism rallying in support of the project.

The committee, which met a few days ago under the chairmanship of Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra, to review the entire gamut of the aviation sector including the government’s open sky policy and the role of the private sector and Indian Airlines, felt that the project should not be grounded, informed sources told UNI here.

Though the project has been closed as far Tatas are concerned, for the committee, it is still alive.

While a majority of members have rallied behind Tata group stating that the proposal should be allowed, some of them expressed dissent saying the project should not see the light of the day. The supporters at the meeting pointed out that the project should be viewed in the light of the government’s decision to allow the two existing private airlines —Jet Airways and Sahara Airlines — to expand their fleet.

Jet was recently allowed to purchase six more aircraft and Sahara to buy seven aircraft.

“The members were of the opinion that if existing players from the private sector could be allowed to expand their fleet, why should Tata group not be allowed to start operations,” the sources said.

The members further felt that the apprehension that the proposed Tata Airline would have adversely affected the operations and bottomlines of Indian Airlines held no ground.

“The government had already allowed several players to enter the fray when the aviation sector was at its boom a few years ago. Forty per cent of Indian Airlines’ traffic was captured by the private operators when they entered the arena. Since then, a number of these players like East West, Modiluft, NEPC and Damania, have closed down operations.

Now had these players continued their operations, would it not have affected the load traffic of Indian Airlines. Since a number of them have closed down.

The members were of the opinion that there is no reason why Tatas should be deprived of the opportunity of operating an airline in the country,” the sources said.

There have been divisions within all political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the Communists, over the project with some members supporting it and others opposing it outright.

When asked about Tata group’s decision to call off the project, Mr Malhotra said, “this is purely a personal decision of the company.”

However, he stated that the committee has not closed the issue and would, in fact, discuss the matter again at its next meeting to be held by mid-September.

Meanwhile, the members opposing the project alleged that the project was not withdrawn due to the inordinate delay on part of the ministry but because of the fact that the group had realised that starting an airline now would be unviable and uneconomical as the aviation industry worldwide was facing a major recession.

They pointed out that the traffic load has come down to 59 per cent now as against 69 per cent two years ago. “Even when the traffic load was as high as 69 per cent, several private airlines could not bear the cost burden and expenses and had to close down operations.

Now with the traffic load at a low, it has proved as a deterrent for the company to enter the arena.”

They further stated that the decision has also stemmed out of the poor performance of the several Tata group subsidiaries, particularly Telco and Tisco.

In 1997-98, Tisco’s net profit had dropped to Rs 322.08 crore as against Rs 469.21 crore in 1996-97. Telco had also recorded a similar drop in profits. Besides, Tisco is also working towards trimming its workforce by 3000 during the current fiscal year.

However, company officials stated that the poor performance of the subsidiary companies had no relation to the company’s decision to withdraw the airline project.

Tata group had, after three years of prolonged negotiations with the government, finally lost patience and early last week withdrawn its domestic airline proposal burying all plans to enter the Aviation sector.

“This withdrawal is against the problems which we have been facing for the past three years from the civil aviation ministry despite the proposal being perfectly in line with the guidelines of the civil aviation policy,” Mr Sujit Gupta, Director, Tata Industries Limited (TIL), had said.

This was the second proposal in the aviation sector from which Tata group has pulled out, the previous one being the Bangalore airport project in collaboration with Raytheon.

The group had stated that the Civil Aviation Ministry was the only stumbling block for the project and it was shelved in the absence of any credible time frame for a decision from the ministry.

Bonds boost BJP-NRI bond?
From Shubhabrara Bhattacharya
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 — The Resurgent India Bond (RIB) which fetched a whopping $ 4.16 billion from non-resident Indians has also perhaps brought a silent political message which may be music to the ears of the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership.

According to figures put out by the State Bank of India, which was the chief promoter of the RIB, half of the bonds have been sold in West Asia. Twenty per cent have been bought by NRIs in south-east Asia, while the Indians living in America and Europe have contributed 15 per cent each.

The RIB is unique because it is for the first time that a bond or a government security floated abroad does not have the largest number of subscribers from the USA.

This perhaps is a reflection on the NRIs based in America. Despite the present ruling party being active in the USA and the UK particularly through its outfit, the "Overseas Friends of BJP", the US-led western sanctions against India in the Pokhran aftermath seem to have influenced the mindset of the investors who have thus not responded favourably to the RIB.

The NRIs settled in Europe and America are mostly Hindu, whereas the NRIs in west Asia have a large percentage of Muslims among them. While the Hindu NRIs are not essentially the economic backbone of their families back home, the Muslim NRIs have close economic bonds with their families in India. In many cases, the NRIs from a Muslim family could well turn out to be the family’s principal bread earner.

The response shown by the NRIs in the west Asia, therefore, throws up interesting political axioms whose corollaries may not be good news for the "secular parties" opposing the BJP. Of the 75,000 applications for RIB received from 27 countries across the world, the NRIs in Saudi Arabia top the list.

It may be said that the response of the NRIs from west Asia is a reflection of the mood of the minorities in India vis-a-vis the present ruling coalition. If this mood has resulted in currency notes flowing in for purchase of RIBs, is there a possibility of "note" being reflected in the vote?

The RIBs have given the state exchequer immediate funds for tiding over the problems caused by post-Pokhran sanctions. A similar bond had been floated by Pakistan, the appeal for which was made in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s television address soon after the Chagai blasts. The Pakistani Bond, however, flopped in the market.

The BJP has officially hailed the success of RIBs. It remains to be seen in the coming elections if the investor confidence of the minority community can be converted by the party’s strategists into voter support.

The Congress has been making sincere efforts to woo back the Muslim voter. The emphasis of Pachmarhi discussions was also aimed at this. The fact remains, however, that the appointment of a suave, well educated and articulate Mr Salman Khursheed as the Congress state president for Uttar Pradesh has not pleased the party’s potential "secular" ally, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, who at present enjoys the confidence of the majority of Muslim voters in the Hindi heartland.

The minority voter thus is faced with the choice of backing a fragmented "secular front" or coming to terms with the new, emerging, reality and giving the BJP a try. The RIBs may not be the best thing to have happened on the economic front (because there is criticism about the high cost of administering the scheme), however its political fallout may be interesting to watch.

Jethmalani to take up CVC issue

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 (PTI) — Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani today decided to lodge a protest with the Prime Minister on the way "vital recommendations" of the Law Commission were withheld from the ministerial committee which drafted the Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC) Ordinance.

In another development, new CVC N. Vittal today met Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee in what was termed as a "courtesy" call.

Mr Vittal declined to comment on Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy’s letter to him seeking a detailed probe against Mr Jethmalani on the M.S. Shoes case.

Mr Jethmalani said withholding of the Law Commission’s recommendations led to the Ordinance restricting the appointment to the post of the CVC to only bureaucrats.

The commission had based its recommendations on a Supreme Court judgement which had directed that the choice of CVC would be from among senior civil servants, past and present of high integrity and others. The word "others" has been omitted from the report presented to the ministerial committee, Mr Jethmalani contended.

Mr Jethmalani said he would apprise the Prime Minister at the earliest about the manner in which the four-member ministerial team, which drafted the CVC Ordinance, was kept in the dark about the commission’s recommendations on the issue.

The ministerial committee comprised Mr Jethmalani, Mr P.R. Kumaramangalam, Mr M. Thambi Durai and Mr M. Janarthanam.

Earlier, at a press conference, he said, "I would like to present my view and would like to have some changes in the (CVC) Ordinance."

53 pc Indian kids malnourished: Unicef

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 (PTI) — High incidence of malnutrition in South Asian countries has been a major cause for concern calling for immediate steps to contain the malaise with nutritionists trying to find the root cause for its increasing number despite mitigating measures.

With as much as 53 per cent of children malnourished in India, their proportion here is much higher than even the poorest countries of sub-Saharan Africa, a UNICEF report reveals.

In fact, the figure is almost as high for the entire South Asia and half of the world’s malnourished children are to be found in just three countries — Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

Almost as startling, says the report, is that this problem is so little investigated. Even among nutritionists there is insufficient research and no clear consensus on why the rate of child malnutrition is so much higher in South Asia than anywhere else in the world.

Compared to the nutritional status in the rest of the developing world, even South Asia, India is not doing as well as in other areas, Asha Das, Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development, told a workshop here last week to mark national nutrition week.

A number of theories have been put forth on this “Asian enigma”, but the most likely seems the dietary habits and the social conditions both of which lead to low birth, weight.

Mr Asha Das compared the attitude towards children in the two regions as the reason for this - in Africa a man provided for his children first and next the women. In India, the social structure is the reverse, with a woman ensuring the men and children are fed first, in that order.

“Women and children thus remain the worst victims of the ravages of malnutrition,” she pointed out.

The exceptionally high rates of malnutrition in South Asia, says the UNICEF report, are rooted deep in gender inequality.

“Women are subordinated in most regions of the world,” it says. “But the subordination of South Asia’s women is of a different order. And the quality of child care suffers along with the quality of women’s own lives.”

Despite India’s achievement of food security, thanks to its green revolution, malnutrition remained acute even 50 years after independence, Ms Das regretted, pointing to the paradox of food security being attained at the national-level but remaining low at the household level.

“Even within a household, there is disparity of food availability with children and women receiving less,” she added, attributing it to social as well as economic causes.

A major indicator of malnutrition, the UNICEF country representative said at the workshop, was low birth weight, which reflected the health of women. One third of all babies in India are born with low birth weight of less then 2.5 kg.

“A malnourished mother,” he said, “cannot produce a healthy baby and a generation of malnourishment is perpetrated”.

Noting that the family and community had a direct and vital role to play in the elimination of malnutrition from the country, Ms Das said the focus must shift from government’s role to the responsibilities of the family and the community in the care of children, she said.

It was not the income level but the dietary practices followed that was another cause for malnutrition, she said adding “it is not necessary to go in for high-costing food. Our traditional food is rich in nutrition and awareness must be generated about them.”

Saying that food was only one element in malnutrition, UNICEF points to the role of community in ensuring basic health services, sanitation, safe drinking water and awareness generation among various sections of society.

With rising population and overcrowded living conditions, hygiene tends to take a beating, the report said.

“Hygiene tends to improve with incomes. For the poor anywhere, maintaining high standards is difficult. For the overcrowded poor, it is virtually impossible.”

Calling for a major attitudinal change, Ms Das said care of women and children was the responsibility of the entire family and community.

Though government had taken a number of steps to improve status of women and spread literacy a multi-sectoral strategy had to be adopted to deal with this urgent problems, she added. India, she said, could reduce malnutrition by as much as 50 per cent through mass mobilisation.

Language issue: Punjabi bodies feel let down
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 — Several Punjabi literary organisations today accused the BJP-led Delhi Government for not granting the second language status to Punjabi despite a promise made by the party in its manifesto in the last assembly polls.

In a joint statement four Capital-based literary bodies alleged that contrary to the claims of the BJP leaders that Punjabi had been accorded the second language status in Delhi, the language was only technically given “second language facilities” on par with Urdu.

While the move provided for just accepting and sending official communications in Punjabi, the Delhi Government chose not to introduce Punjabi as second language in schools as mandated by the second language status, the statement released by the Kendri Punjabi Sahit Sammelan general secretary, Mr Mohan Singh Berry said.

Mr Berry also demanded that salaries of part-time Punjabi teachers appointed by the Delhi Government-run Punjabi academy, should be increased on the pattern of the Fifth Pay Commission.

The other signatories to the joint statement were the All-India Punjabi Literary Society, the Punjabi Lekhak Sabha and the Kendri Punjabi Kavi Manch.

HC notice to Delhi on pending cases
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 — More than two lakh cases involving petty crimes are pending before the magisterial courts in Delhi alone. And in most of these cases, the undertrials have spent more years behind bars than what they would have if found guilty.

To implement the cardinal principle of jurisprudence, the Supreme Court had directed the high courts in the country to appoint special magistrates.

Following the apex court order, the Delhi High Court through a notification had conferred all powers of metropolitan magistrates to 22 retired officers of the high court for one year.

They were to try the offences under the Motor Vehicles Act and other petty offences.

Nine months have passed since the high court passed this order, yet no arrangements have been made by the Delhi Government to carry out their judicial work.

Aggrieved by the fact that justice was being denied due to administrative delay, the Indian Council of Legal Aid and Advice has moved the Delhi High Court.

A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice K.S. Gupta has issued notices to the Delhi Government, the Principal Secretary (Home) , the Lt-Governor and the Delhi High Court through the Registrar and the District and Sessions Judge.

Twentytwo special metropolitan magistrates had been appointed by the Supreme Court for the quick disposal of petty cases. But they have not been able to join duty because there was no provision for them to function.

Central varsity teachers too end stir
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 — The Central university teachers today decided not to extend their strike even though they were not satisfied with the pay scales offered by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.

The general secretary of the Federation of the Central University Teachers Association (FEDCUTA), Mr Rais Khan, said the executive meeting of their association had decided "not to extend" the strike.

The executive meeting of the FEDCUTA, which lasted for more than four hours, decided to end the stir, he said, adding that the national executive would soon meet to deliberate on the mode of protest to be adopted by the teachers to get the anomalies rectified.

The FEDCUTA, he said "has strongly protested to the HRD ministry for not giving the UGC scale to the teachers."

Mr Rais Khan, however, stated that the teachers struggle to secure the UGC pay scales had been weakened by the All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisation’s decision to call off the strike.

"The AIFACTO has accepted the pay scale offered by the HRD ministry, which is less than what was recommended by the UGC. Their act has weakened our bargaining power," he said.

The central university teachers were "not happy" with the pay scales offered by the HRD ministry, he said that they have decided to return to their classrooms but would adopt other modes of protest to achieve their goals.

With the FEDCUTA deciding not to extend the stir, classes in 16 central universities would resume from tomorrow and about 20,000 teachers would be back in their classroom after the fortnight-long protest.

The teachers have also decided to make up for the time lost due to strike and have assured the students that the syllabus would be completed within the stipulated time.

About four lakh teachers affiliated to the AIFACTO had called off their 26-day-old strike yesterday.

PM has tacit understanding with RJD: Paswan

PATNA, Sept 6 (PTI) — Senior Janata Dal leader Ram Vilas Paswan today accused Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of entering into a "tacit understanding" with RJD President Laloo Prasad Yadav, which he claimed, had prevented the Centre from dismissing the "corrupt and inefficient" RJD government in Bihar.

Sharply reacting to BJP President Kushabhau Thakre’s statement ruling out the dismissal of the Rabri Devi government, Mr Paswan said: "It has exposed the double-speak of the BJP and its coalition partner, Samata Party."

Mr Paswan told newsmen he was surprised over former Union Minister S.R. Bommai’s "utterances" against invoking Article 356 of the Constitution in the state.

"People should not forget that the United Front government had dismissed the Gujarat Government and also recommended imposition of President’s rule in Uttar Pradesh," Mr Paswan said.

Earlier, accompanied by his party National President Sharad Yadav, Mr Paswan, on the third leg of his rath yatra to highlight alleged misdeeds of the state government, addressed public meetings at Bihta, Khagaul and Ara.

On the reported differences in the Janata Dal over the move to forge an alliance with the Samata Party in Bihar, Mr Paswan said: "There is no harm if opposition parties come together to avoid a split in anti-RJD votes."

He, however, said his party would go in for any electoral alliance whenever assembly elections took place.

Sunday clinic for health needs of elderly
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 — To save elderly persons the trouble of standing in long queues in hospitals, the Delhi government is starting a Sunday clinic to cater exclusively to their health needs.

Minister of Health in the Delhi government, Dr Harsh Vardhan told newspersons here yesterday that the Director-General, World Health Organisation, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland would inaugurate the clinic at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain hospital here tomorrow.

Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the project of a Sunday clinic is the first of its kind in the world. He said that beginning on September 13, the clinic would start in nine hospitals including Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Guru Teg Bahadur, Aruna Asaf Ali, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rao Tula Ram, Babu Jagjivan Ram, Sanjay Gandhi and N C Joshi. He said that the OPDs would cater to health needs of the persons above 65 years of age and remain open from 10 a.m. to noon everyday. Principal Secretary (Health) to the Delhi government Ramesh Chandra told The Tribune that about 10 lakh senior citizens will benefit from the facilities at the Sunday clinics.

The Health Minister said that a daily rush of 2000 to 3000 persons in out-patient departments of city hospitals necessitated this unique experiment. He said that the clinic would have OPDs in Medicine, Surgery, Orthopaedics and ENT besides other services.

Dr Harsh Vardhan said that senior doctors and nurses who worked in the clinic will be paid an honorarium.

Dropsy toll mounts to 49

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 (UNI) — The dropsy epidemic continued to take its toll in the Capital with two more persons succumbing to the disease during the past 24 hours taking the toll to 49, Delhi Health Minister said today.

The minister said the Food Adulteration Department of the Delhi Government had tested 20 sample of Rath and Panghat vegetable oils and 18 of them had been found to be adulterated.

He said yesterday requested the Union Food Minister to look into the issue of vegetable oil adulteration and appealed to the people to be vigilant towards this problem as well.

Dr Harshvardhan informed that Nehru Homoeopathy Medical College had the facility to treat dropsy patients and Dr B.I. Rudresh, a homoeopath from Bangalore, was being called by the government to assist in the dropsy treatment.

Already, 11 patients had been treated by homoeopathic treatment centre at Safdarjung Hospital, he said.

He said so far 408 samples of mustard oil had been lifted and 296 analysed. Of these, 161 had been found to be contaminated.

Pawar favours Sonia as PM

CHHINDWARA, Sept 6 (PTI) — Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar today said he had no problem in projecting Congress President Sonia Gandhi as the country’s next Prime Minister.

Mr Pawar told reporters here on his way back after attending the three-day brain storming camp at Pachmarhi that Ms Sonia was the acceptable leader of all sections of the Congress.

The Opposition leader said the issue of one-man, one-post was also not relevant in the case of Ms Sonia.

The Maharashtra strongman’s statement about Ms Sonia Gandhi assumes significance in view of media reports about differences between them.

Compensation for bus blast victim
NEW DELHI: Mr Samir Chanda, who had suffered serious injuries due to a bomb blast in October 1983, won a 15-year-old legal battle against the owner of the bus with the Supreme Court asking the latter to compensate the victim. Reversing a Guwahati High Court order that the Assam State Transport Company was not liable to pay compensation to the victim, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice K. Venkataswami and Mr Justice A.P. Misra said, “there cannot be any doubt that the accident arose out of the use of the motor vehicle justifying the claim of the victim.”— PTI

‘Enhance ex gratia for firing victims’
NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission has directed the Uttar Pradesh Government to pay interim compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of three young men killed due to indiscriminate police firing in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) campus in 1997. Terming as inadequate the ex gratia payment of Rs 1 lakh given by the state government to the families of each of the victims, the commission recommended payment of further relief of Rs four lakh each within a month, the NHRC sources said. — PTI

Feroze Gandhi awards for 9
NEW DELHI: Nine persons have been selected for Feroze Gandhi memorial national awards to be presented by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, on September 14 in the Capital. Those who would be awarded include atomic scientist, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the Managing Director of Punjab Wireless Systems Ltd, Mr Gurpal Singh, film actors Manoj Kumar, Sunny Deol and Kajol and playback singer Sonu Nigam.—TNS

‘Adverse media reports demoralising cops’
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police Commissioner, Mr V.N. Singh, said on Sunday that constant negative media publicity was demoralising the Capital’s overburdened police force and people would have to be more security-conscious and responsible if crimes were to be averted. He said unlike in the west, routine advice and warnings given by the police to the citizens were “ridiculed” here and spectacular “catches” made by the police were dismissed lightly. Mr V.N. Singh, whose force has been under attack for the spurt in robberies and dacoities in the capital in recent months, said many such incidents could be prevented if the citizens were more alert.—PTI

PUCL seeks review of TADA cases
BANGALORE: The People’s Union of Civil Liberties (Karnataka), on Sunday, threatened to file a contempt petition in the Supreme Court if the state government failed to set up a committee to review pending TADA cases including those registered against some alleged associates of forest brigand Veerappan. Its president Hassan Mansur told newsmen here that even though the Centre had scrapped the TADA in 1993 and almost all states, had reviewed the TADA cases, the Karnataka Government had not taken any action in spite of a Supreme Court directive. — UNI

Delhi sanitation “unsatisfactory”
NEW DELHI: In the absence of a time-bound action plan, handling of solid wastes has shown little improvement in sanitation condition in the capital, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has informed the Delhi High Court. The CPCB in an affidavit filed before the high court recently said, “overall situation regarding management of solid wastes in Delhi is not up to the mark”. A Division Bench of Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice K.S. Gupta, who had perused the CPCB report, have directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation to come out with a “concrete action plan” by September 10 on sanitation drive in the city so that the work could be started on a “war footing”. — PTI

4 die after consuming spirit
DURG: Four teenagers, including two brothers, died after consuming spirit in Durg district of Madhya Pradesh. The district police chief, Mr Mukesh Gupta, said the deceased fell ill after consuming an excess of spirit on Thursday. They were rushed to the hospital where they died on Saturday. The police has recovered many empty spirit bottles from their residence. — UNI

Dental congress from Sept 26
NEW DELHI: More than 1500 dental surgeons from across the country are expected to participate in a two-day inter-state Dental Congress and New Delhi Dental Show ‘98 scheduled to begin here on September 26. According to a press note issued by the Dental Show Chairman and Head of the Department of Surgery at AIIMS, Dr Hari Prakash, the latest innovations in the world of dentistry, issues relating to cosmetic dentistry, implant dentistry, root canal therapy and the use of surgical microscope would be discussed at the congress. — PTI