Sunday, May 2, 1999

14,000 gastro cases reported
NEW DELHI, May 1 — Nearly 14,000 cases of gastroenteritis and 150 of cholera have been reported in the Capital so far, the Delhi Health Minister, Dr A.K. Walia, said today.

“Horsetrading could have saved BJP”
NEW DELHI, May 1 — Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.R. Kumarmangalam has said the BJP-led coalition would have regained majority by horse-trading following the withdrawal of support by the AIADMK, but BJP leadership was dead against such measures.

CWC member Reddy differs with Pawar

HYDERABAD, May 1 (PTI) — Disagreeing with Mr Sharad Pawar’s reported view that the coming mid-term poll would throw up a hung Parliament yet again, Congress Working Committee member K Vijayabhaskar Reddy claimed today that the Congress would get an absolute majority to form a stable government.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Reddy, when asked to react to his party’s senior leader’s reported statement, said “If Pawar had said so, then it is wrong”. The forthcoming elections would give an absolute majority for the Congress, he added.

Mr Reddy refuted the BJP allegation that the Congress had engineered the fall of the Vajpayee government and said it was BJP’s ally the AIADMK which brought about its collapse.

The Congress had maintained that it would not destabilise the Vajpayee government, he said adding the party merely tried to fulfil its role as the main opposition to form an alternative government but failed because of lack of requisite numbers.

The party’s prospects in the forthcoming elections were bright in UP, Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and also in Tamil Nadu and Kerala where it was to work out poll alliances, he said.

The “anti-Sonia” propaganda unleashed in the country by the BJP and its allies, especially the TDP, would boomerang and “they would have to pay heavily for it,” senior Congress leader K Vijayabhaskar Reddy said.

“Sonia Gandhi is an Indian and not an Italian. People will no longer tolerate her being labelled as a foreigner,” Mr Reddy told reporters here on his return from New Delhi.

Mr Reddy, who is also a Congress Working Committee member, blasted the BJP for its propaganda that Mrs Sonia being a foreigner should be barred from seeking the country’s Prime Ministerial post.

“She had been married to Rajiv Gandhi and had been staying in the country for the last 30 years. She also happened to be part of the family which sacrificed everything for the country including their lives,” he said.

Replying to a query, he asserted there was no doubt about Sonia Gandhi being projected as the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

He also criticised Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu for whipping up anti-Sonia feelings in his speeches saying Mr Naidu had become desperate since the fear of losing in the coming elections was looming large.

The foreign card being sought to be played by them would not work, he said.

PPCC selection of nominees begins
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, May 1 — The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee today set in motion the process of selection of candidates for the general elections by asking the District Congress Committees (DCCs) submit proposals by May 15.

The PPCC Chief, Mr Amarinder Singh, told “TNS” that the DCCs have been asked to invite applications from aspirants and submit their proposals to the committee by middle of this month.

He said a pradesh election committee will be constituted soon to scrutinise the applications and recommend to the PPCC.

Asked if names of likely candidates doing rounds were correct, he said in the absence of the process no names have been discussed and those in circulation were “mere speculation.”

The PPCC Chief said the Congress President had called a meeting of all Pradesh Congress Chiefs here on May 5 to discuss the preparations for the general elections.

The PPCC is itching to go in for elections. We are ready.

The morale of the party is high and we are totally confident of sweeping the poll,” he said adding that the consensus in the PPCC is that the party should go it alone.

Mr Amarinder Singh also took serious objection to the statement of the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, about Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin.

“The statement is uncalled for. Mrs Sonia Gandhi has been residing in India for the past 31 years since her marriage into the Gandhi family,” he said.

The statement, he charged, was being made to divert the attention of the people of Punjab from the “non-performance” of the Badal government.

The PPCC Chief said that the Badal government failed on all fronts particularly social and economic.

14,000 gastro cases reported

NEW DELHI, May 1 (PTI) — Nearly 14,000 cases of gastroenteritis and 150 of cholera have been reported in the Capital so far, the Delhi Health Minister, Dr A.K. Walia, said today.

Admitting that the figure (13,864) was higher than the total number of 11,086 cases of gastroenteritis reported in the corresponding period last year, he told reporters the rise could be attributed to the increase in population during the past one year resulting in water quality going down.

Claiming that there was no need for panic, he said preventive measures were being taken and all government agencies were working in coordination to check the disease.

The Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, blamed the media for creating a "panic-like situation" and said the "Press should help us improve the situation and not spread panic".

About the acute water shortage in the city, she said, "I will not say the situation is satisfactory but we have done a very commendable job under the circumstances".

Summer has advanced by almost three weeks this year, compounding the government's woes, she said and blamed shortage of water and gastro cases on the prevailing heat.

The city government has alerted hospitals besides setting up a disaster management relief committee headed by Dr Walia and control rooms to keep a close vigil on the situation, the Chief Minister said.

However, vigilance of people was also important, she said hoping that the problems of sewer waste getting mixed with drinking water would be sorted out soon with the government planning to replace all old water lines.

About water, she said the availability was only 605 MGD (million gallons a day) as against the requirement of 800 MGD.

Blaming the Haryana Government for its refusal to release 40 MGD water for the Nangloi treatment plan, she said, "We are seeking our due share and not any extra water".

She said people must also contribute to mitigating the situation and ensuring minimal wastage of the scarce commodity.

“Horsetrading could have saved BJP”

NEW DELHI, May 1 (PTI) — Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.R. Kumarmangalam has said the BJP-led coalition would have regained majority by horse-trading following the withdrawal of support by the AIADMK, but BJP leadership was dead against such measures.

In an interview to “Janata Ki Adalat”, he said majority for the Vajpayee government in the Lok Sabha would have been assured if only someone had got him the permission to deal in cash.

“I asked Vajpayeeji and Advaniji. Both said they would chop my head off even if I thought along that line .... Those days are gone when one wanted to buy a government. Had we attempted, we would have done it, but we did not try,” a press release issued by the private TV network quoted him saying in the interview.

On the Vajpayee government’s defeat by a single vote, he said “whenever I was asked about numbers, I said 270 plus or minus one. People joked that I was depending on absentees. But I knew that Soz Saab (Saifuddin Soz of National Conference) would make a fuss sooner or later”.

About BSP’s role and reports of a deal with that party on Uttar Pradesh Chief Ministership, Mr Kumarmangalam said “the truth is she did not set any conditions. “So I had my doubts right from the beginning. An understanding without any bargain in politics raises a couple of questions in the mind,” he said.

Asked if his remarks against AIADMK leader Jayalalitha led to fall of the government, he said “it was only an excuse. She had decided on withdrawing support following her telephonic talks with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in January”.

India to get T-90 tanks for trials
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, May 1 — India is soon to carry out summer trials for the T-90 tanks, negotiations for which have been underway with Russia for a long time now.

According to reports, India is soon to get three T-90 tanks for Army experts to carry out summer trials as doubts were raised about the capacity of the tanks to perform in the extreme weather conditions prevailing in the country, specially in the deserts of Rajasthan.

Although the Janes Defence Weekly recently put out a news item quoting Mr Nikolai Malykh, Director General of Uralvagonzavod plant, where the tanks are produced, that India was soon to get the first batch of T-90 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) under a $ 255 million contract, Defence Ministry officials here said that India was still to even carry out the summer trials for the same.

According to reports India had not yet even signed a conditional contract with Russia and that was subjected only to the condition that the tanks pass the summer trials in the country. Only after the experts from the Army carry out extensive tests and give their final report, would a final decision be taken, ministry sources said.

Heat wave forces schools’ closure in Delhi
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, May 1 — The unprecedented heat wave sweeping the Capital has forced the Delhi Government to order closure of schools for summer vacations from May 3, a fortnight in advance.

The Capital yesterday experienced its hottest April day since 1941 with the mercury shooting up to 43.8°C.

The Delhi Education Minister, Dr Narendra Nath, said the government-aided schools had been ordered to close.

"The decision to close the schools for the summer vacation has been taken keeping in mind the unusually high temperatures during this period. We have also directed the public schools to prepone the summer vacations," he said.

Government schools have already been closed from May 1 to June 30. The other schools were supposed to go on vacation from May 15 to July 15 but now the two-month-long summer vacation has been preponed.

2 Bodo militants killed
GUWAHATI: Two hardcore Bodo militants were killed in an encounter with the Army in lower Assam’s Darrang district on Saturday, according to official sources here. The militants identified as Robin Mushahary, alias Pointer, and Gopal Daimary, alias Gawjan, were shot by the troops of the 21 Mountain Division. A .32 revolver, some ammunition and a Chinese grenade were recovered from the slain extremists. — PTI

NDFB kingpin arrested
TEZPUR: The kingpin of the militant National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), Santosh Boro, was nabbed by the Army in Sonitpur district on Saturday, official sources said here. Troops of the 21 Mountain Division operating in Sonitpur district apprehended Santosh from Uttar Malaga village near Rangapara where he had carried out several extortion activities. — PTI

Rs 25 lakh hashish oil seized
CHENNAI: Officials of the Narcotic Intelligence Bureau, CID, Dindigul, seized hashish oil valued at Rs 25 lakh in the international market at Chokkalingapuram junction at Sempatty Limits on Friday, and arrested two persons in this connection. In a press note here yesterday, Inspector General of Police, Crime, (SIT), CB-CD, said investigation was on to trace the source of the seized oil. — UNI

8 killed in road mishap
ALIBAG: Eight people of a marriage party, including three women, were killed and nine injured on Friday when their tempo collided with a truck at Pandapur, 35 km from here, in Maharashtra, the police said. The tempo from Baroda was carrying passengers who were going to Shirsavalli village in Ratnagiri district to attend a marriage. — PTI

Landslides hit tourism in Sikkim
GANGTOK: Major blockades on the North Sikkim highway caused by recurring landslides and washing away of several vital bridges in the pre-monsoon rains have severely affected tourism in the Himalayan state. According to tour operators, traffic in the tourist resort of Yumthang valley, popularly known as the Switzerland of East, had been disrupted for the past fortnight following several landslides on the highway at Mayong, Ritchu, Teng Khola and Reli Khola between north district headquarters of Mangan and Chungtang. — UNI

Cong MLA dead
BHUBANESWAR: Congress MLA and senior tribal leader Gangadhar Madi died on Saturday following cardiac arrest. He was 59. Party sources said Mr Madi was admitted to S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital a few day ago after he complained of chest pain. He is survived by two sons and two daughters. Mr Madi joined the Congress when he was only 14 years. An agriculturist by profession, he was first elected to the Orissa Assembly from Malkangiri in 1971. Since then he had successfully contested the assembly elections in 1974, 1980 and 1985. — UNI

Mild quake in UP
NEW DELHI: An earthquake of “slight” intensity was felt early on Saturday along the hilly areas of Uttar Pradesh, a Meteorology office press note said here. The quake measuring 3.2 on the Richter scale was felt at 7.35 a.m., it said. The epicentre of the quake was 30.4 degree North latitude and 79.6 degree East longitude, the note added. — PTI

Eight killed in mishap
SEHORE (MP): Eight persons were killed when their jeep collided with a truck near Jharkheda village, 45 km from here, on the Jaipur-Jabalpur national highway on Saturday. The police said seven persons died on the spot, while one succumbed to injuries on way to hospital. — UNI