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| Sunday, June 18, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Governor’s sanction ‘was not required’ RANCHI, June 17 — CBI Joint Director U.N. Biswas today categorically said the agency did not seek permission from the Bihar Governor to file a charge sheet against Chief Minister Rabri Devi in the disproportionate assets case. Congress for all-party meeting Rift over package for surrendered ultras Second foundation stone for hospital Blasts in churches ‘linked’ to ISI MPs for
review of blacklisted NRI Sikhs’ cases Congress to oppose autonomy report
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| Hegde to quit in two years CHENNAI, June 17 — Senior Janata Dal (United) leader Ramakrishna Hegde today announced that he would retire from politics on completion of his present term in the Rajya Sabha which ends two years from now. Lanka may take back 47 refugees Congress MLA who is a
headache for government Cyber-chatter nabbed in Delhi ASP’s convoy
ambushed, cop shot
dead UP government to name corrupt officers Randeep Surjewala revokes action
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Governor’s sanction ‘was not required’ RANCHI, June 17 (UNI) — CBI Joint Director U.N. Biswas today categorically said the agency did not seek permission from the Bihar Governor to file a charge sheet against Chief Minister Rabri Devi in the disproportionate assets
case. Talking to newspersons here, Dr Biswas said sanction had not been sought from the Governor as Mrs Rabri Devi was being chargesheeted in a case which was of the period when she was not a public servant. To a query, he said the state government’s confidence on the CBI could be judged from the fact that at least 24 cases of different nature were offered to the agency for investigation during the period after the filing of a charge sheet by the CBI in the regular case 20 of the multi-crore fodder scam which involved a number of politicians and bureaucrats. Talking about the multi-crore fodder scam, Dr Biswas said field investigation was almost over and charge sheets had been filed in about 36 cases. In three major conspiracy angle cases of the multi-crore fodder scam, charge sheets were in the pipeline and would be filed soon, he said, adding that the rest of the cases were in the state of legal scrutiny. Altogether, 57 cases were filed. About a Patna-based case RC 30, he was hopeful that it would be brought to a logical conclusion with the court’s verdict in a couple of months. To a query, he said assets worth over Rs 400 crore had been recovered so far during the course of investigation in the fodder scam. About the multi-crore bitumen scam, he said three cases had been taken up by the agency, including the one in which a charge sheet had been filed. The CBI is at present looking into eight scams, including the fodder and the bitumen scam referred to it by the court. The others include the muster roll, the education and the medical scams. In the medical scam, the agency had just started registering cases while in the education and leprosy scams cases had already been registered and investigation was going on. |
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Congress for all-party meeting NEW DELHI, June 17 (PTI) — The Congress today called for an all-party meeting to evolve a long-term strategy to end ongoing caste war in Bihar and asked the BJP and the Samata Party to play a “constructive and responsible” role in restoring law and order in the state. The Congress spokesman, Mr Anil Shastri, said the situation in the state had gone beyond a mere law and order problem and efforts should be made to evolve a long-term strategy to fight the evil of the caste war which has claimed many lives in the recent past. He said withdrawal of the Congress support from the RJD-led Rabri Devi Government was not a solution to the problem as NDA partners were allegedly playing a negative role in the state against the RJD Government. “The BJP, the JD(U) and the Samata Party should play a constructive role in creating an environment of peace and harmony among various sections of society”, Mr Shastri said. He said the party high command was in touch with the Bihar unit on the development and “whatever required to be done will be done” to meet the challenges of the castesist forces. Mr Shastri said the matter would be discussed threadbare at the coordination
committee meeting on June 21 convened by the Chief Minister Rabri Devi in Patna. All supporting parties, including the Congress, have been invited to attend the meeting.
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Rift over package for surrendered ultras NEW DELHI, June 17 — A programme launched by the Central Government to rehabilitate surrendered guerrillas of the north-eastern states has run into trouble due to differences between the Central agencies and the Government of Assam, official sources
said. The Surrender and Rehabilitation Scheme, launched in April 1998, sought to “wean away misguided youth and hardcore militants” from the numerous insurgent groups operating in the seven north-eastern states. The rebel groups, some of which have been active for more than two decades, have been waging war against security forces with the objective of creating separate homelands outside the Indian union or new states for ethnic minorities. The Union Home Ministry’s annual report for 1999-2000, a document, which outlines the Ministry’s important policies, has admitted that the response to the Central rehabilitation programme has not been enthusiastic. “The experience of the north-eastern states under this scheme has not been very encouraging. There is a need to review the scheme,” the report said. Under the rehabilitation programme, for which the Central Government has provided the funds, guerrillas who surrender to the authorities are given a large amount of money for their weapons and vocational training for a year. They are also paid a stipend of Rs 2,000 every month during the training period. “Monetary incentives” of Rs 250,000 were provided to guerrillas for the weapons handed over by them at the time of their surrender. This money, however, was put into a bank fixed deposit account so that the former rebels could not misuse the funds, a senior Home Ministry official said. More than 2,500 guerrillas, mostly from Bodo tribal rebel groups and the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), have already surrendered under the programme. At the insistence of the Assam Government, some of the surrendered rebels were to have been inducted into the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Border Security Force (BSF), state government sources said. “More than 1,000 former rebels completed a year of training to prepare them for service in the para-military forces in May this year, but they are yet to be given jobs,” the sources said. The Assam Government, which faced major problems with another scheme to rehabilitate the surrendered ULFA cadres in the early nineties, is keen to ensure that it does not have to shoulder the financial responsibility for resettling the rebels who come overground under the new scheme. During the earlier phase of surrenders, the Assam Government had provided guarantees for loans extended to surrendered ULFA rebels to start small businesses, but many of them defaulted in the repayment of these loans. “ “Although there are no official figures available, it is believed the total dues on account of these unpaid loans run into billions of rupees,” the sources said. — IANS
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Second foundation stone for hospital NEW DELHI, June 17 — The Guru Harkrishan Hospital and Research Centre here is shrouded in a controversy even before the
building for this hospital has come up. The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, is scheduled to lay the foundation for the construction of the 200-bed hospital in Bala Sahib tomorrow. However, the foundation stone for the hospital was laid on October 24 last year by Baba Harbans Singh (Kar Sevawale). The Tribune is in possession of a photograph, which clearly indicates this fact. “How can any leader, that too of the stature of Mr Badal, lay the foundation stone for a project, which has already been initiated by a holy figure,” asked Mr Harinder Pal Singh, member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, while talking to The Tribune. He alleged that the new Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee members, led by Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) Delhi unit chief, Avtar Singh Hit had misled the Punjab Chief Minister. “Otherwise, Mr Badal would not have agreed to lay the foundation stone,” Mr Harinder Pal Singh said. The DSGMC president, however, said that the Punjab Chief Minister would lay the “foundation stone for the building. Baba Harbans Singh had laid the foundation stone for the land.” Mr Harinder Pal Singh asked: “Can there be two foundation stones for a project — one for the land and another for building.” The charges and counter charges brings to the fore the
feud between the Badal and Tohra factions of the SAD, with no side willing to leave any chance to score points over one another on any issue. Mr Harinder Pal Singh said “the DSGMC by this move has antagonised the feelings of the Sikh community in the Capital as this act of Mr Badal, if he goes ahead, would undermine the work done by Baba Harbans Singh.” Countering the charge, Mr Avtar Singh Hit said “we hold the Baba in high esteem. The Punjab Chief Minister is only laying the foundation for the construction of the building.” The 200-bed hospital is expected to have state-of-the-art machinery and would have an ultra modern research centre. The project is estimated to cost about Rs 12 crore and the DSGMC is likely to contribute about Rs 3 crore for the project and the remaining sum is expected to be met by Baba Harbans Singh. |
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Blasts in churches ‘linked’ to ISI HYDERABAD, June 17 (PTI) — The BJP said today it had information linking the recent blasts in churches in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa to Lashkar-E-Toiba, an outfit of Pakistani (ISI). “We have information that explosive material used in these blasts was similar to the one seized in connection with the cases involving Lashkar-E-Toiba activists,” party General Secretary M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here. The low intensity blasts, that were triggered off in churches at Ongole and Tadepalligudem towns in Andhra Pradesh and in some parts of Karnataka and Goa, were part of a larger conspiracy by “outside forces” to create chaos, mistrust among different communities and defame the country, he said. Favouring a joint command by the Centre and states for a thorough probe into the serial blasts, the BJP spokesman ridiculed the charge made by certain Christian organisations that “Sangh Parivar outfits” were behind the incidents. Mr Naidu charged the United Christian Forum and the All-India Christian Council with “acting at the behest of the Congress” and trying to create a wedge among NDA partners on the issue. “These self-styled Christian organisations are front organisations of the Congress and are doing a great disservice to the community and the country,” Mr Naidu alleged. Referring to the appeal made by certain Christian leaders to NDA constituents to withdraw support to the government, he said “such utterances will be utilised by our enemies outside the country to defame India”. |
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MPs for review of blacklisted NRI Sikhs’ cases NEW DELHI, June 17 (UNI) — As many as 33 MPs have sought formation of a broad-based committee to review the list of Sikhs settled abroad who were blacklisted in the wake of the 1984 Operation Bluestar. In two letters to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, The MPs belonging to the BJP, the Congress, the Left and various regional parties, they said the government was advising the Sikhs to forget Operation Bluestar but was “ironically keeping the blacklists alive for years on.” This attitude of the government was being exploited by hardline Sikhs abroad to tarnish India’s image. This was also “throttling the aspirations of partriotic Sikhs to return to the national mainstream”, according to the letters submitted by Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, MP and President of the Lok Bhalai Party. Among those who have signed the letters are Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Margaret Alva, Satish Pradhan of the Shiv Sena, Kuldip Nayar, P.K. Aggarwala and Pawan Kumar Bansal of the BJP, Jayarada, Pawan Bansal, Reena Choudhary, Vilas Mutamwar and R.P. Pandey. The MPs informed the Prime Minister that after the 1984 events, some Sikhs living in the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany and elsewhere were hastily blacklisted by various intelligence agencies and some Indian missions abroad, despite “The proven fact that these Punjabis had never been involved in any form of militancy or terrorism. “The denial of passport and visa facilities to these patriotic Sikhs for a long as 16 years was thus proving a source of humiliation to their pride of being Indians, and also resulting growing disappointment, bitterness, distress and alienation to them and their relations in India.” The proposed committee should comprise of top officials of the ministries concerned, intelligence agencies, MPs and others so that a lasting solution could be found and the others so that a lasting solution could be found and the affected Sikhs abroad who numbered only a few hundreds were given an opportunity to visit India at least once. |
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Congress to oppose autonomy report NEW DELHI, June 17 — The Congress has decided to oppose the autonomy report tabled by the ruling National Conference when it comes up for discussion from Monday at the special session of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. The decision was arrived at after a meeting of the Pradesh Congress Chief, Mr Mohammed Shafi Quereshi, its leaders, and MLAs had with a seven-member panel of the AICC members which included Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Ahmed Patel, Dr Karan Singh, Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr M L Fotedar and Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad. “We are not against granting autonomy but we are not happy with the report prepared by the Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference which we feel suggests division on communal lines” Mr Patel, the AICC Treasurer and in charge of party affairs in Jammu and Kashmir said. Mr Patel said the committee to study and prepare report on autonomy did not include any Congress party member. It was earlier headed by Dr Karan Singh who quit after joining the Congress. Former party MP, Mr Janak Raj Gupta, who was also present at the meeting said the party would oppose the move as they feel the report does not cater to all sections of people in the state. The party does not agree with the autonomy report put forward by Dr Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference which is demanding the revival of the pre-1953 constitutional status. The Congress has six MLAs in the 87-member Assembly.
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Hegde to quit in two years CHENNAI, June 17 (PTI) — Senior Janata Dal (United) leader Ramakrishna Hegde today announced that he would retire from politics on completion of his present term in the Rajya Sabha which ends two years from now. Addressing a function at the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha here, Mr Hegde said politics had become “dirty and murky”
now-adays and was no more considered a service to the nation. “People like me would like to keep off politics.” “I have already started the process of retiring from politics and devote my entire time to useful and constructive work,” the former Union Minister and former Karnataka Chief Minister
said.
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Lanka may take back 47 refugees CHENNAI, June 17 — The Sri Lankan Navy may take back a group of 47 Tamil refugees from the island, abandoned by boatmen on a sandbank in the island’s territorial waters three days ago while fleeing to India, informed sources said. The boatmen had dropped the refugees, including 16 children, on the sandbank, known as the Sixth Island. With the Indian Navy stepping up vigil in the Palk Strait, the narrow strip of sea that separates the island from Tamil Nadu, it has now become near impossible for refugee boats to enter Indian waters. Indian fishermen have also been instructed not to help transport the refugees. Not wanting to be taken back to Sri Lanka, three men from among the refugees swam across and reached Indian waters yesterday, Indian Coast Guard sources said. The refugees had been starving for more than two days, they said. The Indian Navy is wary of rescuing the refugees for fear that Tamil Tiger rebels, disguised as refugees, might try to enter the country. Several Tamil parties, however, have been urging a more compassionate response from the navy. The state unit of the BJP has strongly advocated a more humanitarian approach to the refugees. Noting the Navy’s lack of enthusiasm, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi told reporters in Madurai that it should exercise greater effort in rescuing the refugees. He said he had written to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee regarding the ordeal of the refugees dropped on the sandbanks. He also said that the $100 million credit line India offered to Sri Lanka during External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh’s visit to Colombo last week should not be made a bone of contention. Puthiya Tamizhagam leader K. Krishnasamy, however, told journalists here that he feared the credit would be used to buy arms that “would be used against the Tamils”. Pattali Makkal Katchi leader S. Ramadoss too criticised the credit. Describing Jaswant Singh’s initiative in Sri Lanka as “utterly disappointing,” he said in Dharmapuri it was likely to be used for the Lankan Army and is “bound to go against the interest of the Tamils in Sri Lanka”. — IANS |
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Congress MLA who is a
headache for government BHOPAL, June 17 — Congress MLA Kalpana Parulekar has become a big headache for both the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh and the party. She has taken up cudgels on behalf of the daily wage earners and has been “transgressing” the Lakshman-rekha of discipline for several months. No one in the administration and the organisation knows what to do with her. The Chief Minister, Mr Digvijay Singh, made an appeal some time ago to the party high command to take action against Ms Parulekar. An AICC general secretary duly issued a show cause notice to her. The matter seemed to have ended there. It is not difficult to understand the high command’s dilemma. Mrs Sonia Gandhi may have tacitly agreed with Mr Digvijay Singh’s reasoning behind his decision to throw the 28,000 daily wage earners out on the street. But she may not like to be seen as publicly supporting Mr Digvijay Singh’s “anti-poor” measures. Last month when she staged a dharna at a public place and criticised Mr Digvijay Singh in the strongest terms, the police arrested her under Section 505 (1) B of the Indian Penal Code. The Section applies to “whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the state or against the public tranquillity shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.” She refused to apply for bail and remained in jail for 28 days. Ultimately, government counsel told the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) that they could not collect any evidence to substantiate the charge against Ms Parulekar. The CJM had no choice but to release her on June 12. The reception she received from the sacked daily wage earners and their family members after her release was tumultuous. On Thursday, she took a huge rally of daily wage earners to Raj Bhavan and submitted to the Governor, Dr Bhai Mahavir, a formal application seeking the Governor’s consent to prosecute Mr Digvijay Singh for depriving the daily wage earners of their livelihood in violation of the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act and also the provisions of the Constitution as well as for keeping her in jail illegally. The Governor heard her patiently, remarked that he had limited discretionary powers in the matter but promised to do whatever was within his power, all the same. Narrating the plight of the retrenched daily wage earners and their children, Ms Parulekar broke down before the Governor. Amidst tears, the advocate-turned-politician announced that if the retrenchment orders of the daily wage earners were not revoked, she would be left with no alternative but to take to arms and become a Naxalite because it was only the language of the Naxalites that Mr Digvijay Singh’s dictatorial regime
understood. NEW DELHI, June 17 (UNI) — In perhaps the first case of its kind registered by the Delhi police, a former employee of the rating company CRISIL was arrested for using the Internet to distribute the phone number of a woman and encouraging men to make “dirty calls” to her. Manish Kathuria (30), a resident of Pritampura in West Delhi and a former employee of Credit Rating Information Services of India Ltd. (CRISIL), was using the name of the Mrs Ritu Kohli, the wife of his former senior colleague at CRISIL, while chatting on her dot com.He would pretend to be Mrs Kohli and give people the telephone number of the actual Mrs Kohli and ask them to call her up.On a complaint by Mrs Kohli, the police tracked down the telephone number from which Manish Kathuria was logging on to the net and caught him. |
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ASP’s convoy
ambushed, cop shot
dead AGARTALA, June 17
(UNI) — At least one policeman was killed and five were critically injured in an ambush by guerillas of the National Liberation Front of Tripura
(NLFT) at Paharpur in south Tripura today. The police said the ultras pumped bullets and lobbed grenades on the convoy of Mr
Arindam, Nath Additional Superintendent of Police, South Tripura, who was going to Jatanbari after conducting a combing operation in
Amarpur. The injured were admitted to the Udaipur and GB Hospitals, where constable Surjya Debbarma succumbed to his injuries. Mr
Nath, however, escaped unhurt. The ultras managed to escape when the security forces retaliated. Mr Nath told
UNI over the phone that one or two militants sustained bullet injuries. The rebels, however, could not loot arms. DGP
B.L Vora, along with additional security forces, have rushed to the spot and launched a massive combing operation to nab the militants. Mr Nath was said to be in the hit list of militants as he had successfully conducted several anti-insurgency raids in South Tripura district. In another incident, militants kidnapped three persons, injured two and torched a few houses at Manu in Dhalai district last night. Security forces have rushed to the spot. |
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UP government to name corrupt officers LUCKNOW, June 17 (UNI) — In what could be seen as a major boost to the campaign against corruption in high places, the UP Government has decided to make public the names of senior officers found guilty of corruption. Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta told UNI that the names of only senior officers, which included some IAS and IPS officers, would be disclosed in order to root out corruption from the top. Mr Gupta had asked the state vigilance department to speed up the prosecution process against 300-odd officials. Randeep Surjewala revokes action BHUBANESWAR, June 17 (PTI) — The Indian Youth Congress President Randeep Singh Surjewala has revoked the disciplinary action taken against eight office-bearers of the Orissa Pradesh Youth Congress (PYC).
Mr Hardeep Singh, vice-president of the PYC, Sanjay Jena and Tarun Majhi, both PYC General Secretaries and Rajendra Chhatria and Rajendra Nayak, both PYC Secretaries, who had been expelled from the organisation at the state level, have been reinstated, according to a letter from IYC General Secretary Anil Bharadwaj received here. It said any disciplinary action required to be taken at the state level should be referred to the IYC General Secretary in charge of Orissa in future. The letter addressed to the PYC President Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra said three other district YC Presidents, Mr Jagannath Jena (Jharsuguda), Mr Dhruba Dang (Bargarh) and Mr Hemanta Panda (Bolangir), who had been removed from their respective posts, had been reinstated. All these YC activists are known supporters of the former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal, who had been boycotting PCC functions in protest against the disciplinary action initiated against his followers. Besides, it said the show-cause notices served on four other office-bearers and the replies submitted by them should be forwarded to the IYC. The four activists are PYC Vice-President Durga Prasad Padhi, PYC General Secretary Muna Tripathy, Kalahandi DYC President, Suresh Panda and Jharsuguda DYC President, Jagannath Jena.
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