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| Friday, July 21, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Left
to confront CEC on proposal Ayodhya
panel summons Kalyan
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Scribes’
wage board report signed FIR
against 2 pilots dropped Crashed
plane’s black box found Northern
Railway cancels trains Monsoon
vigorous in Rajasthan
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Left
to confront CEC on proposal CALCUTTA, July 20 — The CPM and other Left parties under Mr Jyoti Basu’s leadership are heading for a confrontation with the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr M.S.Gill, on his proposal for holding elections under the direct control and supervision of the Governor. Mr Gill said the step would ensure a free and fair election, which was not possible if held under the control of any political party in power. Accordingly, he has made a formal proposal to the Centre. Mr Basu, who has criticised the CEC for making such a proposal, threatened to launch an agitation all over the country against such a step. He returned to the city yesterday after his 18-day visit to Israel and London. He said he would be sending a formal protest to the Prime Minister against the attempt to "dislodge" the elected government and hold election under the Governor’s control. The Chief Minister said he would be inviting all other political parties to launch a massive movement against such an attempt. The BJP government in power wants to usurp all democratic rights and the suggestion which Mr Gill made was a step towards it, Mr Basu alleged. The proposal for raising the Governor’s power was put up at the recent all-India Governors’ conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan in which both Mr Vajpayee and the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, were present. The President, Mr K.R. Narayanan also suggested that the Governor should enjoy certain legislative and administrative rights. Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress, the Congress and the BJP have demanded the imposition of the President’s rule in West Bengal due to the deteriorating law and order situation. The Trinamool Congress further demanded the immediate arrest of Mr Sushanta Ghosh and Ms Minari Ghosh, two state ministers hailing from the district, for allegedly masterminding the armed attack on the local Trinamool and BJP supporters. West Bengal Home (Police) Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya , however, rejected the demand. He argued that if these two ministers were arrested on the basis of the charges, then the Railway Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, should also be hauled up for inciting the mob for violent activities in the area. Trinamool Congress spokesman Pankaj Banerjee alleged that after their defeat at Panskura Lok Sabha byelection and Calcutta Municipal Corporation poll, the CPM with the direct involvement of the police and the administration was allegedly terrorising the people. At Panskura in Midnapore district a "jungle raj" had been introduced by the CPM and as self-defence the people in villages had taken up arms to protect themselves. Mr Anil Biswas and Mr Biman Basu of
the CPM, however, made a counter-charge by alleging that Ms Mamata
Banerjee had been inciting the locals at Panskura village to take up
arms and launch attack against the CPM workers. |
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Ayodhya
panel summons Kalyan NEW DELHI, July 20 —Taking serious note of a former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Kalyan Singh’s failure to appear before it, the Justice M S Liberhan Commission, probing the sequences leading to the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya, today issued fresh summons directing him to present himself for examination on July 27. The Commission also ordered that former Prime Minister, Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao, would be summoned only after the examinations of all witnesses before it were over. Justice Liberhan directed issue of fresh summons to Mr Kalyan Singh after his counsel submitted before the Commission that the summons asking the former Chief Minister to appear today could not be served on him as "he was mostly out of station." He also asked the Uttar Pradesh Advocate-General to ensure through State agencies that the summons were served on him. Mr Kalyan Singh, who was earlier summoned on June 22, had moved an application before the panel seeking exemption from appearing before it as a writ petition challenging the inquiry was pending before the Allahabad High Court, but the Commission had issued fresh summons on the ground that it "cannot proceed without examining him as he was a key figure." Justice Liberhan also stated that the Cabinet-Secretary Mr Prabhat Kumar, who was the Principal Secretary (Home) in Uttar Pradesh when the disputed structure was demolished, would appear for cross-examination on August 4, as fixed earlier. Mr Kumar, who was to appear on July 13, had sought a fresh date to appear before the Commission as he was preoccupied with the Governors’ Conference in Delhi. When Mr Kalyan Singh’s
Counsel S K Saxena wanted to know the fate of the application moved by
him demanding summoning of Mr Rao before the Commission, Justice
Liberhan said, "The Commission has already agreed to summon Mr
Rao, but it could be done only after the examination of all the
witnesses before the Commission was over." |
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Scribes’ wage board report signed NEW DELHI, July 20 (UNI) — The final report of the Manisana Wage Boards for Journalists and Non-Journalists will be submitted to the government within this month. Mr Manisana Singh told this to reporters after board members completed the procedure of signing the final report today. The wage board was constituted on September 1, 1994. The chairman declined to give any details of the report. He indicated that the report could be submitted to the government on July 25. The functioning of the wage boards has been marked by a series of agitations and dharnas, including total strikes in the industry. Once the report is submitted to the government, it would examine it and then notify it. The government has right to make modifications to the wage board recommendations. A petition of the Indian Newspapers Society (INS) challenging the interim report of the wage boards is pending before the Delhi High Court and is listed to be heard on August 2. The interim relief proposals of the wage boards were notified by the government on December 31, 1996. In doing so the government enhanced the rate of interim relief from 15 per cent to 20 per cent in addition to Rs 100. The employees federations had been upset at the rate of interim relief since they had been demanding that it be about 50 per cent of the current wages. The delay in the finalisation of the
wage boards had been raised in Parliament on several occasions with
all the parties supporting the employees’ cause. |
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FIR against 2 pilots dropped PATNA, July 20 (PTI) — The FIR against the two deceased pilots of the ill-fated Alliance Air flight CD 7412 that crashed here on Monday killing 56 people has been dropped, official sources said here today. Home Secretary U.N. Panjiar said that Senior Superintendent of Police Patna, Sunil Kumar had personally supervised the case and decided to drop the FIR since a high level enquiry has already begun. The police had yesterday registered the FIR in Gardanibagh police station against the two deceased pilots Capt Sohan Pal and co-pilot Arvind Singh Bagga under different Sections of IPC and Aviation Act, 1982, in connection with Monday crash. The Gardanibagh
police said the FIR was registered under Sections 279, 337, 338 and
304(A) of the IPC and Section 3 of Unlawful Interference of Civil
Aviation Act, 1982. |
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Crashed
plane’s black box found NEW DELHI, July 20 — Investigations into the possible cause of the crash of the Alliance Air Boeing 737 aircraft at Patna on Monday last are likely to get a push forward following the recovery of the two flight recorders today. Although the Civil Aviation Ministry said that it would still be too premature to give any indications about the possible cause behind the crash but said that the recovery of the two flight recorders would help in taking the investigations to a conclusion. Investigations were still underway by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) team led by Mr P. Shaw, Regional Controller of Air Safety, who has been appointed Inspector of Accidents. The two flight recorders, the cockpit voice recorder and the black box which were recovered from the plane are most likely to be opened for evidence gathering when the judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the Patna High Court begins its sittings. Fifty-one people on board the Calcutta-Patna-Lucknow-Delhi flight were killed when the 20-year-old 737-200 plane nose-dived, a kilometre before approaching Patna airport. The Indian Commercial Pilots
Association and the Indian Pilots Guild have condemned some Ministry
officials for blaming "pilot error" as the cause immediately
after the tragedy. |
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Northern Railway cancels trains NEW DELHI, July 20 (PTI) — Northern Railway has cancelled several trains and diverted many others following suspension of traffic through the Old Rail Bridge over the Yamuna here since yesterday with the water level crossing the danger mark. The trains scheduled to pass through the Old Rail Bridge have either been cancelled, diverted or terminated, a Northern Railway statement said here today. The 3039/3040 Howrah-Delhi Janata Express and the 3111/ 3112 Lal Quila Express will be terminated at Kanpur and remain cancelled between Delhi Jn and Kanpur, it said. The 4023/4024 Farukhabad-Delhi Express will be terminated at Farukhabad and remain cancelled between Delhi Jn and Farukhabad, the statement said. The 4047/4048 Gonda
Express will be terminated at Hapur and remain cancelled between Delhi
Jn and Hapur. Similarly, the 4555/4556 Delhi-Mughalsarai Express will
be terminated at Bareilly and remain cancelled between Delhi Jn and
Bareilly. |
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Monsoon
vigorous in Rajasthan NEW DELHI, July 20 — The Monsoon has been vigorous in east Rajasthan and active in the plains of western Uttar Pradesh. RAINFALLS: Rain or thundershowers occurred at most places in east Rajasthan, east Uttar Pradesh, at many places in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and the plains of west Uttar Pradesh, at a few places in Haryana and Punjab and at isolated places in west Rajasthan. The chief amounts of rainfall in cm are: Haryana: Chhachhrauli, Jind and Tohana 2 each, Delhi Ridge, Faridabad, Naraingarh and Sonepat 1 each. Himachal Pradesh: Mandi 7, Kangra 3, Nahan, Sarkaghat and Sunibhaji 2 each and Arki, Kumarsain, Kasauli, Paonta and Shimla 1 each. Jammu and Kashmir: Banihal 3, Batote 2 and Pahalgam and Quazigund 1 each. Punjab: Dasuya 1. Rajasthan: Bauwer Gau and Gopo Pussa 16 each,Vatale 13, Baisroad Garh, Bura and Umed Sagar 11 each, Sapotra 10, Kalisul and Swai Madhopur 7 each, Mora Sagar 6, Asnawar and Gangapur 5 each Bhimsagar, Bamanwas, Jhalawar, Kota A.P, Khandai, Morel, Moral Dam and Radia Dam 4 each, Nadote and Raipur 3 each, Darra,Sawan Bhado and Uchain 2 each and Alnia, Bari, Baseri, Deboli, Dholpur, Hindon, Karauli, Pancha Dam, Pilani, Rajakhera and Talab Shehi 1 each. Uttar Pradesh: Jhansi 11, Rudraprayag 9, Bhtpurwaghat 7, Etawah,5, Hardwar 4, Banbasa, Dehra Dun, Dalmau, Hamirpur, Kalpi, Kakardharighat, Lucknow and Shahjina 3 each, Ankinghat, Fatehgarh, Jaunpur, Kanpur and Sultanpur 2 each and Bani, Basti, Bahraich, Chillaghat, Haripur, Katerniaght, Kakrahi, Mirzapur, Marora, Neemsar, Raebareily, Regoli, Shardanagar, Tehri, Uttarkashi and Varanasi A.P.1 each. Forecast valid until the morning of July 22nd: Rain or thundershowers will occur at most places in east Rajasthan, at many places in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and at a few places in west Rajasthan. Heavy rainfall warning: Heavy rain is likely at a few places with isolated very heavy falls in east Rajasthan during the next 48 hours. Heavy rain is also likely at isolated places in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and west Uttar Pradesh during the same period. Forecast for Delhi and neighbourhood valid until the morning of July 22nd: Generally cloudy sky with a few showers/thundershowers, one or two may be heavy in some areas. Farmers’ weather bulletin for Delhi: Forecast valid until the morning of July 22nd: Moderate to rather heavy rain will occur at many places. Outlook for the subsequent two days:
No large change. |
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Cauvery water dispute CHENNAI, July 20 (PTI) — The AIADMK
will hold demonstrations outside all district collectorates in Tamil
Nadu on July 31 to condemn the DMK government’s alleged betrayal of
the state’s interests on the Cauvery water dispute and to support
various demands of farmers. Demonstrations would highlight the
"latest betrayal" of Tamil Nadu’s interests by the DMK
regime, referring to the outcome of the Cauvery River Authority
meeting in New Delhi on July 14. |
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