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| Sunday, July 30, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Another
white tiger dies President
visits Basu at AIIMS Fake
currency worth Rs 1.22 cr seized
Centre
to file suit against 3 ex-PMs |
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Bengal
told to submit report on violence Enlarge
scope of probe: Jethmalani No
winding up of FCI: Shanta HC order
in Kalkat case set aside Dawood
man demands 1 cr from minister Credibility
vital for Press: Deshmukh Ex-MLA
posing as MP held Eye-tampering:
probe ordered Rain
in east Rajasthan, Himachal
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Another white tiger dies BHUBANESWAR, July 29 (UNI) — Another white tiger being treated for trypanosomysis died in the hoodooed enclosures of Nandankanan Zoo last night, taking the death toll of the animal this month to 13. According to doctors, the 12-year-old white tiger — Sukant — was also given berenil injection along with 16 others for the deadly trypanosomysis, transmitted by a blood parasite carried by flies. Thirteen of the 17 tigers injected with berenil a month back have succumbed to the disease. Zoo sources said the tiger was perfectly fine and taking normal diet, but suddenly the condition deteriorated last night and it died inside the enclosure around 10 p m. Experts are, however, awaiting the post-mortem report. The zoo, which has the largest number of white tigers in the world, is now left with only 18 white tigers (13 male, 3 female and 2 cubs). The Nandankanan tragedy, worst of its kind in the Indian zoo history, has baffled wildlife lovers and experts. The issue rocked the state Assembly today and the Chair directed the Forest Minister to make a statement on Monday. According to Dr B.C.Das, the tiger which died last night was under close observation after the death of 12 tigers within a span of 48 hours in the zoo during the first week of July. Another source claimed Sukant was suffering from nephritis, a major killer disease among the big cats. The death has come as a serious blow to the six-member central experts’ team, which visited the zoo for a spot inquiry into the deaths and recommended certain precautions to be taken to save the other tigers. The zoo authorities also constituted
a health committee comprising experts of the local veterinary college
to monitor the condition of the other tigers. The Orissa Government
even sought the help of some of the leading research institutes in the
country to tackle the situation. |
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President visits Basu at AIIMS NEW DELHI, July 29 (PTI) — President K.R. Narayanan today met the ailing West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and enquired about his health. Mr Narayanan, who spent about 15 minutes at the hospital, presented a bouquet to the veteran Marxist leader and wished him speedy recovery. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee telephoned the 86-year-old Basu and wished him quick recovery. Meanwhile, the condition of Mr Basu, admitted to AIIMS, is stable and fine, hospital sources said. Mr Basu, who was admitted to the institute’s cardiac care unit yesterday, was shifted to a private room this morning, sources said. An AIIMS spokesman said Mr Basu, who
spent a restful night, is expected to resume his normal activities
from tomorrow. |
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Fake currency worth Rs 1.22 cr seized MUMBAI, July 29 (UNI) — The police today said that it had unearthed plans of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to de-stabilise the Indian economy, by busting a gang involved in the smuggling of counterfeit currency totalling Rs 1.22 crore. Five city residents belonging to the gang of Karachi-based underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim have been arrested in this connection, City Police Commissioner M.N. Singh said here. "The notes were being brought into the city from Pakistan via Dubai," he told reporters here, adding that the breakthrough was achieved yesterday after a month-long investigation. The currency was being smuggled by air route after concealing it in big China-clay kars, aluminium foil boxes and toy-game kit boxes. He said the main accused in the case was Aftab Yusuf Batki, who was earlier a Mumbai-based cashier of Dawood. He was presently working for the ISI from Dubai. "The seizure is an outstanding piece of detection. Such huge amount of cash has rarely been recovered in a single case," he claimed. The fake currency notes of 500-rupee
denomination valued at Rs 1.15 crore and that of the denomination of
100-rupee, valued at Rs seven lakh, were seized by the officers of the
anti-extortion cell of north-west regions. |
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Centre to file suit against 3 ex-PMs NEW DELHI, July 29 (PTI) — The Centre yesterday told the Delhi High Court that it will file suits within six weeks against three former Prime Ministers — P.V. Narasimha Rao, Chandra Shekhar and H.D. Deve Gowda — for recovery of Rs 11.80 crore dues for using defence planes for non-official purposes. "The government is not satisfied with the replies sent by the three former Prime Ministers and with depositing of only Rs 25 lakh by the Congress on behalf of Mr Narasimha Rao, we will file recovery suits against them within six weeks," Additional Solicitor General S.B. Jaisinghani told a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Arun Kumar and Mr Justice A.K. Sikri. Mr Jaisinghani said the Congress had not denied the use of the planes by Mr Rao and had even committed to pay Rs 5.52 crore due from him. However, it is silent for the past three months, he said. On the other hand, Mr Chandra Shekhar
had sought complete detail of the bills for Rs 5.91 crore payment
raised against him and Deve Gowda has flatly denied any liability of
the payment of Rs 54.61 lakh claimed by the Defence Ministry from him,
Mr Jaisinghani and government counsel Rakesh Tiku said. |
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Bengal told to submit report on violence PONDICHERRY, July 29 (PTI) — The Union Government has directed the West Bengal Government to submit a report on the spate of "political violence" in the state. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani told reporters here today that the Centre would study the report and then decide on what action had to be taken against the government. "It is distressing to find a spate of political violence. It is very disconcerting and disquieting," he said, adding that the Trinamool Congress had been demanding action against the Left Front government in West Bengal, especially in the light of the recent murder of 12 Trinamool Congress activists. Senior Congress MPs had also complained to him about the government’s "victimisation" of party volunteers, he said. Mr Advani said the Centre was yet to make up its mind on bringing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), replacing TADA. "The Centre would consult all political parties before bringing the Bill in Parliament", he said. On journalists’ opposition to some of its provisions, he said he would consult the media on the relevant portions. Mr Advani said the ministerial committee on national security, constituted by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, after the Subramaniam Committee report on the Kargil conflict, would submit its findings by October. The four task forces constituted by the committee had been asked to submit its report by September, he said. On the ceasefire declaration by Hizbul Mujahideen, he said the declaration was of "great significance" as it was the only Kashmiri militant outfit there, the others being Pakistani. Referring to the demand of statehood
for Pondicherry, he said its "distinct identity" would be
maintained. |
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Enlarge scope of probe: Jethmalani MUMBAI, July 29 (PTI) — Sacked Law Minister Ram Jethmalani today demanded that the scope of investigation ordered by the government into the possession of certain confidential documents by him should be expanded to cover written communication between the Chief Justice of India, Mr A.S. Anand, and the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. Mr Jethmalani said in a statement
here that in "an interview by Karan Thapar with me on BBC
programme Hard Talk, he (Thapar) referred to the contents of a
confidential written communication between the Chief Justice of India
and the Prime Minister". |
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No winding up of FCI: Shanta CALCUTTA, July 29 (PTI) — Union Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister Shanta Kumar today ruled out the winding up of Food Corporation of India (FCI) and said the formulation of the national storage policy was rather aimed at supplementing FCI’s activities. The Union Minister said the national storage policy would be implemented shortly for storing and preserving foodgrains in a "more scientific and hygienic way." To a question, he allayed
apprehension about retrenchment of FCI employees while implementing
the policy. |
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HC order in Kalkat case set aside NEW DELHI, July 29 (UNI) — The Supreme Court has set aside a Delhi High Court judgement quashing the appointment of Lieut-Gen H.R.S. Kalkat as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command. "Judicial review is permissible only to the extent of finding whether the process in reaching the decision has been observed correctly and not the decision as such. In that view of the matter, we think, there is no justification for the High Court to have interfered with the order made by the government on March 2, 1998," observed a Bench headed by Chief Justice A.S. Anand. The Bench, which included Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice Doraiswamy Raju, thus allowed appeals filed by the Union Government and Lieutenant-General Kalkat against the impugned High Court judgement. The High Court has quashed the appointment of Lieutenant-General Kalkat while allowing a writ petition by Lieutenant-General R.S. Kadyan, who had sought a direction to the government to appoint him as the GOC-in-C in place of General Kalkat. The judges were of
the opinion that it was improper on the part of the High Court to have
concluded that the post of army commander was a non-selection post.
"Further, the conclusion reached by the High Court that the
appointment to the post of army commander has to be made on the basis
of seniority alone cannot be accepted," the judges added. |
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Dawood man demands 1 cr from minister PATNA, July 29 (PTI) — Extra security cover is being provided to Bihar Food and Civil Supplies Minister Purnamasi Ram, following a threat by the Dawood Ibrahim gang to liquidate him and his family if a sum of Rs one crore was not paid to them. State Home Secretary U.N. Panjiar told PTI that the police was taking the threat seriously. According to a complaint made by the
minister, his wife had received a call from Mumbai on Thursday by a
person, who identified himself as a member of the underworld gang,
threatening to eliminate Ram and his family members if the said amount
was not paid, Mr Panjiar said. |
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Credibility vital for Press: Deshmukh MUMBAI, July 29 (UNI) — Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today stressed that credibility in journalism, especially in the print media was of utmost importance and it should be maintained by the regional language newspapers. Speaking as a chief guest at the 59th annual general meeting and national conference of the Indian Languages Newspapers’ Association (ILNA) held here, Mr Deshmukh said: "Due to the entry of the electronic media, the print media is facing stiff competition.’’ However, the reliability of the print media is still high." "The newspapers being brought out by the political parties have lower readership as they do not serve the interests of society," he said.’’ Minister of State for
Home Kripashankar Singh, who was the guest of honour, said journalism
had now become a profession rather than a mission. |
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Ex-MLA
posing as MP held NEW DELHI, July 29 — The Delhi Police arrested a 43-year-old man, Om Prakash Chowdhary, a former MLA from Shikohabad in MP on charge of duping an youth on the pretext of getting him a government job. He had been posing as a Rajya Sabha MP. The accused had taken Rs 455,000 from the victim, Nelson Dass for getting him a government job. The accused was staying at Arya Tourist Lodge in Nabi Karim area of Central Delhi. He allegedly gave the youth an appointment letter for the post of a clerk in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting which was found to be fake. The victim reported the matter to the
police following which the ex-MLA was arrested. |
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Eye-tampering: probe ordered JAMSHEDPUR, July 29 (UNI) — Yet another attempt has been made to tamper with the eyes of a body by some unidentified hoodlums in the morgue of the Tata Main Hospital here. The police said blood was oozing out of the outer layer of one of the eyes of the deceased Shanti Mishra (70) when her relatives came to collect the body from the morgue yesterday. This was the third incident of tampering with the eyes of the dead in the hospital mortuary in the past one week. On July 24, the eyes of deceased S.K. Biswas (89) were gouged with sharp weapons while on the night of July 21 eyes were removed from the body of B. Dutta (68). Meanwhile, the East Singhbhum
district administration ordered a probe into the series of eye
distortion incidents at the hospital. |
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Rain
in east Rajasthan, Himachal NEW DELHI, July 29 — Rain or thundershowers have occurred at many places in Himachal Pradesh, east Rajasthan and the hills of west Uttar Pradesh, at a few places in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and east Uttar Pradesh and at isolated places in Haryana and the plains of west Uttar Pradesh. Weather was mainly dry in west Rajasthan. The chief amounts of rainfall in cm are: Haryana: Kalka 1, Himachal Pradesh: Nadaun 5,Baijnath 4, Kangra, Paonta and Una 3 each, Hamirpur 2 and Bhuntar, Barsar, Berthin, Kahu, Nagrota Surian, Sundernagar, Sarkaghat and Sujanpur Tira 1 each, Jammu and Kashmir: Katra 11 and Kathua 2, Punjab: Dasuya 8, Rajasthan: Bakani 9, Chappi dam and Khanpur 5 each, Chawali Dam 4, Jhalarapatan and Raipur 3 each, Asnawar and Jaipur 2 each and Bhimsagar, Derra Colony, Parwat and Ramgarh 1 each and Uttar Pradesh: Allahabad 3, Banbasa, Kakrahi and Tehri 2 each and Banda, Etawah, Haripur, Palliakalan and Uttarkashi 1 each. Forecast valid until the morning of 31st: Rain or thundershowers will occur at many places in Himachal Pradesh, east Uttar Pradesh and the hills of west Uttar Pradesh, at a few places in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, east Rajasthan and the plains of west Uttar Pradesh and at isolated places in west Rajasthan. Heavy rainfall warning: Heavy rain is likely at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh and north Uttar Pradesh during the next 48 hours. Forecast for Delhi and neighbourhood valid until the morning of 31st: Generally cloudy sky with one or two spells of rain/thundershowers in some areas. Farmers weather bulletin for Delhi: Forecast valid until the morning of 31st: Light to moderate rain will occur at a few places. Outlook for the subsequent two days:
No large change. |
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