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| Thursday, October 12, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Bofors misled India on payments: CBI Khurana for takeover of Apollo Hospital BJP ‘committed’ to religious freedom Mamata, Panja rejoin offices Centre seeks papers on Rajan’s extradition Leopard killed in Rajaji park PM seeks report
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Correct scribes’ wage board proposals: CPI USA — top donor to Indian societies 4 held for bid to travel on
forged passports Paswan rules out patch-up
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Bofors misled India on payments: CBI NEW DELHI, Oct 11 (PTI) — The CBI has accused officials of the Bofors company of having misled the Indian Government regarding the name of a company to whom payments amounting to 81 million Swedish kroners (SEK) were made in 1986 by the Swedish gun manufacturer. In the supplementary charge sheet filed before the Special Judge, Mr Ajit Bharihoke, on Monday, the CBI said the documents received by it in December, 1999, from the Swiss authorities had revealed that M/s A.B. Bofors had also made payments of Panama-based McIntyre Corporation to the tune of 81 mn SEK during May-December, 1986.The amount was credited to three different accounts in three different banks in Switzerland — one opened by Dr Jurg W. Vogel holding power of attorney on behalf of McIntyre Corporation and another also opened on behalf of the Corporation by Dr Vogel, who had mentioned the name of P.P. Hinduja as their client in the account opening form, the CBI alleged. LONDON: A leading London daily Wednesday reported that the Hindujas have accepted that they had received money from Axonobel group, part of Bofors, but say the family had been involved with them for many years in the supply of
chemicals. The Hindujas argue that the money was part of normal international business dealings known as “global counter trading” and had nothing to do with the gun deal between Bofors and Indian government, the Times reported. The CBI filed a charge sheet in a Special Court in New Delhi against the Hinduja brothers — Srichand, Gopichand and Prakash — on Monday. The Hinduja brothers have denied any involvement in the Bofors pay-offs. Quoting the Hinduja family sources, the report said millions of pounds received by the Hindujas into Swiss Bank accounts were reinvested in the business empire. |
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Khurana for takeover of Apollo Hospital NEW DELHI, Oct 11 — Former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana along with 59 Members of Parliament today demanded a thorough probe by the Union Health Minister into the functioning of the Apollo Hospital
here. Releasing a letter to the Health Minister, Mr C.P. Thakur, to the media, Mr Khurana said the inquiry should also cover the non-implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Delhi government and the alleged gross negligence of patients. The letter has been signed by 59 MPs from different political parties. “It is a matter of concern that a hospital which got substantial assistance from the government for its building, land free of cost and entered into an agreement with the Government for treating a certain percentage of patients free of cost, is run like a five star hotel”, Mr Khurana said here at a specially convened press conference at his
residence. Charging the hospital with the overriding aim of only “making money relegating patients’ care”, Mr Khurana said if the hospital did not implement the MoU entered into with the Delhi Government, the Central Government should take over the institution as “this fleecing of patients cannot go on”. The Delhi Government had allotted 15 acres of land virtually free by charging Rs one per acre, the former Chief
Minister, who is at present BJP Vice-President, said adding that the market value of the land is approximately Rs 60 crore today. The machinery imported by the hospital was exempted from import duty, he
said. The Delhi Government, which has a share of 26 per cent also gave a sum of Rs 17 crore towards building fund which has not been returned so far, Mr Khurana said. Out of a total cost of Rs 190 crore of the hospital, an amount of Rs 80 crore was provided by the various financial institutions of the Central Government, Mr Khurana stressed adding that “thus the Delhi Government gave an amount of Rs 117 crore in addition to the land virtually free”. |
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BJP ‘committed’ to religious freedom NEW DELHI, Oct 11 — Bharatiya Janata Party President Bangaru Laxman said today that the party and the Government were committed to the principle of religious freedom as enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Stressing upon the principle of religious freedom, Mr Laxman told the US Ambassador, Mr Richard Celeste, who called on him, that the Government was only somewhat watchful of the militant activities of certain Christian groups which had links with insurgent groups in the North-east. Mr Laxman told Mr Celeste, during the 45-minute meeting that the BJP-led NDA government had no objection to conversions provided it did not involve coercion or inducement. The problems arose only when allurements were given, he added. The BJP chief pointed out that even before the NDA government came to power, states like Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa had enacted legislation against conversions. Mr Laxman, who discussed a
wide range of subjects with the US envoy, told him that one could never be certain of Pakistan’s stand as “it has always let us down and also in view of the frequent changes of government and instability there.” In a release, Mr Laxman informed Mr Celeste that the Indian government had freed Hurriyat leaders of Jammu and Kashmir so as to create an atmosphere conducive for a dialogue to help restore normalcy in the state. On the CTBT, the party President said the Government was committed to evolving a national consensus and it was also necessary that P-5 countries pledge total nuclear disarmament within a timeframe. |
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Mamata, Panja rejoin offices CALCUTTA, Oct 11 — Ms Mamata Banerjee and Mr Ajit Kumar Panja of the Trinamool Congress rejoin their offices today at Rail Bhavan and South Block, respectively, after their two-week-long “protest-resignation” from the Vajpayee government against the oil price hike. They left for Delhi last evening. Both Ms Banerjee as Railway Minister and Mr Panja as Union Minister of State for External Affairs, tendered their resignations on September 30, demanding reduction of hiked prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG. But they withdrew their resignations on the Prime Minister’s assurance of re-considering the demand for lowering these prices. Before leaving the city after her stay of about a month, Ms Banerjee said her demand for slashing down the prices of kerosene, diesel and LPG, particularly, would not be withdrawn and they had withdrawn their resignation for the time being “to honour the Prime Minister”. She reiterated the TMC’s demand for application of Article 36 in Bengal and announced that soon they would launch an agitation once again all over the state in support of the demand. An emergency meeting of the TMC’s policy making body was held yesterday where TMC’s future course of action against the
CPI (M) vis-a-vis preparation for poll campaign of the forthcoming state assembly elections in March-April was discussed. It was decided that immediately after the puja festival and Devali, TMC would launch poll campaign against the
CPI (M). Centre seeks papers on Rajan’s extradition NEW DELHI, Oct 11 (PTI) — The Centre today said it had sought “more documents” from the Mumbai police in connection with the extradition of underworld don Chhota Rajan from Thailand to India. “Documents for extradition of Rajan from Thailand have been received by the government from Mumbai police authorities on October 9. These documents are being examined from the legal and other points of view so that they meet all requirements of the requested state as it is done in every other such case,” an Foreign Ministry spokesman said. He said that “the Mumbai police authorities have been requested for more documents which are awaited”. Replying to questions, the spokesman said the External Affairs Ministry would be processing the matter as all such cases are dealt by it. Setting at rest speculation that New Delhi was not interested in Rajan’s extradition, official sources said the Centre and the Maharashtra government were “very keen” to get Rajan and all other underworld criminals including Dawood Ibrahim extradited to India to face legal action. MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has suggested to the Union government impounding of the “illegal” passport of underworld don Chhota Rajan to pave the way for his deportation to India, Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said here today. Once Rajan’s passport is seized, he will be rendered as a “stateless” person and would not be in a position to obtain visa for any other country and would not escape from Bangkok, the Deputy Chief Minister said. |
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Leopard killed in Rajaji park DEHRA DUN, Oct 11 (UNI) — Poachers have killed a one-and-a-half year old female leopard in Rajaji National Park in the Shivalik forests just outside the Doon valley. The park authorities came to know of the incident on October 9. The post-mortem report said the animal was killed on October 8. This leaves the Ranipur range of Rajaji park with just four leopards. The 3 feet long leopard was found dead near the Kharkhari forest post. Villagers residing in the area informed Mr M.K. Giri, section officer of the Kharkhari area, who then brought it to the notice of Mr C.P. Goyal, Director of the park. Mr Goyal directed his staff to burn the body of the leopard after having its post-mortem conducted. Although the park authorities have said the leopard was killed by elephants which trampled upon it, this seems unlikely as the body showed no signs of being trampled upon, according to Dr Diwakar Sharma, Director of Prakriti Mitra, a wildlife conservation organisation. He said the leopard, after being attacked by hunters ran far off hid itself in some bushes. Dr Sharma has demanded an inquiry into the killing. |
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PM seeks report
on tigress’ killing MUMBAI, Oct 11 (UNI) — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is recovering at Breach Candy Hospital after his knee replacement surgery, has asked for a detailed report on the recent killing of tigress “Saki” at Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad. Moved after reading an account of the skinning of the 13-month-old tigress in a news magazine, the Prime Minister yesterday called up the Additional ig (wildlife) at New Delhi from the hospital and asked for a detailed report on the entire episode. The tigress was sedated and killed in the cage itself and was later skinned. The poachers dumped the body of the animal and fled the scene. HYDERABAD:The Andhra Pradesh Government on Wednesday announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for furnishing information about those involved in the recent killing of Sakhi here . The Central Zoo Authority and the state Forest Department would equally bear the reward amount and the identity of persons providing information would be kept confidential. |
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Correct scribes’ wage board proposals: CPI NEW DELHI, Oct 11 (PTI) — The CPI has sought Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s intervention to quickly modify the recommendations of Manisana Singh Wage Boards for Journalists and Non-Journalists saying that these have “patently” failed to do justice to the employees. In a letter to Mr Vajpayee, party general secretary A.B. Bardhan said in most cases the recommendations had gone back on well-established principles and practices adopted by the earlier wage boards and by the 5th Pay Commission. “The final proposals are much lower than even the tentative proposals that were made by the employers themselves”, he said, adding that the parity that existed, for example between lecturers (UGC) and Sub Editors (Class I newspapers), has also been upset. In the matter of dearness allowance, the “retrogade” principle of da on the basis of the regional consumer price index had also been brought in, Mr Bardhan said. Referring to the house rent allowance, he said the new scheme actually meant a reduced
HRA. “All these recommendations need to be corrected. It has been done before and there is more than sufficient reason to do so now”, he said and urged Mr Vajpayee to hold a meeting with representatives of employees unions and come out with the government’s decision in the matter as soon as possible. Mr Bardhan’s letter came after a delegation of the National Coordination Committee of Newspapers and News Agencies Employees Unions called on him and voiced concerns about the wage board proposals. |
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USA — top donor to Indian societies NEW DELHI, Oct 11 — The USA topped the list of countries from where Indian associations got maximum foreign contributions during 1998-99 followed by Germany. According to Home Ministry sources, during 1998-99 Indian organisations got foreign contributions of Rs 892.43 crore from the USA, followed by Germany (Rs 626.44 crore), the UK (Rs 480.26 crore) and Italy (Rs 240.14 crore). However, the leading donor agency was the (Evangelische Zentralst Elle of Germany (Rs 55.03 crore), followed by the Maharishi Ayurveda Trust, UK (Rs 51.82 crore) and the Action Aid, UK (Rs 48.05 crore). The largest recipient of foreign contribution was the Maharishi Ved Vigyan Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Andhra Pradesh (Rs 64.38 crore), followed by the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission, Kerala (Rs 51.55 crore) and the Foster Parents Plan
International, Delhi (Rs 42.91 crore). The receipt of foreign contribution during 1998-99 amounted to Rs 3402.90 crore. This represents an 18.8 per cent increase over the amount received the previous financial year (Rs 2864.51 crore). Among the regions, South zone reported receipt of largest amount (Rs 1662.41 crore), followed by North zone (Rs 731.86 crore), West zone (Rs 469.17 crore), East zone (Rs 289.67 crore) and Central zone (Rs 249.79 crore). |
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4 held for bid
to travel on forged passports NEW DELHI, Oct 11 (UNI) — Immigration officials at the IGI airport this morning apprehended four persons from Punjab for attempting to go to Toronto, Canada, on fake passports. A Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) press note here said that Gurvinder Singh, Kulwant Singh and Jaswinder Kaur were nabbed as they were trying to board a Lufthansa Airways flight to Toronto. The immigration officials’ suspicions were aroused as Gurvinder Singh, who claimed to be a Canadian citizen, did not know anything about the country. On sustained questioning, he confessed that he had paid Rs 600,000 to a Jalandhar-based agent Dharamvir Singh, who promised him a safe landing and a lucrative job in Canada. Paswan rules
out patch-up LUCKNOW, Oct 11 (UNI) — Union Communications Minister and JD (U), leader Ram Bilas Paswan today ruled out any patch-up with party President Sharad Yadav and reiterated that he would float a new party on November 23. Mr Paswan said he had earlier thought of not leaving the JD (U) if Mr Yadav decided to relinquish the post of party President. “But now the patch up seems an impossible proposition.” BANGALORE: Senior JD (U) leader and former Union Minister R.K. Hegde on Wednesday ruled out merger of his party with the JD (S) headed by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve
Gowda. |
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