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| Saturday, February 3,
2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Treaty on calamities
sought Gujarat quake was 8.1 on Richter
scale Aftershocks to
continue Army wireless set saves 12 lives Nine builders
arrested |
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CM rejects demand to arrest John Sad homecoming for
Advani Jagmohan to visit Gujarat on Feb 4 Polishing shoes to help
quake-hit! ‘Live’ footage of
Gujarat quake Astrologer held for predicting
another quake CHENNAI, Feb 2 — A member of the Veerappan gang was nabbed, while another was injured in an exchange of fire with the special task force which has been in hot pursuit of the forest brigand since November last year.
JMM MPs’ case: CBI not to file
appeal Dara’s trial put off MUMBAI, Feb 2 — Four school principals have been arrested by police for issuing bogus certificates to students who failed in class eleven and facilitating them to appear in class 12, the School Minister Mr Anil Deshmukh said. Minister assures water for
drought areas AIIMS restrained from removing
ad hoc doctors
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Treaty on calamities
sought BHUJ, Feb 2 — A large number of lives could have been saved had the Indian Government sought help from the international community, felt a number of foreign rescue teams camping here. What is required is an international treaty cutting across boundaries to nations to tackle natural calamities. Such a measure could save number of precious lives, said Dr Mukesh Kapila, Head of Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs Department in the British Department for International Development. Talking to The Tribune here, Dr Kapila said rescue operations in calamity struck areas needed specialised training and the assistance of those nations trained in his regard should be immediately sought. While not directly blaming the Indian Government for slow response to the international community’s request for help, he said, if the British team had arrived here earlier, they could have saved many more lives. They came here almost 48 hours after the incident and managed to save six lives. In such calamities every second counts and a treaty would provide the international community to mobilise the requisite resources and not wait for the bureaucratic clearance, which in most cases delays and hampers the whole process, he said. He said Gujarat has been in the grip of natural calamity for the past few years. However, there seems to be lack of coordination among different bodies in managing the quantum of rescue and relief supplies pouring into the state. Expressing willingness to help the state government in drawing out a disaster management plan which the state lacks despite natural calamities have been striking one after another in succession, Dr Kapila said management skills were most important as they can reduce the number of casualties. The British team, which has left the country, has left behind several sophisticated instruments to detect lives. When asked what use these instruments are when there is no trained manpower to handle them, team leader Ray said they would encourage the Indians to use them and learn more about them. The British Government would be willing to train Indians in sophisticated search and rescue operations, Dr Kapila said, adding that quakes and other natural calamities did not occur everyday, but one needs to train for them as one does not know when they would strike. Gujarat quake was 8.1 on Richter scale AHMEDABAD, Feb 2 (UNI) — Fresh seismological analysis has revealed that the January 26 earthquake in Gujarat was of 8.1 magnitude on the Richter scale, not 6.9 or 7.9 as stated earlier, and had its epicentre been in Ahmedabad, at least two million people would have perished. Yesterday, US experts had said the quake measured 7.7 but, according to eminent geophysicist Dr J.G. Negi, the Bhuj-centred quake was equivalent in magnitude to the one which ravaged Mexico on September 19, 1985. The Bhuj tremor was about 1,000 times more life-threatening than the Latur quake of September 30, 1993, which measured 6.3 on the Richter scale. Dr Negi, who was awarded the prestigious Shantiswaroop Bhatnagar award for his studies in the Koyna quake of 1969, said, however, that the Bhuj quake had “softened up’’ Ahmedabad, making its parts brittle and shattered like the windscreen of a car, and rendered it more vulnerable to quakes in future. The aftershocks are still being felt in the different parts of Gujarat, magnitude and tremors measuring upto 6.5 could not be ruled out. “No one can predict an earthquake correctly. The only precaution we can have is to be prepared to face it,’’ he added. Intensity was 6.9,
says govt NEW DELHI, Feb 2 — Putting at rest all confusion, the government today announced that the earthquake that rocked Gujarat on January 26 measured 6.9 on the Richter scale. “Different standards of measurement will give different magnitudes about an earthquake. So far as the Richter scale is concerned, the quake of January 26 measured 6.9,” the Director-General of the Indian Meteorological Department, Dr R.R. Kelkar, said. There was some confusion regarding the magnitude of the quake, with some international agencies recording the magnitude at 7.9. Aftershocks to
continue NEW DELHI, Feb 2 — As the people of Gujarat struggle to come to terms with the devastation caused by the killer quake on January 26, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) today cautioned that aftershocks were likely to continue for several months. However, the magnitude of the aftershocks will continuously decline as the impact of the major tremor settles down, IMD Director-General, Dr R.R. Kelkar said. “Aftershocks are a natural phenomenon after any major tremor and the Bhuj quake is no different”, Dr Kelkar said adding that in the case of the Assam earthquake in 1950 aftershocks were recorded for more than a year. “Close observation of the Bhuj quake has revealed that aftershocks could continue for several months,” he said. “So far 50 aftershocks had been recorded in the Bhuj region, he said. Emphasising that scientifically it was not possible to predict the occurrence of earthquakes, Dr Kelkar, however, said efforts were afoot to integrate various seismological networks in the country. Earthquake risk evaluation centres were being set up, besides setting up of Delhi telemetry system for earthquake monitoring. An expert committee under the DG, IMD, would be constituted to consolidate all scientific work on the Bhuj earthquake and bring out an unified report. “The seismological map of the country will be redrawn on the basis of the findings of the expert committee,” Dr Kelkar said. Despite major destruction to buildings in Bhuj due to the quake, the IMD observatory was “absolutely safe”. However, the operations at the observatory were affected to the extent that data could not be transmitted to other parts of the country due to telecommunication failure, he said. Army wireless set saves 12 lives NEW DELHI, Feb 2 (UNI) — A wireless set, the most handy and valuable communication device for Army rescue workers in quake-ravaged Gujarat, was put to innovative use to save 12 persons trapped under mounds of rubble. In Gandhidham, about 16 km from Anjar, Army men and the locals were on a clear-up operation, when they heard some faint cries for help. After location of the exact place in the mounds of crashed concrete, the army men tied a wireless set onto a long pipe and pushed it in through the debris to the trapped people. Soon enough, the wireless crackled to life: “There are 12 persons out here alive. Please help us.” The victims were then pulled out without any delay, Satyanarayan Bansal, a businessman who survived the killer quake last Friday, said. The devastation caused by the recent earthquake in Gujarat has moved everyone. Even sex workers. In a novel gesture, the sex workers have also decided to extend their help and financial support to the victims of the quake. They have contributed Rs 5,000 to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. Mourning the death of thousands of people in Gujarat, the Bharatiya Patita Uddhar Sabha, an organisation working with the sex workers, has decided to collect donations for the victims. Donation boxes have been kept in the red light area of Delhi and Mrs Munni Bai, a sex worker, in coordination with BPUS Delhi unit president Nimmi Bai would collect contributions and forward the same to the authorities concerned. BJP MPs from Delhi have also launched a collection drive in the Capital for the victims of the Gujarat earthquake and so far netted more than Rs 4 crore in cash, relief material and donations through cheques. To take the lead among Delhi politicians are senior BJP leader and MP from South Delhi constituency Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Chandni Chowk MP Vijay Goel. Mr Malhotra carried out a tour of his Constituency and adjoining West Delhi and collected more than Rs 2 crore of cash, relief material and donations through cheques. He was accompanied by a large number of BJP leaders from Delhi, including the Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly.  |
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AHMEDABAD, Feb 2 (UNI) —The police has arrested nine private builders in the city where about 70 multi-storey buildings collapsed leading to more than 750 deaths, while over 100 structures remained precariously perched endangering public safety as a fallout of the January 26 earthquake. “We have arrested nine builders so far on the basis of complaints filed by residents and the number might go up in the coming days,” city Police Commissioner P. C Pande said. He said the builders had been booked under Section 304,IPC, (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and Section 420 (cheating). “As of now, we have only arrested the builders whose more than one building collapsed in the wake of the quake or the structures were built recently, besides those where alterations had been made afterwards. For example, if a building has collapsed 30 years after its construction, one cannot blame the builders,’’ Mr Pande said. He said in each case everybody responsible like the contractor and
structural engineers, besides the builder would be booked. Asked whether a separate cell was being created to follow up such cases, he said,“We have not taken any decision as of now.” Most of the private builders in the city have gone underground fearing action by the authorities and wrath of the victims. But one of the city’s known builders Anil Bakeri, who is also a civil engineer, today called for stern action against the builders for unplanned construction. Incidentally, none of the 10 high-rise structures built by his company in the city through the past 40 years collapsed in the aftermath of the wake, but only developed minor cracks. He said the collapse of a multi-storey building could be attributed to inadequate use of steel, cement and vibrators, besides negligence and corrupt practices. As the quake led to cracks in his 10 buildings, seven of which are commercial complexes, he refused to bring in his own structural engineers to instil confidence among the occupants asking them instead to get their own. “No one would have believed my engineers,” he said. CM rejects demand
to arrest John BANGALORE, Feb 2 (PTI) — Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna today rejected the BJP’s demand for prosecution and arrest of Mr T. John, who resigned as minister after making a controversial statement, linking the Gujarat earthquake to attacks on Christians in that state. Speaking to reporters after calling on Mr John, Krishna dismissed suggestions that the former minister had resigned because of pressure from the BJP, which had been seeking his arrest on the charge that he had “incited communal feelings” through his remarks. Mr Krishna visited Mr John’s residence this morning and described it as a “courtesy call”. |
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ADIPUR (Kutch), Feb 2 (PTI) — It was a sad homecoming for Union Home Minister L.K. Advani when he visited the quake-devastated town of Adipur, where his father had migrated after Partition. The place where his father had lived and the entire neighbourhood is a ghost town today. Most of the houses have either been demolished or are no longer safe for living following the earthquake that hit the Kutch area in Gujarat on January 26. A nostalgic Advani drove to the town, adjoining Gandhidham, during his two-day visit to the devastated areas in Kutch on January 31. “This is my place,” Mr Advani said, relating to Adipur though he was never a resident. “My father lived here after Partition till his death in 1985. It is the place of my father,” he said. Mr Advani called on his father’s friend and neighbour, an old fragile bedridden man, who was still staying in the unsafe house as he had no place to go. Coming out of the house, where most of the belongings were kept in the open, Mr Advani said: “Our house was just behind this house.” People of the neighbourhood poured in after hearing about Mr Advani’s unexpected visit to the old man to share their agony and tell him as to how they were not getting any relief. Adipur has had its share of grief — at least 100 persons reported to have died, a hostel reduced to rubble killing 33 students and teachers and the survivors camping in the open without the shelter of tents. Going down memory lane, Mr Advani said his family, part of about 10 lakh Hindus of
Sindh, came to Varanasi in the wake of Partition in 1947 in keeping with his paternal grandmother’s wishes. |
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Jagmohan to visit
Gujarat on Feb 4 NEW DELHI, Feb 2 — Union Urban Development Minister Jagmohan is to leave for quake-hit Gujarat on Sunday to make an on-the-spot assessment of the reconstruction and rehabilitation needs of the state, particularly the damaged houses and infrastructure. The associated agencies of the ministry such as the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), the Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), are to undertake the reconstruction on a war-footing once the salvage work is over, official sources said. Mr Jagmohan, accompanied by HUDCO Chairman-cum-Managing Director V. Suresh, BMTPC Executive Director T.N. Gupta and CPWD Additional Director-General Krishan Kumar, will tour Ahmedabad and the worst-hit Bhuj and other nearby areas during his two-day visit. He will also meet Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel before returning to the Capital. Polishing shoes to help
quake-hit! NEW DELHI, Feb 2 (PTI) — Moved by the death of thousands of people of the recent earthquake in Gujarat, an employee of a government press here today took to polishing shoes to contribute his earnings for relief. “This money will go to the victims of Gujarat quake,” Mr R.K. Gohar said. Sitting on a sidewalk, he sought to inspire people with a banner proclaiming “Manav seva Ishwar ki puja hai” (Service to mankind is service to God). He claimed that the response was very good as some persons even paid Rs 50 for getting a pair of shoes polished though he was demanding Re 1 from each of them. As a gesture of their empathy with the quake victims, many passed on their shoes to the nearly 60-year-old government employee who works at Government Printing Press, Mayapuri here. “I will continue this job till I am satisfied that I have done something,” said Mr Gohar of Indore in Madhya Pradesh, adding that he did the same in the 1962 war. ‘Live’ footage of
Gujarat quake NEW DELHI, Feb 2 (PTI) — As hell broke loose in Bhuj on Republic Day, a businessman in the Kutch town, unmindful of the risk to his life, roamed around with his video camera shooting the havoc caused by the killer quake. “Some invisible power gave me the strength to go on shooting the aftermath of the quake just four minutes after the tremor”, Jaisukhbhai Parikh told TV channel Aaj Tak. He said that soon after the quake, he took his bike out of the house but was not sure when his hand fell on the video camera. Clippings from Parikh’s camera, claimed to be exclusive, showed that people were shaken by the suddenness of the natural calamity, but were unaware of its magnitude. Parikh said his endeavour would help scientists in the study of the earthquake. He parried a question as to when the authorities moved in to provide relief to the people. “It is not my subject, I was busy shooting”, Parikh said. Astrologer held
for predicting another quake AHMEDABAD, Feb 2 (UNI) — An astrologer in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, predicted that the state will experience another major tremor on February 3 and was promptly arrested by the police for creating panic among the people. “The police has arrested an astrologer, identified as Ambalal Damodardas, for predicting that an earthquake of severe intensity will rock the state again on February 3,” Gujarat Minister of state for Home Haren Pandya said here today. The prediction, published by vernacular press, created panic among the people of the state, devastated by the January 26 quake that killed thousands of people and wiped off villages and towns. State Director of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) R.K. Kankane belied the apprehensions of the people reeling under the continuous aftershocks saying that there was no risk from such mild tremors that are common after any major earthquake and only help in release of energy. When coolies turn
Samaritans AHMEDABAD,
Feb 2 (PTI) — The humble coolie, often ticked off by travellers after a bargain, is doing a mighty job in the quake-hit city. At the Ahmedabad railway station, the coolies are performing a different role — providing free food, cooked by themselves, to all those who have fled their homes following the earthquake in search of safer places. Their fee — the blessings of those who are arriving in hundreds. For the traumatised people, nothing is more welcome than hot food as they go around hopelessly. The over 600-strong Coolies
Association has put in their might to do whatever possible in this “small” way to make these “refugees” comfortable. “Each member contributes Rs 50 per day to prepare three meals a day for around 200 people”, said one of the members of Western Railway Coolie Mahasangh. |
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Trapped banker
offers 1 lakh MUMBAI, Feb 2 (PTI) — “Pull me out of the debris and I will award you Rs 1 lakh”, a bank manager in Bhuj screamed amidst the din and heap of rubble as he lay half amid piles of heavy concrete blocks after the devastating quake hit Gujarat on January 26. “He kept screaming for help yet he could do nothing, a 45-year-old quake survivor, admitted to
JJ hospital here, told PTI yesterday, recounting the tragedy when he heard the manager of a local bank desperately calling for help. It was only late in the evening when we could finally extricate him, he added. Hrithik Roshan
donates 10 lakh MUMBAI, Feb 2 (PTI) — Hrithik Roshan, the new superstar of Hindi cinema, and his father, noted film-maker Rakesh Roshan, today donated Rs 10 lakh each for the quake-affected people of Gujarat. They handed over the cheques to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh at his official residence “Varsha” here. Yesterday, the film industry bigwigs, during a meeting with Mr Deshmukh, promised to raise Rs 10 crore for the quake victims by organising exhibition matches, featuring film personalities, and cultural programmes, an official press note said today. |
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Veerappan men, STF exchange fire CHENNAI, Feb 2 (UNI) — A member of the Veerappan gang was nabbed, while another was injured in an exchange of fire with the special task force which has been in hot pursuit of the forest brigand since November last year. According to reports received at the police headquarters in Chennai, the shoot-out with a 15-member gang occurred in the Sambandikkadu forest area between Coimbatore and Palakkad districts. Another member is believed to have been killed, according to the report. The shoot-out occured after the STF received information that Veerappan was hiding in the Sambandikkadu area. They beseiged the area this evening. The brigand’s gang members hurled bombs at the STF, who retaliated by opening fire. The STF, assisted by the BSF, was redeployed by the Tamil Nadu and the Karnataka Governments to nab the outlaw, after he released Kannada actor Rajkumar in November, ending a 108-day captivity. Veerappan had listed a number of demands including the release of his erstwhile associates held under TADA and
NSA. |
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JMM MPs’ case: CBI not to file appeal NEW DELHI, Feb 2 (UNI) — The CBI told the Delhi High Court today that it had decided not to file an appeal against the acquittal of the nine accused in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) bribery case. “The appeal can be filed against the acquittal order only by the state through its public prosecutor”, CBI Superintendent of Police Mr G.N. Gupta, said in an affidavit before Mr Justice R.S. Sodhi. The court on January 25 issued notices to the CBI and the nine accused in the JMM bribery case who were recently acquitted when Additional Sessions Judge Ajit Bharihoke gave them the benefit of the doubt. Former Union Ministers Satish Sharma and Ajit Singh, besides former Chief Ministers Bhajan Lal of Haryana and Veerappa Moily of Karnataka, were asked to file their replies. Others who were asked to send their responses are Mr V. Rajeshwar Rao, a relative of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, Mr H.M. Revenna and Mr Ramalinga Reddy (former Karnataka ministers in the Moily Cabinet) and Bangalore-based liquor barons D.K. Adikeshavalu and M. Thimme Gowda. Mr Narasimha Rao and his cabinet colleague Buta Singh were convicted on September 29 last year for criminal conspiracy and corruption when the CBI special court held them guilty in the JMM MPs bribery case. The case was related to the bribing of opposition MPs to defeat the July 28, 1993, no-confidence motion against the then Congress government headed by Mr Rao. Though the high court has temporarily suspended Mr Narasimha Rao’s and Mr Buta Singh’s sentence of three years’ rigorous imprisonment following appeals against the trial court’s order, its decision to issue fresh notices against those acquitted comes following a revision petition filed by the Rashtriya Mukti Morcha (RMM), which exposed the JMM scandal. BHUBANESWAR, Feb 2 (PTI) — District and Sessions Judge Mahendranath Patnaik today deferred the ongoing trial of Dara Singh and 13 others in the Graham Staines murder case to March 1 next. The decision to defer the hearing was taken after the defence counsels sought more time from the court to study documents provided to them by the CBI counsel today. The hearing, which commenced here yesterday and was to continue till February 8, would now be held from March 1 to 5 next with a day’s break on March 4. CBI counsel K. Sudhakar as per the court’s directive yesterday, furnished a list of chargesheet witnesses examined by the three investigating agencies — the CBI, the Crime Branch of the police and the state police, and copies of statements made by them before these agencies. The defence lawyers, represented by Shyamananda Mohapatra, while acknowledging that they had received the documents, said that they required more time to study them. All 14 chargesheeted persons in the case, including Dara Singh, were present in the court. |
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Fake certificates: 4 principals held MUMBAI, Feb 2 (PTI) — Four school principals have been arrested by police for issuing bogus certificates to students who failed in class eleven and facilitating them to appear in class 12, the School Minister Mr Anil Deshmukh said. Eight school principals were found indulging in issuing bogus certificates, of which, four have been arrested and are in police custody, he told reporters here. The four arrested include Kailash Tripathi, Jnana Bharati Night Junior College, Sion, Rajnarain Sangeeth Pathak of Swami Dayanand Junior College, Malad, Adinath Ramnarayan Mishra of KGN Sastri Junior College and Minhazal Qureshi, Qureshi Nagar Night Junior College, Kurla. Action is yet to be taken on principals of R.K. Night Junior College, Kalyan, Kala Vidya Mandir, Andheri, New Model High School and Junior College in Chembur and Nerul Islam Junior College, Govandi, the minister said. Mr Deshmukh said the school Education Department held an enquiry four months back and a report was submitted to the Mumbai police. Minister assures
water for drought areas HANUMANGARH, Feb 2 — The Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Minister, Mr Bhanwarlal Meghwal, has said no laxity will be tolerated in the relief work started by the government in the famine affected areas of the state. He was addressing a meeting of the District Famine Relief Advisory Committee here today. The minister said the availability of drinking water would be assured in the famine affected villages. He ordered that in the villages, where water was to be supplied by tankers, the work should start after February. Bills relating to making water available through tankers in five villages, relief for famine affected areas and opening up of fodder depots in villages, which had been sent to the state government, were approved by the members of the advisory committee at the meeting. AIIMS restrained from removing ad hoc doctors NEW DELHI, Feb 2 (PTI) — The Delhi High Court today restrained the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) from issuing any order for terminating the services of 91 ad hoc doctors appointed since September 1994. Issuing notice on a joint petition by 91 ad hoc assistant professors appointed in different batches between 1994 and 1999, a Bench comprising Mr Justice Anil Dev Singh and Mr Justice O.P. Dwivedi directed the respondents to file their replies by March 5. The doctors, in their writ, said since a large number of posts in various departments of AIIMS had been lying vacant for a long time, there was no reason for terminating their services. Though
AIIMS has not issued any order of termination, the doctors said they “apprehend that the institute may initiate victimisation action against them due to filing of the writ petition. The doctors said despite their initial appointment for three months, the institute had been extending their services after every six-month period because of the vacancies. |
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