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| Wednesday, February
21, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Experts deny sweet water claim Haryana needs to learn from Gujarat Rao defends decision Lithuania backs India on UN seat Holiday on March 10 |
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A blow to Left movement Curtain down on fleet review No fresh taxes in Andhra Budget NHRC notice to Delhi Govt Plan to close dept evokes
anger
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Experts deny sweet water claim Madheypur (Bhuj), February 20 They say tests of water indicate that electrical conductivity, a parameter to measuring the salinity of water, has slightly decreased and people apparently take think it is fresh water. Several teams of the geologists, hydrologists, geo physcists and other experts of the board are camping at different places in Kutch to examine the quality of water and its contents. Analysis of the ground water undergoing any change after the earthquake is also being done. The help of satellite pictures, taken before and after the The experts who have been in the area for the past two weeks visited Nair talab, a site in Kutch after euphoric people went around saying that fresh water had come out. “We went to the site and saw saline water was nine feet below the surface but it was less saline. The people of the belt consume water with electrical conductivity (EC) varying between 4000 and 5000 and if it is available between 3500 and 4000 ec it is sweet water for the locals”. At a site 6 km from Ladoi-between Ladoi and Umedpur-water was coming out at a slow speed but it was highly saline. Tests at such sites at Bhachau, Khavda (north of Bhuj), Nandra, Khera, Gandhidham, Nakhtarana and Anjar revealed the same thing. Data of the contents of the water before and after the earthquake had not shown any change. However, they are yet to verify reports of sweet water surfacing at Dholavira, a Harrapan site, and Bela in the Rann of Kutch. In the Rapar taluka a 40 feet to 60 feet rise in the water table could mean a shift in the cropping pattern or at least easy availability of water for irrigation. With the help of satellite pictures the experts are also verifying reports of the revival of water channel of the mythical Saraswati lying dormant for countless years. A specialist of the CGBW said though the satellite pictures had found the river course had dried up in Rajasthan itself years ago. He said in 1819 an earthquake created the Alah Bundh Fault near Lakhpat blocked the sediments of the rivers — flowing from Aravallis downstream. This resulted in the rivers drying up. |
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Haryana needs to learn from Gujarat Bhuj, February 20 Sources in the Bhuj administration say that the intensity of the tremors was such as to cause concern to all employees, most of whom were attending the Republic Day function, about the well being of their families. A senior officer told TNS that immediately after the flag-hoisting ceremony during which the quake had struck, was over, his first reaction was to rush home to enquire about his wife and children. He told his driver to take him to his residence post haste. But the driver refused. He wanted to go to his house first. The officer persuaded the driver to drop him at his house and then to rush to his family in the government vehicle itself. Fortunately, the families of the two has escaped unharmed. The moment the driver returned, the officer went to the residence of the Collector, Mr Kamal Dayani. The Collector’s official residence had collapsed. Mercifully, there was no loss of life. But the personal belongings of Mr Dayani were damaged. The bureaucrat was shell-shocked. The senior officer told TNS that he and the Collector tried to contact a number of junior functionaries but could not reach them on the telephone. Similarly attempts to contact the district hospital and the police station failed. The officer took a vehicle and went to the hospital in the walled city of Bhuj. It was only then that he came to know what havoc the quake had caused in the historical town. The hospital and the jail along with thousands of other buildings in the walled city had collapsed. He said all channels of communication had snapped. It being three holidays in a row, no employee was available. Whosoever could be contacted, had suffered loss of life or property or both. Under the circumstances, there was little the top brass of the district administration could do. It was only in the wee hours of January 27 that the Bhuj administration could contact the state capital. Even the Indian Air Force base here, the officer said, was not able to get in touch with bases outside Bhuj. Despite the flak the Gujarat administration has attracted in the wake of the earthquake, its two institutions have earned praise from the Haryana team engaged in the relief operation in over 30 villages of Rapar taluka of Bhuj district. Unlike their counterparts in Haryana, village patwaris and primary school teachers in rural schools, have not left their posts. Despite their houses being destroyed and schools being officially closed, the teachers remained in the villages in which they were posted. It is pertinent to point out that most of the teachers belongs to the far-flung places. A Haryana officer remarked: “Patwaris and teachers from our state should be sent to Gujarat to learn a lesson in responsibility from their counterparts. “What is the guarantee that the Gujaratis will not learn the ways of Haryana if such an interaction takes place?” countered another officer present their. |
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Kandla Port
suffers Rs 50 crore damage Kandla Port, February 20 The resumption of operations at country’s highest earning port, handling 17 per cent of the nation cargo is a positive development for the granaries of Punjab and Haryana and the rich industrial belt of the north and west India. The port was an ideal exit point for the north India. Officials handling cargo traffic at the port say that it would take at least another one month before full operations began as there was severe shortage of labour. They said the labour with the Kandla Port Trust (KPT) had returned after the quake but the work force with those using the port facilities had not returned. A large-scale exodus of the labour immediately after the severe quake had been reported. Mr Dutta Raju, Traffic Manager of the Kandla Port Trust, said against a capacity of handling 40,000 tonnes of cargo daily the port was now handling upto 30,000 tonnes of cargo from February 10 onwards. A week after the earthquake the port was handling only 10,000 tonnes of cargo. During one week when the operations remained suspended, the port authorities have put the loss at over Rs 6 crore. He said the total infrastructural damage suffered at the port was at Rs 50 crore. The maximum loss had been suffered by the godowns used to store the cargo. Of the total 24 godowns, each with a capacity of 2 lakh tonnes, seven had been badly hit. Another six jetties handling liquid cargo had also suffered some damage. Four of the jetties were with the KPT, one was with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and the remaining one was with
IFFCO. The Traffic Manager said the piplelines of the jetties had been damaged but added that five were being made operational. It would take at least a year to repair the damaged infrastructure as per the advise given by the Union Shipping Ministry and the IIT, Chennai. The port authorities were finalising the modalities before giving the contract to repair the damaged jetties. Mr Raju said piles (supporting structures beneath the jetties) had been damaged by the earthquake. The design of damaged godowns and jetties would be earthquake resistant, said an official at the port. |
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Rao defends decision New Delhi, February 20 Deposing before the Liberahan Commission probing the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya, Mr Rao said leaders like Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mr Jyoti Basu had suggested the imposition of President’s rule in the state, but the Governor had categorically opined against invoking Article 35 of the Constitution. Quoting the Governor’s report, Mr Rao said, “In my opinion, time is not right for taking such a drastic step like the dissolution of the state Assembly or the imposition of President’s rule.” The former Prime Minister said the Governor had enumerated six points in his report and none could be termed as a situation in which it could be said that the constitutional machinery had broken down in the state. About the role of the Central Government during that time, Mr Rao said the Home Secretary was doing whatever he could do on the phone. After 4p.m. when the final report of the demolition came, a Cabinet meeting was held and the President’s rule was imposed in Uttar Pradesh. When the counsel for the then District Magistrate of Faizabad, Mr I. B. Singh, asked Mr Rao if there was any specific intelligence report from the IB or any other official agency regarding any plan to demolish the structure, the former Prime Minister said, “Not any regular official agency.” Mr Rao, however, said he was aware of the rumours regarding plans to pull down the disputed structure and had asked the IB to verify them. During his deposition before the commission today, Mr Rao backtracked from the commitment he had made about reconstructing Babri Masjid on the same site by stating that he had just said the demolished structure would be built, but had not referred to the disputed site. |
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Lithuania backs India on UN seat New Delhi, February 20 Mr Adamkus, who had wide-ranging discussions with Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee on bilateral and international issues, told newspersons that Lithuania “fully supports India’s demand”. Holiday on March 10 New Delhi, February 20
A blow to Left movement New Delhi, February 20 Known for clarity of thought and ideological penetration, Mr Gupta was an outspoken person having a deep insight into public issues and impeccable language. A member of the Lok Sabha for the longest duration, Mr Gupta served as Union Home Minister in the H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral ministries. Recipient of the Best Parliamentarian Award in 1992, Mr Gupta was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1960 and was its member without a break except for a brief period between 1977 and 1980. He represented Midnapore in the present Lok Sabha. His stature as the oldest member earned him the position of pro tem Speaker in 1966, 1998 and 1999. As an opposition stalwart and leader of the CPI group, his speeches in the Lok Sabha were marked by force with moderation, criticism with reason and earned him the admiration of even his political opponents. As the Home Minister, Mr Gupta was blunt about the government’s failures and raised many an eyebrow among the treasury benches with his frank observations. Born on March 18, 1919, Mr Gupta had his education at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and King’s College, Cambridge. Joining the Communist Party of India in 1943, Mr Gupta rose to become its General Secretary in 1990, when he was 71. He held the office for six years. Active in the trade union movement, Mr Gupta was earlier the General Secretary of the All-India Trade Union Congress during 1980-90. He held the post of Vice-President of the World Federation of Trade Unions and became its President in 1998. Drawn to the Communist movement while he was in the UK during his student days, Mr Gupta went underground in India during 1948-50 when there was a crackdown on Communists. During his long stint in the Lok Sabha, Mr Gupta was a member of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. His victories in the Lok Sabha elections had always been marked by big margins. Mr Gupta has penned a few books on subjects like economics, defence and foreign affairs. These include “Capital and Labour in Jute Industry” and “Self Reliance in National Defence”. Widely travelled, Mr Gupta was a member of Indian parliamentary delegations to several countries. He was a delegate to the IPU conference in London in 1975 and in Madrid the next year. He was also a member of the Prime Minister’s delegation to Namibia in March, 1990. He is survived by wife Suraiya, a son and three daughters. In a condolence message, the CPI said Mr Gupta’s death was not only a loss to the Left movement but a loss to the entire nation. In a homage, the CPM Politburo expressed deep grief at the passing away of Mr Gupta. Mr Gupta was an exceptionally gifted parliamentarian, a statement said. 
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Curtain down on fleet review Mumbai, February 20 “As the ships left the port city, they carried out a “passex’’ — a passage exercise, where in the ships leaving the port in various formations, were photographed aerially,’’ Cdr R Madhusoodanan, the Navy Public Relations Officer said here. He said as the ships left the port and entered the blue waters they formed up and helicopters were launched and photographs were clicked from the choppers and the mighty warships sailed out in formations further strengthening the bond within the maritime community. The 25 ships from foreign navies started leaving for their next port-of-call since this morning, thus ending the international Fleet Review, 2001, and going back with sweet memories after building bridges of friendship. Men-of-war from as many as 30 countries came together in a gesture of peace and participated in the International Fleet Review. An international seminar on “Maritime Power Challenges in the 21st Century’’ was also held in which maritime experts across the globe deliberated on various areas of co-operation. Displaying the true sense of bilateral cooperation, many of the ships from the visiting countries brought along with them relief material for the quake-affected survivors of Gujarat.
UNI |
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No fresh taxes in Andhra Budget Hyderabad, February 20 The Finance Minister made it plain that with the entire state tax revenues going to meet the salaries and pensions, non-tax revenues going towards meeting non-plan O & M expenditure, the Central tax devolution not able to repay interest payments and other Central grants being used up for subsidies, “leaves us no other alternative but to borrow (net) Rs 8,429 crore from the Central Government, other financial institutions and the market to finance our plan outlay of Rs 8,991 crores.” The plan increase also was a meager 9.27 over last year’s Budget. But what the Finance Minister had not made plain was not raising new resources despite a reasonably good monsoon this year which, according to the State Economic Survey presented along with the Budget, is expected to increase rice production by 4.5 per cent to 111 lakh tonnes, oil seeds production by as much as 69 per cent to 23 lakh tonnes. However, there was a “significant deceleration in the industrial sector”. Though the services sector was performing well these negative factors in the industrial sector were expected to raise the state gross domestic product in 2000-01 only by 5.15 per cent which is below the national average of 6.6 per cent annual growth in the past five years. According to the Budget documents, the primary deficit which is the prime indicator of the fiscal reform has been going up from 2.4 per cent of the GSDP in 1999-2001 to 4.4 per cent in the current year and of the same order next year if the GSDP increases by the same rate as in the past by 5.2 per cent. Similarly, the fiscal deficit is expected to increase by 10.3 per cent next year from 8.7 per cent this year. The Finance Minister, however, announced some procedural reforms by integrating the Heads of Accounts to provide “greater flexibility to the Heads of the Departments.” He also announced enhanced ceilings on delegation of administrative and fiscal powers to the Secretaries and District Collectors. The sectors, which were assigned higher allocations in the Budget, including education by Rs 465 crore over the past year. While the Schedule Castes and the Schedule Tribes will get a higher allocation by Rs 155 crore, the backward classes will get Rs 82 crore more and the minorities will get Rs 15 crore more. The Women Development and Child Welfare Department was also given a priority and will get Rs 119 crore more. |
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NHRC notice to Delhi Govt New Delhi, February 20 The commission took cognisance of intimation received from the Deputy Commissioner of Police, North-East District stating that Mohd Irshad Khan had been beaten to death by the police. The victim was taken to the hospital where he was declared dead. Reports relating to post-mortem, magisterial inquiry and findings into the cause of death were called for and received on December 15. Meanwhile, the Commission also received a petition from the victim’s father alleging negligence and lack of cooperation by the police and the administration. In his report, the DCP stated that investigation into the case had established the guilt of two police constables who had beaten up Irshad while intervening in a scuffle. The Commission made it clear that the award of the relief would not in any manner prejudicially affect all or any of the accused who were to be tried or even the merits of the points which arose for determination during the trial. |
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Plan to close dept evokes
anger Hanumangarh, February 20 The president of the Observers Federation, Mr Sarabjeet Singh, has said the decision had put a question mark over the fixture of 340 instructors and 34 observers employed in the 240 informal education centres of the district. He said with the closing of these centres, nearly 8000 students studying in these centres would be deprived of formal education. |
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