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Wednesday,
May 2, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Tough task ahead for Uttaranchal FM No response from Dhaka yet Lobbying on for Howitzer contract
North heading for power crisis CBI claims breakthrough
in Garbeta case of WB |
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Cong takes
exception to Advani’s remarks
SC quashes verdict in rape
case IAS officer booked in rape case Jain saint dead Ramoowalia
opposes Sikh group in House
ASSEMBLY POLL KERALA CANDIDATE OUTSTANDING 1 killed, 28 hurt in TC-CPM
clashes Make right choice: Sonia
to voters EC for debate on exit poll Additional forces for
Assam
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Tough task ahead for Uttaranchal FM Dehra Dun, May 1 The Centre has already turned its back on the demands of the newly created state. Neither the special economic status has been granted to Uttaranchal nor a special economic package has been promised. In this situation, the Finance Minister has very little to gamble with. When contacted, Mr Nishank said the government’s endeavour would be to generate its own resources and manage with the current fiscal situation. Although, he did not say anything on imposing new taxes but it is obvious that the people of Uttaranchal will have to pay for parting ways with its parent state of Uttar Pradesh. Another problem that has made the work of Mr Nishank hard is the excise policy that does not seem to have worked in favour of the finances of the state. Scrapping the earlier tradition of selling liquor shops by auction and introducing the licence policy has almost flopped at the very initial stage. The state government has fixed a target of Rs 220 crore to be generated from the new excise policy but economic observers say that the revenue generated will not be more than Rs 150 crore. This will nearly hamper the planned Budget proposals of the state. Still more embarrasing is the fact that the state government is yet to announce its industrial policy. According to Mr Kedar Singh Fonia, Minister for Tourism, Industries and IT, it will take few more weeks to finalise the industrial policy of the state. In this situation, the Finance Minister’s task of introducing new taxes or going ahead with the same tax structure cannot work effectively. Mrs Indira Hriyadesh, Leader of the Congress Legistature Party in the Vidhan Sabha slammed the government by saying, “a government without any clear vision”. Similar, is the situation regarding the announcement of policies for other departments. The Finance Minister seems to be a victim of his own colleagues. Had all departments framed their policies, it would have been easier for him to announce a good Budget in terms of managing the finances. Although, the Opposition is weak in the Vidhan Sabha but the session is likely to be stormy. There are a number of issues for the Opposition to raise. From the Tehelka episode to issue of Tehri Dam, the ruling party has to prepare to defend themselves. Sources close to the Finance Minister disclosed that subsidies are likely to be cut down by 20 per cent or even more to save the money in the state exchequer. Certain taxes are also likely to be introduced to mop up extra Rs 150 crore. The major problem before the Finance Department is to provide the required amount for the rehabilitation of Tehri Dam oustees and pay salary/ pension to the government employees. The current situation is that the state government has not been able to pay the salaries to its employees for the past two months. According to the pre-schedule programme of the Business Advisory Committee of the Vidhan Sabha, the Finance Minister is laying the Budget proposals for the year 2001-2002 on the table of the House on May 3. Meanwhile, adequate security arrangements have been made in and around the Vidhan Sabha following threats from certain parties and organisations to demonstrate outside the House. |
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No response from Dhaka yet New Delhi, May 1 When asked about Dhaka’s response to New Delhi’s invitation, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, said the response had not come “yet”. The Ministry of External Affairs had sent a ‘note verbal’ yesterday to the Bangladesh High Commission asking the Bangladesh Government to send a team to discuss all pending issues related to the 1974 Indo-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement. In yesterday’s communication, New Delhi had also requested Bangladesh to suggest alternative dates if May 22-25 was not acceptable to Dhaka. New Delhi decided to make a move so that the contentious issues which are often exploited by “rogue” elements are settled now. Both India and Bangladesh are reportedly keen to diplomatically address the issues of demarcation of the remaining 6.5 km of the border and exchange of territories in “adverse possession” of each other. The two sides also have a number or common enclaves also. India decided to take the initiative after a conducive environment had been created by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who called up Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and said “sorry” last week. She had also indicated that she would soon be travelling to India. Meanwhile, Ms Hasina is going to be here on May 18 to inaugurate the new chancery building in the Capital. Ever since, the new Awami League government was installed in Dhaka, New Delhi had started persuading Bangladesh to settle the border issue and from December, 1999, a meeting between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries was sought. For reasons best known to Dhaka, a Foreign Secretary level meeting could take place in December, 2000, during which a decision was taken to set up two working groups to deal with the issue of demarcating the remaining 6.5 km stretch of 4000-km-long border and for exchange of territories in “adverse possession” of each other. |
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Lobbying on for Howitzer contract New Delhi, May 1 While Israel is already involved in the upgradation of field guns to the 155 mm level, South Africa had been involved in the supply of ammunition for the Howitzers while they did duty during the limited war India fought with Pakistan in 1999. Sources in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) point out not only to the possibility of the contract being allowed to lapse deliberately, but also to the fact that both Israeli and South African firms will be in line to gain as and when the contract is renegotiated by India. Besides, sources say, as and when the contract will be renegotiated, there will be a chance for the kickbacks, which the officials don’t rule out despite the expose in the Tehelka tapes. According to reports, South Africa had been approached by India at the height of Kargil war for the supply of various versions of shells used in the Howitzers. With India having imposed a ban on the Bofors, South Africa was approached for the supply of ammunition. South African firms supplied various categories of shells to the Indian Army worth more than Rs 100 crore during that period. Similarly the Israeli firms got involved in the upgradation of the 130 mm field guns with the Indian Army and are now wanting to sell not only spare parts, but also their own range of field guns similar to the Howitzers. The 130 mm guns are to be upgraded to 155 mm. It is here that the sources point out to the possibility of the contract with Bofors being allowed to lapse deliberately. This specially as the defence relations between India and Israel are on an upswing and changing the suppliers for various items for the 155 mm guns will not be as difficult. It was on March 25 that the 14-year-old contract with AB Bofors for the 155 mm guns lapsed. |
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North heading for power crisis New Delhi, May 1 Assocham has suggested to the Power Minister to constitute a high level monitoring cell to keep vigil so that impending crisis could be averted as the pressure might lead to another collapse. It says there is an urgent need to address the problems of low frequency operation of the regional grid due to mismatch in power availability and demand, lack of spinning reserve, lack of adequate redundancy in the transmission system, low voltage at nodal grid points due to inadequate capacitor installation and inadequate relief from the under frequency relays at the pre-set frequency levels. During April 2000 to April 2001, the northern region as a whole experienced energy and peak shortages of 6.7 per cent and 8.6 per cent respectively, the chamber said. During the same period, the different states of northern region experienced energy and peak shortage varying from 1.8 to 14 per cent and 0 to 21 per cent respectively, it said. The chamber has also suggested an initiation of preventive measures to ensure grid discipline by states by restricting their share from the grid in accordance with their allocated quota and grid requirements. Assocham said to avoid complete blackout situation, voltage profile could be improved upon. It could also be achieved by installation of additional shunt capacitors and setting up of shunt capacitor banks, enhancement of reliability of Rihand-Dadri HVDC system, and
modification and upgradation of protection scheme provided on 400 kv Dadri-Panipat line in Panipat.
UNI, PTI |
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CBI claims breakthrough
in Garbeta case of WB New Delhi, May 1 A high-level team of the CBI visited the site recently and recorded the statement of Bhuktir Mondal, main complainant in the case, besides identifying some of those involved, CBI sources told PTI here. The CBI began investigations into the incident and registered a case after the Calcutta High Court on a petition directed the transfer of the case to the agency. The case was registered by the West Bengal CID on the direction of the Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharrya, who had ruled out the demand by Trinamool Congress for a CBI probe. The agency has registered the case under Sections 302 (murder) and 148 and 149 (breach of public tranquillity) against unknown persons. The sources said a massive hunt had been launched to nab the accused identified in the case. The Trinamool Congress had alleged 11 of its workers were killed by activists of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) on January 5. However, their bodies were never found either by the local police or the CID Department. The agency sources said the state police had seized a number of empty cartridges, bullet heads, pipe bombs and remnants of blood-stained mufflers from the place of occurrence. The CBI sources said before moving ahead with the case it had to be first established whether any killings had taken place or not as none of the bodies had been recovered so far. The sources said Mr Mondal had alleged activists of rival political parties had taken away the bodies in two trucks immediately after the incident. The CBI sources said investigations would also be conducted in nearby areas and villages to ascertain if the bodies had been disposed of there. Interestingly, the People’s War Group, an insurgent outfit, had also claimed the killed people belonged to its outfit. Immediately after the incident the West Bengal Government had come out with a press note stating that during the fateful day “there might have been a clash at the village....but the 11 people alleged to be missing or dead” had been absconding for the past seven months — since June 2000 — as they were wanted in different criminal cases.
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Cong takes
exception to Advani’s remarks New Delhi, May 1 Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said today that Mr Advani’s statements were driven by politics. He claimed that the BJP-AGP combine was certain to be defeated in the forthcoming elections and the people could not be befooled by Mr Advani’s remarks. Reminding the BJP of its critical statements against the AGP government before the two reached an accord for the forthcoming poll, the Congress spokesman maintained that the BJP government seemed to using intelligence agencies for keeping a sharp eye on its political opponents but was slack on the national security. He said that the Tehelka expose and the incidents on the Bangladesh borders had raised questions about the functioning of intelligence
agencies. |
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SC quashes verdict in rape
case New Delhi, May 1 “We hold the judgement of the high court wholly unsustainable in law. We are unhesitatingly of the opinion that the Division Bench of the high court ought not to have interfered with the well reasoned, detailed and well-articulated judgement of the Sessions Court, wherein we find no infirmity,” observed Mr Justice R.C. Lahoti and Mr Justice Doraiswamy Raju of the Supreme Court. The accused Gian Chand had raped the girl on October 29, 1991, when the girl’s mother had gone to the field for collecting grass. The medico-legal examination of the girl stated the possibility of commission of rape could not be ruled out. The high court had released the accused on the grounds that he was suffering from schizophrenia, which is one of a group of several emotional disorders, usually psychotic proportions. The Sessions Court, however, had found the plea of the accused of schizophrenia of no significance. The apex court observed that “we are persuaded to hold even prima facie that the accused was suffering from unsoundness of mind and that too of a nature which would have rendered him incapable of distinguishing between wrong or right as per law.” Holding Gian Chand guilty under Section 376 of the IPC the Supreme Court directed him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs 5000. |
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IAS officer booked in rape case Bilaspur, May 1 The case against the officer, Mr Vinod Katela, presently posted in Madhya Pradesh, has been registered on the complaint of the Tribal Welfare Department’s upper division teacher and superintendent of Post Metric Hostel in Bilaspur district. The woman has also filed a petition in the high court in this regard. The woman in his complaint said Mr Katela, who was then posted as the Chief Executive Officer in the zila panchayat, invited her to his residence on the pretext of arranging a party and raped her. However, their marriage was later solemnised in a temple, she said, adding that after exploiting her for one-and-a-half years, Mr Katela refused to accept her as his wife. As the case made no progress for five months after the filing of a complaint by the woman at the Tarbahar Police Station, she filed a petition in the high court, seeking directions from the court to the police to register a case.
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Jain saint dead New Delhi, May 1 Announcing this here, Shri S.S. Jain Sabha spokesman Rajendra Jain said the end came at 1 pm at the Jain Sthanak in Rishabh Vihar near the Karkardooma Courts in East Delhi. He said the last rites will take place tomorrow at the Nigambodh Ghat cremation ground. The body will be taken from the Jain Sthanak at 10 am. After receiving Jain Bhagwati Diksha 60 years ago, the religious leader had taken the preachings of Lord Mahavira to people in different parts of the country.
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Ramoowalia
opposes Sikh group in House New Delhi, May 1 The proposal, Mr Ramoowalia said, was mooted by the Vice-Chairman of the National Minorities Commission. It was fraught with dangerous consequences as it was against the spirit of the Constitution and would isolate the Sikh community on communal lines, the leader of the United Parliamentary Group said. Mr Ramoowalia said the MPs were elected by a joint electorate and there was no such group in Parliament which existed on the basis of religion. The MP pointed out that in the past several non-Sikh influential MPs and other national leaders fought for the cause of the Sikhs and Punjabis. |
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L.M. Mehta moved
to Plan panel New Delhi May 1 |
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R.P. Kathuria New Delhi, May 1 Among others who have been
felicitated are Justice A.H. Ahmadi, Justice Ranganath Mishra, constitutional expert, Mr Janak Raj and Senior Advocate, G.B. Pai.
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ASSEMBLY POLL KERALA Thiruvananthapuram, May 1 Electioneering has been somewhat in low key on May Day and there is apprehension that intense factionalism in the Congress can be the dampener for the UDF. The anger of former Chief Minister and old war horse K. Karunakaran is yet to die down against the Congress high command for not giving a ticket to his daughter, Padmaja. While there is no doubting the clean image of the UDF chief ministerial aspirant A.K. Anthony who is expected to win the Cherthala seat without major hiccups, doubts are being raised if he can deliver the goods. Though Mr Anthony has the backing of the leaders in the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, the 77-year-old Mr Karunakaran has wide support among the rank and file of the Congress. Significantly Congress president Sonia Gandhi is not campaigning in the strongholds of Mr Karunakaran in Trichur and Cochin. That is bound to add a new dimension to the Congress campaign to bring to the fore the serious cracks between Mrs Gandhi and Mr Karunakaran even though the latter has not put up any rebel candidates. At the same time it is widely acknowledged that Mr Karunakaran will be a real thorn in the flesh in case the UDF bounced back to power in Kerala. On the other hand, LDF’s Chief Minister-designate V.S. Achutanandan has unleashed the cadres of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) who are using strong arm tactics to cow down their rivals. This is evident especially in North Kerala where the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh has been hyperactive over the past two years. There is widespread concern that in the last five years the LDF has deeply penetrated virtually all spheres of activity in this highly literate and politically conscious southern state. For one, there are widespread allegations that the LDF has managed the electoral rules to their advantage. Reports have appeared saying that lakhs of voters are suddenly finding their names deleted from the rolls. On the economic front, the LDF remains committed to heavy state presence. Not allowing private investment in education, for instance, remains LDF’s policy. Their strategy is to cooperatise just about everything, especially industry and education, to establish their stranglehold in the key areas of the economy. With economic reforms being the buzzword all around, there is deep concern that if the LDF regains power in Kerala the state will sink to the depths like Bihar. Already business and corporate entities are finding the environment unbearing and moving out of Kerala. The LDF is not unduly worried on the ground that only those captains of industry are moving out who are exploiting the working class. Interestingly the LDF has not fielded many of its stalwarts the most notable among them being Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar and some other ministerialists whose performance has been noteworthy. At the same time there are murmurs that there is a covert understanding between the UDF and the BJP which is yet to open its account in the Kerala Assembly. There is a possibility of the BJP breaking the jinx this time. This is the 12th election to the Kerala Assembly with the polling date of May 10. The state assembly has a strength of 140 and the current party strength of the LDF and UDF are 81 and 59 respectively.  |
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CANDIDATE OUTSTANDING Kolkata She is Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, ‘golden girl’ of Bengal, who won
two gold medals for India at the 1998 Asian Games in 800 metre and
1,500 metre races. Now she has been fighting as CPM candidate against
Shankar Singh of Congress-TMC alliance from Ranaghat West in Nadia
district, south Bengal. Mr Shankar Singh, a former Naxalite leader,
who was in jail with Azizul Haque and Saroj Dutt during the Naxalite
movement in the 70s, is the sitting Congress MLA, who won the seat in
the ’96 election with 4,122 votes. In 1999 Lok Sabha poll also, a
TMC candidate, Ananda Mohan Biswas, had a winning margin of 4000 votes
over Asim Bala, the sitting CPM MP. Ms Sikdar never thought of
joining politics and was happy with her coach-husband Avtaar Singh
leading a family life like many other middle-class families. But it
was “Subhasda (Sports Minister, Subhas Chakraborty), who inspired me
to join the CPM and fight elections,” she said, adding when a formal
proposal came from the party, she readily accepted the challenge. Ms
Sikdar is personally grateful to Mr Subhas Chakraborty but for his
help and cooperation it could not have been possible for her to take
part in the ’98 Asian Games. “And I will never forget the love and
warmth bestowed on me by Subhasda and others when I returned home with
two gold medals from the Asiad,” Jyotirmoyee admits. She does not
know if her success in the Asian Games would be of any use for her
winning the battle of ballot, but still she has taken it as a prestige
issue and as a sportswoman, she says she would fight to the last to
wrest the Assembly seat from the Congress as she did win two gold
medals in the Asian Games. Ms Sikdar, a resident of central Kolkata,
has now been camping at Ranaghat town and spending at least 15 to 16
hours a day campaigning for her victory. She says she does not belong
to the party and hence she, accompanied by her husband Avtar, has been
doing her own style of campaigning, which, she believed, would bring
about win. “But I must say I have no complaint against the party
leaders and workers who have been helping me a lot, which will add to
my victory,” Sikdar says. On April 21, Mr Jyoti Basu and Mr Anil
Biswas addressed an election meeting at Ranaghat College grounds where
Jyotirmoyee had been introduced to the people by Basu as “our pride
girl” and asked them to get her elected, adding “she would be our
future Sports Minister.” She is determined to serve the people and
the party till the last days of life as she is convinced it is only
the CPM-led front which could really do something good for the people
in the state. Incidentally, Jyotirmoyee has been an employee of
Eastern Railway and got the job on special sports quota during Mr
Ghani Khan Chowdhury’s tenure as Railway Minister in the
mid-eighties. Her husband, Avtaar, an athlete, is also a Railway
employee. Jyotirmoyee, however, recently resigned to contest the
elections. Jyotirmoyee’s rival, Shankar, however, is no less an
important person. During the heyday of Naxalite activities in the
state in the seventies, Shankar had been on the police hit-list and an
award of Rs 10 lakh was on his head. But he went underground for two
years and then surrendered before the police. However, when Mr Jyoti
Basu’s government came to power in 1977, he along with other
undertrial prisoners, had been pardoned and freed and for that matter,
Shankar remained grateful to CPM and became its follower. But
afterwards, differences in the local CPM leadership forced him to
sever ties with the party and join hands with the Congress. Shankar
has been close to Somen Mitra, who had sheltered him in the Congress.
He has acted like Congress strongman in Nadia district for the past
one decade. During the party’s division and formation of the
Trinamool Congress, Shankar sided with Mitra and became a target of
wrath of Ms Mamata Banerjee. But he did not bother. He says he would
continue to show his allegiance to Mitra. Fortunately, Shankar has
been the unanimous choice of the Congress and the Trinamool Congress
and he is confident he would retain the seat again. |
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1 killed, 28 hurt in TC-CPM clashes Howrah, May 1 CPM supporters blocked the Howrah-Amta state highway for six hours this morning after the body of a 15-year-old boy, Bapi Khan, missing for three days, was found near a cinema house in Dhulabari village under the Amta police station last night, the police said. The body bore stab injuries, the sources said. A local CPM leader, Mr Manabendra Ray, alleged the boy had been abducted and killed by Trinamool Congress (TC) activists bearing a grudge against his grandfather, Mr Robin Khan, the CPM ‘Upapradhan’ of the panchayat. The police, who intervened to lift the blockade, said, one person was arrested in connection with the boy’s death. Meanwhile, president of the TC Amta assembly constituency, Mr Biswanath Laha, denied the CPM allegation and claimed the Marxists had put up posters charging the TC candidate for the seat, Mr Ashok Majhi, of being responsible for the killing. Mr Laha said a complaint would be lodged with the Chief Electoral Officer against the objectionable posters. CPM supporters attacked a TC office with bricks and iron rods at Khila village of Udainarainpur police station yesterday, ransacking the office injuring 12 TC processionists in the process, the police said. Two CPM supporters were arrested and five others were detained in this connection, they said. In another incident, 16 persons were injured, eight of them seriously, in bomb-throwing by the CPM and TC-Congress supporters in the last three days in Sarda village under the Amta police station, the sources said. Eight of the injured were hospitalised, the sources said. The police said none could be arrested as the culprits escaped. PTI |
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Make right choice: Sonia to voters Kannur, May 1 Launching the first leg of her poll campaign in the state by addressing a largely attended public meeting here, she accused the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) of having perpetuated a cult of violence with the administration taking sides and the police standing by. It had also neglected the state’s public sector undertakings, plundered the state exchequer and failed to attract industrial investments resulting in growing unemployment among the state’s educated youth. What Kerala, she alleged, how desparately needed was the expertise to handle its finances which the Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF) was capable of providing. If the UDF was voted to power in the May 10 assembly elections, it would strive to fulfil its election manifesto, she said. Offering the people and the working class of Kerala her May Day greetings, she said the UDF was committed to ensuring speedy industrial development and bringing in more investment into the state. Ms Gandhi said the UDF would also strive to strengthen the state’s agricultural sector, concentrate on information technology and biotechnology and start more professional colleges in the state and provide social security to weaker sections of society. Congress leader and former Chief Minister K. Karunankaran also addressed the gathering. Ms Gandhi later left for Sulthan Bathery by helicopter.
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EC for debate on exit poll New Delhi, May 1 Asked about such poll, Dr Gill said while the Election Commission abided by the 1999 Supreme Court verdict which held that the EC had no powers to ban publication of opinion and exit poll, it still felt that there was a need to debate the issue. ‘’As far as the EC is concerned the Supreme Court has spoken and we obey it. But the matter is still open. I had said it even in 1999 that it is necessary for all our major political parties to discuss in a calm manner, either within or outside Parliament, whether the current situation is for the best running of Indian democracy,’’ the CEC said. The Election Commission had during the month-long voting for the 13th Lok Sabha elections in September-October 1999 barred the publication of opinion and exit poll until the last ballots were cast on October 3, arguing these could unfairly affect voting behaviour. The guidelines, first issued on February 21, 1998 and reiterated on August 20, 1999, became controversial with certain newspapers flouting them and even the government expressing the view that these infringed on the freedom of expression guaranteed under the Constitution. The Supreme Court, which was moved by the commission to enforce the implementation of its guidelines, dismissed its petition and ruled it did not lie within the commission’s powers to bar the publication of such poll.
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Additional forces for
Assam New Delhi, May 1 According to sources, the commission also decided to strengthen central forces’ strength in all sensitive areas in Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry to ensure free and fair poll. Assam, where six Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) workers were killed and over 12 injured, including the ruling party candidate from the Barpeta constituency Kumar Dipak Das recently by suspected ULFA militants, will be brought under an
unprecedented security cover with the deployment of at least 300 columns of security personnel, comprising the Army, paramilitary and police forces. |
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