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Friday,
June 8, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Trinamool
Cong heading for split PM rules out politics in
ties with West Bengal
Border
talks with B’desh on June 12 12 CRPF
men hurt in attack by ULFA Govt fails
on all fronts |
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Uttaranchal
to promote dairy development
Uttaranchal
gets Disability Commissioner Amarnath
Yatra security plans Organ
regeneration method developed Pak
envoy clarifies remarks 1 held
on charge of sending hoax e-mail
Bank
employees to observe strike on July 4 3-yr RI
for bank manager, 3 others 2 NLFT
insurgents surrender
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Trinamool Cong heading for split Kolkata, June 7 But the party is divided on the issue of re-joining the NDA, BJP as well as NDA leadership also is divided on Ms Mamata Banerjee’s taking back to the NDA. At least six of the eight MPs and the majority of the party MLAs have now come out in the open in making the demand for snapping ties with the Congress and rejoining the NDA. They say it was wrong on Ms Mamata Banerjee’s part to suddenly resign from the Vajpayee ministry and make poll understanding with the Congress on the eve of the Assembly elections in Bengal. They further demand that the party should re-join the NDA without delay. Otherwise, they themselves would form a separate block and join hands with Mr Vajpayee. TMC MPs like Dr Nitish Sengupta, Mr B.K. Sarker, Mrs Krishna Bose, Dr Ranjit Panja (Ajit Panja’s elder brother) and Mr Jayanta Bhattacharyya (TMC supported Rajya Sabha MP) are openly criticising the decision. The rebel TMC MP, Mr Ajit Kumar Panja, had all through been against the decision and opposed Ms Banerjee’s decision to join hands with the Congress. Dr Sengupta and Mr Sarker — the two former bureaucrats also refused to accompany Ms Banerjee to her meeting with the AICC President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi in Delhi. They were, however, present at the TMC’s meeting with Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani. Party sources admit that there has been a strong demand by a large section of the TMC leaders and workers to immediately join the NDA which would help the party protect the lives and properties of thousands of their workers and supporters, who were homeless in several districts following torture and suffering atrocities at the hands of the CPM workers and the police. Mr Pankaj Banerjee, MLA, chairman of the party’s policy-making body and also Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, said they would once again discuss the matter after the month-long monsoon session of the Assembly, which begins from June 18. Ms Mamata Banerjee, squarely blamed by the majority of leaders for their debacle in the Assembly poll, has been keeping silent. |
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PM rules out politics in
ties with West Bengal Kolkata, June 6 Mr Vajpayee said there could be political differences between the two governments in power at the Centre and the state, but on administrative manners good relationship between the two was necessary for the interest of both. With the assurance of reciprocating the same, Mr Bhattacharyya told the Prime Minister that they too wanted a good Centre state relationship and were against any
unnecessary confrontation. After returning to the city on Monday, Mr Bhattacharyya informally briefed some of his senior Cabinet colleagues at Writers’ Buildings about his meeting with the Prime Minister. This was Mr Bhattacharyya’s first meeting with the Prime Minister after assuming the office, which had been officially described as “courtesy and warming-up meeting”. The meeting which lasted for about 30 minutes, was held at the Prime Minister’s
Office. Mr Bhattacharyya also called on the Home Minister, Mr L.K.
Advani, and discussed about the state’s law and order problems, particularly relating to Kamtapuris movement in north Bengal and ISI activities in the state. In his meeting with Mr
Vajpayee, the Chief Minister apprised him of the plight of thousands of workers who were facing unemployment following the Centre’s decision to close down 59 collieries in the
Asansol- Raniganj belt and selling out of seven public-sector undertakings to private sector. Mr
Vajpayee, however, did not give any assurance of reconsidering the
decision. |
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Border talks with B’desh on June 12 New Delhi, June 7 Announcing the visit of the Bangladesh officials, a spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said today that an Indian team would visit Dhaka for further talks subsequently. The team of Bangladesh officials would arrive here on the evening of June 11, he said. The spokesman had earlier said that a proposal from Bangladesh for back-to-back visit of officials of the two countries was under active consideration of the Government of India. Tragic events at the Indo-Bangladesh border last month, which resulted in the gruesome killing of BSF personnel by the Bangladesh Rifles
(BDR), could not just be dismissed as a mere border skirmish but were a conscious effort to bedevil the improving bilateral ties between the two South Asian
neighbours. In this backdrop, the visit for discussing issues of undemarcated portions of the common border and exchange of enclaves and territories in adverse possession became imperative. While these two issues have remained unresolved even after the signing of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement, the two governments had agreed to set up two joint Boundary Working Groups during the then Bangladesh Foreign Secretary C.M.Shafi Sami’s visit to New Delhi on December 13-14 last year. Soon thereafter, New Delhi had also proposed terms of reference for the joint groups but Dhaka dragged its feat in sending its response. Soon after the incidents at Pyrdiwah and
Boroibari, New Delhi had proposed the meeting between the officials of the two countries so that the two joint groups could begin their work and had also proposed May 22-25 as possible dates for the meeting. Pyrdiwah village, according to official survey records, where the incident had occurred, is mentioned as Bangladeshi territory under the “adverse possession” of India. Similarly, Baroibari in
Mancachar, where the BSF jawans were killed, is referred as Indian territory in “adverse possession” of Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh have a 4000-km long common border, of which a majority has been demarcated, barring 6.5 km of stretches in Assam, Tripura and West Bengal which is yet to be demarcated. According to official records, there are 2748.16 acres of Indian territory in adverse possession of Bangladesh and similarly 2922.25 acres of Bangladeshi territory is in adverse possession of India. Exchange of territory under “adverse possession” between New Delhi and Dhaka, particularly at a time when even bilateral ties are “favourable and friendly” has not been possible because of number of reasons. |
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12 CRPF men hurt in attack by
ULFA Guwahati, June 7 Ultras of the banned outfit simultaneously attacked the CRPF camp and nearby Dhupdhara police station firing from rocket launchers and AK-47 rifles, injuring 12 of the 70 paramilitary personnel housed in the camp early this morning. The extremists fired two rockets with one of them penetrating the barrack and damaging its tin roof, walls and fans injuring 12 CRPF men sleeping there. The sentries on duty reacted promptly and fired back forcing the activists to retract and flee, the sources added. The police from Goalpara told PTI here that a group of ULFA ultras also attacked the nearby police station and fired from automatic weapons shattering its glass window panes. The policemen retaliated and exchanged fire for about an hour till 3 am. There was no casualty or injury among the policemen. The casualty or injury among the ultras was not immediately known as they escaped, the police said. The injured have been admitted to Guwahati Medical College and Hospital. Meanwhile, security measures have been stepped up and search operations launched to trace the activists, the police said. Today’s attack was the second one on police stations after Monday night’s assault ever since the Tarun
Gogoi-led Congress ministry took over last month. ULFA militants attacked Patacharkuchi police station in lower Assam’s Barpeta district with rockets and AK-47 assault rifles on Monday injuring two passersby and breaking glass window panes of the police station and a nearby residential quarter. On Sunday, 10 adivasi woodcutters were killed by banned NDFB militants in lower Assam’s Kokrajhar district. Another woodcutter, who was among the 25-member group which went into the remote Lungsung reserve forest, was reported missing. The NDFB militants, who had imposed a ban on tree felling in the
Bodo-dominated areas, were suspected to have come from their nearby camps in the Bhutan hills.
PTI |
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Govt fails on all fronts Ahmedabad, June 7 The Prime Minister’s visit might have come as a breather for the state government looking to the Centre to bail it out of the mess it had created for itself in the post-quake period. However, the public fury against the government for non-performance and laxity continues unabated. With the euphoria of the Prime Minister visit still to die down in the BJP camp, little attention has been paid to the substance of the speech. The rap for non-removal of debris has hardly elicited a response. The government is yet to formulate a blueprint for hastening removal of debris which lies untouched in most villages while work goes on at a snail’s pace in the rest. Though non-removal of debris is uppermost in the minds of the public, they have every reason to vent their ire on the government for being unable to put a coordinated and concerted effort to meet the challenge of the forthcoming monsoon season. Whether it is schools, houses, relief material or sanitation, the government had failed miserably. With no place to take cover, villagers are forced to take shelter in potential death-traps — their own cracked houses. This comes despite stern warnings and threats of arrest by the state government. Already, a couple of downpours led to collapse of buildings bringing death in its wake. The villagers claim that they have nothing but the crumbling houses to shield them from the vagaries of the weather in a state where individual efforts to rebuild villages are few and far between. Meanwhile, the government announcement of the 2000-01 academic session commencing from June 14 has evoked little response from the public. While the construction of new buildings has been taken up only in a handful of villages, repairs, villagers claim are nothing more than a touch-up to hide the scars of the quake. Contending that it would be risky to send the children to such buildings especially in the monsoons, the Education Department is likely to suffer another blow. Another instance where the government seems to be out of touch with the ground reality is that for schools operating in tents and the open, monsoons would mean another month’s holiday for the students. Had it not been for the collective effort of the non-government agencies, foreign and individual efforts to provide reprieve to the public, the government would have been nowhere as far as rehabilitation was concerned. The saving grace has been that there are many instances where NGOs are carrying out the task, sparing the government of public fury. The sanitation situation in villages is no better with officials of the Health Department yet to distribute chlorination tablets in rural areas to control an epidemic threat. While officials claim that the “operation health” programme has already taken off, the public belie the statements of the government agencies. The government, despite help in cash and kind pouring in from all quarters, has failed to get its act together. Revisiting the quake-ravaged towns still reminds one of the day after the quake. Nothing has changed except that people have returned to places which were beginning to look ghost towns. Also, the state’s BJP government stands exposed. The public has nothing more to say. |
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Uttaranchal to promote dairy development Dehra Dun, June 7 Talking to The Tribune, Mr R.S. Tolia, Principal Secretary, Forests, Rural Development, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development, said the cooperative milk sector in Uttaranchal was selling 70,000 litres of milk,675 kg of ghee, 115 kg of butter, 200 kg of cheese, cream and curd every day. Thus, the average marketing of milk and milk products in the cooperative sector per day was nearly Rs 12 lakh. Cooperative milk societies had been set up in all districts of Uttaranchal. These societies had been providing technical input relating milk production to rural milk producers, marginal farmers and weaker sections, especially the women. The societies also ensure reasonable price of milk to the producers. He said presently 90,267 milk producers were being benefited through 1725 rural cooperative milk societies on 115 milk routes. There were 10 purchasing cooperative agencies in the state. A 90,000 litres per day capacity processing unit was also being run the cooperative sector, he added. He, however, admitted that the pace of progress in the dairy sector in the state had been very poor over the past 50 years. In Kumaon and Garhwal regions of Uttaranchal, only 18 per cent villages could be covered so far by the cooperative sector. Therefore, efforts of the state government would be of focus on strengthening the dairy sector and speedup the development programmes keeping in view the topography of hills, social scenario, resources and potential, he said. He said the government would also ensure protection of the rights of consumers through the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. In order to achieve the end, the Dairy Development Department had been directed to collect samples of milk and milk products from traders, cooperative and private dairies to ensure quality distribution of milk and its products. Mr Tolia said there was also a proposal under the consideration of the state government to impose cess and issue licences for milk trade to make it a source of income for the state exchequer. The trade of milk and milk products from other states would also be regularised by imposing levy, he added. The cooperative movement was started in Garhwal and Kumaon regions of Uttaranchal with the establishment of the Milk Production Cooperative Association at Haldwani (Nainital) in 1949. Cooperative associations were set up at Almora and Dehra Dun in 1954 and 1955, respectively. Later, the cooperative movement spread in the areas of Pithoragarh, Kotdwar, Tehri, Chamoli and Uttarakashi as well. The refrigeration plants, at first, were established in 1976 at Pithoragarh and Kotdwar. |
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Uttaranchal gets Disability Commissioner New Delhi, June 7 Sources in the office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities
(CCPD) told TNS that the State Additional Secretary, Social Welfare, Mr Sunder
Lal, had been entrusted the additional charge of Disability
Commissioner. The Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Dr Uma
Tuli, reportedly pointed out during a meeting in Dehra Dun last week that
Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh did not have Disability Commissioners. Dr Tuli plans to visit Chandigarh to assess whether the city needs a Disability Commissioner. |
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Amarnath Yatra security plans New Delhi, June 7 A meeting held at the Home Ministry office here yesterday also decided to deploy adequate security forces enroute the yatra, beginning July 5, a Home Ministry spokesman told newspersons today. While the security forces would be sensitised that pilgrims were not put to unnecessary inconvenience, all potential pilgrims would be advised to study the safety precautions issued by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. He said strict watch would be maintained to ensure that only persons with valid permissions were allowed to proceed from Jammu four to five days in advance of the date of darshan. To prevent misuse of registration slips, this year registration slips have been coded so that pilgrims with permission for one set of dates do not try to perform the yatra ahead of schedule, he informed. Regarding “langer” it was decided that all “langer” operators who had valid permission to operate along the Amarnath Yatra route last year and who applied before the cut-off date, June 10, 2001, would be given permission to operate this year as well at the same site as last year, he said. |
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Organ regeneration method developed New Delhi, June 7 Dr B.G. Matapurkar, currently a senior faculty member of Delhi’s Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), has been granted a US patent for developing a technique which holds promise for doing away with organ and tissue transplants. “No donors are required and as the body forms tissues and organs from its own cells, there is no problem of acceptance of foreign body, a problem associated with transplant”, Dr Matapurkar told newspersons here today. Dr Matapurkar said pluripotent stem cells selected from autogenous body tissues like peritoneum and gut were selected and colonised with the tissue organ systems in the body using specialised surgical techniques. The cells were allowed to undergo metaplastic transformation for a period of two to three months and neo organ and tissue formation of aponeurosis, ureter, fallopian tube and uterus had been achieved in dogs and monkeys. The Union Minister for Science and Technology, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, said it was a pathbreaking technique. |
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Pak envoy clarifies remarks New Delhi, June 7 In a clarification issued here today, the High Commissioner made it clear that he would not be drawn into any controversy on any issue on which there might be different points of view of the two sides. According to a High Commission press note, Mr Qazi emphasised during his discussion programme on UTV “Talk Back” that he expected a successful and a trouble-free visit. “The media should not create problems where we do not anticipate any,” the press note quoted Mr Qazi as saying. |
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1 held on charge of sending
hoax e-mail New Delhi, June 7 The suspect, Joseph Jose, sent the e-mail yesterday from the Internet account of a company situated at Bhikaji Cama Place in south-west Delhi. He obtained the password of the Internet account from his friend, who used to be an employee of the company, the Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), Mr Qamar Ahmed, said. In the e-mail sent to a newspaper office, the suspect warned the police: “Make sure that Connaught Place does not open today for any commercial activity. There are at least six bombs in the Connaught Place and its vicinity. There are sophisticated heat detecting devices, capable of mass destruction. The BSF camp was a curtain raiser.” The director of the company whose password was used to send the e-mail has lodged a complaint against the suspect. The suspect has been remanded to police custody for two days, Mr Ahmed said. The Delhi Police bomb squad and dog squad reached the spot and combed entire Connaught Place and other suspected areas, but nothing was recovered. |
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Bank employees to observe strike on July 4 New Delhi, June 7 “In this situation, we are left with no option but to call upon all employees and officers to observe a nationwide bank strike,” a statement of the United Forum of Bank Unions, representing nine bank unions and over 10 lakh employees, said here. |
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3-yr RI for bank manager, 3 others New Delhi, June 7 The Special Judge found all the accused guilty for the offence and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment (RI) for three years each and to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 each, a CBI press note said here today. Others who have been convicted include B. Sreekala, proprietor of M/s Radha Cashew Traders, Kollam, T.K. Muraleedharan Pillai and T.K. Vijaykumar. The CBI investigation revealed that Johar had abused his official position while working as Manager of Punjab and Sind Bank’s Kollam branch and entered into a conspiracy with Sreekala and Muraleedharan in the matter of allowing packing credit advances without a proper letter of credit. Sreekala and Pillai had got loans sanctioned by the bank after producing forged documents and Johar issued a bank guarantee for Rs 30 lakh in the name of a fictitious firm. |
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Agartala, June 7 The two self-styled area commanders of the outfit-Hiren Debbarma
and Nayan Mohan Tripura-laid down their arms before the Subdivisional
Police Officer of Langtrrai valley and deposited two Chinese grenades
yesterday, the police said.
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