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August 27, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Probe into Jagmohan’s ‘corruption’ sought Enron CEO writes to Vajpayee BKU blocks traffic to Hardwar
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President advised rest to recoup Newly
wed killed by in-laws
BJP intensifies drive to oust MC
chief CBI
questions Tehelka reporter Weekly exposed Tehelka sex angle in March
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Probe into Jagmohan’s ‘corruption’ sought New Delhi, August 26 Addressing a news conference here, Mr Josh accused Mr Jagmohan of launching political vendetta against him and the ICWA. Mr Josh alleged that early last year Mr Jagmohan had asked him to make the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre partners of the ICWA which was then operating from the prime location property Sapru House at Barakhamba Road. Mr Jagmohan also advised him to join the BJP. Mr Josh said because he rejected both these requests, Mr Jagmohan launched a campaign of vendetta against him and the ICWA. This led to the Centre taking over the ICWA through an ordinance on September 1, 2000. Mr Josh said when the ICWA ordinance lapsed on December 31, 2000, the government repromulgated the ordinance on January 5 this year, which too lapsed on April 2. Again on May 8, the third ordinance was promulgated, which according to Mr Josh, was against the judgments of the Supreme Court. Mr Josh contended that from April 3 to May 7 this year, the government was illegally possessing Sapru House. The elected body of the ICWA took possession of Sapru House on April 4, 2001, after serving notice in this regard to External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. The same evening, a strong contingent of police descended on Sapru House and “forcibly took possession” of the building from a duly elected body and a “false” case was registered against the ICWA. Mr Josh alleged that after having “saffronised” the ICCR, ICCSR, the Indian Council for Historical Research and Indira Gandhi Art Centre, the government was now eyeing the ICWA. “This can only be stopped by the intervention of progressive parties in the Rajya Sabha,” Mr Josh said in a nine-page appeal, dated August 24, to the Rajya Sabha members. Mr Josh also argued that Mr Jagmohan had no locus standi to introduce a Bill regarding the ICWA in Parliament as he was the Union Urban Development Minister and the building in dispute — Sapru House — was in possession of the Ministry of External Affairs. |
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Enron CEO writes to Vajpayee Mumbai, August 26 In a letter to Mr Vajpayee, Enron Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lay said the dispute ought to be settled. Either the government or financial institutions should buy Enron’s 65 per cent stake in the DPC, he said. Dr Lay clarified that he had not approached anyone in the US government to consider imposing new sanctions on India if the company and its partners were denied the $1 billion spent on building the project in Maharashtra. An interview published in the Friday issue of the Financial Times of London had quoted him as saying that “there are US laws that could prevent the US Government from providing any aid or assistance or other things to India if, they expropriate property of US companies.”
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BKU blocks traffic to Hardwar Hardwar, August 26 The only route open to the holy pilgrimage centre is via the railways. But the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) led by Mr Mohinder Singh Tikait, which is spearheading the agitation, today declared that they would also block the rail route to the holy city. Thousands of farmers owing allegiance to the BKU has put up their tractor-trailers on the Delhi-Hardwar highway to block the traffic. A long stretch of the road has been dug up so that no vehicle could cross that way. The blockade has been put up at the Manglora Chowk. Although a strong posse of the Uttaranchal police has been put up there, but they seem to be helpless before the BKU activities. The farmers have taken a vow that they would not lift the blockade till the Union Government announced the exclusion of Hardwar from Uttaranchal. The Uttaranchal administration tried to divert the traffic through link routes of the rural areas. But the BKU activists since yesterday had blocked those routes also. The BKU agitationists had also put up blockade at the Rampur Tiraha chowk near Muzzaffarnagar. A visit to the site by The Tribune reporter showed that Hardwar could be reached only via Dehra Dun by road from the Saharanpur side. The Uttaranchal Chief Minister, Mr Nitya Nand Swami, who visited Hardwar yesterday declared that the agitationists would be strongly dealt with and would not be allowed to block the national highways. However, despite the declarations of the Chief Minister, the police seem to be panicky and hesitant to act against the BKU activists as they enjoy popular support. The BKU supremo, Mr Mohinder Singh Tikait, visited the blockade site at Manglora yesterday. He is reported to have told the agitationists that they should be ready to block the rail route also. All three legislators from the district have also declared their support to the BKU. The BJP legislator Kazi Mohiuddin, and Mr Ram Singh Saini and Mr Ambrish Kumar of the Samajwadi Party have come out in support of the blockade openly. They have launched a campaign in the rural areas to prepare the farmers for a long-drawn struggle against the Centre. As a result all rural road routes have also been blocked. The local shopkeepers are panicky as the number of pilgrims have gone down. It used to be a “Bengali season” in Hardwar these days as a large number of Bengalis visited Hardwar during these days before the ‘Durga puja’ festival days in West Bengal. But because of the blockade the pilgrims’ rush is not there. |
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Mother Teresa remembered Kolkata, August 26 Superior General of the
Missionaries of Charity Sister Nirmala and Mayor Subrata Mukherjee took part in the prayer, organised by the All-India Peace Council. Mr Mukherjee recalled his meeting with the Mother and said her work had always inspired him. He supported the council’s demand for naming one of the roads in the metropolis after the Mother. PTI |
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IB to probe Ahmedabad violence Ahmedabad, August 26 “This was decided by Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel at a meeting in Gandhinagar”, BJP Vice-President Madan Lal Khurana, who is in charge of the party affairs in the state, told reporters here today. He alleged that some “Islamic fundamentalist organisations had deliberately made an issue out of non-issue to spark off communal clashes in sensitive areas of the city.” An unknown organisation gave a call for a bandh over the beating up of some Muslim hawkers near the Cadila bridge 20 days ago even as the Ahmedabad Muslim Traders’ Mandal wrote to the Police Commissioner that it was not supporting the strike call and had nothing to do with it, Mr Khurana said. The sponsors of the bandh call were unknown and had printed inflammatory pamphlets bearing no name of the publisher and printers, he said adding that one person died in the police firing, three shops were burnt in the Kalupur area and a shed of a temple in Mirzapur area was damaged in the violence. Meanwhile, the indefinite curfew clamped in Dariapur locality following yesterday’s disturbances, was relaxed between 4 pm and 6 pm today for women and children due to improvement in situation.
PTI
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President advised rest to recoup New Delhi, August 26 Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesman Satish Nambudiripad, in a clarification on reports expressing concern over Mr Narayanan’s health, said the President
responded well to the treatment for viral infection and generalised muscular weakness at the Army hospital where he was admitted for only three days in the third week of July. "Though the doctors attending on him are satisfied with his progress, they feel that the President should have rest for some more time and should not take any public engagement for another two-to-three weeks to recoup completely,’’ Mr Nambudiripad said. After being discharged from the Research and Referral Hospital, Mr Narayanan even as he was
recuperating, continued to participate in unavoidable engagements, including hosting a reception for freedom fighters on August 9 and a At Home on Independence day. On the advice of a panel of doctors, the President’s engagements have been rescheduled and he will not be receiving visitors or attending any public function for the next fortnight. Mr Narayanan was to present the Arjuna Awards for sports tomorrow at Rashtrapati Bhavan but that has been postponed to September-end. Mr Narayanan, in his letters, regretted the inconvenience caused to the
organisers and suggested that the awards be given without awaiting his convenience.
UNI |
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Newly
wed killed by in-laws Greater Noida, August 26 According to information available from police headquarters, Savitri (21) was married to Jai Singh, who was an unemployed youth. He started torturing her with the connivance of his parents from the very first day of the marriage and demanded more dowry and cash. According to the police, girl’s father, Sompal came to see his daughter in her in-laws house yesterday where he was informed that she had left for a nearby village on August 16 along with her husband, father-in-law and brother-in-law. When Sompal rushed to the village he only found the ashes of his daughter. He has lodged an FIR with the police against his son-in-law and five other members of in-law’s family. The accused have reportedly absconded. |
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BJP intensifies drive to oust MC
chief Hanumangarh, August 26 The ruling party and the opposition are trying to manage the magic figure of 28 to pass the
no-confidence motion. The total strength of the MC is 40 and of this the ruling Congress party has 14 members, the opposition BJP has 12 members, three members are from the JD(U) and the rest are the independent members. It has been said that the day, the chairperson, Ms Sangeeta Midha, assumed charge, there were many in the party who were not happy with her appointment. The dissidents from the party started speaking the language of the opposition which the BJP took advantage of. Sources said 24 councillors, including some Congress dissidents have gone out of city to some unknown place. The chairperson also has gone out. On Wednesday, the vice-president of the Municipal Council, Mr Yadavendra Sharma, filed a complaint against former Chairman of the Council, Mr Raj Kumar Tanwar, a councillor, Mr Devendra Aggarwal and three others of beating and kidnapping, Mr Surendra Bhakar, councillor from ward No. 2. However, Mr Bhakar on Thursday appeared before the police and said that he was all right and was not kidnapped in fact he had gone out with his friends. City residents suffer as no development projects have been taken up for the past six months, because the Budget of the Council has not been passed even after repeated meetings to do so. On March 17, 2000 a meeting to pass the revised Budget for 2000-2001 and the proposed Budget for the current year was called up. At the meeting the chairperson declaring both the Budgets passed had walked out but opposition of councillors, allegedly by threatening the executive officer succeeded in getting a report submitted that the Budget had not passed. Going by the provision, if the Budget is not proposed the government gives 10 per cent of the Budget of the last financial year to the municipal council and that has to be spent on recurring expenditures, which include expenditure on administration education etc. The ruling party and the opposition councillor have totally ignored the interests of the residents and are engaged in mean politics. Where the opposition is adopting all the means to overthrow the chairperson, the ruling party councillors are busy in conciliated the party dissidents. Meanwhile the opposition councillors on Thursday met the District Collector and have presented a no-confidence motion. The District Collector, Mr J.P. Chandelia will decide to fix the date for the introduction of motion in the Council in next two or three days. The debate on the motion according to rules has to be called after 20 days but
within a month. |
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CBI
questions Tehelka reporter
New Delhi, August 26 The sources said portal’s Anirudh Bahal and Thomas Mathew of the
Home Ministry were questioned by the agency’s special crime branch,
which registered a case against Neeraj Kumar, suspended Section
Officer in the ministry, under the Official Secrets Act.
Neeraj Kumar is alleged to have leaked documents pertaining to the
functioning of an NGO in the North-East to the web portal which
initially ran a story but withdrew it later. PTI |
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Weekly exposed Tehelka sex angle in March New Delhi, August 26 The story about the use of prostitutes to gratify Army officers during the sting operation carried out by the investigative dotcom was broken by a Malayalam weekly 'Fire' in March, barely two weeks after the expose about the corruption in defence deals came to light. |
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Forged letter: CBI awaits report New Delhi, August 26
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Hotelier Wadhera remanded in custody New Delhi, August 26 Wadhera, popularly known as Yanshi in the social circles, and three other accused were produced at the residence of designated Judge R.K. Gauba, who remanded them to police custody till August 28 after the police requested that their interrogation was needed to nab other members of the gang involved in drug trafficking.
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