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September 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Six more
die after eating mango kernel Ban on defence
agents goes IT Dept to
auction Dawood’s properties Summon TN
Governor’s file, SC urged Dissolve
UP House by Oct 17: Cong Mulayam
move may strengthen Rajnath PM calls
BJP leaders on UP |
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TN to
move SC on Cauvery Double
murder case solved
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Six more die after eating
mango kernel Kashipur, (Orissa) September 11 Though the deaths have occurred in Uparjhiri village, a few kilometres from the Kashipur block office, reports about these have not officially reached the local administration. There are about 500 villages in Kashipur block in Rayagada district and about 50 per cent of them are inaccessible by modern means of transportation. More deaths due to mango kernel could have taken place in these remote tribal villages and they are unlikely to be recorded. The deaths of these six persons, namely Mandla Mahji, Phaguna Mahji, Magu Mahji, Birsingh Mahji (Jr), Birsingh Mahji (Sr) and Bhalsingh Mahji, came to light when The Tribune visited this village connected by a small kutcha road. Kandra Mahji, a resident of the village, narrating the events said the six persons died in a gap of over a week or 10 days during the past two months. “All were middle-aged, able-bodied persons. Their families still live here. Faced with hunger, these people ate mango kernel, which is a traditional food of the area,” Kandra Mahji said. “Even today I am eating it, as I have no other option,” Mahji said. Asked whether people died each year after eating the mango kernel, he said: “Every year one or two persons die. They are mostly very young or old persons.” The district administration, however, stated that it had no information about the deaths of these six persons in the village. Dr Parameshwar Sethi, the medical officer in charge of the block, finds his hands tied with regard to the situation in the area, which is malaria infested. The tribal areas of the Kashipur block continue to report a number of cases of cerebral malaria. On the mango kernel deaths, he said, “It is a case of food poisoning. The way they prepare and store it, is the prime culprit for the death of so many persons. By no stretch of imagination can it be called a starvation death.” |
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Ban on defence
agents goes New Delhi, September 11 The move from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) comes days after it constituted the Defence Acquisitions Council and the Defence Procurement Board to bring about transparency and system in the purchase of equipment for the armed forces. An official statement issued today said the government has decided to lift the ban on the employment of agents in defence purchases. A regulatory mechanism, which would govern the conditions of employment and operations of such agents, will be formulated soon. The statement said the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), while examining the working of the ban, had called for a thorough review of the current policy. A committee was set up by the Ministry of Defence to examine the entire issue afresh. The CVC had recommended on open system of registering agents, to make the procurement more transparent. The CVC had further felt that by putting in a regulatory mechanism of registering agents, the scope of corruption would be reduced. |
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IT Dept to auction Dawood’s properties Mumbai, September 11 Most of the properties are located in
Chowpatty, Nagpada, Byculla and Bhuleshwar in South Mumbai and are valued at over Rs 100 crore, the police informed designated judge
A.P. Bhangale, who is presiding over a court set up under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act
(MCOCA). The auction is being held in accordance with the proclamation of sale issued on August 20 by the court. Of the 13 properties, eight had already been attached by a designated TADA court hearing the serial blast case in which Dawood Ibrahim is the prime accused. Five of them were attached recently by the MCOCA court. The MCOCA court had ordered attachment of properties of Dawood in a case relating to circulation of counterfeit currency notes allegedly by Dawood gangsters. Dawood was the prime accused in this case. Income Tax authorities had on two occasions earlier held auctions of Dawood’s properties. In the first auction, there were no takers, while in the second a resident of New Delhi, who claimed to be a Shiv
Sainik, had made a bid for Dawood’s property located at Nana Chowk in Grant Road area of South
Mumbai. Dawood is believed to be staying in Karachi, Pakistan. PTI |
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Summon TN Governor’s file, SC urged New Delhi, September 11 “Without calling for the Governor’s file, on which she might have noted down the reasons for adjudicating that Jayalalitha should be appointed as the Chief Minister, it will not be proper for the court to decide the legality of her appointment,” senior advocate K.K. Venugopal submitted before a five-Judge Constitution Bench. He said the courts should avoid going into the issues regarding who should be the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister as this would amount to adjudicating politics. “This is something that is outside the jurisdiction of the courts and is best left to the people,” Mr Venugopal said. Earlier, taking the court by surprise, Jayalalitha’s counsel took the stand that the Governor had the discretion of appointing any person as the Chief Minister of a state provided he enjoyed the support of majority of elected members of the Assembly. The Bench comprising Mr Justice S.P. Bharucha, Mr Justice G.B. Pattanaik, Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Mr Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice Brijesh Kumar sought to know from him the qualifications prescribed under Article 173 and disqualifications under Article 164(4) of the Constitution. |
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Dissolve
UP House by Oct 17: Cong New Delhi, September 11 Taken by surprise at the
developments in UP where Samajwadi Party MLAs resigned en masse from the Assembly, the Congress today held an informal CWC meeting at the residence of party President Sonia Gandhi. Though the party did not formally criticise the action of the Samajwadi Party, the feeling was that the SP MLAs had resigned “prematurely.” Elucidating the Congress stand, party General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is in charge of Uttar Pradesh, said the Congress wanted the state Assembly to be dissolved by October 17 “when its term expires.” He said the Congress had all along been maintaining that elections in the state be held by October and there was nothing new in the stand taken by the party today. The state unit, he said, would take necessary action only after the term of the Assembly expired. Though Mr Azad avoided making comments on the action of the Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief S.P. Jaiswal, who too was invited to the informal CWC meeting, described the SP’s action as “premature.” |
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Mulayam
move may strengthen Rajnath New Delhi, September 11 Political observers here expressed doubt over the move made by the Samajwadi Party MLAs and pointed out that it would actually leave Mr Rajnath Singh in a better bargaining position with his allies. Besides, with troublemaker Naresh Aggarwal already out of the way it could actually provide Mr Rajnath Singh with the opportunity of going full steam ahead with his new initiatives to give a fillip to the dwindling fortunes of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Observers here say that at present, even though the Samajwadi Party MLAs have resigned from the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, but there was very little danger to the BJP-led government in the state. This specially as while the Congress virtually had no standing in the state Assembly there were very little chances of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supporting the Samajwadi Party in the present move. The resignation by the Samajwadi Party MLAs is being viewed as a desparate
attempt by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav to counter the recent move of Mr Rajnath Singh of announcing reservation for the most backwards of the state. The move was expected to greatly effect the standing of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav as the “messiah of backwards”. But Mr Rajnath Singh’s recent announcement provided BJP with a platform from where it could effectively wean away the backwards from the vote bank of the Samajwadi Party. The resignation signifies that the Samajwadi Party had already started to feel the effect of the reservation policy and was finding to it hard to hold onto its vote
bank. |
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PM calls BJP leaders on
UP New Delhi, September 11 Mr Vajpayee has summoned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh and the state party chief Kalraj Mishra for consultations and the meeting will be attended by Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and other top BJP leaders. The Prime Minister’s decision comes even as BJP’s central leadership strongly supported Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh and dubbed the action of main opposition party in Uttar Pradesh as a “political gimmick to divert the attention of the people.” Terming the resignation by Samajwadi Party MLAs as a “desperate move” amidst BJP’s growing popularity in the state, senior BJP leader and party General Secretary Narendra Modi said “earlier they (Samajwadi Party) tried to play the Phoolan Devi card, but miserably failed. Now by resigning en masse they are trying to divert the attention of the
people.” |
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Tenure ends in March next: EC New Delhi, September 11 |
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TN to move SC on Cauvery Chennai, September 11 “There is no other option and it is inevitable to move the Supreme Court on the issue,” she told mediapersons here. She said the Prime Minister had assured the all-party MPs’ delegation from the state that he would ask Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna to release water to Tamil Nadu. She demanded immediate abolition of Cauvery River Water Authority (CRWA) in the present form describing it as a “toothless wonder”. Ms Jayalalitha said she had always opposed the CRWA in the present form as it did not have powers to instruct the states concerned to release water.
PTI |
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Double murder case solved New Delhi, September 11 The suspect, Santosh, committed the murder of Sripati and Utpal Mandal to take revenge on one of the deceased. He was arrested in Vikram Vihar where he had gone to meet his brother. |
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