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Sunday,
May 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Mamata foils drive against encroachment
Cong to grill govt over use of Article 355 A TRIBUNE SPECIAL |
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Focus
shifts to primary healthcare Bank presents ‘solved’ case to police MA
degrees for 11
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Mamata foils drive
against encroachment Kolkata, May 4 The Railway authorities and the state police, which conducted the eviction drive following the high court’s order, at long last had to retreat and suspend their operation in the face of stiff opposition from Ms Banerjee. However, the police had to fire several rounds and lob tear gas shells to disperse the angry mob which was engaged it stone throwing, hurling of crackers and setting fire to railway properties. In the incident, over 12 per cent including, Ms Banerjee and two Trinamool Congress MLAs, Saugata Roy and Pankaj Banerjee were hurt. Several senior railway officers and the policemen were also hit by Stones. The eviction drive near an 8-km-long stretch between Ballygunge and Tollygune had been initiated with the help of the state government with a view to improving train running on Eastern Railway’s Sealdah-Budge section, where large scale construction of hutments and
jhuggis near the track had taken place. Besides, ensuring improved train running, the drive had been launched for implementing the high court’s judgement with regards to the order of the Pollution Control Board which held the Railways guilty of polluting the Rabindra Sarovar Lake (Ballygune lake) in allowing an unhealthy and unhygienic squatters colony to grow near railway tracks in the Ballygune-Tollygune area. The Howrah Ganatantric Kalyan Samiti, a social welfare organisation, had filed a public litigation case in this connection against the Railways. Incidentally, the entire area falls within the jurisdiction of Ms Mamata Banerjee’s Lok Sabha constituency and the area is also a part of the Assembly seat of the Trinamool MLAs, Ms Saugata Roy and Mr Pankaj Banerjee. Ms Banerjee after returning from New Delhi last, went straight to the Lake Garden station to participate in the dharna which began yesterday morning. Ms Banerjee met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Home Minister L.K. Advani and Railway Minister Nitish Kumar during her stay in the Capital and requested them to suspend the eviction drive. However, she failed to persuade them. She demanded that the squatters be given suitable alternative accommodation first only then she would allow the eviction to be conducted. Disappointed and disgusted Ms Banerjee then decided to fly back to the city and take part in the agitation along with two MLAs and hundreds of party workers and supporters. The state Metropolitan Development Minister, Mr Asoke Bhattacharjee, said the drive had been launched by the Railways and the government was just helping the Railways by deploying forces as per the request of the Railway Board. He regretted that the drive had to be cancelled due to stiff resistance from the local Trinamool Congress leaders and workers. He said the government would once again help the Railways and the police if the eviction drive was launched. |
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Cong to grill govt over use of Article 355 New Delhi, May 4 Presiding over a seminar on “The Gujarat outrage: challenges before the nation” organised by the AICC Vichar Vibhag here, Mr Mukherjee asked the government why it had waited till May 2 to accept the Opposition-sponsored motion in the Rajya Sabha when it knew about the contents from April 16. He said since the government had now agreed to back the motion which speaks of intervention by the Centre under Article 355, the Congress would ask questions over how the government had intervened and why the violence in the state could not be contained. Maintaining that incidents in Gujarat were not an accident, Mr Mukherjee accused the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and senior BJP leaders of changing statements over happenings in the state. Referring to some instances in Germany under the Nazi rule, Mr Mukherjee said a systematic attempt was being made to target minorities under notion of “one people, one nation and one culture.” He said recent attempts at deification of Nathu Ram Godse were also part of a “grand design” of the Sangh Parivar. Congress President Sonia Gandhi said the communal carnage in Gujarat represented the most dangerous aspect of the politics of hate which threatened, as never before, the internal cohesiveness of India’s society. “Gujarat, identified with Mahatma Gandhi’s total commitment to non-violence as a way of life, continues to be ravaged by violence. The leaders of the ruling dispensation in Gandhinagar have been guilty of both administrative incompetence and political connivance. The principles of democratic governance stand jettisoned by the government at the Centre for the purpose of sustaining a government in Gujarat that has totally forfeited its right to govern,” she said. In his keynote address, eminent
journalist Vinod Mehta said the violence in Gujarat was being needlessly politicised and it was a simple moral question of right and wrong. Concerted attempts were being made to defame the media over its reporting of Gujarat, he added. Chairman of the AICC Vichar Vibhag Ashwani Kumar said degradation in the values had to be checked. Senior Congress leaders, including Mr Motilal Vora, Ms Mohsina
Kidwai, Mr Oscar Fernandes, Mr Vyalar Ravi and Ms Prabha Thakur were among those present. |
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A TRIBUNE SPECIAL New Delhi, May 4 Priceless antiquities at the National Museum are being exposed to criminal neglect, the insiders’ accounts reveal. Of the more than two lakh antiquities presently housed in the National Museum, not more than 1,000 have been scientifically authenticated to verify the period to which they reportedly belong to, museum sources said. A note prepared by the Conservation Laboratory of the National Museum has identified 31 objects procured during the Art Purchase Committee (APC) 1997, which require further thorough scientific examination for their authentication. The objects identified by the Conservation Laboratory include several antiquities purchased from sources worth several lakhs. These include one set of terracota objects (accession no. 51A) reported to be belonging to the second and third century. The laboratory, however, has noted that the objects “require further analysis for trace element to confirm for period”. In case of the ‘Square coin of Akbar’ (silver, dated 16th century AD), the observations have noted that “preliminary examination reveals that the metal used in the coin is alloy of silver and copper. Copper is present in higher concentration. Requires further investigation for content of silver”. The analysis record of silver coins recorded as belonging to the period of Allaudin Khilji of 13th century AD raised doubts about the authenticity of the period and the product. “Subsequent to the observations, best to the tests, it is evident that these coins with accession no. 97.147/69-102 and 97.152 do not pertain to the period (i.e 13th century) as claimed”, the analysis record prepared by the Conservation Laboratory noted. Sources said so far no responsibility had been fixed for the non-compliance of scientific examination/verification of art objects acquired through the Acquisition Committee of National Museum. Consequently, sources said there could be several “fake items” presently displayed in the National Museum. These “priceless” objects of art might have been obtained from sources, but could not be returned as the permissible time had already elapsed. The Director-General of the National Museum, Dr R.D. Choudhury, however, refused to offer any comment on the issue. |
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Focus shifts to primary healthcare New Delhi, May 4 Other highlights of the policy include gradual convergence of all health programmes under a single field administration, greater involvement of panchayat bodies in healthcare programmes, rigorous implementation of a comprehensive code of ethics by the Medical Council of India, setting up a medical grants commission for funding new government and medical colleges and involvement of non-government practitioners in national disease control programmes. Union Health Minister, C.P. Thakur told mediapersons here yesterday that the thrust of the new policy was on equitable distribution of healthcare services in the urban and rural areas. He said vertical programmes for controlling major diseases as TB, malaria, HIV/AIDS and RCH and universal immunisation programmes needed to be continued till they reached moderate rates of prevalence. |
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Bank presents ‘solved’ case to police Sriganganagar, May 4 A case under Sections 420, 406, 467, 471 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered against eight persons — Vikram Singh, Raj Singh, Ashish Kumar and Rahul Kumar, both brothers, Yogendra Kumar, Vivek Kataria and Arun Gandhi. According to sources, the bank financed an Indica car to Ashish and Rahul in December. The duo paid some initial instalments, but failed to submit the remaining ones, despite repeated reminders. A team was set up by the bank to investigate the case which stumbled on the alleged modus operandi of the accused. The officials found that Vikram Singh had bought a financed car from Jagmohan Motors of Rohtak, Raj Singh purchased a financed car from Kamal and Sons of Jaipur while the brothers had got a Maruti financed from the local branch of the BoP. In the case of the brothers, Vivek and Yogendra, stood surety for their loan both of whom have accounts in the bank, the sources added. When the bank officials went to verify the documents — residence proof and ration card — they found that no one by those names lived there the ration cards too were fake. When they reached the RTO office, they found that the persons were allegedly part of a gang which sold financed cars in other states on the basis of forged documents. In the course of the investigations, the bank team traced the car financed to Vikram Singh which had been sold to a Gidranwali village resident. The Indica car was traced to a Bathinda resident, Sadhu, a contractor by profession. To make sure that the cars were the ones, they were looking for, the bank officials posed as prospective buyers and tallied the chassis numbers with that on their documents. They matched, thereby, signalling that the bank was on the right track. They also found the names and addresses of the persons from whom they had purchased the cars. Armed with all the cross-checked facts, the matter was reported to the police. Meanwhile, a manhunt in on to arrest the accused, all of whom have absconded, the sources revealed. |
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MA degrees for 11 New Delhi, May 4 Ms Kuldip Kaur Sidhu topped the list of awardees, followed by Ms Perminder Kaur Jolly and Mr Gurdeep Singh Devgon, a press statement issued here today said. The Vice-Chancellor of the London-based university, Dr Sukhbir Singh Kapoor, highlighted the position the university played in promoting the intellectual understanding of Sikhism and promoting further research in comparative religion, culture, economy and politico-social aspects of greater Punjab. |
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Aftab Ansari
being brought to Delhi New Delhi, May 4 |
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