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Sunday,
August 18, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Ban on
mobile services in N-E, J&K lifted Cong protest in front of Pramod’s house
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Rescind
transfer orders, J&K told New Delhi, August 17 Taking serious note of “back-dated transfer” of 75 junior engineers by the Jammu and Kashmir Government ahead of the Assembly poll there, the Election Commission has directed it to forthwith rescind their transfer. Yasin
discharged from AIIMS PM calls
Cabinet meeting |
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Advani
must step down: Mulayam BJP exposed on Gujarat: CPM Curfew in Gujarat town
after group clash Mamata
calls on PM, Shekhawat Accused
in spy case appeals to HC Cotton plantation at all-time low Stay on
cancellation of petrol stations CPM for
probe into Venkaiah’s land deal Pak
flag hoisted on I-Day in Meerut
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Ban on mobile services in N-E, J&K lifted Guwahati, August 17 “Cabinet Committee on Security has decided to lift the ban on mobile telecom services in North East and also in Jammu and Kashmir,” Union Communication and IT minister Pramod Mahajan said while dedicating Rs 242 crore Community Information Centre project to the North East here. Mr Mahajan said he had asked BSNL to start putting village public telephones (VPT) in rest of the 16,000 villages in the North East and added “before the next Independence Day, there will not be a single village in the North East region without VPT.” “The telecom revolution was halted in the North East due to security clearances, now this roadblock has been cleared by the CCS,” Mr Mahajan added. Stating that he would ask the private sector operator, Reliance, to expand cellular services throughout North East, Mr Mahajan pointed out “I have asked BSNL and they have promised me that before the next Independence Day every district in the North East will have a mobile telephone.” The minister further said that in order to take telephone at the doorstep of every citizen in the country, the government would start a pilot project “Mobile Postman” in 2000 post offices covering 10,000 villages across various states from December 25 this year. “The postman who comes to you to deliver post will come with a Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) telephone. The phone would have a
display screen - and we are talking to LG to make that handset - which will show the bill,” Mr Mahajan said, adding that the postman would get 20 per cent commission on the bill while the postal department would get 5 per cent. The “Mobile Postman” project would be rolled out to every village depending on the results of the pilot project, he said, adding that in a year’s time, scheme of mobile PCO would also be taken up. “In BSNL, we have linesmen. And with everything going wireless, these linesmen would be used to use mobile PCO,” he pointed out. The CIC project in 487 block headquarters in seven North Eastern states and Sikkim is aimed at promoting application of IT for accelerating socio-economic development of the region. The project targets at bridging the digital divide, providing connectivity at the grass root level, creating IT awareness amongst the local masses providing Internet services such as e-mail and web access, and conducting computer-based training programmes.
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Rescind
transfer orders, J&K told New Delhi, August 17 The Commission has also directed the state government to stay the transfer of 23 tehsildars, carried out by it without the clearance of the commission, sources said here today. In its order communicated to the government yesterday, the commission asked it to maintain status quo ante regarding the transfer of all these officials, the sources said. The model code of conduct, which bars transfer of officials without the EC’s approval, had come into effect from August 2 the day the poll schedule for the four-phase elections were announced. On August 14, the EC had sought immediate replacement of Mr Ejaz Iqbal, Deputy Commissioner posted at Poonch, due to his failure to implement its directions. Meanwhile, the full Election Commission will begin a three-day tour to Jammu and Kashmir tomorrow for an on-the-spot assessment of the preparations for the forthcoming poll beginning on September 16. The commission, consisting of Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh and Election Commissioners T.S. Krishnamurthy and B.B. Tandon, will meet senior state administration officials, representatives of political parties and non-governmental organisations during its visit to Srinagar and Jammu. |
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Yasin discharged from AIIMS New Delhi, August 17 “Malik has been discharged from AIIMS...We were not allowed to meet him,” amalgam sources said here. Most probably he will be shifted to a Jammu jail tomorrow, the sources added. The senior Hurriyat leader was admitted to AIIMS last week after his condition deteriorated in Jammu’s Kot Bhalawal jail. The JKLF chief was re-arrested under the Public Safety Act within minutes of his release in a case under POTA on July 20. The police said he was arrested for his “anti-national activities”. A special POTA court presided over by P. N. Razdan had released the JKLF chief on health grounds and on a surety of Rs 1,00,000. The JKLF chief is suffering from kidney and ear ailments. A medical board constituted by the state government to examine him in Kot Bhalawal jail had recommended that he should undergo a kidney scan soon. Since no such facility is available in Jammu and Kashmir, counsel for Malik had sought his release on bail so that he could go to AIIMS for the purpose.
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Cong protest in front of Pramod’s house New Delhi, August 17 In a surprise action, a large number of party workers, mostly women, assembled at Indira Gandhi memorial on Safdarjung Road near the residence of Mr Mahajan and after taking oath to fight for social justice and equality, stormed the police barricade, demanding Mr Mahajan’s dismissal. Mrs Ambika Soni and Mr Ahmed Patel, political secretaries of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, AICC General Secretaries Oscar Fernandes and Mukul
Wasnik, Mahila Congress chief Chandresh Kumari and DPCC President Subhash Chopra were among those who took part in the protest. Displaying banners and placards, the activists also demanded that Mr Ananth Kumar, Mr Ram Naik, Mr George Fernandes, Mr Yashwant Sinha and Mr Pramod Mahajan, allegedly involved in various scams and scandals, should resign or be dismissed. The demonstrators also accused Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for his failure to stop corruption at higher levels. Meanwhile, the Congress today demanded imposition of President’s rule in Gujarat, saying the Modi government had no right to continue in office as it was “accountable to none.” |
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PM calls Cabinet meeting New Delhi, August 17 The meeting would start at the PM’s Race Course residence at 11.30 a.m., a PMO spokesman said. Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani met Mr Vajpayee this evening to discuss the future course of action. Earlier today, the BJP charged the EC with creating a “constitutional crisis” by refusing to order Assembly elections in Gujarat before October. It also indicated that it was keeping its options open to take legal recourse. The Congress on the other hand has demanded that caretaker Chief Minister Narendra Modi step down and Gujarat be brought under President’s rule. The EC also in its order yesterday said Gujarat would have to be placed under President’s rule.
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Advani must step down: Mulayam Lucknow, August 17 “The Deputy Prime Minister should resign immediately,” the president of the SP, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, said. The two-day state executive meeting that ended today passed a special resolution on Gujarat in which it praised the decision of the EC not to hasten the Assembly elections. In the light of the observations made by the EC the party also requested the President to sack the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, so that the situation could be brought back to normal. Addressing mediapersons, Mr Yadav alleged that he had report that the BJP wanted to create a Gujarat-like situation in the country. Talking about Uttar Pradesh he said: “There are two ministers of the BSP cadre who have broken all previous records of fleecing people of the state,” he said. The party urged the President to constitute an inquiry committee, headed by a sitting high court judge, who could probe into the assets of the ministers and top bureaucrats of the state. Mr Yadav also alleged that the Mayawati-led BSP government was harassing SP workers and arresting them on false charges. |
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BJP exposed on Gujarat: CPM New Delhi, August 17 The nefarious moves of the BJP such as non-holding of the assembly session in time, premature dissolution of the Gujarat Assembly and blatant attack against the Election Commission were all meant to force an immediate election in Gujarat,” the party Politbureau said in a statement here. It said the commission rejected the assertion of the BJP that the situation in Gujarat was quite normal and conducive to holding free-and-fair elections after an assessment of the ground realities in the state. “The EC’s observations that the law and order situation in the state is ‘still far from normal’ and that the ‘wounds of communal divide following the riots have yet not healed’ has vindicated the party’s stand on the issue,” the CPM Politbureau said in a statement here. The EC came to this conclusion after a report from a nine-member team sent by it and thereafter verified by a visit by the full EC panel to Gujarat, the Left Party said. This has exposed the BJP’s “diabolical and dangerous move” to take advantage of the communal divide and win elections, the party said. In another statement, the
CPI(M-L) said it was the duty of the Central Government to act on the decisions taken by the EC. The party also demanded the dismissal of the Narendra Modi government and imposition of President’s rule in the state. |
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Curfew in Gujarat town
after group clash
Rajkot, August 17 According to the police, the trouble broke out over a petty issue, but it soon turned into a ‘free for all’. Worried shopkeepers closed their shops as miscreants went on a rampage. The police, however, did not provide details about the incident which sparked off the violence. According to eyewitnesses, lethal weapons were freely used in the clash. District Collector Anita Karval and Additional Collector Pankaj Raval and DSP V.M. Parghi rushed to the town to take stock of the situation. The curfew was imposed as a precautionary measure from 3 pm. The seriously injured were rushed to the Civil Hospital at
Junagadh, while others were being treated locally, police sources said. Meanwhile, local BJP leaders described the incident as “pre-planned’’, aimed at disturbing peace in the Saurashtra region.
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Mamata calls on PM, Shekhawat New Delhi, August 17 Ms Banerjee visited Mr Vajpayee at his residence here last evening. Sources said no issues, including the bifurcation of the Eastern Railway, were discussed during the meeting which lasted about 15 minutes. She, however, submitted a copy of the resolution unanimously adopted by the partly working committee on its relations with the NDA. According to the resolution, the party had declared that it could not be part of the NDA until and unless the government reviewed its decision on the bifurcation issue. During her meeting with Mr Shekhawat today, she expressed happiness on behalf of her party on his election. She had stayed away from voting in the vice-presidential election on August 12 and staged a dharna, failing to wrest any firm commitment from Mr Vajpayee on his personal intervention in the bifurcation issue. Meanwhile, Trinamool sources said Ms Banerjee had decided to participate in an all-party meeting convened by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in Kolkata on Monday on the bifurcation issue.
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Accused in spy case appeals to HC New Delhi, August 17 A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Mr Justice
R.S. Sodhi would hear his plea on Monday. The petition, which initially came up before Mr Justice M.A. Khan, was sent to the Division Bench as it had on August 8, admitted an appeal filed by Yogesh T.
Maneklal, the main accused in the case and issued a notice, returnable on August 21, to the prosecution. On July 16 Special Judge
R.K. Guaba had found 13 persons and S.L. Maneklal Industries Limited guilty of supplying classified military and financial documents to foreign agents in 1985. On July 18 he sentenced Maneklal to 14 years’ RI and the other 12 accused to 10 years each for indulging in espionage. In his petition filed through counsel Sidhartha
Luthra, Palaniswamy alleged that the Special Judge had appraised the evidence selectively and not applied his mind to the evidence produced and proved in the
case. Maneklal had claimed that the trial court did not appreciate the fact that there was not a single incriminating circumstance against the appellant to justify the conviction, but it held that he was at the centrestage of the espionage network set up by Coomar Narain for the benefit of the company. This finding was not based on any legally admissible evidence but on presumptions and inferences not justified in law, he said in a petition. The judge also erred in convicting the appellant on the basis of the confessional statement of the deceased
(Coomar Narain) using it as substantive evidence, whereas in law a confession could only be used to lend assurance to nearly conclusive or
substantive evidence available on record. Apart from the confessional statement, no other witness who was examined, had implicated him in obtaining or communicating any confidential document, the petition said. None of the documents in the case was of the ‘prohibited’ category as envisaged by the Official Secrets Act, it added.
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Cotton plantation at all-time low Sriganganagar, August 17 Severe drought conditions in Rajasthan and inadequate supply of canal water have resulted in farmers drastically cutting down on sowing cotton this year, even though there is little scope for alternative crops. The Sriganganagar circle, which comprises Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh districts, was earlier known for its high yield of cotton. “Only 40 per cent of the cultivable area has been sown as compared to last year,” the District Collector, Mr Ram Avtar Raghuvanshi told TNS. Pointing out that the basic reason for an extremely low level of plantation was a poor monsoon, he added that if the region still did not receive rain, then even this might produce low yield. The government would conduct a girdawari (survey of loss) from August 16 to 21 for identifying the drought-hit areas and assessing the loss to the farmers. While the state of cotton crop in the pockets around Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh towns is reasonably good as compared to other parts of the region, areas around Suratgarh and Anupgarh are particularly hard-hit. Local residents say that 14 villages around Suratgarh are drought-prone while areas around Garhsangh have received no rain. In areas around
Anupgarh, farmers say that only about 10 per cent of the land has been cultivated this year despite the fact that this is among the few pockets where ground water is suitable for irrigation. “The earnings of farmers in this area have been plummeting.” said Mr Harvinder Singh, a farmer in Sarasar village. “Till about five years ago, a farmer with a land holding of about 25 bighas could earn Rs 75,000-80,000 in a season. Today, whatever little he earns is negated by expenses,” he added. Local traders estimate a yield of about 4 lakh bales in the Sriganganagar Circle this year. Last year’s estimate had been 10 lakh bales though the crop was destroyed by storms at the time of reaping and only about 3.82 lakh bales were produced. There has been a significant decline in guwar (fodder) also. While about 10 lakh tonnes of guwar was produced in 1999-2000, only about 4.5 lakh tonnes was produced last year. This year’s produce, too, depends on the rain. The price of guwar has risen from Rs 900 per quintal to Rs 1,450 per quintal, adversely affecting the livestock. The alternative to growing cotton in the region is growing moong and
moath, but here, too, availability of water is the crucial factor. According to available reports, the region has received only 50-60 mm rain compared to 285 mm last year. Further, the ground water in large areas is unfit for irrigation due to high salinity. Sriganganagar is the only region where three canals — the Gang, Indira Gandhi and Bhakra canals — besides the Ghaggar flow through it. Despite this water is scarce. Sources say that only about 700 cusecs of water was being made available to this region during the sowing period whereas the requirement was 2,000 cusecs. It was only a few days ago that the water supply was raised between 1,300-1,700 cusecs. The Gang canal has unpaved embankments and the authorities fear that the banks may be damaged if the flow of water is increased. |
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Stay on cancellation of petrol stations Nagpur, August 17 The Bench, comprising Mr Justice R.G. Deshpande and Mr Justice P.S. Bramhe, in an interim order, yesterday asked the public sector oil companies not to give effect to the cancellation orders and directed the companies to restore the possession of agencies to the petitioners before the Court. The Bench, while issuing notices to respondents, the Union Petroleum Ministry and three PSUs, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), Hindusthan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), asked them to submit their contentions on oath on September 11. The judges made it clear that the 18 petitioners, whose plea was heard by the court, were free to run their agencies till the next date of hearing but should maintain a separate account as directed by the court. The court heard a bunch of 18 petitions and passed a common interim order. The prominent allottees include Sapna, wife of BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar and Vijaya Dhotra Ahir, son of former BJP MP Hansraj Ahir (Chandrapur).
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CPM for probe into Venkaiah’s land deal New Delhi, August 17 “The Andhra Pradesh Government should conduct an immediate inquiry into the whole affair and take steps to cancel the irregular allocations,” the CPM politburo said in a statement here. The statement said according to reports, “D” form pattas obtained by him and his family members were issued as per government rules only to the poor and downtrodden sections of society and not to persons who owned any piece of land in their own names. A Hyderabad news daily had reported yesterday that in 1978, Mr Naidu, his father-in-law Alluru Mastanaiah, his brother-in-law Alluru Bhaskar and other relatives had come into possession of about 40.15 acres, which had been earmarked for landless poor. |
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Pak flag hoisted on I-Day
in Meerut Meerut, August 17 Police sources told The Tribune on telephone today that the Pakistani flag was hoisted by a crowd of over 200 students of the Madarsa who had also taken out a procession and raised pro-Pakistan and pro-Osama-bin-Laden slogans. The incident created communal tension in the village under the non-Muslim population objected to it. Only about a week ago two ISI agents owing allegiance to the Al-Qaida were arrested in Saharanpur who had plans to create disturbance on the Independence Day. The police sources said students were led by three maulvis who were teaching in the Madarsa. The maulvis Mohammad Ishar, Hafaz Muhhamad Umar and Rukmudden have been arrested. |
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