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Tuesday,
September 3, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Jaya: no
amnesty for Veerappan Congress
MLA held amid high drama
Vaghela
takes out yatra, observes fast |
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Vajpayee
not to meet Musharraf BJP
downplays Fernandes’ remarks on disinvestment Punjabi
body to float UK chapter General
Chatterjee is Col Cmdt Sanjay
Dutt exempted till Sept 15 Jakhar
seeks package for farmers IATO
wants priority to tourism Postings
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Jaya: no amnesty for Veerappan
Chennai, September 2 “It is a crime to plead for amnesty for a criminal who is wanted for the killing of more than 130 persons, poaching more than 2,000 elephants and for smuggling ivory”, she said, responding to a demand in this respect by PMK leader, Dr S. Ramadoss, at a crowded press conference in the secretariat here. She would consult legal experts on filing cases against Dr Ramadoss for his “treasonous” statement. Ruling out any negotiations with Veerappan including sending an emissary from Tamil Nadu side, Ms Jayalalithaa alleged that a payment of Rs 30 crore as ransom was done by Karnataka to secure the release of Kannada film thespian Rajkumar two years ago from the clutches of Veerappan. The money went to Veerappan and a thorough probe was needed to go into it, she said. “Who paid the money and how it was collected are things for which a probe needs to be done, because it had happened on the Karnataka side,” she said. Pointing out that she had agreed to meet the wife of Mr Nagappa here tomorrow in connection with her husband’s release, Ms Jayalalithaa said the Karnataka government had not communicated to her about sending an emissary for securing the release of former minister Nagappa.
PTI |
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Congress
MLA held amid high drama Lucknow, September 2 Earlier in the day, he offered to surrender at the House, but it was denied by the Speaker, Mr Keshari Nath Tripathi, saying as the Congress legislator was wanted in a criminal case, the House was not a proper place for surrender. When the legislator wanted to air his views, the Speaker said whatever he had to say he could say in the court. The Congress legislator stayed back in the House and took part in the proceedings as the Lucknow police waited for him outside Vidhan Bhavan. At around 2 pm when he came out of the House, flanked by Mr Pramod Tiwari, Leader of the Congress Legislature Party and Mr Jagdambika Pal, another senior Congress leader and legislator, he was arrested just outside the gates of the Vidhan Bhavan. Earlier, talking to mediapersons, Mr Akhilesh Singh questioned as to why his case was not referred to the CID. There could not be two sets of rules – one for the BJP leaders and one for others. A BJP senior leader, who too was wanted in a criminal case, was freed from the police station and his case was referred to the CID while in a similar case, the government “had refused to transfer my case to the CID”, said the Congress legislator. He claimed he was falsely implicated in this case. Few senior BJP leaders and police officials were behind this, he added. |
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Kids’ deaths rock hospital Kolkata, September 2 Aggrieved relatives thronged the hospital premises since early morning, alleging gross negligence on the part of the doctors and medical staff, which the hospital authorities denied. The authorities put up a notice, closing fresh admissions due to short supply of oxygen and lack of beds. A police picket was set up inside the hospital in view of heightening tension. Relatives alleged that 17 children died in the past 48 hours due to oxygen shortage. Ordering an inquiry into the death of six children, Minister of State for Health Pratyush Mukherjee said the best of care was taken in the only referral hospital “where most cases arrive at a terminal stage”. He said the Director, Health Services, Mr Prabhakar
Chatterjee, would conduct an inquiry into the cause of the death of the six
children. Trinamool Congress MLA Paresh Pal, along with his supporters and some patients’ relatives, stormed into the hospital Superintendent A. Mondal’s office and demanded his resignation. Meanwhile, three of the six children died due to bronchial diseases, Mr Chatterjee said. While Najma Khatun and Sanjit Das died of bronchial pneumonia, penumonia claimed the life of Mohidul Islam. Subham Dutta (2) died of empyema
thorasis, and Rakesh Bej and a baby of Santa Ghosh died of meningo encephelytis and hypoxic
eschaemia, Mr Chatterjee said. The 700-bed hospital has a record of a death rate of five to six in every 24 hours. He said only in the case of Subham
Dutta, there were complaints that the x-ray was done late “as has been alleged by the patient’s party”.
PTI |
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Vaghela takes out yatra, observes fast
Ahmedabad, September 2 Prior to launching his “yatra” from Singaria village to Phagwel village, Mr Vaghela told reporters that possibility of a “confrontation” with the BJP could “not be ruled out” even on September 7 if the Chief Minister went ahead with his “Gaurav Yatra”. The authorities had made elaborate security arrangements to avoid any unpleasant scenes between the two parties and prohibitory orders had been clamped at Phagwel, nearly 100 km from here. Last evening, Mr Modi had rescheduled his “yatra” from September 3 to 7, saying this was being done as per the wishes expressed by three senior religious leaders. He had also charged the Congress with trying to foment trouble but “wished well” to Mr Vaghela.
UNI |
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Vajpayee
not to meet Musharraf New Delhi, September 2 “There is no question of a meeting between Prime Minister Vajpayee, who leaves here for New York on September 9, and the Pakistan President in New York”, an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson told reporters here.
UNI |
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BJP downplays Fernandes’ remarks on disinvestment New Delhi, September 2 Reacting to Mr Fernandes’ call for a review of the government functioning and the disinvestment policy yesterday, BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley said, “When a senior minister like Mr Fernandes says something, we take every word seriously. He has not raised anything offending”. “He had raised two points — one is accepted almost by all that the disinvestment programme should not end up in monopoly either in public or private sector and a continuous review of policies of the government. It is a constructive statement and nobody can take exception to the suggestion,”. Issuing a two-page statement on party’s position on the disinvestment, Mr Jaitley said “The BJP is of the opinion that the disinvestment programme has brought about efficiency, growth a turnaround in the performance of several erstwhile PSUs.” Stating that the party will not take any stand on disinvestment in individual companies and that which PSU should be taken up for privatisation and by what methodology is best left to the collective wisdom of the government, Mr Jaitley said “the NDA government had switched over to strategic sales, which resulted in registering a price earning ratio at 11:89 as compared to the previous governments which stood at 4:6.” “This success story needs to be followed up in all states and strengthened further. The disinvestment programme must go on,” he said asserting that tax payers money cannot be invested in loss-making or less profitable establishments.” Claiming that many state governments, especially those ruled by the Congress, have also adopted strategic disinvestment in the PSUs in their respective states, he said the fear that there would be retrenchment of labour due to disinvestment had been dispelled. “As a result of the success story, the governments in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal and several other states have also begun privatising on the same pattern as that of the Central Government i.e. strategic sales,” he said. “Loss-making units which would have resulted in closure and loss of jobs have turned around with prospects of creating more jobs,” he said. |
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Punjabi
body to float UK chapter New Delhi, September 2 The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Vice- Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities Tarlochan Singh, Minister of State in the PMO Vijay Goel and MPs Kuldip Nayar and Raj Babbar are scheduled to attend the three-day function. The organisation will honour well-known Punjabis, including members of the House of Lords, mayors and councillors on the occasion. |
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General
Chatterjee is Col Cmdt New Delhi, September 2 Commissioned in the Regiment of Artillery on June 30, 1963, Lt-Gen Chatterjee is an ace aviator and has had a distinguished career, having taken part in the Indo-Pak conflicts in 1965 and 1971 and other major operations. General Chatterjee held distinguished posts, including those of Additional Director-General, Army Aviation Corps, Major-General in charge (Administration) of the Southern Command and Director-General, Resettlement. On promotion to the rank of Lt-Gen in September 2001, he was appointed Director-General of Manpower Planning and Personnel Services in the Army Headquarters. General Chatterjee is a recipient of Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Sena Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal, Mention-in-Despatches, Chief of Army Staff Commendation and Chief of Air Staff Commendation (twice). |
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Sanjay
Dutt exempted till Sept 15 Mumbai, September 2 On a defence plea, designated judge P.D. Kode granted them exemption till September 15. Defence lawyers Subhash Kanse and Farhana Shah urged for their exemption till Divali as recording of evidence and oral arguments in the case had concluded. The judge, however, decided to grant them exemption for a short period. He also directed the CBI to submit written arguments on September
15. PTI |
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Jakhar
seeks package for farmers New Delhi, September 2 In a statement here today, Mr Jakhar said the Centre had decided to give over Rs 14,000 crore to the UTI to enable the trust to meet its obligations towards the investors, but had done a little for the farmers who were facing grave hardships due to drought. Mr Jakhar said farmers of the country were under debt of over Rs 7,000 crore and some of them had even committed suicide due to bad debt. He said food-for-work programme and other measures taken by the government to mitigate sufferings of marginal workers and farmers were inadequate. |
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IATO wants priority to tourism New Delhi, September 2 The IATO, the apex body of tourism professionals, which concluded its 18th annual convention, attended by over 800 delegates from all over the country here, adopted a set of recommendations aimed at securing a high priority for the industry in the national agenda. At its valedictory session, it called for, among other things, an ‘action plan’ for the eastern region, with emphasis on the North-East. Upgrading of the Bagdogra airport and increasing international flights to Kolkata was also urged at the concluding session. It recommended that both government and industry should get together to create an effective mechanism for crisis management. The IATO recommended the revival of the Visa on Arrival scheme for 16 countries. Among its other recommendations were renewed efforts for synergising areas of cooperation between various segments of government and industry and for greater cooperation between all segments of the tourism industry. |
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Postings New Delhi, September 2 Another senior IAS officer, Mr A.N. Tiwari, is to be the Additional Secretary and Finance Adviser in the same department. The appointments have been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. |
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