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Thursday,
September 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Report on
babies’ deaths sought
Centre clips wings of Delhi Govt |
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UP CM
orders probe into media leak Judicial
custody for Sharda Jain, brother Despite
ban, Ranvir Sena chief meets Press Anti-Sonia
campaign motivated: Ashwani BJP:
Vaghela’s yatra contradicts Sonia’s claim RS MP
joins Cong
Indo-Indonesian
patrol of Andaman Sea
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Report on babies’ deaths sought Kolkata, September 4 Mr Rajendran, who will now hold additional charge of Bengal along with Orissa, as the incumbent, Mr Viren J. Shah, has proceeded on long leaves immediately after taking over the charge yesterday, asked the Chief Minister to send him a detailed report on babies’ deaths in the hospital. The Governor, who is a former Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, also wanted to talk to the Health Minister, senior Health Department officials and the hospital superintendent to know from them the state of affairs at the hospital at Beliaghata, where about 30 babies reportedly died in the past week due to want of oxygen and proper medical facilities. New admissions to the hospital resumed yesterday, but were restricted. Several guardians and parents had shifted ailing children from the hospital elsewhere for proper treatment. A large police posse was posted inside and outside the hospital after incidents of hospital staff being attacked. The Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the BJP had lashed out at the callousness of the administration and improper healthcare and demanded a judicial probe into the death cases, which the Chief Minister had rejected. The Union Health Minister, who would send an official team to Kolkata to make an on-the-spot study of the incidents, also spoke to the Chief Minister, assuring him of all help and assistance in child healthcare. Some partners of the Left Front like the RSP, the CPI and the Forward Bloc also criticised the poor handling of the Health Department by Dr Surya Kanto Mishra of the CPI (M). Meanwhile, the Health Minister sought an explanation from the hospital superintendent, Dr Arup Mondal, for admitting the inadequacy of proper healthcare facilities in the hospital, which accordingly to the minister, was wrong and misleading. Yesterday, the Health Department issued circulars to all hospital superintendents and heads of various government departments, directing them not to meet the press or make any statement regarding the babies’ deaths. Entry of mediapersons to the hospital was also stopped. |
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3 more kids die Kolkata, September 4 Three children also died in the premier state-run N. R. S. Medical College and Hospital here today. Hospital superintendent
S. K. Rudra said the three children died of either bronchopneumonia, jaundice or respiratory problems.
UNI, PTI |
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Centre clips wings of Delhi Govt New Delhi, September, 4 Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, flanked by her Cabinet colleagues, told a news conference that the move by the Centre stipulated that all decisions of the Government of NCT of Delhi would be vetted and approved by the Lieutenant Governor. Ms Dikshit said the decision conveyed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs sought to amend the business rules to give the Lieutenant Governor overriding powers to browse government's policy decisions and files. Making known her displeasure over such a move, she said it amounted to circumventing and diluting the powers of a duly elected government and dubbed it as "retrograde." She said it was not acceptable and went against the established conventions of democratic governance and decision-making. The Centre, she stated, had not even sought her views before going ahead with the decision. Ms Dikshit said the missive could not be seen in isolation as the Assembly elections were due and the BJP found it convenient to create roadblocks in the way of good governance. The Chief Minister said she had despatched letters to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani to convey her stand and dared the Delhi unit of the BJP to come out with its "final" view and declare its "vision" of full statehood for the NCT of Delhi. The Chief Minister's protest is seen as part of the ongoing spat between the Centre and the Delhi Government over outstanding issues like who should have what powers. Recently, the Government of NCT of Delhi had rejected the draft Delhi Metro Operation and Maintenance Bill, 2002, formulated by the Centre, on the grounds that it was not consulted. Again, in response to the BJP's declaration that Mr Vajpayee would be invited to inaugurate Delhi Metro's first phase in December, the Cabinet on September 2 decided to extend an invitation to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to do the honours. |
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UP CM orders probe into media leak Lucknow, September 4 The Chief Secretary, Mr D.S. Bagga, will conduct the inquiry. Though no time frame has been fixed to complete the inquiry, the Chief Minister said it would be done soon. She has also ordered the transfer of officials dealing with the departments concerned. A senior official of the Chief Minister’s secretariat told The Tribune that Ms Mayawati had also called a meeting of office-bearers of the IAS Association. She is expected to tell them to rein in their cadre and not to leak any official report just to create a controversy. At a hurriedly called press conference the Chief Minister said the media had exaggerated the issue. Identifying an English daily and a TV channel, she said the news about reservation in sports hostels had been carried just to malign the state bureaucracy and the state government. The reports carried today said the Chief Minister was informed about reservation in sports colleges before the then Principal Secretary, Sports, Mr Harish Chandra, issued a government order. The reports even quoted a noting in the file to prove that the Chief Minister knew about this. One of the TV channels even showed the file. Today the Chief Minister showed the file to the mediapersons to prove that she had not signed it. But she did not deny that a file was shown to her and her permission taken to take the matter to the Cabinet meeting. The government has suspended the then Principal Secretary and issued a show cause notice to him. This inquiry would also be completed soon, Ms Mayawati said. |
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Judicial
custody for Sharda Jain, brother New Delhi, September 4 Metropolitan Magistrate Gurdeep Singh sent the two to jail after their counsel Aman Lekhi vehemently opposed the prosecution move, arguing that their investigation had already been completed. Mr Lekhi alleged that the prosecution intended to delay filing of charge sheet and prevent the accused from obtaining bail. Mr Gupta was gunned down on August 24 in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh allegedly at the behest of Sharda Jain, who reportedly had an affair with the deceased and was jealous after finding him inclined to another woman corporator Memwati Barwala. The body of Atma Ram Gupta was recovered from a canal in Bulandshahr a few days ago. The killers, allegedly hired by Jain were yet to be nabbed. Gupta is suspected to have been murdered on August 24, shortly after he and Sharda Jain left together from Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s public rally at Ferozeshah Kotla Grounds here. Both Jain and her brother, who was also a party in the conspiracy, were brought to the Tis Hazari lower courts here with their faces covered.
PTI, UNI |
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Despite
ban, Ranvir Sena chief meets Press Patna, September 4 Jail officials and the district administration refused to comment on the incident. The Ranvir Sena chief talked with ease with the journalists, though jail officials had denied him permission. Fifty four-year-old farmer peasant Brahmeshwar Singh, lodged in the jail after his “queer” arrest on August 29, turned philosophical as he said, “The violence unleashed by the Ranvir Sena was the last option and had to be resorted to in retaliation. I feel guns are no cure of the disease of caste rivalry.” He said he believed in both Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose. He maintained the farmers’ movement would go on. |
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Anti-Sonia campaign motivated: Ashwani
New Delhi, September 4 “Those who insist on questioning Ms Gandhi’s credentials to lead the Congress government at the Centre need to remind themselves that they were among her supporters till recently, notwithstanding their new-found justification for denigrating her,” Mr Ashwani Kumar said in a statement here without naming AIADMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, who has raked up the “foreign origin” issue afresh. “The constituents and supporters of the political establishment who have chosen to rake up a non-issue have neither the moral credentials nor a constitutional justification for their malicious campaign against the leader of India’s oldest and largest political party,” he said. “The vilification of Sonia Gandhi is rooted in the frustrated political ambitions and is sponsored by those who have polarised our unified society on a communal basis,” he added.  |
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BJP: Vaghela’s yatra contradicts Sonia’s claim New Delhi, September 4 “In a state where they (Congress) felt that political activities are not possible, they started a competitive yatra (against Narendra Modi’s gaurav yatra), which only bluffs Sonia Gandhi’s claim that the situation is not good in Gujarat for yatras,” BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley told newspersons. “In fact, Ms Gandhi had written two letters in the recent past to assert that the situation in Gujarat was not normal and that the BJP should cancel its yatra. Now that they themselves have launched a yatra, contradiction in their statements stand exposed,” Mr Jaitley said asserting that the “gaurav yatra” was purely a political activity of the party’s state unit. |
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RS MP joins Cong New Delhi, September 4 This was announced by AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni in the presence of Mr Jayanto at the AICC headquarters here. Mr Bhattacharya was elected to the Rajya Sabha with the support of the Trinamool Congress. Meanwhile, the Congress today demanded that top VHP leaders should be placed under house arrest for their provocative statements. Responding to statements by senior VHP leaders in Amritsar about “repeating Gujarat experiment,” Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said the VHP had shown its true agenda and given its plans for the future. “This is an open challenge to the rule of law in the country,’’ he said. Calling upon the Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani to take action against the VHP leaders, he said Mr Advani’s silence on the issue would be construed by the people as his endorsement of the VHP stand. Mr Sharma also accused the Union Government of encroaching on the powers of the Congress-ruled Delhi government to claim credit for various development projects. The spokesman said ignoring the elected representatives, inaugurations were being done by the Lt-Governor in presence of senior BJP leaders. |
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Magsaysay
awardee returns money New Delhi, September 4 Speaking to newspersons Mr Pandey said any form of terrorism should be condemned and the unilateral military action initiated by the USA amounted to state terrorism. Mr Pandey had received the Magsaysay Award in the emerging leadership category. “I did not return the award as it was an ‘honour’. But I don’t need the prize money to carry on with my programmes”, he said. He said some people felt that if he opposed the US Government and its policy, “I should not accept any money from an American institution”. Mr Pandey, who participated in a protest march to the American Embassy in Philippines organised by the Asian Peace Alliance in protest against US efforts towards reimposing hegemony in India, said a Manila-based daily challenged him to leave behind the $ 50,000 cheque with the US Embassy before his departure to India. “Hence I returned the cheque to the Magsaysay Foundation”, he said. |
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Indo-Indonesian patrol of Andaman Sea New Delhi, September 4 The purpose of the coordinated patrol is to check poaching, smuggling, drug trafficking and other illegal activities. It will also serve the valuable purpose of enhancing mutual understanding and cooperation between the navies of the two countries, so that operational cooperation between units of the two navies is established. The patrol will be conducted by one warship and one patrol aircraft from each navy, along the International Maritime Boundary Line. The first such patrol commenced on September 2. A Trinkat class patrol vessel and Dornier is participating from the Indian side and a Parchim-I class ship and Nomad aircraft from the Indonesian side. The command and control for the patrol will be jointly exercised by the Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command, and the commander of the western fleet command, Indonesian navy. |
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