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Thursday,
February 20, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Oppn walks
out over POTA PM against Indo-Pak
war LS flays
US stance on Iraq War no
solution, exhort ex-PMs |
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Bill on Proxy voting okayed Illegal
immigration worries Advani
BJP for
law on cow slaughter NORTH INDIA IN
PARLIAMENT 20 die
as bus falls into gorge Aviation
staff call off strike Ban
asbestos, say health experts
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Oppn walks out over POTA New Delhi, February 19 Congress leaders Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee sought a specific reply from the Deputy Prime Minister over whether the Central government thought or not that POTA had been
misused in UP. Mr Mukherjee sought to know from Mr Advani why he had assured Parliament that the Centre would ensure that POTA was not misused when he was expressing his inability now. Finally expressing dissatisfaction over Mr Advani’s remark that there was nothing on record to say that POTA had been misused in Uttar Pradesh the Opposition led by Dr Manmohan Singh staged a walkout. “There is nothing on record to say that POTA has been misused in Uttar Pradesh. Let the court tell,” Mr Advani said while intervening during the reply to a question relating to the controversy over application of POTA in Uttar Pradesh. An angry Opposition accused the Centre of not keeping the promise made when POTA was adopted by Parliament that the Act would not be misused and raised objections to Mr Advani’s remarks and the initial replies made by Minister of State for Home I D Swami in this regard. “When the Act was passed by Parliament, the Home Minister gave an assurance that it would not be misused. Now the Home Minister (Mr Advani) says that he meant the Centre will not misuse it. The Home Minister is not doing justice,” Mr Mukherjee said. As the Opposition continued protesting against the use of POTA in Uttar Pradesh, Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat rose from his seat and asked who would decide whether “it (POTA) has been misused or not. Mr Advani then said it was not a question of technicality. The fact is that the authority of the Centre and the states in matters of law and order is different, he said. Responding to a suggestion from Congress member Kapil Sibal that the Centre should set up a Central review committee on the lines of the one constituted to go into TADA, Mr Advani said, “It is a suggestion for action. I will consider it”. Earlier, expressing dissatisfaction over the replies given by Mr Swami, Leader of the Opposition in the House Manmohan Singh said, “This is a serious question. I regret to say the minister is evading the issue in the House. It is hardly the way to treat the House”. |
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PM against Indo-Pak war New Delhi, February 19 Mr Vajpayee was responding to a question raised by Independent member Ram Dass Athawale who wanted to know why India was refraining from launching a military attack on Pakistan despite the latter’s active involvement in promoting cross-border terrorism in India. Mr Athawale wanted to know whether this was some kind of a reflection of India’s weakness. Earlier Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh said the government was aware of the reported incidents of expulsion and harassment of Indian diplomats in Pakistan. During the past one year, there have been 11 incidents of harassment and as many as nine cases of expulsion of Indian officials, Mr Digvijay Singh said. Reports of similar incidents of harassment of Indian diplomats have not come from any other country, the minister said. |
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LS flays US stance on Iraq New Delhi, February 19 Participating in a special discussion on the situation in Iraq, they alleged that Washington was acting against Baghdad with the hidden agenda of taking control over huge oil resources of Iraq. Initiating the debate, Samajwadi Party leader Ramji Lal Suman said India should take the necessary initiative to avoid a war and added that lakhs of Indians were working in West Asia and any war would
adversely affect India and its economy. He said the United Nations should be allowed to sort out the matter and not the USA. He ridiculed the reported opinion of some NDA partners that India should support the USA in its war against Iraq. The BJP chief whip
V.K. Malhotra said India was against any war and all efforts should be made to avoid it. The USA should not think that it was the world leader, he said. If the US war was against terrorism, it should wage a war against Pakistan, he said. Though Bangladesh was becoming a centre of terrorists, the USA was not worried about it, he said. Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar lashed out at the government, saying the South Block has become a “rubber stamp of America” and this should change. The government lacked the will to reflect the collective will of the people on external affairs and this was regrettable. A change of guard at the South Block was welcome in correcting distortions, he added. |
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War no solution, exhort
ex-PMs New Delhi, February 19 In a joint statement here, Mr V.P. Singh, Mr Chandra
Shekhar, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda and Mr I.K. Gujral observed: “The universally-accepted norms of international relations and conduct among nations are being flouted and precedents of ignoring the UN and world opinion are being established that will come to haunt even those who have made a pre-determined decision to go to war, no matter what.” The former Prime Ministers pointed out that the world was “being pushed into all uncertainties of another war” which would cause hundreds of thousands of casualties, force millions to flee from their homes and cause immense suffering for countless children and women. “Certainly Iraq should cooperate with its and the UN inspectors to ensure compliance with the world body’s decision,” the statement added . |
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Bill on Proxy voting okayed New Delhi, February 19 Replying to a debate on the Bill, Mr Jaitley said proxy voting facility was available in several countries, including the USA and Britain, and some of them extended it to even the physically and visually challenged citizens. The other two options that would be available to the service personnel were the conventional postal ballot and those who were on peace posting could go in for physical voting. The service personnel, who wanted to make use of proxy voting, could give the right to any of the adult blood relation or the wife.
UNI |
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Illegal
immigration worries Advani New Delhi, February 19 The Deputy Prime Minister said the government would take all measures to deport them back. “The estimates are very large, awful and frightening and we are determined to reverse the process”, Mr Advani said while replying to supplementaries during question hour. On a suggestion by Congress member Pranab Mukherjee that identity cards be issued to Indian nationals in these areas, Mr Advani said the Centre would develop a National Register of Citizens and identity cards were proposed to be issued to all Indian
nationals. |
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BJP for law on cow slaughter New Delhi, February 19 Describing the allegations of Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders that beef exports from the state had gone up as “absurd,” BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman V.K. Malhotra said the BJP had asked the Centre to enact a legislation to ban cow slaughter and the Bill would in place after
discussions. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, February 19 In a written reply, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ms Sushma Swaraj, said the PGIMER, Chandigarh, has not earmarked separate funds for giving medicines free of cost to poor patients. However, the institute gives medicines to poor patients admitted indoor in emergency/ICU/general ward and treated outdoor. Genuine and really poor patients, unable to deposit the hospital dues, are declared “poor free” at the time of admission. In emergency, the patients do not pay for any investigation/treatment for the first 48 hours of stay at the hospital, the minister said. Highways: There is at present no proposal for four-laning the national highways from Ambala to Hisar, Saha to Panchkula and Saha to Yamunanagar, the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Major-Gen B.C. Khanduri (retd), informed the Lok Sabha today. He said the Ambala-Hisar and Saha-Panchkula roads are national highways. The road from Ambala to Yamunanagar consists of state road from Ambala to Saha and NH-73 from Saha to Yamunanagar. The responsibility for the development of state roads lies with the state government. SPORT: The Centre has sanctioned several lakhs of rupees during the Ninth Plan for the promotion of hockey in Punjab, informed the Minister for Youth Affairs and Sport, Mr Vikram Verma. In a written reply, the minister said the Centre has sanctioned Rs 100 lakh for the replacement of hockey surface at Sports Complex, Chandigarh, Rs 100 lakh for the replacement of hockey surface at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Rs 100 lakh for the laying of hockey surface at Badal in Muktsar district. COLD
WAVE: The state governments concerned are responsible for relief and rehabilitation of those suffering or affected by the cold wave, the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr I.D. Swami, informed the Rajya Sabha. He said the states have been asked to provide information on the relief measures taken. Roads in HP: The Minister of State for Rural Development, Mr U.V. Krishnam Raju, informed the Rajya Sabha that the Himachal Pradesh government had not sent any proposal for the construction of roads during 2002-03 under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak
Yojana. |
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20 die as bus
falls into gorge Dehra Dun, February 19 The private bus, carrying nearly 100 persons of a marriage party, was returning to Dhansi village from the Kalchi Kothar area in the district when the vehicle fell into the 300-metre deep gorge in the Devikhal area last night, DIG Anil Raturi said. Among those killed was Pratap Singh, father of the groom Ranbir Singh, who along with his bride escaped with minor injuries.
PTI |
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Aviation
staff call off strike New Delhi, February 19 “We have received a communication from the Finance Ministry, saying that they would consider our demand favourably. So we have decided to call off the strike,” Mr Vaskar J. Deka, Regional Secretary of Air India Employees’ Guild, said here. Welcoming the decision of the National Action Committee of All-Airline Employees, the umbrella body of 15 unions of the aviation industry which had called the strike, Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain said: “I am happy that the problem has been resolved amicably and air travellers will not face any problem”. |
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Ban asbestos, say health experts New Delhi, February 19 The contentious issue of whether the use of asbestos, a proven cancer-causing mineral, should not be banned altogether in India, came to the fore at the first meeting of the ad hoc group “for safety in use of asbestos fibres and products”, convened by the Bureau of Indian Standards here yesterday. Mining of the hazardous mineral is already banned in the country, even though its illegal mining continues in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, medical experts pointed out. The four-hour meeting of medical experts and representatives of the Rs 2,000-crore Indian asbestos industry was inconclusive, with both sides holding divergent views on the ban on asbestos. While the experts pointed out that there was no such thing as “safe asbestos” and the only “safety” was in its ban, as had been done in the developed world, the industry representatives insisted that there were ways of enforcing and ensuring safety standards in the use of asbestos. The meeting itself was convened at the behest of the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, for a fresh look at the safety standards being followed in the Indian asbestos industry in the light of an extremely well-documented in-depth study by the Institution of Public Health Engineers (IPHE). Among the experts who spoke in favour of the ban on asbestos use were Dr T.K. Joshi of Jayaprakash Narayan Hospital, Dr S.R. Kamath of KEM Hospital, Dr Qamar Rahman, head of toxicology division of Industrial Toxicology Research Centre (ITRC), Lucknow, and a representative of the National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad, besides the President of the IPHE and co-author of the study, Prof K.J. Nath, who attended the meeting as a special invitee to put forth his views. |
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Bottled water
New Delhi, February 19 |
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