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Saturday,
March 8, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Maya meets Advani EC orders
action against 10 MP officers Vote-on-account
for Railways approved Roll back
urea hike: Dhindsa Tripura
ministry sworn in Kashmiri bodies for displaced migrant status |
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Sonia to lay stone of Chhattisgarh capital Kalam
lauds women’s contribution In-laws tonsure woman,
daughter CFSL
scientist arrested
Meeting
on House disruption soon Shahabuddin’s
demand
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Maya meets Advani New Delhi, March 7 Asserting that the tapes had been doctored, she told reporters, “I have already replied to the tape issue raised by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav on March 4 by calling a press conference and issuing a press note. I do not want to repeat that.” Claiming that she had the centre’s full support on the issue, She alleged that the Samajwadi Party had become “desperate” after the no-confidence motion moved by it against her government was defeated in the Assembly. She said “those people were thinking of grabbing power by any means, including buying MLAs of the ruling coalition.” “But none of the MLAs of the ruling coalition fell into their trap,” she said. The BSP leader said she discussed with Mr Advani the strategy to be adopted in contesting jointly the Parliamentary elections due within two years as the two parties had decided to fight together. Meanwhile, notice for moving a privilege motion against Ms Mayawati has been given to Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi. |
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EC orders
action against 10 MP officers New Delhi, March 7 In a letter to the Madhya Pradesh Government, the commission said the District Election Officers-cum- Collectors and Deputy District Election Officers of Jabalpur, Dhindori, Katni, Damoh and Narsingpur had "failed" to furnish the required information to the Chief Electoral Officer despite clear directives from him. "The commission desires that departmental proceedings leading to a major penalty should be initiated by the state government for their failure to perform their
assigned duties in time and for their irresponsibility in adhering to the directives of the commission communicated through the CEO", the commission said in its letter, sources said. The officers are : Mr Praveen Garg, Collector-cum-DEO, Jabalpur, Mr R.R. Gangarekar, Collector-cum-DEO, Katni, Mr S.K. Vaidya, Collector-cum-DEO, Damoh, Mr K.R.
Mangodia, Collector-cum-DEO, Dhindori, Mr Rakesh Srivastava, Collector-cum-DEO, Narsingpur, Mr S.S. Baghel, Deputy DEO, Dhindori, Mr Niwas Sharma, Deputy DEO, Jabalpur, Mr L.K. Dwivedi, Deputy DEO, Katni, Mr B.K. Kulesh, Deputy DEO, Damoh and Mr Hemant Jharia, Deputy CEO, Narsingpur. The commission also sought a report from the state government on the follow-up action taken by it. Assembly poll in Madhya Pradesh is due before November this year. The commission recalled it had ordered the CEO to review the status of the draft electoral rolls for every district in the state and furnish a report to it on the "irregularities and discrepancies" that emerged in the draft electoral rolls published in the state on December 26, 2002, for 11 districts and published on January 20 this year for 34 districts. |
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Vote-on-account for
Railways approved New Delhi, March 7 The Bills were passed by the Lok Sabha yesterday. Winding up a marathon discussion in the Upper House, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar dismissed the Opposition charge that adequate steps were not being taken to improve safety. Stating that railway safety was being given top priority, Mr Kumar said a White Paper would be presented to Parliament on this in the current session itself. He denied that passenger traffic had dipped in long distance trains after the Rajdhani train mishaps in Bihar and said the fall in traffic was in short distance and local trains in the current year. There was no truth in the allegation that adequate funds were not being allotted for track renewal, he said. A separate Railway Safety Fund of Rs 17,000 crore was set up in October 2001 to complete all safety projects within a six year time frame, including track renewal, strengthening of bridges and signalling, Mr Kumar said. “We have also written to the state Chief Ministers to send a list of unmanned level crossings that needed to be converted into manned ones to improve safety utilising the fund allocated to Railways from the cess imposed on diesel and petrol,” he said. On the Rajdhani train accident, he said the Railway Safety Commissioner had submitted his report and he had recommended it should be made public. Noting that the Railway Safety Commissioner’s report had said sabotage had led to Rajdhani mishap due to a missing link on the track, Mr Kumar said the Railways had decided on continuous track circuiting on major routes to improve safety. Besides, several other steps were being taken, including training of personnel and upgrading of simulated training facilities, to prevent accidents due to human failure. The decision in the Budget to recruit 20,000 Group-D employees for manning tracks was aimed at improving the railway safety, the minister said. In this connection, he said, rules had been relaxed to recruit personnel knowing any of the languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and it would not be mandatory for them to know English or Hindi. |
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Roll back urea hike: Dhindsa New Delhi, March 7 “The government should rollback the hike in urea, DAP and MOP in the interest of farmers,” Mr Dhindsa urged Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee during his meeting today. The SAD general secretary said the Prime Minister was “positive” in his response to the concerns of the farmers. Talking to The Tribune, Mr Dhindsa said the hike in urea and fertiliser prices would drastically affect the interest of farmers as they were not in a position to absorb this hike. Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh in the Budget proposed to raise the issue price of fertilizers by Rs 12 for urea and Rs 10 for DAP and MOP, per Rs 50 kg bag. The price of complex fertiliser would be suitably modified, he added. The hike in prices comes at a time when the buffer stocks in the country stand at 48.2 million tonnes, much above the requirement of 16.8 million tonnes. And, the Economic Survey suggesting a freeze in minimum support price (MSP) and strong corrective steps aligning the MSP with the cost of production of foodgrains. Mr Dhindsa met the Prime Minister today morning after MPs cutting across partylines held a meeting at the Union Minister’s residence last night to formulate a unified strategy in raising the issues concerning the states. |
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Tripura ministry sworn in Agartala, March 7 The Governor, Lt- Gen K.M Seth (retd), administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr Sarkar and his council of ministers in the presence of a host of senior political leaders and top officials at Raj Bhavan. Fiftyfour-year-old Sarkar, the ninth Chief Minister of Tripura, was the first to take the oath, followed by Mr Anil Sarkar, Mr Badal Chowdhury, Mr Narayan Rupini, Mr Keshab Majumder, Mr Subodh Das, Mr Jitendra Chowdhury, Mr Faizur Rahman, Mr Sukumar Barman, Mr Gopal Das, Mr Pabitra Kar, Mr Sudhir Chandra Das, Mr Manindra Reang, Mr Khagendra Jamatia, Mr Pranab Debbarma, Mr Tapan Chakraborty, Mr Manik Dey and Ms Bijoy Laxmi Sinha. The portfolios to the new ministers will be distributed later. Among the 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister, five were new faces, while 12 were retained from the previous Left Front
Ministry. Mr Tapan Chakraborty, who was the minister during the third Left Front ministry headed by Mr Dasaratha Deb, was also reinducted. However, Mr Debnath will be nominated by the ruling CPM for the post of Speaker in the ninth Assembly, which was constituted by the Governor on March 4. The main
opposition, the Congress and the BJP, boycotted today’s swearing-in ceremony protesting against the alleged post-poll violence in the state.
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Kashmiri
bodies for displaced migrant status New Delhi, March 7 In their first interaction with the seven-member National Commission for Minorities here today, leaders and office-bearers of 11 Kashmiri organisations placed pre-conditions as a proper decision by the government on Kashmir, peace and security to return to home. NCM Chairman Tarlochan Singh, who initiated the dialogue with Kashmiri migrant groups, said the representatives also demanded nation wide registration as displaced migrants, reservation of seats in professional colleges for their children, upgradation of camps in Delhi and Jammu, revival of Kashmiri culture and opportunities in filling vacant posts in the government. The NCM chairman informed them that the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, had assured adequate security arrangements for Kashmiri migrants in Mattan and
Tulmula. Mr Tarlochan Singh said the Jammu and Kashmir Government had made this offer for the Kashmiri migrants wishing to return home, in a recent letter to the commission. |
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Sonia to lay stone of Chhattisgarh capital Raipur, March 7 Ms Gandhi’s visit will, in a way, signal the start of Congress preparations for the Assembly elections in the state which are due in November this year. It is perhaps the thought of impending elections which has prevented Mr Ajit Jogi from taking a decision on naming the new capital, which borders the present capital of Raipur. There have been demands to name the new capital after Ghasi Das, a socio-religious leader, Khub Chand Patel, a freedom fighter, and Kabir among others. |
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Kalam lauds women’s contribution New Delhi, March 7 In his message on the occasion of Women’s Day, the President has stated, “We are proud of the achievements of women in cooperation and dedication to the values of our cultural heritage. I also salute those who have contributed in our freedom struggle and those still working in the formation, upliftment and all round development of our nation.” The President has further wished them “continued progress and prosperity in the years ahead.” |
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In-laws tonsure woman, daughter Vadodara, March 7 The Bhadra police, when contacted, said altogether eight members of the victim’s in-laws family, including her husband Sikandar Bharatsinh Rana, his parents and the village barber who rendered his service in tonsuring the duo, were arrested and sent behind bars after their bail pleas were rejected by a court yesterday. The accused had been booked under Sections 498(A), 323 and 114 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 135 of the Bombay Police Act following a complaint lodged by the victim Bishuben, police sources said.
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CFSL scientist arrested New Delhi, March 7 The SSO, later identified as C.K. Jain, was allegedly involved in hawala racket, operating between the country and the port-city, sources said. DRI officials, acting on an intelligence tip-off, swooped on him while he was boarding a flight to Dubai at the airport in the wee hours of today. The official, an SSO grade I, works in the physics division of the CFSL, which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs. |
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Meeting
on House disruption soon New Delhi, March 7 “When the next week starts, I will call leaders of political parties to discuss with them how to ensure smooth functioning of the question hour. All adjournment notices will be taken up after question hour,” he said. The Speaker said this as the Uttar Pradesh developments and Bihar again figured in the House leading to an uproar. The Congress and ruling party members protested that only Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were being discussed. |
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Shahabuddin’s
demand New Delhi, March 7 Terming the Allahabad High Court order as “unprecedented and uncalled for”, Mr Shahabuddin claimed the order was fraught with far reaching consequences as it set up a very “questionable and dangerous precedent”. In a statement issued here, Mr Shahabuddin said the “unlawfully” established make-shift temple should also be included in the excavation order. Stating that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was a department of the Government of India, he raised doubts over its credibility. |
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All-party meeting on Iraq New Delhi, March 7 This was stated by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here today. |
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Indigenous
torpedo tested Hyderabad, March 7 Torpedo, developed by scientists of Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam, was produced by the city-based Bharat Dynamics Limited.
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BJP to send team to Dhar New Delhi, March 7 “The Chief Minister by raising issues like cow slaughter and Bhojshala is only diverting peoples’ attention from problems like proper roads and other facilities which have not been provided by the state
government,” party spokesman V.K. Malhotra told newspersons here. He said the date and details regarding the composition of the delegation would be decided soon. Mr Malhotra said the Bhojshala and the mosque were separate and there should be no time restriction on offering prayers at the temple. |
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Ensure
benefit to workers, says panel New Delhi, March 7 The report was submitted to the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr Satyanarayan
Jatiya, by the Chairman of the commission, Mr Panna Lal Tambay, here today. |
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Man spying for Pak arrested New Delhi, March 7 |
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