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Thursday,
April 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Punjab CM
woos Mumbai investors DRT
notice: Brar’s kin to meet ministers
Samata
flays govt on Iraq O’Brien
for anti-war quiz in Gulf Indo-France
meeting on terror |
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Area
under rabi crop declines CISF
inducted into aviation security Suspended
DDA official held Jogi for
JPC probe into ‘IB misuse’ Sahib
Singh case: report awaited
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Punjab CM woos Mumbai investors Mumbai, April 2 Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister said Punjabis in general and Sikhs in particular had contributed significantly to national reconstruction after independence. The Punjabi community settled in various parts of the country, as well as abroad, always made its mark by dint of hard work, enterprising abilities and honest approach in every field. In a brief, informal interaction with the media, Capt Singh said "Punjab is the most peaceful state and the present government in the last one year has created a congenial atmosphere for industrial and social infrastructural development". He revealed the new industrial policy had already been announced, “which is less regulatory, more facilitating and investor-friendly.”
Inviting investors he said Punjab provided a suitable package of incentives with a view to attracting investments in the state and generating new job opportunities. The Punjab Chief Minister said that the gates of multilateral funding had been opened by the World Bank and other international financial Institutions, after rationalisation of the subsidies pattern in the state. The shattered economy in Punjab was being put back on the right track through fiscal reforms undertaken by the government. Various Punjabi organisations and distinguished personalities who welcomed the Chief Minister included Mr Kirpa Shankar Singh, Minister of State for Home, Maharashtra; Mr Charan Singh Sapra, President, Mumbai Youth Congress, Mr H.S. Sethi, President, Santa Cruz Dhan Pothohar Nagar Society, Mr R.S. Chandhok, President, Bombay Merchant Association, Mr P.S. Chandhok, President, Sikh Brotherhood, Bedi Parupkar Singh, Mr Rajinder Singh Bedi, Youth Congress leader, Mr S.S. Bajaj, President, Khalsa Sewak Jatha, Kharl, Mr D. S. Shahni, Mr Amarjit Singh Bittu, Mr Mehar Singh Randhawa, Guridwara Sahib, Airoli, New Bombay, Mr Narinder Singh Gill, Mr Gurbaksh Singh, Punjabi Cultural and Welfare Society, New Bombay, Mr Harkirat Singh and Mr Malkit Singh Bal. Capt Amarinder Singh is accompanied by his Adviser, Mr B.I.S. Chahal. |
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DRT notice: Brar’s kin to meet ministers New Delhi, April 2 In a statement here, Mr Ripjeet Brar said the DRT had been mentioning a highly inflated amount in its recovery notices. He said while the outstanding dues on a bank loan were in lakhs, the DRT had mentioned the amount in crores. Mr Brar said a company with which he was indirectly associated had taken a bridge loan of Rs 50 lakh during the capital issue of the company in 1993. “An amount of Rs 25 lakh was immediately returned to the bank and a balance of Rs 25 lakh was pending,’’ Mr Ripjeet Brar said. He said initially the outstanding amount was shown as Rs 87 crore which was reduced to Rs 47 crore after his intervention. “The actual suit filed by the bank was for about Rs 1 crore,’’ he said. Mr Brar said he would move court and meet the Union Ministers concerned to draw their attention to “the working of higher tribunal.” |
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Samata flays govt on Iraq New Delhi, April 2 While the Samata Party is the first NDA ally to come into open, there are others in the NDA who feel the same way and may give vent to their respective views in coming days, sources said. Even within the Union Cabinet, the sources pointed out, there were many senior ministers who had reservations over the government’s policy on the US attack on Iraq. "Our foreign policy establishment is infested with people who think the national interests of the USA and India are same .... Our foreign policy should not be Pakistan centric and US obsessed," party spokesman Shambhu Srivastwa said, adding that the Samata Party was not happy with the Centre’s stand on Iraq. Addressing a press conference here, Mr Srivastva said: "The government should take a more proactive approach. There is no need to sit idle and watch this horrible development". The Samata Party’s tough posturing came in the wake of mounting criticism of its leader Defence Minister George Fernandes whose ambivalent approach on the US invasion of Iraq had come in sharp focus of his political colleagues, the sources said. The Defence Ministers’ party colleagues have been telling him that the party was losing its credibility among its electorate and would have to pay a heavy price for its silence on the issue, the sources
said. The government should pass a resolution condemning the US attack when Parliament resumed on Monday, he said. Giving a call for the boycott of US goods, he said demonstrations would be held at the district level across the country on April 5 against the inhuman and unjust war. |
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O’Brien for anti-war quiz in Gulf Kolkata, April 2 Derek O'Brien will travel to Doha and Muscat this week to organise quiz shows on Iraq war for children. Taking part will be 250 children of US, British Indian and Pakistani descent. “The biggest lesson for all the war-mongers would come from the children,” says O'Brien. In Doha, the venue is barely 15 km away from where the US army has set up its camp, says O'Brien. The shows will be held in Muscat on Friday and in Doha on April 9.
UNI |
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Indo-France meeting on terror New Delhi, April 2 The decision to intensify cooperation was taken yesterday after a two-day meeting of the Joint Working Group on Terrorism set up by the two countries. At the meeting held here, the two countries discussed bilateral cooperation at the level of intelligence agencies. Government sources here said that the group discussed the trends of terrorism in South Asia, West Asia and Europe, the Al-Qaida network and Afghanistan, besides drug trafficking in relation to terrorism and cyber crime. The working group was led on the Indian side by Mr B. Mukherjee, Joint Secretary (West Europe) in the Ministry of External Affairs and Mr Philip Munier on the French side. It was the fourth meeting of the group, which had been sensitising one another on the growing menace of global
terrorism, since it was set up in 2001. |
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Area under rabi crop declines New Delhi, April 2 The area under wheat crop has declined by 14.45 lakh hectares from that of last year. The summer rice area has come down by 9.18 lakh and of rabi coarse cereals by 3.46 lakh hectares. Area under maize, however, increased by 1.71 lakh hectares. The total areas under rabi pulses declined by 11.35 lakh hectares and of oilseed crops by 8.26 lakh hectares. The CWWG noted that after a depressive kharif season the rabi season commenced on a cautious note with available residual moisture due to the late monsoon rains and less than comfortable water availability in reservoirs. In the North and North-West India, the weak monsoon was followed by weak post-monsoon rains and above normal temperature resulting in subdued rabi sowing, particularly in Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. The severe rainfall deficiency of 64 per cent in Rajasthan during the last year monsoon impacted the area under rabi crop. The conference on “Kharif 2003” beginning tomorrow will review agriculture during 2002-03, including assessment of rabi crop performance and programmes for the coming kharif season, besides delibrating on credit and risk management, and ongoing negotiations on agreement on agriculture. |
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CISF inducted into aviation security New Delhi, April 2 “The cost of inducting the CISF would rise from Rs 80 crore at present to Rs 218 crore....but there will be no compromise on security,” he said after formally inducting the force to take over the entire security arrangements at the IGI Airport here. With the induction of the CISF at the Delhi airport, which is designated “hyper-sensitive,” the force would now handle the security at 46 airports, including those in all metros. Asking the CISF personnel to be cautious but courteous as well, the minister said: “Khadi-clad personalities expect that they should be saluted and not frisked. I can understand your problems but do not compromise on security.” The minister said a civil aviation security academy would come up in the national capital to provide specialised training to manpower. A post of Inspector-General of Police had also been sanctioned for aviation security, he added. Bureau of Civil Aviation Security chief T.K. Mitra and his CISF counterpart B.B. Mishra said 1,990 CISF personnel, who would replace the Delhi police security set-up, had been imparted specialised training regarding anti-hijacking and physical security of the airport and aircraft. |
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Suspended
DDA official held New Delhi, April 2 Mr Kapoor, the third person to be nabbed in the scam, was thoroughly questioned by CBI officials yesterday and today before being arrested, CBI sources said. The CBI registered an FIR against sacked DDA vice-chairman Subash Sharma, director (lands) Jagdish Chander, alleged conduit of vice-chairman Dharam Bir Singh Khattar, Ashok Kapoor and Amritlal Kapoor, director of the Modern Public School Education Society. According to the FIR, the accused DDA officials allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy to show undue favour to the society in the matter of the cancellation of unutilised land on lease of about four acres.
PTI |
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Jogi for JPC probe into ‘IB misuse’ New Delhi, April 2 Responding to the Prime Minister’s statement to his DO 326/PS/SCM/2002 of March 31, where he had informed Mr Vajpayee of a conspiracy to malign political opponents through misuse of the Intelligence Bureau, Mr Jogi said that it was hardly surprising that the Intelligence Bureau had not admitted to mischievous operations against political opponents which “to my information has been underway in the Bureau.’’ In a letter to Mr Vajpayee written today, the Chief Minister said: “I am surprised that, without any independent assessment, you have chosen to go by the IB’s version and have, based on that, already concluded that the document forwarded to you is forged. And, what is more, the already prejudged forgery is sought to be confirmed through another central agency. You would agree that the very idea of an inquiry by one investigating agency of the government of India against another will not inspire confidence in the public mind.” The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said that the “core issue” of his earlier letter, “the political misuse of the IB — has been completely overlooked.” |
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Sahib Singh case: report awaited New Delhi, April 2 "I have not yet received the report. We have not received any complaint from any passenger or even Jet Airways," Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters here. He said he had ordered an inquiry suo motu into the incident following a verbal complaint of "harrassment" caused to the Labour Minister.
TNS |
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