 |
Friday,
July 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Vajpayee should resign: Singhal CBI to use lie-detector in Madhumita probe Pistol theft: Museum security under doubt Taj Corridor: Centre denies shifting blame |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mayawati’s action against
officers ‘eyewash’ CPM asks Railway Minister to resign Troop deployment in Iraq opposed Ex-Joint Director of CBI in drug racket
India-born American Nobel nominee Two held for violating Passport Act
|
|
Vajpayee should resign: Singhal
Thiruvananthapuram, July 3 “They (BJP) have told the people that they would bring in a legislation. Now they must tell the people that the government does not have the majority. So they should resign and seek a fresh mandate,” Mr Singhal, who was on his way to attend the crucial RSS working committee meeting at Kanyakumari, told reporters here. The VHP chief also said Mr Vajpayee was never “in favour of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and often suggested the construction of the temple next to the mosque.” “He was the only person in the BJP and in the Sangh Parivar opposed to the movement,” Mr Singhal said. Stating that the Kanchi seer had no formula relating to the Janmabhoomi spot which “entirely belonged to the Hindus,” he took exception to the seer negotiating with the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board which, he said, “did not believe in the Constitution and law of the land”. “The whole fight is for Ramlala. The reported draft of the settlement formula of the seer says nothing about the particular spot,” he said. Justifying the Gujarat riots in the aftermath of the Godhra train incident, Mr Singhal said the majority community, which had always been at the receiving end, had retaliated for the first time. Referring to the Marad killings in Kerala, he said these were part of a conspiracy to clear the coastal areas in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Hindus so that “jehadis with ISI links” could have a clear run there. He reiterated the VHP demand for a CBI probe into the Marad killings and asked IUML leader P.K. Kunhalikutty to resign from the Cabinet.
— PTI |
|
|
CBI to use lie-detector in Madhumita probe
Lucknow, July 3 According to police sources, the CBI team is also using modern electronic surveillance gadgets to track the fixed and mobile phones of the suspects in the case. “The lie-detector has been installed at the CBI camp office in the state capital while the electronic surveillance gadgets have been brought from New Delhi a couple of days back,” sources said. The family members of the deceased will have to record their fresh statements through the lie-detector as the CBI is confused over the frequent change in the stand by Shanti Devi and Nidhi, mother and elder sister, respectively, of the slain poetess. The lie-detector test is also proposed to be carried out on sacked minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani to record their statements over their alleged links with the deceased. However, the CBI is in a fix over when to interrogate the accused BSP MLA who is in Gorakhpur at present. Meanwhile, two CBI teams have visited Gorakhpur and Maharajganj to collect evidence regarding the deceased’s relationship with the sacked minister. After collecting ‘enough’ evidence, the CBI sleuths propose to proceed with the interrogation of Mr Tripathi and some of his family members, sources said. Earlier, the slain poetess’ family had alleged the involvement of the minister in the crime. Madhumita’s elder sister Nidhi had accused minister’s wife, Madhumani of orchestrating the murder of her sister due to the poetess’s “involvement” with the BSP legislator. The CBI team had inspected the spot where the crime took place, the Paper Mill Colony residence of the Shuklas on Friday last and collected some clothes and personal belongings of the slain poetess. The agency sleuths had already taken the sole witness to the crime, Desraj under its protection. Besides the poetess, Desraj was the only person present at the Paper Mill colony house here when she was shot dead by two assailants in cold blood on May 9 last.
— UNI |
|
|
Pistol theft: Museum security under doubt New Delhi, July 3 A public interest litigation (PIL), pending for the past six years before the Delhi High Court, had raised the issue of security in the museum alleging that “certain costly art objects have been replaced with their imitations”. Though the controversy of General Niazi’s pistol seems to have died down after the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun clarified that the Pakistani commander had not laid down a “pistol” but a “revolver” when over 93,000 soldiers had surrendered to the Indian Army in 1971 after defeat in the Bangladesh war, the theft has revived the question of the security of the museum. “Theft of the pistol, which is of great historical significance, has in a way substantiated our allegations that the priceless art objects kept in the museum are not safe,” advocate Ravi Prakash Gupta, who had been arguing the PIL, told The Tribune. The PIL was initially filed by advocate H.P. Singh in December 1996 but when he could not pursue it further, the cause was taken up by the National Archives and Museum Employees Union (NAMEU) by impleading itself in the case. A committee appointed by the high court under the chairmanship of former Union Culture Secretary M. Vardarajan, in a report placed before it, had admitted that variance in the number of holdings had been noticed. The court had constituted a nine-member committee under Vardarajan in 1998 for verifying the artefacts to certify their genuineness, scientific conditioning and computerised cataloging to prepare a digital data of each object. “Total objects verified is 2,04,569 (up to February 28, 2002). In many sections, there is variance between the number of holdings originally reported to the chairman and the figures that are coming up,” the report said. It said in some sections’ differences had been noticed in the “progressive figures
verified” and the museum authorities had informed the Chairman that “the figures given to him in April, 1999, might not have been precise. These might have been more since he assumed charge.” The report further said in many sections, “a number of objects are reported to have been sent out on loan, transferred elsewhere and written off”... and the Chairman had sought details from the Museum Director-General about such objects. An affidavit filed by the National Museum on the progress of the physical verification work earlier this year said only 849 objects out of 2,05,375 remain to be verified. Of these, 52 objects were “not found OK and 84 need
re-verification and are being looked into,” the affidavit said adding the objects were sent out of the museum when required, with proper permission and authority of the Director-General and competent authority in the Union Government’s Department of Culture. The petitioners had raised questions about the genuineness of Nadir Shah’s Axe, certain items of Mughal jewellery which were sent for exhibition in Singapore and Milan (Italy) in 1996, certain ancient coins, manuscripts of valuable books and misplacement of “munal-tip and Gulconda (Chamba) Rumal”. |
|
|
Taj Corridor: Centre denies shifting blame New Delhi, July 3 Union Minister of Tourism and Culture Jagmohan, who held a review meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary D.S. Bagga here, said the Centre was not informed about any proposal for the construction of a corridor in close proximity to the Taj. Mr Jagmohan said something concrete would emerge only after the state government instituted inquiry was completed. Underlining the need for improving civic facilities at the monument, the minister said the ministry was responsible for the development of facilities at the Taj while the civic amenities had to be provided by the state government. Mr Bagga said the details of the controversy would emerge only after completion of the inquiry. The meeting was also attended by the Agra District Magistrate and Vice-Chairman of the Agra Development Authority apart from senior officials from the Union Ministry of Tourism and Culture. |
|
Mayawati’s action against
officers ‘eyewash’ New Delhi, July 3 The Dalit bureaucrat-turned-politician alleged that some of the bureaucrats recently suspended at district review meetings by Ms Mayawati had been reinstated with better postings. Ms Mayawati’s action against the officers was just for public consumption because no specific charges were spelt out and they were in effect not punished, Mr Raj said. “It is just like in films. The masses are delighted and emotionally soothed when a poor guy thrashes a rich one. So when a bureaucrat, who has for several years treated the poor masses with contempt is made to touch the Dalit leader’s feet or is suspended by her, their hurt feelings are assuaged and they identify themselves with her, he said. The BSP leader just wants to extend and strengthen her constituency by indulging in emotionally appealing actions like on the spot suspensions of the persons with whom the masses had no empathy, but in effect these suspensions will not finally lead to punishment, he said In Mr Raj’s views had Ms Mayawati been serious about checking corruption, she would not have pardoned the District Magistrate of Mathura after he “touched her feet”. If she really wanted action against corrupt officers, she should have sought the Centre’s approval for their suspension in the case of IAS officers, he said. Mr Raj, a former Indian Revenue Service officer also came down heavily against bureaucracy, saying it was steeped in widespread corruption. The officers are callous, insensitive to people’s needs and problems and always hankering after prime posts, he said adding that “if they are not weak, why are they afraid?”. He said if Ms Mayawati really wanted the progress of Uttar Pradesh, she should create more jobs, mobilise resources to carry out developmental works, fill up the job backlog, carry out land reforms and extend educational facilities. On the current development regarding Ayodhya, he said nothing was going to happen. “All the formula and proposals being talked about would lead to nothing as nobody wants solution of the issue by building the
temple. These are just for the consumption of the media and the public,” he added. In the end, he blamed the opposition parties for remaining silent on the crucial issues, but “may be they are not having better vision and ideology”. |
|
CPM asks Railway Minister to resign New Delhi, July 3 Expressing shock over the accident in which 21 persons were killed and several injured, a party’s statement said this was the third railway accident within the past two months. More than hundred passengers have died in these accidents. It said neither the Railway Minister nor the Centre was bothered about the “terrible state of affairs” in the Indian Railways caused by years of neglect of safety and allocation of adequate funds for the maintenance of tracks and upgradation of the equipment. “The least the Railway Minister can do is to accept the responsibility and submit his resignation, the CPM said. |
|
|
Troop deployment in Iraq opposed New Delhi, July 3 In a statement, Mr Ashwani Kumar, who heads AICC’s Vichar Vibhag, said India had refrained from deploying troops in third world country conflicts except upon a clear and specific invitation to do so by a friendly nation. “American request for the deployment of Indian troops in Iraq does not satisfy the international law for a justified intervention in Iraq notwithstanding the use of UN Resolution 1483, particularly because the USA is seen as an occupying force,” he said. He said the deployment of Indian troops in Iraq at a time when active Iraqi resistance to occupying force was being reported, might be seen by the locals as an act against the Iraqi people. “India cannot and must not allow such a consequence in view of its historical interests in relations with Iraq”, he said. Calling upon Washington to appreciate the sensitivity of Indian people, he said the Centre should keep in view the unanimous decision of Parliament deploring American action on Iraq. “It is neither necessary nor legitimate for Indian blood to be shed on the Iraqi soil in the given circumstances,” he said. |
|
Ex-Joint Director of CBI in drug racket Kolkata, July 3 The NCB on April 17 arrested five foreigners, including two Chinese, one Thailand national and two Myanmar nationals, from Mr Biswas’s Salt Lake house which had been rented to a Mizoram Government employee. The NCB sleuths had raided the house following a tip-off from Interpol and the US Embassy in New Delhi and detected a drug racket den. Huge stocks of narcotic material and other illegal drugs were seized from the house. Later, five foreign nationals were arrested from different places. The NCB Assistant Director, Mr N.C.Patra, said they had concrete evidence of the involvement Mr Biswas in the drug racket but he had not been arrested due to certain formalities. He hinted that the former Joint Director could be arrested anytime and the police had been told to keep his movements under observation. The prime accused in the case, Shangnyang Thanga, however, has not been arrested so far. |
|
|
All-women
team to climb Argan Kangri New Delhi, July 3 “The distinction is limited to our country alone. We are on an expedition to a virgin peak, that is more important than the fact that it is an all-women team”, points out climber Yana Bey, who is a part of the expedition. Led by climber Rita Gombu Marwah, the team, which leaves for the arduous trek on Saturday, will have nine members, including a doctor. The team was flagged off here today by president of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), N.N. Vohra. Talking about the trek the members pointed out that an attempt had been made to conquer the peak in 2001, but was aborted owing to adverse climatic conditions. “The team comprising a British and an Indian climber had to return to the base as there was too much snow. This is the reason why we have planned the trek in July, hoping that we won’t have to face rough weather”, said the expedition leader, Ms Marwah. The members have been chosen from across the country. There are no signs of anxiety as the girls, the youngest of whom is 21, are all set to participate in the IMF-sponsored expedition, which is a part of the Everest Golden Jubilee celebrations. “We are all experienced climbers and are excited about conquering a virgin peak”, said Bimla Dousker. The girls point out that meticulous planning and training throughout their stint as climbers has infused in them confidence to take on the harsh climb. “It is just a matter of getting acclimatised to the weather and the height. We take precautions and carry medicines and other paraphernalia, so there is not too much to worry about”, pointed out Dr Bhavna. The team has a schedule of 15 days to complete the expedition. “We will leave on July 5 and hopefully complete the trek within the time frame. |
|
India-born American Nobel nominee Mumbai, July 3 In Mumbai on a personal visit, Professor Thakur, a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at the Alamaba-based Auburn University in the USA, said today that he had acquired several patent rights on his works relating to the applications such as processibility, flexibility, so also the low cost, of non-conjugated conductive polymers, which are superior to conjugated polymers. The Professor was nominated in the same category last year also, but the Nobel Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences did not consider his thesis, which the Professor said contradicted the works of the 2000 Nobel Laureates in chemistry. — UNI |
|
|
Two held for violating Passport Act New Delhi, July 3 The accused Shahar Zion and Annalal Larei were arrested by the officials after they found that visa in both cases was forged. The duo, husband and wife, was caught at around 11a.m. when they were about to leave for Israel. Sources said the two had entered India in December last year, on a tourist visa with multiple-entry stamp for a duration of one year. While a clause in the Passport and Foreigners Act strictly necessitates any foreigners who continuously stay in India for more than six months to register themselves, the duo had allegedly failed to get themselves registered. Their registration period expired in June, 2003. To overcome the problem, they had approached a travel agent and got a fake visa stamp made in their passports to show that they had stayed in Nepal for sometime. But they did not go to Nepal and stayed for more than six months in India. |
|
MPs’ team to leave for Panama tomorrow New Delhi, July 3 The delegation will have wide-ranging discussions with top leaders of Panamanian political hierarchy, including President Mrs Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodriquez. The delegation includes Mr Sharad Pawar, Mr Rasa Singh Rawat, Mr Pritiviraj Chavan, Mr Anantrao Gudhe, Mr Kantilal Bhuria, Mr B.P. Apte, all MPs, a press note said. |
|
NHRC to send team to examine Best Bakery case New Delhi, July 3 |
|
|
Stay on ‘Karishma’ extended Kolkata, July 3 |
|
|
Jammu-Baramula railway line by 2007 New Delhi, July 3 |
|
|
M.R. Pai dead Mumbai, July 3 Mr, Pai took up innumerable issues for the consumer with various organisations. He also served as an Assistant Editor with the Times of India Group for a short period before joining New India Assurance Co Ltd as its publicity officer, the sources said.
— PTI |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Videos
