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Shun riot accused, SAD tells Sikhs New Delhi, April 20 SAD (Delhi) president Avtar Singh Hit today said that his party deplored the decision of the INC to give tickets to Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and their advocate R. K. Anand. “This shows that Congress does not respect Sikh sentiments,” Mr Hit told mediapersons. “Minorities in the country cannot feel safe if those sitting in Parliament have tainted backgrounds.” “We appeal to the entire Sikh community not to vote for those accused in the 1984 riots as also the party which has given them the chance to fight elections,” Mr Hit added. The Sikh Forum has issued a similar appeal. Its president and 1971 Bangladesh war hero Lt-Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora said that the INC has rubbed salt on the wounds of the Sikhs. He said that the party should have waited for the findings of the Nanavati Commission, which has issued notices to Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler. “It is ironical that Congress,” the Sikh Forum said, “which was so vocal about communal riots in Gujarat, has no remorse for its shameful act of 20 years back.” Sikh Forum Secretary Wing Commander (Retd) R. S. Chatwal, in turn, said that they had written to Ms Sonia Gandhi. “We got a reply that she had noted our views … but what she has done is totally opposite.” Appeal against Bhagat’s acquittal dismissed:
Justice R. S. Sodhi dismissed the criminal revision petition filed by one Darshan Kaur after being informed by the city police that the veteran leader had lost his memory and was being treated at the Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (VSIMHS). On February 5, the High Court had issued bailable warrants against Mr. Bhagat; however, they could not be executed due to his illness. Later, he was acquitted by the trial court on December 23, 2000, for lack of evidence. The state preferred not to file an appeal in the case relating to murder of Darshan Kaur’s. |
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Capital’s election
trail hots up New Delhi, April 20 At a public meeting here, Ms Irani said that the country’s traditions had a strong base in her heart and she would do her best to make politics clean. She said 45 years of the
INC rule had given nothing but misery to the people of which she had a full share as a citizen of the country. On the other hand, an era of change had been ushered under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Earlier, speaking at the meeting, Arun Jaitley said that after playing her role successfully in the TV serial, Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Ms Irani was all set to win the hearts of
the people of this constituency and play her role in politics with equal efficiency. He said that the election was being fought on a positive agenda. In the last five years of the NDA rule under the leadership of Mr Vajpayee, the country has made great strides and the economy was looking buoyant. Jaitley said, “Today voters are able to distinguish between the INC and the BJP. The INC is now identified not as a party but as a group of people revolving around a family while the BJP has established itself as a party having nationwide alliance and undisputed leadership”. Meanwhile, RK Anand of the INC continued his canvassing in the South Delhi parliamentary constituency. He toured Khidki village on foot, inquired about the well-being of the people and their problems and concerns. Last evening, he met the members of the Dhobi Samaj and inaugurated his election office in Malviya Nagar. Anand will file his nomination tomorrow. |
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Vajpayee to address rally at Jind on May 3 Sonepat, April 20 Stating this, Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan, BJP candidate from Sonepat parliamentary constituency, told mediapersons here today that the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L K Advani, would also address an election rally on April 30 at Rohtak. He claimed that a pro-BJP and pro-Atal Behari Vajpayee wave was sweeping all over Haryana and the party would win all the 10 seats of Haryana. He also said that the Sonepat Lok Sabha seat has turned into famous and the people of the entire country were eager to know about the outcome of this seat. He also said that he was fed up with the mediapersons as they were pressurising him to give time for interviews but he has declined in view of his engagements in the election campaign. Mr Sangwan alleged that the entire official machinery was backing the ruling INLD candidate, Mrs Krishna Malik, wife of the DGP Haryana (on leave), Dr M S Malik, on the behest of Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala, who wanted to get this seat by hook or crook. He also alleged that the electorate, including traders, shopkeepers and government employees, were being terrorised by the officials of various department by asking them to vote in favour of the INLD candidate. According to the BJP leader, the DGP Haryana, who is on leave, was camping near the border of Sonepat district and engaged in the campaigning for his wife. Even one of his brother had been camping at a hotel near Murthal and he was monitoring the election campaign. |
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Atal wave sweeping Haryana: BJP Rewari, April 20 Talking to the NCR Tribune here today, he said that it was now common knowledge that the Congress in Haryana was in a pitiable condition because of obvious reasons. Firstly, there was widespread resentment over the distribution of tickets which recently led to the resignation of the IYC chief, Mr Randeep Surjewala, and numerous other functionaries of the state and district units of the IYC. Besides, veteran party stalwart Chiranji Lal Sharma too seemed to be in a defiant mood over the denial of the party ticket to his son, Kuldeep Sharma, from Karnal. Mr Yadav said that if these grave developments were any indication the Congress seemed to be fast becoming directionless as well as leaderless. He went on to say that such a state of affairs could lead to a big ‘dhamaka’ in the Haryana Congress in the days to come. Talking about the ruling INLD, he asserted that it was now common knowledge that the people’s disenchantment with the INLD had now virtually assumed the proportions of “total hatred” for that party. All this tended to show that the electorate in Haryana could give a drubbing to the INLD at the hustings. Besides, the possibility of a collapse of the Chautala government even before the Lok Sabha poll could not be ruled out under such circumstances, he added. As regards the Haryana Vikas Party, Mr Yadav said that he could say that they were contesting the Lok Sabha poll just for a reckoning. Again turning towards the BJP, he said that like most other parts of the country a pro-incumbency wave for the Vajpayee government was sweeping in Haryana too and the voters throughout the state were fast veering towards the BJP which, he said, was going to register a win in all 10 constituencies of the state. Mr. Yadav also said that this now seemed to be a tall claim but the counting of votes on May 13 would establish its veracity to one and all. |
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BJP candidate files nomination papers Rewari, April 20 At the time of her nomination here today, she was accompanied by Mr Krishan Pal Gurjar, Leader of the Haryana BJP Legislature Party; state BJP vice-president Kailash Chand Sharma; state BJP general secretary Veer Kumar Yadav and several other prominent party leaders. Besides thousands of party activists who had come from Gurgaon, Sohna, Pataudi, Narnaul, Jatusana, Ateli, Mahendergarh, Rewari and Bawal areas of the Mahendergarh parliamentary constituency were also present on the occasion. The activists, who included a number of women also, were in a state of tremendous enthusiasm and heightened expectations. Later, addressing a press conference, Dr Sudha Yadav asserted that such a massive gathering of enthusiastic supporters had virtually instilled superb confidence and exultation in her, which would definitely be instrumental in her resounding victory again at the hustings. She said that this showed that numerous development works carried out in about 1,000 villages out of the 1,270 odd villages of the Mahendergarh constituency with the financial assistance provided out of my MP Development Fund during the past four years had been widely appreciated by the people, who now again seemed to have made up their mind to send me to the Lok Sabha with a bigger margin of victory. |
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HVP confident of springing a surprise Faridabad, April 20 The HVP spokesman for the district, Dr R.N Singh, claimed here today that there was a wave in favour of the party. People perhaps wanted a major change not only in the state but also at the Centre. He said if the attendance of the people at the public meetings of the party chief, Mr Bansi Lal, was any indication then the party would sweep the 10 seats in Haryana. He said there were several factors which were working in favour of the party and against the ruling INLD in the state and the BJP at the Centre. These were likely to cause a big surprise in the state politics. He claimed these factors included the failure of the Chautala and BJP governments in addressing the problems and issues faced by the people. He said people were feeling cheated at the hands of the state government due to non-fulfillment of various promises. He alleged Haryana had received step-motherly treatment from the BJP-led NDA government so far. Claiming that people would not be befooled by the Feel Good slogan, he said people wanted employment and all basic amenities like housing, water, power and roads. Earlier, at a meeting of the party held here today, Mr Harsh Kumar, a senior leader and a former minister, announced that if came to power in Haryana the party would waive of several taxes, including the hefty house tax imposed by the present government, besides lowering the rates of power tariff for the consumers and providing unemployment bonus to the jobless youths. He alleged that people were fed up with the false promises and the rising corruption in public places and wanted a change. He also claimed that the change people wanted would be visible in the results of the forthcoming elections. About the chances of the Congress party in the state in these elections, the former minister said the Congress was a spent force. |
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NCERT crackdown on thriving market in pirated books New Delhi, April 20 Each year the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) loses not just money, but also suffers a blow to its credibility owing to pirated books. Starting this year the Council has announced certain initiatives that will check the menace of piracy. “We sell close to six crore books each year, but are aware that there is a thriving market of pirated books, which are not just cheating the Council, but also harm the students”, said Prof. Puran Chand, Head of the Publication Department, NCERT. Elaborating on the measures taken by the council, he said, “From this year, all NCERT texts will have a special water mark of the NCERT logo on each page. This logo will help students and schools authorities verify whether the book is genuine or pirated”. To ensure availability of books, the NCERT has increased the number of its distributors from 166 to 386, with 60 in Delhi alone. “Depending on the geographical location and the demand parameters, we have increased the number of wholesale agents. Earlier there were distribution centers in Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Ahmedabad only. We have now added Ranchi and Guwahati to cover the maximum possible area”, the official said. This apart the NCERT is also counting on public awareness. “We are putting out public notices in schools and releasing them to shopkeepers. We are telling schools to report pirated books to us or the police,” said Prof. Puran Chand. It was pointed out that those involved in the racket of book piracy get the NCERT texts printed at a lower cost and pay the retailers a hefty commission to get the books pushed forward. “We offer a discount of 20 per cent to the wholesale agents, who in turn give 15 per cent discount to the retailers. But these racketeers offer up to 40 per cent discount to the retailers”. While it is books of classes IX upwards that are easy to pirate, books of classes one to eight are spared. “There is a ceiling on the price tag of the books from classes one to eight. They cost Rs.30 and we use four colours in them, which is why the cost of production exceeds the selling cost. Therefore, these books are not easy for them to copy”, offered Prof. Puran Chand. |
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macabre Ghaziabad, April 20 The two had conspired to kill Mukesh first by poisoning and later by strangling him, SP City Umesh Srivastava said today. According to the police, Mukesh Singal lived in 9/312,
Rajnagar, with his wife, a 7- year-old daughter, Savikriti, and 4-year-old son Prataksh . The daughter of Yug Bhushan Gautam, who lived in E-33 Kavi Nagar, and Mukesh Singal’s daughter,
Savikriti, were classmates. This gave Gautam an excuse to visit Mukesh’s house often, which soon led to blossoming of illicit relations between Gautam and
Hema, wife of Mukesh Singal. The police said the immediate provocation for the murder was the sale of Hema’s necklace worth Rs.1.50 lakh for just Rs 70,000 by Mukesh. Mukesh had later thrashed Hema for creating a row in the house on this account. When Hema told Gautam about the thrashing, they decided to eliminate him from their lives. The SP City said on the night of April 10-11, Mukesh was given about a dozen sleeping pills in the food; when he became unconscious, Hema called Gautam on phone at midnight. They smothered Mukesh and later strangled him with the cord from his pajamas. The body of Mukesh was loaded in an Indica car (HR 2/3048), which was driven by Hema and dumped in the Lohia market. Gautam had followed her on his scooter. Immediately after this, Hema had reportedly gone to her parent’s place and returned only when the police had brought her husband’s body home. She had fabricated a story that Mukesh had left home at midnight and never returned, the police said.
Mukesh’s father Radhey Shyam has alleged that a number of other persons were also involved in the murder of his son, whom the police has not apprehended.
Father-son duo held for duping businessman New Delhi: The Economic Offences Wing has claimed to have arrested a man and his son for allegedly selling a disputed property in the Wazirpur Industrial area to a businessman for Rs 2.4 crore after taking an advance of Rs 24 lakh from him. The accused, Rishabh Jain (69) and his son Dinesh Jain (42), were arrested by the police while Rishabh’s another son, Mukesh, managed to give the sleuths the slip. The sleuths received a complaint from one Suresh Gupta that on February 8 he had entered into an agreement with the accused persons for purchasing a prime property in the Wazirpur Industrial area. At the time of the agreement, Mr Gupta had been told that the property was not embroiled in any dispute or legal problem.
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Problem of plenty: A long wait for farmers Sonepat, April 20 According to a report, at least 2.25 lakh bags of wheat worth several crores of rupees had been lying in the mandis in the open. This had created a glut as there was no place for unloading of wheat being marketed by the farmers. Hence, the farmers are forced either to wait for a couple of days for unloading their produce or take it to another market for sale. The agitating arhtiyas had held a series of meetings with the District Food and Supplies Controller and other officials on the issue but failed to get any positive response from them. They also had altercations with them and finally sought help from the SDM, Mr Ashok Bishnoi, for lifting the procured wheat from the mandis. The SDM is reported to have directed the officials of the department concerned to make adequate and immediate arrangements for lifting the entire quantity of procured wheat within three days otherwise strict action would be taken against them. Meanwhile, the farmers of this district have started diverting their wheat to the Narela (Delhi) market in protest against the inefficient and unsatisfactory working of the procurement agencies and non-purchase of their produce at the support price of Rs 630 per quintal fixed by the government. The arrival of wheat in the markets and purchasing centres has come down considerably during the past one week or so as the farmers were reluctant to sell their produce in them. The purchasing centres in the Rai assembly constituency were the worst hit. Representatives of various farmers organisations and political parties have expressed concern over the indifferent attitude of the officials of the procurement agencies towards the farmers and demanded a high-level probe into the complaints of the farmers in this regard. |
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BJP demands sops for tax payers without arrears New Delhi, April 20 He said that properties, not assessed under system, would be liable to pay under the UAM scheme only. The property owners, whose assessment cases were under dispute, have the option to get their cases decided under the new system of property tax assessment. He pointed out that there might be three types of properties under the municipal jurisdiction for property tax purposes. First, there were the properties which were assessed and on which the owners were paying property tax regularly as per demand; second, properties which were assessed but the proposed
R.V. of which had not been finalised; and, third, cases pending for final decision with the department or with the court and the properties liable to be taxed but not assessed, under whatsoever the circumstances, in the old property tax. He stated that the guidelines were silent about the formula to be adopted for the disputed RV properties. He said hat the defaulters and the persons who had not assessed so far under the Property Tax have been given the option by the corporation to choose one of the systems - RV or
UAM, which may be financially beneficial to them, for the last three years. On the other hand, no such benefit exists for the law abiding taxpayers who have no arrears to be paid. |
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‘Need for protesting
Draupadi, not uncomplaining Sita’ New Delhi, April 20 Speaking at the Platinum Jubilee function of the Delhi Women’s League, he strongly advocated 33 per cent reservation in Parliament and state legislatures for women. Justice Sachhar said that for the last five years, politicians had only been paying lip service to the cause of reservation for women, and it is now for women to organise and pressure the politicians to translate their promises and talks into action. He said changes in the major laws relating to people’s rights have taken place not because of the mercy of politicians or the judgement of courts by a strong popular movement in favour for that. “Today, the country does not need an uncomplaining Sita but an assertive and protesting Draupadi as the role model for women,” he said. Women are not to be worshipped, they are to be given their rights as human beings, and they should be acknowledged as having a personality of their own, Justice Sachhar added. Earlier, 20 women from across the country were awarded for their achievements in different fields. The awardees are renowned dancer Sonal
Mansingh, Chairman Times of India Group Indu Jain, Alka Saxena, Editor programming, Zee News, Padmashree Dr Shyama
Chona, Principal Delhi Public School, renowned playback singer Asha Bhosle, Chairperson National Commission for Women, Dr Poornima Advani, Chairperson, Central Social Welfare Board Mridula Sinha, Dr
Radharangarajan, Post Doctral Fellow Harvard School of Public Health, Rockefeller University, Padmashri Dr Amrita Patel, Chairperson, National Dairy Development Board, Ms Dayabai Mathew, tribal social worker from Madhya Pradesh, Former High Court Judge Usha Mehra, Dr Aparna Basu, former head of the Department of History, Delhi University, Ms Rashmi Chaudhary, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Ms Asha Mehra, former Chairperson Income Tax Settlement Tribunal, Dr M. Bhattacharya, Head of the Department of Community Health, Ministry of Health, Ms Indira Jaisingh, senior advocate, Dr Kamlesh Chopra, Director Himalyan Institute, Ms Meena
Pimpalapure, industrialist from Madhya Pradesh, Padmashree Dr Sarojini
Vardappan, former sheriff of Madras and Dr Anita B. Kumar, Museologist. |
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Adding to the genre of spiritual fiction New Delhi, April 20 “I am amazed by the number of people who are asking the big questions about what are we doing here and most of them are surprisingly young. This book is an attempt to answer some of these questions with style and a sense of humour. I like the Salinger look-alike tag, even though he wrote about a nervous breakdown and I’ve written funny things about what it must be like upstairs after making adequate fun of what its like down here,” said Gautam Mukerji. Written in a series of 42 short interconnecting chapters designed to reveal the picture like a jigsaw, the novel explores the law of cause and effect in a number of young lives full of foibles, longings and vanities like most people before graduating to a vision of what it must be like in ‘The Upstairs Club’. |
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NCR BRIEFS Sonepat, April 20 The youth was tied with a rope and subjected to torture for three days continuously. He was beaten up mercilessly by them during the illegal confinement. According to the youth, he was sitting in his house on the evening of April 17 last when his friends came to him and took him with them. When he left his house he was pushed into a waiting vehicle standing outside the house. Thereafter, they offered him eatables to which some intoxicant had been added and he became unconscious. When he gained consciousness he found himself in a room. His hands and foot had been tied with a rope.
Bid to assault minor girl An attempt to criminally assault a nine-year-old Dalit girl by a youth in the fields was foiled when she raised the alarm at Mohana village, about 19 km from here, last evening. The girl was brought to the local civil hospital around 10 pm on Monday night by the police for a medical examination. The youth is still at large and a hunt is on to apprehend him. The girl, it is stated, had gone to the fields along with her parents to collect fodder.
Non-paying youth
held after chase Deepak, a Delhi youth, was arrested by the Ganaur police after a hot chase near Ganaur town, about 20 km from here, on Monday night. The youth had purchased petrol worth Rs 1,200 from a petrol pump near Murthal village and drove away the car without making any payment to the salesmen at the petrol pump. The owner of the petrol pump informed the police control room on the telephone about the incident. An SOS was sent to all police stations in the district. The car of the youth was spotted on the G T Road near Ganaur. The police gave a signal to Deepak to stop but he speeded up the car in a bid to evade arrest. His car was chased by the police and he was overpowered after a hot chase. He was brought back to the police station. Investigations were in progress.
One killed in road mishap Jhajjar: One person was killed and three others injured seriously in a road accident on the Gurgaon road here on Monday night. Four youths, Gaurav Deep of Makdoli village, Ajay of Gurgaon, Bantoo of Sunam district in Punjab and Jitender were coming to Jhajjar in their Wagon R car when an unidentified vehicle collided with their vehicle. While Gaurav died on the spot the other three sustained serious injuries and were referred to the PGIMS at Rohtak. |
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34 cartons of liquor seized from woman New Delhi, April 20 The woman was identified as a resident of Mansarover Park. The sleuths received secret information that liquor was being smuggled to Delhi and stored in different places in the North-East district. Accordingly, a raid was conducted in C-15, Mansarover Park, and a large quantity of liquor, including 1700 quarters of IMFL of different brands stored in 34 cartons, was recovered from her possession. During interrogation she told the sleuths that she used to get them from the liquor mafia in Rajasthan. She also told the sleuths that the suppliers changed the destination everyday to evade police arrest. The police have intensified the drive against the liquor mafia and smuggling of liquor inside Delhi by strengthening the security at the borders. |
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Son among three held for man’s murder New Delhi, April 20 The accused persons were identified as Akil (24), son of Nawab and resident of Sri Ram colony, Irfan Hussain, alias Babli (24), resident of Bijnore, and Mohammad Zaheem, alias Guddu (21), resident of Gautam Puri. During investigation the police arrested his son Akil who confessed to have committed the crime along with his friends. He told the police that his father was harassing his sisters Sultana and Mumtaz and just to put an end to this harassment he decided to eliminate him. Nine auto theft cases solved:
The accused persons were identified as Vinod Shokeen (26), resident of Mangolpuri, and Himanshu Malik (24), resident of Sultanpuri. |
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