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Non-Cong govts to blame for mess in UP: Sonia
UP Govt moves SC to abolish 9
districts
Centre-Hurriyat talks likely in early
July
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Dixit-Aziz talks ‘very positive’
NDA acting irresponsibly, says Jindal
Chaturvedi appointed Cabinet Secretary
Sharad Yadav, Anwar to contest RS poll
Mumbai-Los Angeles flight flagged off
Monsoon in Delhi by month end
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Non-Cong govts to blame for mess in UP: Sonia Rae Bareli, June 11 “In the last 14-15 years, different non-Congress governments which came to power in the state acted as per their whims and fancies and ignored the interests of the people causing them hardships”, she said addressing a public meeting in Para village, during the first visit she was making to her constituency after the elections. Ms Gandhi, who is on a thanksgiving tour, accompanied by Rahul, said “today also there is the same condition. The state of affairs as regards electricity, water, roads, law and order is bad”. She, however, said that now with a Congress-led government at the Centre, there would be no hurdles in the development of this region from the Centre’s side. The CMP was the guiding policy document of the government which had taken care of interests of all sections of the society, she said. “Special care had been taken for the welfare of the downtrodden, women, farmers and minorities.” Referring to her decision not to accept the post of the Prime Minister, she said “at a time when everyone was running after power there should at least be someone whose aim was not just the Prime Minister’s post”. The Congress President said she refused the Prime Minister’s post at the call of her conscience and sought her electorate’s support for her decision. Ms Gandhi said power was not her target, she had joined politics to serve the people and would continue to fight for the values for which freedom fighters had made a lot of sacrifice. She emphasised on strengthening the party organisation, saying that it was essential for ensuring development of the state. In an oblique reference to the NDA’s India Shining campaign, she alleged the previous government had spent crores of rupees on trumpeting its achievements. Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP from Amethi, said he was also a representative of Rae Bareli and assured the electorate that he along with his mother and sister would continue to serve the people of the area. — PTI |
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UP Govt moves SC to abolish 9
districts
New Delhi, June 11 In its appeal against the Allahabad High Court order of May 21, upholding the creation of nine new districts by the Mayawati government, the state government said for each district a sum ranging between Rs 200 and Rs 250 crore was required for providing infrastructure. The state government also said apart from the huge expenses on infrastructure, nearly Rs 50 crore would be required for recurring expenses like staff salaries, telephone, electricity, maintenance, stationeries, travelling, purchase of vehicles for each district every year and one time expense of Rs 50 crore for establishing division-level offices. In contrast, the state government said during the past seven years, the total amount that could have been sanctioned for the new nine districts by the government in various annual Budgets was only Rs 117 crore, out of which Rs 75 crore had already been spent. “The state would have immediately required Rs 1,700 crore for the nine districts for the creation of infrastructure,” the UP Government in its appeal said. The Court, which heard the matter last week, however, had declined to stay the High Court order. But it had issued notices to those petitioners who had challenged the UP Government’s order abolishing nine of the 13 new districts in the High Court. They were directed to submit their replies as to why the UP Government’s appeal against the High Court order should not be admitted. Out of the 13 new districts, Mulayam Singh government had issued a notification for the abolition of Sant Kabir Nagar, Kaushambi, Chadauli, Maha Maya Nagar, Auraiya, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Shravati, Ambedkar Nagar and Gautam Budh Nagar and four Commissioner Divisions of Basti, Devi Patan, Saharanpur and Vindhyachal on the ground that the decision of the previous government was politically motivated and had put enormous financial burden on the state. The abolition order was challenged by six petitioners in the High Court, which upheld the Mayawati Ministry’s notification. After the plea of UP Government counsel for stay was rejected by a Bench of Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice B.N. Agrawal, he pleaded for an early hearing of the matter stating that it was an urgent issue affecting the economy of the state. The Court accepted the plea and ordered its listing after summer vacation in July. “It is to mention that in abolition of nine districts and four commissionaries and leaving four districts and one commissionary, care has been taken for law and order problems, the administrative difficulties and many other factors,” the appeal said. |
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Centre-Hurriyat talks likely in early
July
New Delhi, June 11 “Dialogue is one of the most important confidence building measure in Kashmir, so we would like to continue,” the Home Minister added. Addressing a press conference in the North Block this evening, Mr Patil made it clear that the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) would be repealed and the modalities for that would be decided upon after examining various aspects involved in it. “We don’t want POTA to continue as it has not served the purpose for which it was brought. We strongly believe that the existing laws are enough to tackle the situation,” Mr Patil said. Asked what will happen to those who have been booked under POTA after its repeal, Mr Patil said: “The cases have been registered by various state governments and thus we have to apply our mind and workout modalities.” “We will take care of all these aspects and we will not leave any vacuum,” he added. On POTA-like laws adopted by state governments like Maharashtra and Gujarat, Mr Patil merely said: “You must understand the Constitutional position.” On UPA Government’s commitment in the President’s Address to Joint sitting of both the Houses in Parliament to bring a model law “to deal with communal violence”, he initially said there were existing laws in the Statute Book and if there was absolute need for any law it would be brought. But subsequently, when his attention was brought to the promise made in this regard in UPA’s common minimum programme (CMP), Mr Patil said: “Certainly there is need for such a law, especially after Gujarat riots.” On Ayodhya issue, he made it clear that no initiatives were being taken by the Centre at present to settle the issue and it would await court verdict. Asked whether the Centre would like the Liberhans Commission, probing the reasons that led to the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya, to submit its reports soon, Mr Patil said: “All commissions are expected to submit their reports before the acceptable time.” Replying to another question on whether the UPA Government would replace Governors appointed by the previous government, Mr Patil avoided a direct reply and stuck to diplomatic note. “Governors are there and I think we will follow the conventions, which have been followed by Congress governments in the past, with regard to appointment of Governors.... We generally don’t disturb the conventions and we have not drawn any guidelines,” he said. |
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Dixit-Aziz talks ‘very positive’
New Delhi, June 11 Sources in the government today told The Tribune that the first-ever Dixit-Aziz meeting in an Amritsar hotel last Friday went off “very well” and the two agreed to “remain in touch” in future. The two have the fullest mandate from their governments. Sources said Mr Dixit had been briefed by his predecessor Mr Brajesh Mishra before the former went to Amritsar for the watershed meeting with Mr Aziz. The Dixit-Mishra meeting was in the nature of passing over the baton in a relay race and also to make sure that Mr Dixit knew what exactly had transpired during several covert meetings between Mr Mishra and Mr Aziz. It is understood that Mr Dixit had also sought an appointment with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee before this meeting but Mr Vajpayee had not been able to take out time so far. Mr Brajesh Mishra had briefed Mr Dixit on the respective positions taken by India and Pakistan during his talks with Mr Aziz. |
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NDA acting irresponsibly, says Jindal
New Delhi, June 11 They (NDA leaders) are
frustrated. They should refrain from this and not waste the money of millions of Indians”, Mr Pilot told newspersons. Mr Jindal said by stalling the proceedings of Parliament, the Opposition was wasting the money of tax-payers. “I request them to act in a responsible manner”, he said. |
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Chaturvedi appointed Cabinet Secretary
New Delhi, June 11 Mr Kamal Pande, who was appointed for a two-year term as the Cabinet Secretary in November, 2002, is expected to get a fresh assignment. Mr Chaturvedi, a 1966 batch IAS officer from the UP cadre, expressed happiness at his appointment. He expressed concern over the erosion of integrity and honesty among civil servants. A Master’s degree holder in physics from Allahabad University with specialisation in electronics, Mr Chaturvedi has also studied public administration at Manchester University, UK. He started his career as an associate professor in physics in Engineering College of Allahabad University, and later qualified for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in July, 1966. Having served in various capacities, including the Finance Secretary in the Uttar Pradesh Government, he joined the Central Government in 1984 and held several senior assignments in the past few years. |
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Sharad Yadav, Anwar to contest RS poll
New Delhi, June 11 The party has also decided to field former MLAs Birendra Choudhary and Rambadan Rai as its candidates for the Bihar Legislative Council elections. NDA convenor and party President, George Fernandes, and leader of the parliamentary party, Nitish Kumar also attended the meeting of the Parliamentary Board. Meanwhile, the NCP general secretary, Mr Tariq Anwar, who lost the recent Lok Sabha poll, will be a party candidate for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra, party sources said. Mr Anwar lost the election from Katihar in Bihar. |
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Mumbai-Los Angeles flight flagged off
Mumbai, June 11 Mr Patel said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and senior leaders of the UPA government would shortly decide on the modalities of buying new aircraft for the two airlines. “We want to go about this expansion process in a transparent manner,” Mr Patel said. The proposal to replace the ageing fleets of two airlines has been hanging fire for more than a decade. However, successive governments have been unable to take a decision following tough negotiations between Boeing and Airbus, the two major aircraft suppliers in the world. The minister admitted that the delay in the purchase of new aircraft had severely hampered business of the two airlines both of which had lost to competitors nationally and internationally. As per the latest proposal put before the previous National Democratic Alliance government, Air-India is to split its order between Airbus and Boeing — buying 10 Airbus A-340-300s and 18 Boeing 737-800s. On the other hand, the Indian Airlines would place its entire order for aircraft of different capacities with Europe’s Airbus Industrie. |
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Monsoon in Delhi by month end
New Delhi, June 11 The officials said going by rain recorded up to June 9, the country would get better rainfall this year compared to the last year. Peninsular India and the northern belt, including Punjab, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, have received normal to excess rainfall. Overall 47 per cent areas have recorded normal to excess rainfall in comparison to 16 per cent last year, they said. |
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Picking up the threads from her son Rahul Gandhi’s attack on the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said the Uttar Pradesh’s development had suffered during the tenure of non-Congress governments for the past 15 years and the situation relating to basic amenities as also the law and order remained bad.
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