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Laloo gives clean chit to Konkan Railway
PM to talk to Karnataka
CM on water The first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the chair discussed the Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and hoped that the prospects of a good monsoon would help tide over the crisis for the present.  In
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Indo-Pak talks on drug trafficking conclude Pak team arrives today Defence Ministry seeks hike
in outlay Minister orders probe into Lucknow flight delay
Sonia holds talks with J&K party leaders
Jaya flays UPA over fuel price hike
Mumbai police still clueless on encounter death North-East to be in NCERT history books
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Laloo gives clean chit to Konkan Railway Mumbai, June 17 Mr Yadav, who rushed to Mumbai from Kolkata soon after the mishap on Wednesday morning, visited the site of the accident at Ambivali village between Vir and Karanjadi railway stations. After speaking to Konkan Railway officials and local people,
Mr Yadav declared the mishap to be a natural calamity. An official inquiry to probe into the mishap will soon be conducted by the Railway Safety Commissioner in the coming weeks. Mr Yadav himself admitted that the disaster could have been averted if the Konkan Railway officials had persisted with a safety measure announced after a similar accident claimed 51 lives last year. The Konkan Railway authorities had then decided to run a pilot engine ahead of passenger trains to look out for fallen boulders on the tracks. The measure was, however, abandoned after last year’s monsoons. Mr Yadav and senior railway officials put the number of dead in the mishap at 14 as on Thursday morning. Officials had earlier put the figure variously between 20 and 24. More than 60 passengers have been admitted to various hospitals in Mahad, Panvel, Navi Mumbai and Mumbai. Most of the dead and seriously injured passengers happened to be travelling in the two bogies that remained suspended from the bridge. Many of the injured were in a critical condition with head wounds. They had also lost plenty of blood before being rescued. The Matsyagandha Express travelling from Mangalore in Karnataka to Kurla Terminus in Mumbai crashed into a boulder that had rolled on to the tracks from the hills nearby and derailed. The train was full of people returning to Mumbai after their summer vacations. Meanwhile teams of workers were still removing the wreckage in the midst of heavy rains so that rail traffic on the single track route can be restored by the weekend. Since Thursday, long-distance trains coming to and leaving Mumbai, including the Rajdhani Express, were diverted through other routes. The authorities have now asked relatives of dead and missing passengers to check for their loved ones at the morgue in KEM Hospital in Mumbai. The bodies were brought to the hospital in the wee hours of Thursday. Of the 14 dead, only five have been identified so far. Railway officials say, the driver of the ill-fated Matsyagandha Express, Monohar Karmakar, will be questioned by investigators after he is discharged from hospital. He suffered severe head and eye injuries after the train’s engine went off the track past the embankment and settled near a road way below the bridge. |
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Exhaust linen stock, then buy Khadi: Laloo New Delhi, June 17 In an order sent to General Managers of all railway zones on Tuesday, the Railway Ministry headed by Laloo Prasad Yadav has directed that the unused linen stock be exhausted before placement of any new orders. The order however says that if anything new has to be bought for passenger amenity items, it should only be Khadi. The new order allows purchase of only fire retardant material approved by the Research Design and Standards Organisation, for curtains and upholstery. |
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PM to talk to Karnataka
CM on water New Delhi, June 17 The CCPA was apprised of the protracted dispute between the two southern states and decided that Dr Singh would speak to Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh for the early release of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu. Reports suggest that with the
monsoon having picked up in the Cauvery delta, it will provide necessary relief to the farmers in Tamil Nadu. What the Congress-led NDA government finds worrisome is the Karnataka government’s reluctance to release water unless its reservoirs have adequate water. DMK chief M. Karunanidhi has written a letter to Dr Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi about the grave situation in Tamil Nadu with upper riparian Karnataka refusing to adhere to previous agreements. Mr Karunanidhi has sought the immediate intervention of Dr Singh and Ms Gandhi so that the farmers in Tamil Nadu are not distressed in the ensuing season. Clearly, the Centre is biding for time and hoping the weather Gods provide bountiful rain so that the immediate problem is overcome in the Cauvery basin. Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said after the meeting of the CCPA that the Prime Minister was apprised of the situation in the Cauvery basin. After assessing the situation it was decided that Dr Singh will speak to the Karnataka Chief Minister. Simultaneously, the Prime Minister held intense discussions during the day with senior officials for boosting investment in the rural and small sectors. Dr Singh is scheduled to hold a similar exercise tomorrow with the officials of the Ministries of Food and Agriculture. The UPA government is according top priority to this sector and underlining the need for massive investment in the farm sector and irrigation besides enlarging the scope of farm credit. These indepth meetings assume significance on the eve of the meeting of UPA to be chaired by Ms Gandhi in her capacity as its Chairperson. |
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Indo-Pak talks on drug trafficking conclude New Delhi, June 17 Foreign Office spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters here that both countries had agreed to share information and operational intelligence for combating drug smuggling. He said a six-member Indian delegation also called on Pakistan Interior Minister Makhtoom Faizal Saleh Hayat after the conclusion of the talks and briefed him on the
two-day discussions. The Indian side at the talks was led by Narcotics Control Bureau Director-General M.K. Singh while the Pakistani side was headed by the Secretary for
Narcotics Control Khalid Latif. The talking points in today’s discussions also included
checking financing of terrorism through proceeds of drug trade, use of drugs and their link with HIV/Aids, elimination of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and illegal drug trade between the two countries. |
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Pak team arrives today New Delhi, June 17 The two-day meeting starts from June 19, the two sides will discuss a range of issues aimed at nuclear risk reduction. The eight-member Pakistani delegation will be led by Tariq Usman Haider, Additional Secretary in the Pakistan Foreign Office and includes top nuclear defence officials. He would be assisted by former Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi and at present Director General of South Asia, Jalil Abbas
Jilani.
— TNS |
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Defence Ministry seeks hike
in outlay New Delhi, June 17 The increase in demand for the allocation came here today at a meeting between Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram at South Block. The meeting lasted for almost 90 minutes. The allocation for the defence sector at present stands at Rs 65,000 crore. However, the previous NDA Government’s plan to have a non-lapseable revolving fund for defence sector may fall through. Minister for Defence in an informal chat with newsmen said new government was not in favour of going ahead with the plan to have a three-year revolving non-lapseable fund for defence purchases. However, he pointed out that the government would ensure that adequate funds were made available for meeting the security threats facing the country and for modernisation of the armed forces. According to sources in the MoD, the Ministry has sought an 8 to 10 per cent hike in the allocation in the Budget. The hike sought is in line with the spending over the past two years. |
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Minister orders probe into Lucknow flight delay New Delhi, June 17 While Mr Bhama has alleged conspiracy in the delay of the flight, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel while ordering a probe into the incident has given the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) three days to complete the preliminary inquiry. “The minister ordered a high-level DGCA inquiry into the reasons of delay of the flight,” an official spokesperson for the ministry said. Today was the last date of filing the nomination for the Upper House and the deadlines expired at 3 p.m. The flight IC-601 carrying Mr Bhama was scheduled to leave here at 9.10 a.m. It did not take off after it was found that the “green hydraulic system” of the aircraft was not functioning properly. The aircraft was then changed and it finally took off at 11.50 a.m. only to return as the Lucknow Air Traffic Control did not give it permission to land. |
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Sonia holds talks with J&K party leaders New Delhi, June 17 Since Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Ghulam Nabi Azad has been inducted into the Union Cabinet, it has become imperative to appoint a new PCC chief. In addition, two Congress ministers in the Mufti government have been elected to the Lok Sabha and the party has to find their replacements. Nine senior leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir unit, including Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma, were called by Ms Gandhi yesterday to discuss on the new PCC president, restructuring party set-up and the names of those who could be included in the state government. These discussions, which continued today, were also attended by AICC general secretary Ambika Soni and Ghulam Nabi Azad. Indications are that the PCC chief might be from the valley, as the party wants to send a message to the people there in view of the prevailing situation. |
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Jaya flays UPA over fuel price hike Chennai, June 17 In a three-page statement issued in Tamil here today she said, “The true colours of the Congress, DMK, PMK and other parties have been exposed. They have been unmasked.” “It is an anti-people measure resorted to by an opportunistic alliance that came to power pretending to be the saviours of the downtrodden,” she said. Ms. Jayalalithaa seemed to be waiting for this chance as her party All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the BJP combine was routed in the Lok Sabha poll in Tamil Nadu, as her opponents campaign plank was her “anti-people” policies. “The very first measure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has shown that it had made false promises to the people in the general election,” Ms Jayalalithaa said.
— TNS |
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Mumbai police still clueless on encounter death Mumbai, June 17 Israt Jahan Shamim Raza, 19, and three others, who were travelling in an Indica car were shot dead by the Gujarat police in Ahmedabad earlier this week. “We have still not found any evidence that can link her to any terrorist group,” ACP Amar Jadhav of the Thane police told reporters. The Maharashtra police, which investigated the girl’s background soon after the incident, say the girl may be innocent. Israt, a student of Khalsa College in suburban Mumbai was said to be a studious girl who earned a living by giving tuitions to children in her neighbourhood. It is, however, not clear what she was doing in Ahmedabad. Top police officials here are still keeping their options open. “I am not in a position to comment on the Mumbai girl killed in the Ahmedabad encounter yet. However, it is incorrect to assume that a college student cannot be involved in a terror organisation. After all look at the people arrested from SIMI,” said Mr Satyapal Singh, JCP, Crime, Mumbai. The Gujarat police claimed that Israt was being used as a cover by a suicide squad that was out to kill Mr Modi. |
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North-East to be in NCERT history books Guwahati, June 17 “There can be no history of India without the history of the North-East. The glorious chapters of the region’s history will be incorporated in NCERT textbooks,” Arjun Singh told reporters here yesterday. He said a committee of historians would be constituted to decide the material to be included in the textbooks. The All-Assam Students Union (AASU) and the banned ULFA have been protesting against the absence of history of the region from history textbooks, particularly NCERT ones. The AASU asserted that the omission of local history from textbooks gave a feeling of alienation among the people here and the glorious role of the North-East in the freedom struggle remained unknown outside. ULFA has repeatedly claimed that India “has no right to claim the North-East as its own when its history is not considered to be part of the country’s history”. Earlier at Shillong, Arjun Singh said an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) would be set up in the North-East mainly to cater to the students of the region. Both Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and the AASU, which brought Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to Guwahati at the end of its Assam Movement, demanded that the IIM be set up in Assam.
— PTI |
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