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Baglihar project doesn’t violate treaty: Dasmunsi
Mulayam refuses water for Sonia Vihar Congress to reach out to Dalits to counter Mayawati
‘Gabbar’ territory may become sloth bear sanctuary |
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UPA-Left meeting today to discuss BHEL divestment
Uttaranchal to get first wetland reserve
Cong sounds Assam unit on early poll
House loan policy decried
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Baglihar project doesn’t violate treaty: Dasmunsi
New Delhi, June 18 “In my understanding there is no violation of Indus Water Treaty in any manner,” Mr Dasmunsi told reporters after submitting a report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on returning from an on-the-spot visit to the project site in the Jammu region yesterday. Asked if the Prime Minister had sought a report from him on the project, Mr Dasmunsi said: “My duty as a minister is to take stock of things before the procedural work of the World Bank-appointed neutral expert begins”. During the visit to the project, he along with Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and state Power Minister had held meetings with technical experts and engineers in the project which was very important for the state, he said. India would, however, cooperate with the neutral expert and would respond to queries raised by the Pakistan side to “their satisfaction”. The World Bank had appointed Prof Raymond Lafitte of the Swiss Federation Institute of Technology as the neutral expert after Pakistan approached it to help settle dispute on the water project on the Chenab river in Doda district under the provisions of the Indus Water Treaty, 1960. Referring to the first meeting, the neutral expert had with officials of the two countries in Paris on June 9 and 10, the minister said: “I presume that the kind of procedural schedule drawn up (for the future meetings), it appears that the observation of the neutral expert might come by March 2006”. Mr Dasmunsi said a team of experts from Pakistan was likely to visit the site by July-end followed by a visit by the neutral expert sometime in October. A sum of Rs 2,800 crore out of the Rs 4,000 crore had already been spent on the project, he said. The two-day meeting in Paris was the first one in which India was represented by Water Resources Secretary J Hari Narayan and the Pakistan delegation led by Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan. The meeting had focussed on setting the procedures which the neutral expert would adopt to enable him “to arrive at a determination of the differences in a fair and equitable manner”. The procedure affords both parties on three occasions each to explain their respective stances which is in line with the practices followed by international courts and other tribunals to reach a just and equitable resolution.
— PTI |
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Mulayam refuses water for Sonia Vihar
Lucknow, June 18 Addressing a public meeting at Etah, Mr Yadav said his government had demanded an additional Rs 13,000 crore from the Centre to augment the power sector. The Centre, according to the Chief Minister, showed no interest in the proposal. Under such circumstances he would first arrange for power and water for the people of his state and not for others, maintained Mr Yadav. Earlier, he had given an assurance to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make available water for Delhi. Executive Engineer of the Delhi Water Supply Board Gyan Prakash Mittal visited Lucknow this week and met Principal Secretary, Irrigation, Amal Kumar Verma yesterday. According to sources, the Irrigation Secretary returned Mittal empty handed, as he had “no order confirming the release of water from UP to Sonia Vihar”. However, state Irrigation Minister Munna Singh Chauhan, representing the Rashtriya Lok Dal, said after reviewing the situation he believed UP was not in a position to supply an additional 270 cusecs of water to Delhi. Around 200 cusecs were already been supplied and fulfilling Delhi’s new demand at this juncture when the monsoon had not arrived would put the farmers interest in that state at stake, he asserted. The President of the LJD, Mr Ajit Singh, has had a meeting with the Chief Minister. Mr Chauhan alleged that the matter was not discussed with the UP Government before setting up the Sonia Vihar water project. The UP Government first heard of the demand for water in March, 2005. The Ganga was providing UP with 21,447 cusecs of water. Sparing water after the monsoon, when it started receiving more than 25,000 cusecs, would be possible, said Mr Chauhan. He hopes that after UP starts receiving 4,000 cusecs from the Tehri Project in June, 2006, the situation would be a little better. |
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Congress to reach out to Dalits to counter Mayawati New Delhi, June 18 Following up on a maha-panchayat in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress held a meeting of senior Dalit leaders from the state at the AICC headquarters today where speakers, including union minister Mahavir Prasad, focused their attack on BSP chief Mayawati.They accused her of misleading the Dalit community and championing their cause only for personal gain. While the Samajwadi Party also came in for criticism, the BSP was their main target. The Congress, which went out on a limb to have an electoral alliance with the BSP in the last Lok Sabha poll, has refrained from being too critical of Mayawati so far. However, the party appears to have changed tack as the BSP leader has spurned all its offers and is now moving in to further marginalise the Congress in UP by expanding the party’s support base. Lashing out at Ms Mayawati, Mr Mahavir Prasad reminded the gathering that after abusing the Brahmins all these years, the BSP leader had suddenly started wooing them. “How can somebody like this be true to you and your cause,” he thundered. Speaking in the same vein, other speakers also bemoaned the fact that the Congress had virtually become defunct in Uttar Pradesh.Although UPCC President Salman Khursheed was more restrained in his criticism of Ms Mayawati, he did make an indirect swipe at the BSP, despite his known proximity to its leader. Urging the Dalits to strengthen the Congress in Uttar Pradesh so that it could emerge as a viable alternative, he stated: “Once that happens, there’ll be no BJP and no BSP.” With the Dalits having deserted the Congress, a fact admitted by the speakers today, the Congress is making a belated attempt to woo them back to its fold on the plea that the Congress had always been pro-Dalit. Lashing out at castiest political parties,which had succeeded in dividing them, today’s meeting exhorted the Dalits to put up a united fight for their rights. Mr Jai Kishan, AICC Secretary in charge of UP, said the Congress was making a concerted effort to win back the Dalits. He said a committee had been set up in the state for this task and special observers, appointed for this special task, would start travelling to all Dalit bastis in the state to apprise them of how it was the Congress policies and programmes which had empowered them. Later, talking to mediapersons, he denied that today’s meeting was a reaction to the BSP’s recent Brahmin sammelans. He admitted that the Dalits, which had supported the Congress for decades, had deserted them, stating this meeting was an effort to find the reasons for their alienation so that the party could then initiate corrective measures.
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‘Gabbar’ territory may become sloth bear sanctuary
Bangalore, June 18 This has come about after Governor T.N. Chaturvedi directed the Forest, Environment and Ecology Department to review the project following public outcry that carving out statues or using the land for any purpose other than forest use would change the ecology of the area which is said to house one of the oldest rock formations in the world. A report recommending the site be converted into a Sloth Bear sanctuary has been submitted by Chief Wildlife Warden A.K. Varma to the department the area. Though the department is still considering the report and has asked the local Deputy Commissioner and the Mining Department to submit its report in this context, sources said the recommendations had more or less closed the door for handing over the land to the Sanghamitra Foundation. The sources said the report had clearly stated that the area fell within the Elephant corridor between the Cauvery elephant sanctuary and the Bannerghata National Park. The report also noted that the habitat in the area was similar to the Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary near Bellary and most of the forest around Ramanagaram was undisturbed and was home to a large number of bird species. Environmentalists were up in arms against the project ever since the hosting of a star nite in Bangalore by the Sanghamitra Foundation in April to raise money for the project. As many as five environment groups got together to hold a symbolic protest at the Handigondi rock site a fortnight ago and later also in front of the headquarters of the Forest Department here. Activist K. Raju welcoming the proposal of the Forest Department, said “Friends of the Handigondi Rocks” had all along claimed that a bad precedent had been established by the Forest Department by giving away land for non-forest use. He said people were agitated that the foundation did not want to carve out a single Buddha statue but wanted to follow this up with statues of Gandhi, Ambedkar and Bishveshwarya which would make the area a tourist-cum-commercial destination to the detriment of the environment. The Sanghamitra Foundation on its part had drawn up a plan to set up its project in 2,000 acres according to its website even though it had given permission to acquire only 10 acres of land. It had taken the blessings of the Buddhist community for carving out the statue which it hoped would fill the void created by the destruction of the Buddha statue at Bamiyan by the Taliban. |
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UPA-Left meeting today to discuss BHEL divestment
New Delhi, June 18 Incidentally, the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs is also slated for tomorrow evening after the UPA-Left meet, which is a clear indication that the government wants to take the consent of the Left parties before invoking any hike in oil prices. The government had earlier this week deferred its decision on oil price hike with Finance Minister P Chidambaram stating that “some of the senior ministers were not present.” The Petroleum Ministry had sought an increase of around Rs 1.50 per litre for both petrol and diesel. Oil companies also wanted an increase in LPG and kerosene prices as they were losing Rs 100 per cylinder and Rs 10 per litre of kerosene due to freezing of prices. CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury met the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to discuss these issues and Bihar election today and impressed upon the need to have an early meeting of the coordination committee. The Left leaders had met the Prime Minister yesterday demanded the scheduling of the coordination committee meeting as the government’s decision to disinvest BHEL was violative of the Common Minimum Programme which is the basis for the support being extended by the Left parties from outside. During the meeting with Sonia Gandhi, Yechury wanted to know the Centre’s stand on the issue of the Gujarat Government refusing to withdraw prosecution against the 131 accused in the Godhra carnage case in view of the recommendations of the Central POTA Review Committee and the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court in this connection. The impending hike in prices of petroleum products is also likely to figure at the meeting tomorrow. |
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Uttaranchal to get first wetland reserve
Dehra Dun, June 18 The two departments had a row every winter over the desilting of the lake which disturbed the migratory pattern of the birds. The decision has been taken considering the disturbance caused to the feathered guests during winter. “Whenever the Yamuna barrage is shut for maintenance, lots of migratory birds migrate elsewhere which worries the department that their departure will lead to a permanent migration elsewhere and they may never return,” said Forest and Environment Minister for State Nab Prabhat. Birds such as Brahminy Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Eastern Graylag Goose are among the birds which throng the reserve during winter. |
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Cong sounds Assam unit on early poll
Guwahati, June 18 Sources close to the Congress said the AICC observer for Assam, Mr Digvijay Singh, had spoken to APCC chief Bhubaneswar Kalita on the issue. The central leaders of the party had also sought a report from the Chief Minister on his preparedness on possible early poll. The next Assembly elections are due by May, 2006. But the high command plans to hold the same between November and March and might advise the Congress government in the state to recommend early elections after assessing some factors. |
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House loan policy decried
New Delhi, June 18 “The housing loan interest rates, which were as low as 7 per cent during the previous government, has now touched 9 per cent and there is a strong possibility of it going up further, which would prove to be detrimental to the growth of the housing sector,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told newspersons here. |
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