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PM inaugurates Sethu project
Amit Jogi remanded in CBI custody Amit Jogi, son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, who has been arrested in connection with the murder of NCP leader Avtar Singh Jaggi, being produced at Patiala court by the CBI in New Delhi on Saturday. — Tribune photo by Mukesh Aggarwal |
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Four militants of Islamic Front arrested
Table job guarantee Bill in monsoon session, says Left
LG ‘duped’ distributors of Rs 100 crore
Troops rescue 350 children
Vadodara airport reopens
Maharashtra on alert after heavy rain
Rane quits as Sena leader in House
BJP to finalise names of RS nominees
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PM inaugurates Sethu project
Madurai, July 2 While Dr Singh described it a historic day for the country which would rejuvenate the economy of the region and transform the lives of the people he also had a word of caution. He said, “However, I urge the project authorities to be mindful and respectful of nature and the maritime environment of the channel which I am sure they will certainly do. We will make all efforts to preserve our natural heritage while implementing this project so that everyone’s livelihood is protected. We will also protect the livelihoods of fishermen.” In her brief speech Mrs Gandhi too stressed on environment and said, “I am aware that environmentalists have raised some issues. Fears have been expressed about the impact on coral reefs. I am confident that the project authorities are alive and sensitive to these concerns and will implement the project in a manner that protects and preserves the local ecology.” She spoke at length about the plight of the fishermen communities saying they needed particular attention. Mrs Gandhi said, “These communities, as the recent tsunami tragedy starkly reminded us, are amongst the most vulnerable sections of our society. They need our care and concern and we must make sure that their interests are protected and that their welfare is central to our endeavours.” Much before the function began, 575 activists — majority of whom were women and had travelled from the coastal districts to this town — were taken into preventive custody for protesting against the Sethusamudram project at Madurai town. The protesters carried placards in Tamil saying: “Down with Sethusamudram project,” “Withdraw Sethusamudram” while the international environment watch group Greenpeace displayed, “No ships over Sethu. Not now or ever.” Two Greenpeace activists were also taken into custody. The police released them after the function was over in the evening. Though the mega event was smoothly held, the dispute about the project causing environment pollution is yet to be resolved. While the National Union of Fishermen is up in arms against the Rs 2,427 crore project, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalaithaa had raised the issue of environment and boycotted today’s function. With the inaugural function over, dredging for the Sethusamudram channel is expected to begin in the second week of July. Fissures within the Dravida Munntera Kazhagam (DMK)-led Democratic Progressive Alliance was noticed as the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) President S. Ramadoss too boycotted the function alleging “shabby treatment towards his partymen by the organisers of the function.” The other boost for Tamil Nadu was the Prime Minister’s announcement about creating a world class automobile testing facility near the state capital which will attract Rs 1,500 crore as investments both directly and indirectly. |
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Amit Jogi remanded in CBI custody
New Delhi, July 2 Taking note of the CBI’s plea seeking more time “to unearth the conspiracy behind the murder, to recover weapons used in murder and investigate certain money transactions”, Metropolitan Magistrate V. K. Khanna remanded Amit Jogi till July 8. The CBI had asked for 14-day custody of him. The defence counsel opposed the agency’s plea saying that there was nothing much to be investigated at this stage with all co-accused arrested and most of the recoveries made. Amit Jogi was arrested yesterday by the CBI after being questioned for five hours in connection with the murder of Ram Avtar Jaggi two years ago. The case was handed over to the CBI after Dr Raman Singh-led BJP government assumed power in Chhattisgarh. Amit Jogi has been charged with murder and criminal conspiracy. The CBI claimed before the court that it had evidence that Amit had financed and planned an assault on Jaggi through his friend Surya Kant Patil. Terming Amit Jogi as the mastermind of the conspiracy” to eliminate the NCP treasurer, the CBI also told the court that they planned to take him to Raipur where the crime took place and other parts of Chhattisgarh as part of investigations. The agency alleged that it was Amit Jogi who arranged money for the murder and claimed he had full knowledge about the conspirators. The CBI was expected to seek the accused’s transit remand to produce him before a designated court in Raipur, but the investigating agency deferred the plans. Asked for his comments while he was being whisked out of the court, Amit Jogi said: “I will speak out at an appropriate time.” Jaggi was shot dead in June, 2003. The agency has arrested 14 persons in the case.
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Amit victim of political conspiracy, says Jogi
New Delhi, July 2 “Amit is innocent. He is being falsely implicated for political reasons,” Mr Jogi said. Amit was arrested yesterday by the CBI after being questioned in connection with the murder of NCP leader Ram Avtar Jaggi two years ago. The murder had created a political storm in Chhattisgarh. Mr Jogi, Congress MP from
Mahasamund, said his son had never met Ram Avtar Jaggi and he was not present in Raipur on the day of murder. Expressing full faith in the judiciary, Mr Jogi said Amit was innocent and had nothing to do with the case. “The truth will come out soon,” he said. Mr Jogi said in
Mahabharata, when Arjun could not be defeated, Abhimanyu was trapped by his enemies in the
‘chakravyuh.’ “My rivals and opponents in different political parties were now after Amit,” he said. |
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Paswan suffers heart
attack
New Delhi, July 2 Dr Nishith Chandra, who led the team of doctors to Patna, told TNS that Paswan was stable. “He is on intravenous medicine at the Heart Command Centre at Escorts. He suffered a moderate heart attack and was managed well by Dr A.K. Thakur, a well known cardiologist at the Heart Centre in Patna. We will do an angiography and then decide whether to proceed with a bypass or angioplasty. Paswan does not have a history of cardiac problem,” he said. Dr Naresh Trehan, Executive Director of Escorts Heart Institute, who is presently in Srinagar said he had cut short his visit. |
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Four militants of Islamic Front arrested
New Delhi, July 2 Those arrested include Hazi Gulam Muhiddun Dar alias Zahid (33), who had unsuccessfully contested against PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti in last year’s Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The others were identified as Saqib Rehman alias Masood (33), Basir Ahmad Shah (47) and Nazir Ahmad Sofi. Acting on a secret information, the police arrested them from the Kapashera area, about one km from the airport, late last night after a brief encounter while they were trying to enter the Capital from Haryana. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West) Ravindra Yadav said “the accused have disclosed that the Air Force station was one of the several targets. They have already carried out one recce mission to the base.” Mr Yadav said Zahid was also an agent of the ISI and active in Jammu and Kashmir politics for almost a decade. He had contested the Lok Sabha elections against Mehbooba Mufti last year from Pulwama constituency and had even been provided three personal security officers (PSOs) by the state government. The police also claimed that Masood was earlier associated withthe JKLF but had joined the Islamic Front in 2000 and obtained arms training in PoK. The four men, residents of Srinagar and Pulwama, were involved in a number of cheating cases amounting to crores of rupees and had been staying in and around Delhi for the past two months, added the police. Another accused Basir, a commerce graduate from Kashmir University, had opened a company called Jhelum Agro Forest Finance in Srinagar in 1995 and had collected Rs 80 lakh from investors by promising huge returns. He had later gone underground. Nazir, who had a diploma as a medical assistant, had joined them as he wanted to make some easy money. |
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Table job guarantee Bill in monsoon session, says Left
New Delhi, July 2 “We were disappointed with the Draft Bill for Employment Guarantee, which is a diluted Bill. The Bill was sent to the committee, which we believe has made good suggestions,” CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat said here. He said the law was an important step towards making the right to work a Fundamental Right and hoped that “the Bill would be passed in the next session of Parliament.” CPI National Secretary D. Raja, however, criticised it in the present form, saying that the Bill guarantees employment for a period of 100 days, while the Left parties wanted it to be for a minimum of 180 days. He also said while the Left wanted it to be a Universal Act, the Bill spoke of giving employment in rural areas. Former Prime Minister V. P. Singh said, “The Bill has many deficiencies, such as it talks of launching schemes in a certain number of districts, whereas it should be a countrywide programme. Then, it talks of employment for the poor. But the BPL (Below Poverty Line) lists are all doctored leaving out the real poor.” The leaders were addressing a function organised to mark the culmination of a 50-day yatra organised by the People’s Action for Employment Guarantee, an umbrella organisation comprising groups of social activists, demanding employment guarantee.
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LG ‘duped’ distributors of Rs 100 crore
Hyderabad, July 2 In a letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CPI assistant secretary K. Narayana said LG, which wanted to enter into the consumer market in the country, mopped up Rs 100 crore as deposits through its Indian partner IHHL. As many as 500 distributors paid the money in 2004 to market LG products like toothpastes and soaps. However, even before the business could roll, LG served legal notices on the distributors asking them to destroy the stock, stating that the agreements were entered into without the knowledge of the parent company. LG also refused to pay back the deposit money to the licence holder IHHL, leaving the distributors in the lurch. The reason for the somersault, Narayana alleged, was the withdrawal of a press note, which enabled the company to directly enter the country’s markets. The letter urged the Prime Minister to see through the nefarious designs of the multinationals and intervene in the LG case to help the Indian distributors.
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Ahmedabad, July 2 Soldiers and the police snatched the students from the first floor after the ground floor of the building was submerged in Harup village, 75 km south of Ahmedabad, witnesses and officials said. “Our prime focus was to evacuate the children and take them to safer places,” senior Gujarat government official Rajesh Kishore told Reuters. Most deaths in Gujarat’s floods have been due to drowning, electrocution and house collapses. Early on Saturday, waters receded in some areas, allowing about 400 passengers stuck in a train for over 30 hours to leave their carriages. Many walked to higher ground but some had to be rescued by Army boats and local volunteers. About 90 of the passengers were rescued after a man who, on receiving a mobile phone message from his trapped wife, drove to dry land near the train and formed a human chain of local volunteers who stood in the water and brought women, children and older passengers to safety. — Reuters
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Vadodara airport reopens
New Delhi, July 2 The flights between Vadodara and other parts of the country resumed this morning and the production at the Baroda refinery has also resumed, the spokesperson said after a high-level inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Union Home Secretary V.K. Duggal to review the flood situation in Gujarat. Nine Army columns, six IAF helicopters, 150 CRPF personnel had been deployed in the worst affected Kheda district of Gujarat for rescue and relief operations, the spokesman said. Twenty tonnes of bleaching powder is likely to reach the state and attempts were being made to restore the express highway. The official death toll so far was put at 108, the spokesman said. The Centre is closely monitoring the situation and the high level inter-ministerial committee
will meet here again tomorrow to take stock of the situation. |
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Maharashtra on alert after heavy rain
Mumbai, July 2 Briefing reporters at the state secretariat here, Mr Vatsa said parts of Maharashtra had been receiving incessant rains for the past three days. Anticipating flooding, the state government ordered all district collectors to remain on alert, he said. The government is watching the situation in Ahmednagar and Nashik districts where several dams were overflowing. Heavy rains have been reported in north and western Maharashtra, Mr Vatsa said. Incidentally, central and eastern Maharashtra are facing a shortage of rainfall. The state government has been forced to rush in water tankers to some places to provide drinking water to people. |
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Rail traffic to Mumbai restored
New Delhi, July 2 He said the 2904 Golden Temple Express scheduled to leave Amritsar at 11.50 pm on Friday will pass through its normal route via Delhi. |
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Rane quits as Sena leader in House
Mumbai, July 2 “Going by the recent development in the party, I have come to the conclusion that the party doesn’t require my services so I have decided to step down,” Mr Rane told reporters at his official residence here tonight. However, he made it clear that he had no intentions of leaving the Sena. He said he would hand over his resignation to Sena supremo Bal Thackeray tomorrow. Asked, if he would also be quitting as the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, he said he would take a decision on the issue on Monday. He said the last time he met Mr Thackeray was on June 27. “There have been meetings of party’s legislators and workers but I have not been invited to these meetings recently,” he said. “I was the topic of the meeting called at ‘Matoshree’, yesterday, where in Shiv Sena office-bearers from my Sindhudurg district were invited,” he said adding that he was not invited for the meeting.
— PTI |
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BJP to finalise names of RS nominees
New Delhi, July 2 The meeting, to be presided over by BJP president L K Advani, will be attended among others by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and general secretaries Sushma Swaraj, Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, Sanjay Joshi and Raj Nath Singh. Though, the party officially, maintained that the meeting will only discuss and finalise the candidates for the Rajya Sabha vacancies from Gujarat and no other political developments will be taken up, sources said there could be some debate on the letter of BJP National Secretary Sudheendra Kulkarni, who has offered to step down from the post if senior leaders wanted. The BJP’s CEC meeting is taking place at a time when RSS Prant Pracharaks are holding meeting at
Surat. |
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New Delhi, July 2
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