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Blueline crushes seven in South Delhi
Six new SEZs for Noida, Gt Noida
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Discoms demand tariff hike
Commissions of inquiry serve little purpose
Delhi Symphony Orchestra performs in Tokyo
FICCI to send 70-member team to Cannes
Randhawa tries to equal record of three Indian Open wins
HC refuses order on shifting of gurudwara
Court issues warrant against Salem
CBI favours monitoring of Net gateways
CAIT seeks clarification on shifting markets
AIIMS convocation on Oct 23
Garment exporters’ problems to be solved: Chief secy
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Blueline crushes seven in South Delhi
New Delhi, October 7 After the incident, Delhi transport minister Haroon Yusuf announced that the ‘killer’ Blueline buses would soon be taken off from the Capital’s roads. He also announced an ex gratia compensation of Rs 1 lakh for the kin of each of those who died. He said that the injured would also be compensated. He informed that the brakes of the killer bus had not failed, as was claimed. He said that the permit of the bus involved in today’s incident had been cancelled and the police had arrested the driver of the bus. The driver was reportedly in an inebriated condition. Yusuf said that action against erring drivers could be taken under the Motor Vehicles Act. He added that the driver’s licence and the bus’ permit would be cancelled without serving any notice in such cases. Talking to reporters, Yusuf said that it was not possible for the government to withdraw all private buses from the Capital’s roads in one go, as it would be problematic for the daily commuters. Speaking about the government’s recent drive to install speed governors in Bluelines, the minister said that bus operators had come up with new ways to tamper with such devises. According to sources, the government has no permanent institutionalised mechanism to investigate and analyse fatal road accidents, as per Section 135 of the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The Delhi government has been oblivious towards its duty to prevent road accidents. The commercial vehicle drivers have become easy prey for the fixation of blame for road accidents and Blueline seems to be a case in care for authorities to wash of their hands. Delhi has the highest accident rate, sources said. Yusuf said that private bus operators in the Capital were not following the instructions of the government. He said that strict action would be taken against them. Rage over accident
The agitated residents of the Badarpur area came down on streets following the Blueline accident that took seven lives. The locals blocked the Delhi-Agra road for a few hours and tried to set the bus on fire. The bus was plying on route number 460 and was approaching a traffic signal at Ali Gaon when the driver tried to overtake one DTC bus for passengers from the wrong side. It was then that it lost control and hit the crowd waiting for bus on the edge of the street. The agitated mob also attacked the driver. “He (driver) has been arrested and is admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital,” said Rajan Bhagat, Delhi police PRO. Police resorted to lathicharge and teargas to take control of the situation. Police personnel were totally outnumbered by the agitators, who were abusing the authorities for failing to save lives on streets. Several persons were injured in the violence following the accident. Anand Shukla, DCP, South, said that it was the driver who lost control and rammed on to the persons on road. “We assure people that the guilty will be punished and peace should be maintained,” he added. “The final word on the cause of the incident will only come after the mechanical inspection of the bus,” said Rajan Bhagat. “The bus was up-to-date with its fitness certificate.” The residents in the national Capital seem to have taken enough of the bus accidents and even after the government’s assurances, nothing substantial has improved. Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the area. MLA demands compensation
Delhi unit Nationalist Congress Party president Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, MLA from Badarpur, has demanded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and government job for one of the family members of those who died. He also demanded a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for those who sustained injuries. Condemning the incident, Bidhuri said that the Delhi Motor Vehicle Act should be amended to ensure strict punishment for the drivers and the owners of the killer buses. He said that permits of such buses should be cancelled and the government should not hesitate to withdraw them from roads. Urging people to remain calm, Bidhuri asked the police to arrest the owner of the bus. He said that he would talk to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and transport minister Haroon Yusuf on the issue of road-safety. |
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Six new SEZs for Noida, Gt Noida
Noida, October 7 Significantly all these SEZs, are being set up by most powerful national IT and multinational companies. WIPRO, NITT, Ansal and Uniteque will set up their IT companies in Greater Noida while HCL and OSC will set up their special zones in Noida. While all these IT giants are being set up with investment of thousands of crores, they will offer sizeable employment opportunities also, reliable sources inform. Of late the topmost IT companies are viewing Noida and Greater Noida as the most suitable venue for setting up their prestigious special economic zone for IT. In recent years, a large number of call centres had made Noida as their base. IT-BPO companies have virtually occupied sector after sector of this industrial belt. HCL alone has set up dozens of office complexes in Noida. After call centres, the companies have now decided to set up their special economic zones in Noida and Greater Noida. According to a senior official of Noida economic zone (NEPZ), proposals for setting up a number of other SEZs, are also under consideration, but work on six SEZ for IT is going on top priority. All these special economic zones have been approved by the central government. The construction work of these SEZs is expected be completed by 2008. Noida, which already has a name in IT sector, will be considered among the most powerful IT cities of the country after work on these proposal SEZ is completed, says an IT expert, Kulmani Gupta. The start of all the proposed IT SEZs will give a tremendous boost to employment opportunities to IT professionals in Noida and Greater Noida. On a conservative estimate, at least 20,000 IT professionals and specialists will be needed in these SEZs. Already over 60,000 professionals are working in Noida-based call centres, the experts say. |
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Discoms demand tariff hike
New Delhi, October 7 “Discoms are in the pink of health. Their stock prices are at an all-time high. One of them is planning India’s biggest ever IPO. What more evidence does one need that it is time for discoms to share their profits with consumers, who have been at their receiving end for the last five years,” asked president of People’s Action Sanjay Kaul. The Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) had met the DERC last month regarding the matter. They had petitioned the new power minister for tariff reduction recently. Expressing shock at the strange request, Atul Goyal of URJA West and Central Delhi said, “We had met the power minister last week and had acquainted him that consumers were expecting tariff relief.” “Power theft has decreased considerably. Therefore, customers must be rendered profits, as they have been paying higher tariffs for the last five years to neutralise the deficit,” he added. Residents questioned that if theft had reduced then, how come power tariff had not gone down? This query is finding echo in context of two crucial calculations offered by the Delhi government. The Delhi power secretary had categorically stated that power tariff remained high because of power losses. Thereby, suggesting that tariff was jacked up to recover theft losses. The government had also stated that each per cent of power theft recovered was translated close to 90 crores for the exchequer. “These presumptions lead to the situation that residents want an answer to the fact that if power loss causes tariff increase then, why should not theft recovery lead to a reduction,” said Varinder Arora of URJA East Delhi. Residents have complained that the power privatisation model was merely a transfer of monopoly from a state entity to private entities. “We are witnessing a new dimension of corruption. This time at the hands of private companies with unbridled powers to coerce and harass consumers,” said V.N. Bali of East Delhi URJA. He added that lack of competition had led to a cartel that controlled tariff fixation. URJA will demand a commission of enquiry and a financial audit into the functioning and assets of discoms to ascertain what is being done with the government subsidies that they have been receiving. “We have a right to know what is being done with our money, particularly since these companies have persisted in suspect corporate practices,” said Vijay Raghavan, of South Delhi URJA. |
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Commissions of inquiry serve little purpose
New Delhi, October 7 There have been over 40 commissions of inquiry that have been appointed to study major communal riots in the country since Independence and none of the recommendations has been implemented. Jurists and lawmakers, critical of such commissions, firmly believe that they are at best a diversionary tactic to hoodwink people, that they take an inordinately long time to deliver reports and that their recommendations, when submitted, are seldom implemented. The 41st extension, and perhaps the last, given in September to one of the country’s longest running inquiry commissions probing the sequence of events leading to the razing of the Babri mosque by Hindu mobs on December 6, 1992, has put the spotlight on whether such commissions serve any real purpose. Considering that it has cost the exchequer over Rs 70 million for the one-man panel of Justice M.S. Liberhan, who is currently writing up his report, many believe this too will go the way of other commissions. To name just a few: the Justice Jagmohan Reddy COI that probed the Ahmedabad riots in 1969, the Justice Venugopal COI that investigated the Kanyakumari riots, 1982, the Justice Joseph Vithayathal COI on the Tellicherry disturbances, 1971, and the Justice Madon COI into the communal disturbances at Bhiwandi, Jalgaon and Mahad in May 1970. Almost every commission that probed these riots, including the Bhagalpur riots of 1989 that left 1,000 dead and the riots in Jabalpur of 1961, recommended various measures to prevent communal violence, de-communalise the police, punish the guilty and ensure justice to victims. “Many of the recommendations have remained only on paper. No government, be it the Congress, or the Janata Dal or the Bharatiya Janata Party, has shown any interest or inclination in implementing any of the major recommendations,” says Justice Hosbet Suresh, a retired judge of the Bombay High Court who was also a member of the Concerned Citizens’ Tribunal, Gujarat, in 2002. Interestingly, in almost all communal riots as gleaned by the inquiries it is the minority community that has suffered most and nearly every COI appointed by the government concerned has, without exception, charged the majority community as mainly responsible for the violence. Just two years ago, former chief justice of India R.C. Lahoti, expressed reservations about the importance of COIs, saying there were shortcomings in the Commission of Inquiry Act which should be corrected by an amendment. “Personally, I feel that no judge should accept the responsibility of heading commissions of inquiry unless it is guaranteed that their recommendations and findings will be implemented,” he remarked. Lahoti said the appointment of COIs was a diplomatic way of diverting attention of the people, and termed it a “waste of time” and in his reckoning the only way to make commissions more effective was to amend the law to make it binding on the government to implement their recommendations. “It is a diversionary tactic. After a public controversy dies down, everything is forgotten and the recommendations are not implemented,” constitutional expert K.K. Venugopal told IANS. Justice B.N. Srikrishna, who headed the COI that went into the Mumbai communal riots of 1992-93, recently called for an institutional mechanism that ensures the government of the day does not have the discretion to reject a report it found inconvenient. Nearly 1,000 people are known to have been killed in the riots that Justice Srikrishna investigated and he named 31 police officers for “actively participating in riots, communal incidents or incidents of looting, arson and so on”. Till date, the recommendations of the COI have neither been accepted nor acted upon by the Maharashtra government. “It is for you to judge my work. That is all I will say,” Justice Srikrishna said. But it is not just COIs on communal riots that are put on the backburner. Ten years after the Justice Lentin COI submitted a comprehensive report on the deaths of 14 people following the administration of contaminated glycerol at the JJ Hospital, Mumbai, the state government is yet to take action. Even the Jain panel set up to inquire into the conspiracy behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi came up with no specific conclusion except breeding yet another commission—the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA), which is currently going into the merits of the Jain COI report. “Forget COI reports. Even the national commission report headed by Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah to review the constitution and the Law Commission reports are gathering dust. Ultimately, the government is simply not serious,” said senior advocate P.P. Rao. The most telling comment of the functioning of COIs came from a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and S.H. Kapadia which observed in November last year that commission after commission were appointed only for political reasons “knowing fully well that nothing will come out of it”. “We hear that in some states there are big rooms only for keeping the final reports of such inquiry commissions and they are gathering dust there,” the judges
observed. — IANS |
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Delhi Symphony Orchestra performs in Tokyo
New Delhi October 7 The concert on Friday was part of the Asia Orchestra Week celebrations organised by the Japan Culture Agency of the Japanese government. By a previous understanding, the orchestras from Delhi and Colombo, because of their smaller numbers, were clubbed to crate an 80-member strong India-Sri Lanka Goodwill Orchestra. Japanese maestro Hikotaro Yazaki conducted the joint orchestra. “This was the biggest single performing group on stage in the event,” DSO general secretary Gautam Kaul told IANS on his return Sunday from Tokyo. Beginning on October 1, orchestras from Kunming (China), Seoul (South Korea), Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Delhi (India) participated in the collective event that was coordinated by the Association of Japanese Symphony Orchestras. The Japanese Culture Agency invited the Delhi and Colombo orchestras as part of its efforts to generate cultural understanding between various Asian nations and Japan. “India’s only functional symphony orchestra was a natural choice for being invited to represent the country,” Kaul pointed out. The Asia Orchestra Week series started in 2002 following the creation of the Association of Symphony Orchestras of Asia and the Pacific Region. The Delhi Symphony Orchestra, representing India, is a founding member of the association. “The association had proposed to the Japanese government a scheme of orchestra exchanges between its members, which was approved and funded by the Japanese government,” Kaul said. While the Delhi Symphony Orchestra has toured within India, the journey to Tokyo was its first visit abroad. “The musicians were elated by the critical approval of their playing abilities, specially when they played as the main work, the very difficult ‘Romeo and Juliet’ suite by (Russian composer) Tchaikovsky,” Kaul said. Among those who attended the concert was a Sri Lankan minister, the country’s ambassador to Japan and five other senior embassy officials. “In spite of invitations sent, no member from the Indian embassy in Tokyo attended the concert. It remained a very sore point with the Indian contingent,” Kaul
said. — IANS |
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FICCI to send 70-member team to Cannes
New Delhi, October 7 The October 8-12 event will witness the growth trajectory of India’s audio-visual industry. “The Indian entertainment industry has outperformed the country’s economy and is one of the fastest growing sectors,” said Amit Mitra, secretary general of FICCI. “Revenues from television industry alone are expected to grow from $4.2 billion to $11 billion by 2011,” Mitra added. The opening day has been designated as “India Day” with a flurry of programmes and workshops centring on the Indian media industry. Two Indian media moguls—Subhash Chandra of Zee Network and Ronnie Screwvala of the UTV group—will discuss the country’s rapidly expanding entertainment landscape on the opening day. Both are a part of the delegation. The discussion will be followed by the release of the FICCI-Ernst & Young report on “Indian Content on the Move”. FICCI will also put up an India Pavilion to showcase competencies of a varied range of media companies that will interface with global industry heads. The extravaganza provides a unique opportunity to television and film producers, distributors, broadcasters, digital media content providers and advertising brands to trade in content across all platforms and share new practices that are redefining business models around the world. According to FICCI, the Cannes event will focus on India as recent estimates show that the total value of Indian content sold outside is $200 million and is slated to grow at 20 percent annually. Indian films are screened in 110 countries like Peru, the US, Britain, Malaysia and Australia and overseas market brings one-fifth of the revenues for any major film release. “Quality content will continue to be crucial driver for the development of media in India and indeed everywhere,” added Mitra. India is the world’s third largest pay TV market and is expected to join Japan as Asia’s leading pay TV market by 2015. Its advertising revenues and TV subscriptions grew 17 per cent in 2006 to $4.2 billion, which is likely to touch $10 billion by 2011 and reach $16 billion by
2015. — IANS |
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Randhawa tries to equal record of three Indian Open wins
New Delhi, October 7 If he is successful at the Hero Honda Indian Open this week, the 2000 and 2006 winner will join Australia’s Peter Thomson as the only other player to have won the title on three occasions. Interestingly, this year’s field has one more player who could join Thomson as a rare three-time winner in Ali Sher, winner in 1991 and 1993. While Ali Sher may be considered a long shot for the crown, the same cannot be said about Randhawa. The field also includes Peter Senior, who makes his debut at the Hero Honda Indian Open at the Delhi Golf Club this week. Senior, whose relationship with Asia goes back to the time he was born in Singapore, is in the line of great Australian champions, who have made a big mark in world golf. The 48-year-old Senior, who has the experience of playing on the European, Japan and US PGA tours, has had most success on his home tour in Australia. There is one memorable picture of him posing with the past champions of Australian PGA Tour and the group includes Peter Thomson (1964, 1966 and 1976), Graham Marsh (1971 and 1973) and Stewart Ginn (1992), three of the five Australians who have won the Indian Open in their illustrious careers. Senior will now be hoping to join this elite band of Australians. The history of Indian Open itself owes a lot to Thomson, the five-time British Open champion. The Australian was instrumental in persuading the then officials of Indian golf into launching the Indian Open in 1964 with the promise that he would coax some of the best players to come to India. That was a promise he kept and he himself came back again and again and won three times besides finishing in top-10 countless other times. Australians and Americans have won the Indian Open most times. Golfers from the two countries have managed to get their names etched onto the trophy nine times each. The next on the list is India with six different players winning title on eight occasions. Golfers from Taiwan have emerged champions on five occasions, while Japanese players have won four times, including twice by Kenji Hosoishi (1967 and
1968). — IANS |
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HC refuses order on shifting of gurudwara
New Delhi, October 7 A bench comprising Chief Justice M.K. Sharma and Justice R.S. Sodhi Friday said: “It is stated by the NDMC that no place is available to shift the gurudwara, so we cannot pass any order for its shifting.” In response to an order of the court in May 2007, the NDMC submitted that no land was available in the vicinity, as all the vacant plots in the area have been allotted to other organisations. NDMC counsel Anjana Gusai told the court a piece of land was offered to the gurudwara management committee earlier, but it did not accept the offer. The court said that the gurudwara has been on the site for decades and ordering of its relocation would further complicate the
problem. — IANS |
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Court issues warrant against Salem
New Delhi, September 7 Chief metropolitan magistrate Sanjeev Jain directed the jail authorities in Mumbai to produce the extradited gangster on September 27 in connection with the five-year-old extortion case. The special cell of Delhi Police had registered a case of extortion and criminal intimidation against Salem and his alleged associates, Ishtiyaq Ahmed and Chander Prakash, in 2002. The trio are accused of making extortion calls to a South Delhi-based businessman, Rajat Nagrath, demanding Rs 1 crore. An FIR was registered in the Lodhi Colony police station in South Delhi on the complaint of Nagrath. The other two accused in the case are lodged in Bhopal jail while Salem has been kept at Arthur Road jail in Mumbai. Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in 2005, is also one of the accused in a Mcoca
case. — PTI |
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CBI favours monitoring of Net gateways
New Delhi, October 7 This was opined at the just-concluded directors and inspectors generals conference being organised in the Capital by Intelligence Bureau. According to sources, monitoring of network was essential as this would help the probe and intelligence agencies in gathering real-time information and take necessary preventive measures. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), used to transmit voice signals as data packets through the Internet, was being misused by some people, posing a serious threat to national security, CBI said in its presentation at the conference and the opinion was supported by representatives attending the conference. The calling person in a foreign country makes a call through calling cards. Once he or she calls any number to India using calling cards, the call is routed through VOIP gateway in the foreign country where the voice signals are converted into data packets. The same are transmitted over Internet and are converted into voice signals by VOIP gateway in India. The calls are further routed through a local telephone
network. — PTI |
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CAIT seeks clarification on shifting markets
New Delhi, October 7 CAIT has also demanded that trade bodies should be consulted prior to taking any step and the government must ensure that government agencies including DDA should not earn out of allotment of alternative space to traders. The confederation has appealed that the issue related to the walled city is very sensitive and the government should be very careful in dealing with it. The administration should consult the traders’ bodies and take them in confidence before going ahead with any step. |
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New Delhi, October 7 The convocation, where union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss was to award degree certificates to about 650 students, was earlier scheduled to be held on September 25 but was postponed as he had ‘’prior commitments’’. The convocation will be held after a gap of two years. AIIMS resident doctors and students had gone on strike last month demanding issuance of degree certificates, as it was required for getting a job abroad. Dr Ramadoss, involved in a long-standing turf war with AIIMS director P Venugopal, had refused to sign the certificates, saying that they bore the signature of a registrar whose appointment was Illegal. The students then approached the Delhi High Court which directed the minister to sign all certificates. The AIIMS director had then announced the date of convocation as September 25. — UNI
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Garment exporters’ problems to be solved: Chief secy
Noida, October 7 He disclosed that the principal secretary, Tourism, was now handling the setting up of hotels in Noida. The government was keen to ensure that hotel projects were completed by Commonwealth Games in 2010, Mishra said. The government was hopeful that the High Court, which was hearing the matter, will soon give its verdict on it, thus clearing the way for early start of construction works, the chief secretary said. He said power, pure water and clean unpolluted atmosphere were the birth rights of people which must be provided. Public health was another important issue which is affected by polluted atmosphere and impure drinking water. The chief secretary assured the exporters that the state government will tackle their problems on top priority basis. Mishra had earlier called for making green belt cover from 12% to 33% in the area. A centre for cultural activities like the Habitat Centre of Delhi and a huge auditorium were listed among important facilities which should become the identity of Noida. |
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Envoy to brief govt on Nepal
New Delhi, October 7 |
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