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Rahul faces angry Cong men in Amethi K’taka Polls
Uttarakhand Oppn resorts to ‘Gandhigiri’
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Battle
of tanks hots up, Antony backs Arjun
15 ultras killed in factional feud
SC stays puncturing of Bhakra canal
Govt plans caveats in HCs
Bangladeshi national held without passport
Cyber cafés told to maintain user records
2 days, 2 AI planes involved in accidents
Govt draws flak on price rise
Nine killed in shopping mall fire
Kin of Bengal minister succumbs to injuries
RJD man held on cheating charges
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Rahul faces angry Cong men in Amethi
Amethi, May 16 As Gandhi reached Jagdishpur village, his first stop after Lucknow some 70 km away, a group of party workers gathered outside the venue of a function forced his car to halt. As the young Congress leader rolled down his window, furious activists just stopped short of screaming at him. It was a scene no one remembered seeing in Amethi, a Gandhi family bastion now represented by Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha. The protesters were angry that despite Gandhi’s promise six months ago, not a single person of around 100 people who had lost their land to a Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) plant at Jagdishpur had got a job. The land for the BHEL plant had been acquired in 1976 with a promise that jobs would go to the locals. The factory started working in 1983. “We have given him a 15-day ultimatum to resolve the issue, otherwise we will resort to an indefinite hunger strike,” Akhtar Ali, a Congress worker from Kamroli village, told IANS. It is the first time Congress workers have spoken so menacingly vis-à-vis any member of the Gandhi family — that too publicly — in Amethi. Ali claimed the Congress leader had promised to speak to the chairman of BHEL within a fortnight to try to resolve the issue. “We will believe this only when it happens. He didn’t say our people would get jobs but that he would only speak to the authorities concerned,” pointed out Dinesh Kumar Yadav, another cynical party worker. Others at the protest site also aired their grievances. Amethi adjoins Rae Bareli, another Gandhi family stronghold which Congress president Sonia Gandhi represents in the Lok Sabha. “Not a single person from the VIP constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli whose land had been acquired for the BHEL plant has been given a job,” added Mohammad Ahmed, general secretary of the Youth Congress in Jagdishpur. He said it was ironical that none other than Rahul Gandhi had persuaded them to end their sit in Feb 16 with a promise to resolve the issue in favour of the locals. “We have been struggling for over 20 years,” wailed Mohammad Nadeem, another party worker. He said he was disgusted that even Congress workers had to suffer like this. Meanwhile, several Congress workers were unhappy that they could not enter the two places Gandhi visited in Amethi by midday. They had been issued admit cards but the police still drove them away for reaching the venue late although the Congress leader was running behind schedule. “I am an old man, so what if I got 20 minutes late? I used to be here to welcome Jawaharlal Nehru. The police or the Congress won’t understand this,” Jauharilal Upadhyaya, in his late 70s, told IANS. Another man, Mohammad Yunus, was seen pleading with the police to let him enter the venue. The media was also kept away. Gandhi first attended a workshop on national integration organised by the Nehru Yuva Kendra in Jagdishpur. He later addressed a meeting of block presidents of the Congress Amethi unit. He is also to oversee the launch of a micro financing scheme in Kohar village. — IANS
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K’taka Polls
Bangalore, May 16 Talking to reporters, chief electoral officer M.N. Vidyashankar said Dakhshin Kannada district had the maximum polling percentage of 68. Raichur district recorded the lowest polling percentage in this phase with only 48 per cent of the electorate casting their votes. Vidyashankar said the aggregate showed 60.3 per cent of voters in the 10 districts had cast their votes. In the Naxal-infested Udupi and Chikmagalur districts, the call for a boycott given by the rebels had no effect, the CEO said and added that some of the areas considered strongholds of Naxalites recorded a better polling percentage than other areas. Poll boycott, however, did take place in the polling station number 100 in the Chitradurga segment. Voters listed for the polling station refused to cast their votes to protest against the lack of development in the area. According to the CEO, polling was peaceful in all the 10 districts including Bellary where the BJP candidate from the Bellary (rural) segment was accused of assaulting a Congress supporter. Asked whether the SP of Bellary Amrit Paul was put under suspension yesterday, the CEO replied in the negative. He said the SP was simply transferred by the Election Commission after it received a report from the election observer of the area. He said 64 general observers and 16 expenditure observers were deployed for the second phase of polls. The third phase of the polls, which is also the last, is slated to take place on May 22.
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Uttarakhand Oppn resorts to ‘Gandhigiri’
Dehra Dun, May 16 The opposition legislators today entered the House with black cloth tied on their mouths to mark their protest. The opposition has been charging that the Khanduri government has been trying to bulldoze its way in getting the Universities Bill passed with an aim to take control of the state universities. There was pandemonium in the House on May 12, when the opposition members overturned furniture and broke chairs. Speaker Harbans Kapoor served notices to nine Congress and two BSP members for their conduct. The ruling party members today brought a resolution condemning the behaviour of the opposition members but the opposition kept its cool. After alleging that the ruling party was not willing to listen to the viewpoint of the opposition, all opposition members tied black clothes on their mouths. Despite repeated requests by the Speaker to the opposition members to speak, they refused to budge. Finally, the speaker had to adjourn the House till May
19.
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Battle of tanks hots up, Antony backs Arjun New Delhi, May 16 Well-placed sources in the defence ministry confirmed that the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) authorities had met Antony and told him that small glitches that cropped up in the tank’s ongoing trials were being blown out of proportion. These were correctable and had been corrected. The tanks were doing very well in the accelerated user-cum-reliability trials being conducted somewhere in desert at present. Tank’s firing was on target and very reliable and accurate. Not a single barrel of the main gun of the Arjun tank had burst while the T-90s had seen five barrel bursts and many more in the T-72s. The reality was contrary to the statements made by the Army before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on
Defence, said a top official while telling the DRDO’s opinion to the minister. The small problem in the German company Renk’s gear box had been sorted out with the introduction of a software. The same company supplies gearboxes to leading tank makers across the globe. The parliamentary committee submitted its report last month and it had quoted the
Army authorities as saying the Arjun tank was way below its expectations. Since then there had been a frenzy of activity. Sources said the DRDO officials did a point-to-point comparison of the Arjun tank with the T-90 tank before the defence minister and other senior functionaries in the ministry of defence. For long the DRDO wanted such a comparison, but it never materialised. On the issue of the Arjun tank being heavy, the sources quoted the DRDO officials saying they never said the T-90 tanks were not needed. Rather the entire lot of light and heavy tanks were needed for battles on varied terrains. “The weight of the Arjun is not a constraint, it rather runs faster and crosses the marshy terrain at Lassian in Gurdaspur where the T-90 or T-72 series of tanks cannot even venture. The weight is not the issue. All major tanks of the US, Israel, Germany, the UK and France weigh about 60 tonnes each like the
Arjun. The sources said the defence minister was also informed that the import of a fresh lot of tanks from Russia and the induction of Arjun was not linked. The import of tanks should continue independently. The country has the capability to produce about 50-60 tanks every
year.
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15 ultras killed in factional feud
Guwahati, May 16 Army spokesman Col Nirupam Bhargava said heavily armed cadres of the NSCN-IM which has been in ceasefire with the Indian government since 1997, attacked the rival NSCN (U) faction cadres at Seithekhema locality near Burma colony, about 20 km from Dimapur. The incident sparked sharp public reaction from the people as a mob of civilians set fire to the ceasefire-monitoring cell of the NSCN-IM located at the heart of Dimapur town following the killings in the morning hours. The police and the Army reached the spot a few hours later on being informed by terrified villagers and cordoned off the area to prevent reinforcement by both the warring factions of the NSCN. The Army official said the Nagaland police has recovered 15 bodies from the incident site and identification of the same was yet to be completed. It was yet to be ascertained if there was any civilian casualty. Rebels from both the warring factions might have died in the gunbattle. The on-going factional feuds between the two NSCN factions erupted in the wake of formation of the NSCN (U) by a section of the senior leaders from the NSCN-IM. Over 40 persons, including cadres belonging to both factions of the NSCN and civilians, were killed in the bloody factional feuds so far this year. The clashes have threatened to jeopardise the uneasy peace as well as the peace process involving the NSCN-IM and the union government. New Delhi has taken serious note of the disturbing development and instructed the Nagaland government to tackle the situation effectively. Union home minister Shivraj Patil, who was in Nagaland to take stock of the situation a couple of days back, told the media in Shillong that the centre would step in case the Nagaland government failed to tackle the situation. Cadres of the NSCN-IM which is in ceasefire with the government is not supposed to carry along arms and weapons in the open outside their designated truce-time camps. However, the sight of rebels roaming around with weapons in their hands has become a common one in Nagaland.
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SC stays puncturing of Bhakra canal
New Delhi, May 16 The stay on puncturing the BML to connect the Hansi-Butana canal will continue and the matter will be now heard on July 18. Notably Haryana had submitted a proposal in the apex court to lift 500 cusecs of water through pumping and send it down the Hansi-Butana canal. This is a significant move as by-elections are due in Haryana on May 22. In its point wise reply, Punjab today contended that Haryana was not even using the entire capacity of the Narwana branch connecting the BML. This has a capacity to carry about 4,000 cusecs of water and on an average it is running at no more than 2,000 cusecs since the past 45 days or so. Haryana could very well run additional water from its share of the Bhakra projects through the Narwana branch and use the same for drinking water or the purposes it desires, claimed the counsel for Punjab. On May 14, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan asked counsel for various parties if water could be taken out of the Bhakra canal for the newly constructed Hansi-Butana canal without puncturing the banks of the BML. Rajasthan is also a party to the suit and is opposing the construction of the Hansi-Butana canal. Haryana had earlier pleaded before the Bench that the Hansi-Butana canal had a capacity to carry 2,086 cusecs, half of which was meant for drinking water in the arid southern districts of the state. Haryana pleaded that it should be allowed to carry at least 500 cusecs of water for drinking purposes through the canal during the summer months. Today Punjab countered this by asking as to why not use the available capacity of the Narwana branch instead of seeking to lift water from the BML and pumping it into the Hansi-Butana. Some two weeks ago, the Supreme Court decided to re-examine the issue of the Hansi-Butana canal in Haryana after Punjab and Rajasthan pleaded that the Central Water Commission (CWC) had complicated the matter instead of giving a solution to the issue.
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Govt plans caveats in HCs
New Delhi, May 16 The ministry of human resource development will be writing to the law ministry to ask all standing counsels for filing caveats before the high courts so that the Centre’s stand is heard before any petition challenging the quota is admitted by high courts. The decision was taken today after solicitor general G. E. Vahanvati, while seeking a vacation of stay on orders of the Calcutta High Court, told the apex court about its earlier order with regard to the Mandal Commission.
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Bangladeshi national held without passport
Dehra Dun, May 16 Dehra Dun SSP Amit Kumar Sinha said Abbas was arrested from Mussoorie during search operations. When Abbas failed to produce his passport, the cops arrested him and booked under Section 14 of the Foreign Act. According to sources, Bangladeshis in large number are residing illegally in different parts of Uttarakhand. In the wake of serial blasts in Jaipur, intelligence agencies are keeping an eye on illegal Bangladeshi migrants. “It will be too premature to comment on whether Abbas has any connection with any militant outfit”, police officials said adding that matter was being investigated. Recently, the Uttarakhand police had also received a threat letter from Lashkar-e-Taiba, wherein terrorists had threatened to blast Dehra Dun, Rishikesh and Hardwar Railway Stations on April 16. Considering the fresh threat given by Indian Mujahidin Sangathan through an e-mail to carry out more blasts at tourist places in India, the police is learnt to have initiated the process to identify Bangladeshi migrants residing illegally in different parts of the state.
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Cyber cafés told to maintain user records
Dehra Dun, May 16 SSP Amit Kumar Sinha instructed the police officials to intimate all 244 odd cyber café owners, currently in operation from Dehra Dun, to strictly follow the guidelines of maintaining the record of Internet users. According to inquiries conducted by The Tribune, till date no specific authority was regulating the working of the cyber cafés in the city. It is also learnt that many persons are running cyber cafés illegally and the police do not have any record of the same. In wake of increased terrorist activities and hoax mails, some of the state governments across India had already ordered the cyber café owners to confirm identity of visitors’ through identity cards besides maintaining a detailed register of visitors.
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2 days, 2 AI planes involved in accidents
Mumbai, May 16 Air India engineers were working on the aircraft, a leased Boeing 777-200 ER (Extended Range), when the accident occurred, an Air India spokesperson said here today. However, no one was injured, he said. An alternative aircraft was made available to operate the flight (AI 717) which took off for Dubai at 4.00 pm, he said. This is the second incident involving an Air India aircraft within two days. On Thursday, a Mumbai-Chennai flight was delayed for more than four hours when its door was damaged after an aerobridge (passenger boarding bridge) slammed against it. Airport sources said the flight (AI 640) was delayed for some time following the incident in the early hours of yesterday. There were about 90 passengers on board the aircraft. The incident occured when a push-back vehicle, which takes the aircraft towards the runway for take-off, started moving before the aerobridge could be detached, they said. All the passengers had boarded the flight and there was no damage either to the aircraft or the aerobridge, the sources said. “The incident happened due to a miscommunication between the pilot and the push-back vehicle. Had the passengers been boarding the plane, there could have been some damage,” the sources said. Claiming it was a “minor” incident, an Air India spokesperson said an internal inquiry had been initiated in the matter. The flight took off soon after the aerobridge was removed. — PTI
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Govt draws flak on price rise
New Delhi, May 16 At a time when Communist leaders have been putting pressure on the government for urgent action to curb inflationary pressures by way of a debate in Parliament, the BJP’s accusation has posed a fresh challenge. The main Opposition party today charged the government with failure in arresting price rise and demanded that essential food items be supplied to all sections of society through ration shops at reasonable prices. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javedkar said here today that the Congress regime has failed miserably and has betrayed the common man.
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Nine killed in shopping mall fire
Kolkata, May 16 Firemen, assisted by the police, broke open the glass panelled second floor selling ready-made garments to rescue those trapped and retrieved nine bodies, additional superintendent of police Praveen Tripathy said. The blaze, suspected to have originated from welding work on the second floor, spread quickly with smoke building up inside the three-storey building, but firemen, using water jets, prevented it from spreading further.
Kumar said smoke accumulated as the main shutter on the second floor was downed. Fire-brigade sources said smoke caused asphyxiation and many fell ill, including six of its men. Those killed were mostly mall employees, the sources said.
— PTI
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Kin of Bengal minister succumbs to injuries
Kolkata, May 16 The police said Gouri
Naskar, minister Subhash Naskar’s nephew’s wife, died in the early hours from the injuries she suffered at her residence at Kumrokhali village under Basanti police station area of South 24 Parganas district. Naskar received 80 per cent burns following an explosion in her house a day after polling was conducted for the second phase of Panchayat elections. The RSP alleged that motor cycle-borne CPM activists hurled bombs at the house of the
Naskars, while the CPM said the woman died because of a sudden explosion in the stockpiled explosives inside the minister’s ancestral
house.
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RJD man held on cheating charges
Mumbai, May 16 Manoj Singh was arrested from his residence in neighbouring Thane district's Mira Road late last evening for allegedly duping a person of Rs 6
lakh. "Manoj assured the complainant that he would help him get admission to a business management course run by the Wellingkar Institute and took Rs 6 lakh," said deputy commissioner of police Sunil
Ramanand. The RJD activist, who is suspected to have deceived several others in a similar fashion, used to project himself as spokesperson for the party’s Maharashtra unit.
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Tribals protest setting up of steel plant National archives to store works of Jhingan Minorities’ panel hails SC order on Sikhs 12 cricket bookies held US aid for Mizoram Medical care fund
for ex-MLAs Nod to tourism project |
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