New Delhi, July 22
Yet another worker’s life was snuffed out in a tragedy at an under-construction site of Delhi Metro today. The mishap — third in 15 days — took place at Ashok Park station in West Delhi area of Punjabi Bagh.

Also, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation managing director, E Sreedharan, today broke his silence on the rise in mishaps at Metro sites, saying the (Delhi Metro) “accident rate was still very low as compared to other countries”.

According to information, the accident occurred as a steel beam slipped from a crane and hit the 22-year-old labourer, Vicky Singh of Uttar Pradesh, around 5.45 am. The station is part of the under construction Inderlok to Mundka line.

Notably, six persons were killed at another Metro site on July 12.

“He (Vicky) was guiding the crane movement and prima facie it appears that the beam hit him on the shoulder… He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed later,” a DMRC spokesperson said. The worker reportedly got entangled in some wires after being hit by the beam.

An eyewitness to the mishap, Rishi Kumar, who lives close to the Metro site, said: “I saw from the roof of my house that a worker was injured and his body lied suspended for a long time… There was no mechanism of providing any help to the injured worker and neither police nor the Metro officials came to the spot for at least 10 minutes.” Then, there were also reports that no engineer was present at the spot at the time of the accident.

“The crane operator was not sure if the crane could handle the load, but after a brief argument the girder was put on it,” another eyewitness, who did not want to be identified, said.

A few residents of the area when contacted, too, rued the fact that the Metro work was being carried out with “utmost negligence” and that “no safety guidelines were being followed”.

A DMRC chief project manager is investigating the matter and an FIR had been lodged.

Meanwhile, Sreedharan has said the Metro work was widespread with 250 to 300 cranes working daily and 35,000-40,000 workers engaged in the construction work. The DMRC top official admitted that the country lacked dependable contractors, supervisors and skilled manpower. 

New Delhi, July 22
Tired of his stand-by status in the Congress’ scheme of things, a jilted Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today bared old wounds in the Lok Sabha, cursing the day he conceded to support UPA’s trust vote in the House.

“Supporting you was the biggest political blunder of my life. Had it not been us, you would have never returned to power,” the socialist leader from Uttar Pradesh said, accusing the Congress of betraying everyone who stood by it. That Mulayam was speaking from sheer pain was evident from his repeated emotional outbursts in the House, which witnessed the SP-Congress war being played out in the open.

Rattled by reports that the government was considering withdrawal of the NSG security to him, the SP chief signalled the end of his troubled relationship with the Congress. The security withdrawal came as the final provocation for Mulayam, who reminded the Congress of the established law of nature. “Nothing remains constant. Today you enjoy the support of SP and BSP. But this situation is not going to last for long. Just as you can’t have the DMK and AIADMK patronising you at the same time, you can’t have Mulayam and Mayawati both on your right side,” said the SP supreme.

“We lost out in our state because we stood by the Congress, which has always deserted its sympathisers, used and thrown people, ruined political parties which help it along the way,” declared Mulayam, whose no-holds-barred utterances seemed to have surprised many. Among them was Home Minister P Chidambaram, the only Congress leader present in the Lok Sabha when SP chief was venting out his frustration over being continuously politically jostled by the Congress.

Earlier in the day, too, it was Chidambaram at the receiving end when both Mulayam and RJD’s Lalu Yadav warned him against withdrawing their NSG cover. “If we face no threat, you can take back the security. But if anything happens to us, be prepared to face the consequences,” said the leaders.

New Delhi, July 22
It is rare to see Home Minister P Chidambaram take notes in the Lok Sabha. But it was an intervention he simply could not afford to ignore. From the moment BJP’s Sushma Swaraj rose to dissect General Budget’s provisions for his ministry and talk the contradictions inherent in government documents over UPA’s policy on national security and its actual intent, Chidambaram had his head down, his thoughts racing.

Sushma based her attack on three documents and how they differed on the vital aspect of security -- President’s speech which accorded topmost priority to the matter, promising quick measures to fight terror; Economic Survey which cared to mention nothing expect police reforms; and General Budget, which ignored several references prioritised by the President, and allocated just Rs 100 crore (same as last year) for infrastructure in naxal areas and another Rs 15 crore for the National Investigation Agency.

“There is a yawing gap between your commitments on internal security and your actual delivery. How do we trust your intent when the Prime Minister has agreed to trade with Pakistan without asking it to act against the perpetrators of 26/11? We are not even one year into the tragedy and the UPA has compromised India’s position,” Sushma said, accusing the government of betraying the mandate which was for acting tough against Pakistan.

In the same vein, she warned Chidambaram against withdrawing troops from Kashmir, saying India would have to repent as a nation if the government did not reverse its decision.

Interesting also was to see the opposition dare the ruling Congress on its proposed new Unique Identity Card project, and asked it to explain how the new card was different from the Multipurpose ID card the NDA had proposed earlier.

“Our concept was rooted in national security concerns, but you have abandoned the ID project to the Ministry of Planning. Also, we find a separate allocation for Multipurpose ID card project in the Budget. Is your new card different; is it not inspired by security issues?” Sushma asked, slamming the government for inaction on the naxal front and reminding it of how, under the Left pressure in the last term, it had, coyly, dropped the term “Left-wing extremism” when referring to naxal activities.

“Now that the Left is out, the term is back but the intent is still missing,” Sushma said, also taking potshots at the Left, which patronised the Maoists for years. “I had warned Sitaram Yechury against going to Nepal for talks with Maoists. He did not listen to me. Now they are repenting in Lalgarh,” the opposition leader thundered in the House, ensuring she highlighted BJP’s political priorities.

So she referred to the Gorkhaland movement as one of aligning with the mainstream and not one of separation, and even urged Chidambaram to talk to the activists. Besides, she also drew UPA’s attention to the crisis-ridden Halflong in Assam, whose uranium-rich sites, she said, were inspiring an international conspiracy to keep the disturbance alive.

New Delhi, July 22
The government is clearly on the back foot over the end-user monitoring arrangement for defence procurements with the United States, for which it has earned the wrath of the Opposition.

In an interaction with Parliamentarians last night, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon is learnt to have said that had ‘not signed’ the agreement.

But Defence Minister A K Antony had something entirely different to say. Defending the agreement, he said India concerns have been addressed in the accord, which was a result of three years of hard bargaining.

Official sources, meanwhile, said the end use monitoring arrangement was not an inter-governmental agreement. They also stated that it could be modified bilaterally by relaxing procedures.

However, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna’s statement at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday night clearly says “our governments have concluded three important agreements.’’ He then went on to mention these agreements:” on creation of a science and technology endowment board; a technical safeguards agreement which will permit the launch of civil or non-commercial satellites containing US components on Indian space launch vehicles and; we have agreed on the end-use monitoring arrangements that will henceforth be referred to in letters of acceptance for Indian procurement of US defence technology and equipment.’’

Even the India-US joint statement quoted the Indian minister as announcing that both sides had reached an agreement on end use monitoring for US defence articles.

New Delhi, July 22
The opposition’s worst fears are coming true. It’s becoming crystal clear that Pakistan is out to embarrass India by raking up the Balochistan issue, now that it has been referred to in the controversial India-Pakistan joint statement adopted at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Official sources here confirmed that Islamabad had compiled ‘some information’ in which it has not only charged India with fuelling insurgency in Balochistan but also levelled the allegation that Indian consulates in Afghanistan were indulging in propaganda, subversion and espionage activities.

While declining to confirm if it was a dossier, the sources said the information was passed on the Indian side during the recent meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Reports in the Pakistani media today said Pakistan had handed over to India evidence of the involvement of RAW in terrorist activities, including the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore and on a police academy on the outskirts of Lahore earlier this year.

The Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement has already come in for sharp criticism from the opposition as well as strategic experts with the BJP describing it as capitulation to Pakistan.

What has shocked the opposition is the fact that India not only agreed to delink the resumption of the composite dialogue process from the issue of terrorism but also allowed a reference to Baluchistan in the joint statement.

Despite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s strong defence of the joint statement, the experts say that by allowing the reference to Balochistan in the joint statement, India has given Pakistan an issue which it could raise at every international forum as and when India charges it with supporting militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

New Delhi, July 22
Eager to regain its foothold in Nepal and counter China’s strategic inroads, India will resume supplies of weapons to the Himalayan country. The arms supply was stopped in 2005.

Also, India will continue with its recruitment of Nepali Gorkhas for the Indian Army.

This comes after Nepal defence minister Bidya Devi Bhandari, and her 10-member delegation held talks with Indian Defence Minister AK Antony and other Defence officials here. The “Insas” rifles that is used by the Indian Army will be supplied to the Royal Nepal Army. The visiting delegation also discussed the aspect of training its army, sources in the Ministry of Defence said.

The recruitment of Nepalis in Indian Army's Gorkha Rifles also figured in the talks. No recruitment rallies were held in Nepal since September 2006 due to the strife in that country. It was only in February-March this year that the Indian Army once again began the process, with rallies in Dharan (eastern Nepal) and Pokhara (central Nepal), attracting over 15,000 applicants.

New Delhi, July 22
The Supreme Court today directed Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan to file all their documents within four weeks in the dispute over the 109-km Hansi-Butana canal constructed by Haryana.

A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan posted for September 8 the next hearing in the original suit filed by Punjab, objecting to Haryana's proposal to draw water from the Bhakhra Main Line (BML) from a downstream point.

Senior counsel Rajeev Dhawan, appearing for Punjab, sought an early date for taking evidence on the original suit, while Haryana's counsel Vinod Arvind Bobde sought an interim order allowing his client state to draw water through the Hansi-Butana canal.

Bobde said the Central Water Commission's report had gone in favour of Haryana, which wanted to provide drinking water to its south-western parts, covering Mewat, Rewari, Mahendergarh and Gurgaon. The report had also allayed the apprehensions of Punjab over possible submergence of its land.

Pointing out that Haryana could not say it was not getting water, the CJI clarified that it was a question of allowing the state to draw part of the water from a lower point.

Justice P Sathasivam, who was also part of the Bench, clarified that recording of evidence would also cover the interlocutory application of Haryana, seeking permission to puncture the BML at a lower point for taking water through the canal.Haryana is reported to have spent Rs 260 crore on the canal.

New Delhi, July 22
National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) today gave clean chit to the Delhi police in Batla House encounter case in which two suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists and a decorated police officer were killed last year.

The NHRC, which had conducted inquiry in the case on the direction of the Delhi High Court, said in its report that there has been no violation of human rights by actions of the police in which two alleged terrorists were gunned down on September 19, 2008.

“We are clearly of the opinion that having regard to the material placed before us, it cannot be said that there has been any violation of human rights by action of police,” the Commission said in its 30-page report submitted in a sealed envelope to the high court.

The high court had on May 21 asked the NHRC to complete within two months its enquiry into the controversial encounter in which two suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists and a police officer were killed.

Inspector MC Sharma, an encounter specialist, was killed during the police action against suspected terrorists on September 19, 2008, in the aftermath of serial blasts in Batla House locality in the national capital.

The court had directed the enquiry on a plea of the NGO, Act Now For Harmony and Democracy, that questioned the police version of the encounter. Two suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists who were killed were identified as Atif Amin and Mohd Sajid. Two other IM suspects Mohd Saif and Zeeshan were arrested from the Batla House area. — PTI

Lucknow, July 22
Bahujan Samaj Party workers today came out on the streets across 403 assembly constituencies in the state holding the Congress-led UPA government responsible for the alleged neglect of the state.

This centre-state confrontation in recent days spilled out on the streets of the state further fueling the emerging conflict between the BSP and the Congress in the state.

Charging the Congress of being hand in glove with capitalist forces, they held their nexus responsible for the inflation. Hoarding displayed said: “Congress ka haath punjipatti ke saath”.

Incidentally, one of the slogans that were heard across the state was against UPCC chief Rita Bahuguan Joshi charging her of humiliating the Dalit chief minister.

At the collectorate at every district, local BSP office-bearers held public meetings holding the central government responsible for the backwardness of the state.

Party national chief Mayawati had given a call for today’s statewide demonstration and protests on July 18. Reacting to Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi’s charge of central funds meant for the development of the state not reaching the people, Mayawati had given a call for observing July 22 as ‘Sharam Divas’ against the UPA government’s policies.

SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhury described today’s BSP programme as Mayawati government’s attempt to cover up its failure on all fronts.

Chandigarh, July 22
About 11 months after the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that there should be parity in the pension of Army officers retiring on different dates, the pension of Major Generals and equivalents who had retired prior to 1996 has finally been revised.

The orders to this effect were issued by the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions) yesterday. This has brought to end an almost decade long legal battle.

Major Generals who had retired prior to January 1, 1996, the date of implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission (FPC), were getting pension that was lower to that of a Brigadier, while those retiring after January 1996 were getting a higher pension.

The pension in such cases would be revised with effect from January 1, 1996. The orders apply to retired Major Generals, rear Admirals and Air Vice-Marshals who were in receipt of pension as on October 1, 2001. Legal heirs of pensioners who were alive on this date but died subsequently would also be entitled to lifetime arrears with effect from October 1, 2001.

In its orders passed on September 9, 2008, the SC had upheld the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that Major Generals retiring prior to January 1, 1996 should be granted a pension at par with those retiring after this date. The High Court decision was challenged by the government in the SC.

The anomaly had cropped up because the start of the pay scale of Major Generals (Rs 18,400) was less than the starting pay of Brigadiers (Rs 19,100 including rank pay of Rs 2,400). The pension of a pre-1996 retired Major General was fixed at Rs 9,200 where as that of a brigadier, who is one rank lower, was fixed at Rs 9,550.

To cater to this anomaly, the government had stepped up the pension of pre-1996 Major General to Brigadier level, thereby leaving them at a loss as compared to post-1996 Major General retirees.

“The division which classified pensioners into two classes was held to be artificial and arbitrary and not based on any rational principle and whatever principle, if there was any, had not only no nexus to the objects sought to be achieved by amending the Pension Rules, but was counterproductive and ran counter to the very object of the pension scheme. It was ultimately held that the classification did not satisfy the test of Article 14 of the Constitution,” the SC had observed.