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Left, TDP team up for attack on Reddy over mining scam
Fresh DGCA norms for foggy winters
Karunanidhi takes on LTTE supporters
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3 BSP leaders shown door for anti-party activities
Rioters to be penalised for damage to public property
Prez to board Sukhoi
Bundelkhand to get agriculture package Rahul dislikes ‘future PM’ tag Nothing evil
in US-China statement: Congress
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Left, TDP team up for attack on Reddy over mining scam
Hyderabad, November 18 The alleged illegal iron ore mining in AP by Obulapuram Mining Corporation (OMC), owned by the Karnataka Tourism Minister, would be raised in the coming winter session of the Parliament, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu said today. The two leaders held a meeting here to discuss a joint strategy and identify the issues to be highlighted during the winter session. “We will work closely with the TDP in raising the Obulapuram mining scam at national level. The influence of mining mafia on politics and governance should end,” Karat said. Bowing to the opposition pressure, the Congress government in AP had yesterday decided to order CBI probe into the alleged illegal mining in Anantapur district. “We understand that OMC is resorting to illegal mining of iron ore to the tune of 70, 000 tonnes per day and exporting it to foreign countries. This needs to be stopped immediately,” said Naidu and termed the decision on CBI inquiry as “mere eyewash”. He demanded immediate cancellation of the mining lease. All files pertaining to the OMC case should be placed before the Assembly Speaker N Kirankumar Reddy to enable the opposition parties to examine them, Naidu said. Following political crisis in Karnataka, triggered by “Bellary Brothers”, the opposition parties in AP stepped up their campaign against the mining baron. The mining czar’s close association with the family of former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy has provided ammunition to the opposition attack. The opposition TDP and the Left have been targeting YSR’s son and Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for his alleged “business links” with the billionaire Karnataka politician. They have alleged that Jagan was a “beneficiary” of the illegal activities of OMC whose profits were being funnelled to a front organisation of the MP’s close associates.
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Fresh DGCA norms for foggy winters
New Delhi, November 18 The latest set of guidelines include some stringent regulations for airlines, especially in case of CAT-III non-compliant aircraft in their fleet. Airlines have been advised to file separate schedule for CAT-III non-compliant aircraft between December 10, 2009, and February 10, 2010, the period when the fog usually plays the spoilsport with air traffic. At times non-CAT II/III flights, which have already been given start-up and taxi out, are not able to depart due to sudden drop in visibility. This causes delay to CAT-II/III complaint flights that are following them. The DGCA says that such a situation can be avoided with filing of special schedule for fog period by airlines. Airlines have been advised to file schedule for CAT II/III compliant flights between 5 am and 10 am, when the fog is densest. The approved departure and arrival slot of CAT-III non-complaint aircraft will be shifted beyond 10 am in coordination with concerned airport operator. During extremely low visibility, only CAT-III equipped aircraft are permitted to fly. Airport officials fear that more flights are likely of be affected this year due to inadequate number of CAT-III trained pilots. As per experts a combination of CAT-III trained pilot, CAT-III equipped aircraft and Instrument Landing System (ILS) is required to carry operations in the near zero visibility. However airlines generally do not like to train many pilots to operate CAT-III equipment, primarily because of costs involved. Lack of training to operate in foggy conditions often leads to inordinate delays in take-offs, leading to flights being held up for hours altogether. The DGCA guidelines, framed after a meeting to review preparedness of all agencies, including the India Meteorological Department (IMD), DIAL, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and airlines, are expected to reduce the misery of air passengers to some extend. Airlines have been asked to spruce up call centre operations for updates on any flight delays and information to the passengers. They have been asked to provide information on flight status through auto dialer or SMS to passengers. Clearance to the aircraft which fail to taxi out within five minutes of start up will be cancelled and the Air Traffic Control has been asked to intimate the expiry time while issuing the start up clearance.
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Karunanidhi takes on LTTE supporters
Chennai, November 18 “The Tigers did not take into account the consequences while implementing its war strategy”, he wrote in the DMK party organ “Murasoli”. Recalling the LTTE’s call to Tamils for boycotting the 2005 Presidential elections, Karunanidhi said Sri Lanka Freedom Party leader Mahinda Rajapaksa had defeated United National Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe by a margin of about 1.81 lakh votes and seven lakh Tamils in Sri Lanka did not cast their votes. He also pointed out that Wickremesinghe had then promised the electors that he would give priority to peace talks with the LTTE in the event of his election. “Who would know our silent pain while we reflect on the outcomes of the hasty political action?” he asked. Karunanidhi also alleged that leaders of different Tamil groups and organisations were systematically killed in fratricidal clashes by the LTTE. The absence of a planned approach led to the death of numerous people, particularly the youth, and suffering of those who had to remain in camps for years together, the Chief Minister said. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who had expressed willingness for the fulfilment of the rights of Sri Lankan Tamils, was killed in Tamil Nadu and this was a setback for the Tamil struggle, he added. Karunanidhi, who usually refrains from criticising dead leaders, have found fault with the Tiger leader, a week before Heroes' Day celebrations.
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Karkare didn’t get backup: Wife
Mumbai, November 18 Karkare, along with Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ashok Kamte and Inspector Vijay Salaskar were killed by terrorists near Cama Hospital in Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus during the Mumbai siege.Speaking to the media, Kavita said: “I just didn’t know anything in the initial six months, politicians, the media and other people were coming to my place, but I was not aware what exactly was going around. Nobody has ever told me that what exactly happened that day. No senior officers have told me till date what had happened with my husband. Till date, I don't know the exact facts of that day.” “But when politicians started raising questions saying that my husband acted in a very hasty manner and went for the operation blindly, I decided to gather facts about the incident. Then, we came to know when Kamte, Karkare, Salaskar were planning strategy in Cama Hospital for 40 minutes, they had asked for help, but they couldn’t get help in those 40 minutes. Why they could not get help in 40 minutes? Nobody is giving me that answer,” said Kavita.Kavita revealed that she was told by some police officials that it would not be possible for her to get to know what exactly happened with her husband during the terror attacks. She also alleged that Hemant Karkare was left injured and unattended for over 40 minutes and not taken to the hospital on time. Earlier last week, Kavita also alleged that her husband’s bulletproof jacket has gone missing. Questioning the security of the common man, Kavita said, “It is so funny that the ATS chief is not safe and had to be killed like this. How will common people feel safe then in this country?” “I fail to understand what is wrong with our security system. How could ten terrorists armed with weapons and explosives enter the country,” a tearful Kavita said.
— Agencies
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3 BSP leaders shown door for anti-party activities
Lucknow, November 18 According to state BSP president Swami Prasad Maurya, the three leaders - former MP Banwari Lal Kanchal, Sandeep Bansal and Arun Shankar Shukla (alias Anna) - kept party office-bearers and workers involved in factional fights over personal issues. The result was that the party candidate, Abhinav Mishra, could manage only around 20,000 votes and was reduced to the third position. Kanchal and Anna had both joined the party after quitting the Samajwadi Party (SP). Kanchal, then a sitting SP Rajya Sabha MP, had resigned his seat on the assurance of being re-nominated on a BSP ticket, but that never happened. Anna, a notorious land mafia from the city and a long-time supporter of the SP, joined the BSP before the Lok Sabha elections and was made BSP candidate from Unnao. He lost to Annu Tandon of the Congress. Similarly, BSP had first announced Sandeep Bansal as their candidate from the Lucknow (West) constituency. At the eleventh hour, he was replaced with Mishra, who lost miserably. The BSP state president said Anna had been given the responsibility of winning the Lucknow seat for the party, a task that he did not perform. “As he is involved in criminal activities and is refusing to mend ways, there is no place in the party for him,” said Maurya. “Bansal and Kanchal, both leaders of the trading community, had been asked to mobilise votes of the trading class. But they remained busy fighting with each other and did not work for the party,” said Maurya while terminating their party membership.
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Rioters to be penalised for damage to public property
Hyderabad, November 18 “The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has already given its consent to the proposed Bill,” Information and Public Relations Minister Dr J Geetha Reddy said. The proposed legislation will empower the government to recover damages on account of burning or damaging public property, both movable and immovable, belonging to the state government, public sector undertakings, as well as the local bodies. During agitations and riots, state-owned RTC buses generally have to bear the brunt. “Whenever there is an agitation or strike a lot of damage is caused to public properties, particularly State Road Transport Corporation buses. The APSRTC has been incurring heavy losses due to burning of buses during riots and other law and order situations,” the minister said. A Central Act on the prevention of damages to public property, promulgated in 1984, provided only for penal action.
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Prez to board Sukhoi
New Delhi, November 18 The President will be flown in a Su-30MKI of the Pune-based 30 Squadron flown by its Commanding Officer Wing Commander S Sajan at a height from where she would be able to see the earth, IAF vice-chief Air Marshal PK Barbora told mediapersons as he gave out the details of the President’s scheduled flight on November 25. The aircraft will be flying at speed of around less than super-sonic speed of .9 mach (less than 1,000 km per hour) and the President would wear the full kit - called the G-suit - that a pilot wears, Barbora
added. Barbora was asked a rather uncomfortable question as to why the President was flying in a Sukhoi-30 and not in the MiG-21, which was the mainstay of the IAF. Barbora said, “We would like to show where our capability has reached because we would be able to indicate to her in the cockpit what technology has brought to fighter aviation.” What Barbora did not say was that the twin-engined Sukhoi-30 is one of the world’s best fighters and a lot safer that the MiG-21 that is the 1960’s
technology.
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Bundelkhand to get agriculture package New Delhi, November 18 The Cabinet is expected to take up this matter tomorrow at its weekly meeting. UPA sources said the package included a host of schemes like watershed management and distribution of drought-resistent seeds, which will be channelised through existing Central schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee programme. The government’s decision to give a leg-up to this region follows the Congress party’s dismal performance here in the recent assembly bypolls. The Congress was a poor third in Lalipur and Jhansi constituencies of Bundelkhand. The Jhansi seat was vacated by the party’s sitting MP Pradeep Jain whose victory in the May Lok Sabha elections was perceived as a turning point for the Congress in this difficult terrain. What is even more galling for the Congress is that the Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi has invested a lot of time and energy in this region, which has emerged as the centrepiece of his ‘comeback’ plans for Congress in Uttar Pradesh. Over the past one year, Rahul Gandhi has travelled several times to the Bundelkhand region to focus attention on the poor development record in that region which was badly hit by drought. He even spent a night in a Dalit villager’s home to highlight the UP government’s neglect of this area. Rahul Gandhi’s forays to this region had elicited an angry response from UP Chief Minister and BSP chief Mayawati who was further angered when the young Gandhi suggested that a separate Bundelkhand Development Authority be set up to speed up development programmes in this region. The sub-text here was that since the Mayawati government has failed to deliver, there was a strong case for the Centre to step in. Although Mayawati was initially unnerved by Rahul’s plans to highlight the backwardness of this region to gain political mileage in Uttar Pradesh, the BSP chief has since recovered lost ground as indicated by the recent assembly bypoll results in which Mayawati emerged a clear gainer. While the Samajwadi Party failed to open its account, loosing in its strongholds, the Congress was able to wrest only one of the 11 assembly seats. However, it sought to play down these defeats by pointing to its victory in the crucial Firozabad Lok Sabha constituency.
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Rahul dislikes ‘future PM’ tag Hyderabad, November 18 “Please don’t refer to me as future Prime Minister. Nobody can predict the future,” he said, interacting with students of a degree college in the coastal Andhra city of Vijayawada today. When a student addressed him as future Prime Minister, Rahul quickly disowned the tag and said: “Nobody can predict the future and what is there in store for us. Anybody can become Prime Minister.” Rahul was on a day-long visit to Andhra Pradesh to interact with the students and take their feedback on various problems confronting the country. He met about 2,000 students at the Loyola College auditorium in Vijayawada. The programme was arranged as part of his talent hunt to strengthen the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the students’ wing of the Congress. Relaxed and informal, the Congress leader took questions from students on a wide range of issues, ranging from terrorism to global warming and reservations.
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Nothing evil
in US-China statement: Congress New Delhi, November 18 “Perhaps too much is being read into it. We believe that there is no change in the US or China policy towards us,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said. He added the Indo-US relations are based on much surer and more solid foundations than an interpretation of a “casual remark” made in a leader’s speech. Singhvi at the same time maintained that “if what is suggested in the press is intended then obviously there would be objections on it. But there is no material or basis to say so,” he said.
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Chargesheet filed against Raj NIA may question Hashmi, Aarti
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