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Koda Scam
LS Adjourned
Mamata to visit Cambridge varsity
India welcomes Obama’s Af-Pak policy
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Protest over water leaves one dead
Zero turnout in 21 J’khand polling booths
Prabha Rao sworn
in Rajasthan Guv
9 schoolchildren drown as van falls into pond
TRS chief shifted to Hyderabad
Lt-Gen Ghosh takes over as chief of Western Command
Kaiga authorities seek police help
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ED raids Emaar MGF office
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 3 “Ten offices of Emaar MGF have been raided in Delhi and Noida in connection with violation of FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) regulations and diverting money abroad,” an official from the directorate said. The directorate officials raided 10 Emaar MGF offices in Delhi and NCR around 10 am. The raids were on till late evening and papers were seized too. The raids are being seen as the after-fall of probe into Rs 2500 crore money laundering scam involving Madhu Koda and his associates from Jharkhand. Sources said the ED was checking whether Koda had used the Emaar MGF officials or projects to park his illegal money.
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Mamata’s MPs create ruckus
Faraz Ahmad Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 3 Defying repeated requests of Speaker Meira Kumar to maintain order, party members led by leader in the House Sudip Bandopadhyaya, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Kalyan Banerjee continued disrupting the proceedings during Zero Hour. This is for the third time in this session that the party has disrupted House proceedings on the issues relating to West Bengal. Railway Minister and TC leader Mamata Banerjee was not pleased with the Speaker’s decision and defended her party members by saying they were trying to bring to the notice of the House the “genocide” being committed by the CPM in her home state. She was overheard telling Union minister of State for Parliamentary affairs V Narayansamy that as many as 500 members of her party had been killed in the past three months. “We want justice”, she was heard telling Narayanasamy. Incidentally, both Rahul and Sonia Gandhi were present in the House when the incident happened. When the House reassembled, the Left had also arrived and the two sides indulged in another round of verbal duel on the law and order situation in West Bengal. Trinamool Congress members resumed their seats only after Narayanasamy assured them of appropriate action.“Killing of people is a matter of concern. It has been conveyed to Home Minister P Chidambaram and justice will be done,” he said.
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Mamata to visit Cambridge varsity
New Delhi, December 3 In a communication to Mamata's aide, a senior university official has stated that the Deputy Vice-Chancellor is keen to host Mamata for a select round table discussion with specially invited guests in Cambridge. "We have received a communication from university authorities about the proposed visit to Cambridge and the minister is not averse to the visit," sources close to her said. If the visit is materialised, it will be her first foreign visit as Railway Minister. However, though no date has been finalised yet, it is expected to be in the last week of January, the sources said. Describing her as an “extraordinarily distinguished political figure,” the university has proposed to focus on discussions on transport policy and an interaction with a select group of eminent citizens on social, economic and industrial development.
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India welcomes Obama’s Af-Pak policy
New Delhi, December 3 “In our view, it is essential that the international community shows unwavering commitment in resolutely opposing, resisting and overcoming terrorism and those who nurture, sustain and give sanctuary to terrorists and extremist elements. It is also imperative that the international community shows sustained and long-term commitment to assisting the government and people of Afghanistan.” External Affairs Ministry spokesman said in a statement. — TNS
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Protest over water leaves one dead
Mumbai, December 3 According to the police, around 5,000 persons under the banner of Swabhiman, an NGO headed by Nitesh Rane, son of Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, gathered outside the headquarters of the BMC opposite the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus. The crowd attempted to break the barricades and force its way into the building, forcing the police to resort to lathicharge. About 20 persons received serious injuries in the lathicharge. One of them later died in hospital. According to the police, victim Viral Dholakia, 43, who was rushed to the Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital, had suffered a major heart attack and was declared brought dead at the hospital. However, supporters of Nitesh Rane said Dholakia had suffered head injuries during the lathicharge. The body of the victim was taken for a post-mortem examination, the police said.Meanwhile, the police has registered cases against Rane and 24 others for hurling stones and damaging public property. Several BEST buses were damaged and a number of small shops in the area were damaged as the crowd mobilised by Rane went on a rampage. All of them were released on bail later in the day. The Ranes, who have been assigned the task to win the BMC elections scheduled to be held in 2011, begun their efforts earnestly with today’s street protests. Shortly before the protests began, Nitesh Rane told reporters that the BMC was mismanaging water supplies in the city and parts of Mumbai were getting water for just a few minutes or sometimes not at all. Due to inadequate rainfall this year, the BMC has imposed 15 per cent cut in water supply in the city.
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Zero turnout in 21 J’khand polling booths
Ranchi, December 3 “Not a single voter turned out on 21 polling booths in the second phase of the polls,” said Ashok Kumar Sinha, joint chief electoral officer. “There is no provision for re-polling in such booths,” Sinha said. Jharkhand’s 14 of 81 Assembly seats went to the polls yesterday. Of the 14, 12 were situated in Maoist strongholds. In the morning, a paratrooper was killed when Maoist guerrillas triggered a blast at Giridih’s Teliabahiyar village. According to sources in the election department, two booths in the Dumri Assembly constituency in Giridih district saw zero turnout as voters stayed away because of the fear of the guerrillas. Similar fear kept voters away in other places as well, including in the Tamar Assembly seat where four polling booths saw zero turnout. At some places, polling officials left the booths at 2 pm -- an hour before polling closed. The Tamar seat had come in the limelight this January when then Chief Minister Shibu Soren lost a bypoll there, leading to President’s rule in the state. Poll timing in all assembly constituencies have been advanced for security reasons -- polling begins at 7 am and ends at 3 pm. Despite a Maoist boycott call, polling percentage was higher in the second phase than the first. Polling percentage yesterday was 54.2 per cent, up from 53 per cent in the first round. The five-phase election process will end on December 18 and counting will take place on 23. — IANS
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Prabha Rao sworn
in Rajasthan Guv
Jaipur, December 3 The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, cabinet ministers and senior state bureaucrats. S K Singh (77), who has been the Governor of Rajasthan from September 2007, died at a New Delhi hospital on December 1 after a prolonged illness.
— PTI
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9 schoolchildren drown as van falls into pond
Chennai, December 3 The van, which was reportedly carrying more children than permitted, slipped off the road and plunged into a 20 feet deep pond, which is full due to torrential rains in the district for the last few days. The incident occurred at Katripullam village near Vedaranyam, about 360 km from here. The total number of students inside the van was 25. As many as 11 of them had been rescued with injuries. Nine dead bodies had been recovered and search is on to locate five children and another teacher. Since the pond is receiving inflow of water due to the incessant rains, the water is being pumped out for search operations. Police are also on the lookout for the van driver, who is absconding.
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TRS chief shifted to Hyderabad
Hyderabad, December 3 Massive security arrangements have been made at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), where Rao is admitted. Several TRS workers have gathered to know his condition. A team of doctors headed by NIMS director Prasada Rao is attending on Rao, in judicial custody till December 12, who was shifted to Hyderabad by the police late last night amid security. This followed repeated requests by the TRS and directions from the State Human Rights Commission. TRS ideologue Jayashankar told reporters that Rao was running high temperature and had turned weak. — PTI
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Lt-Gen Ghosh takes over as chief of Western Command
Chandigarh, November 3 He said as chief of the operationally vital Western Command his focus would be to ensure a high level of operational preparedness, motivation and welfare of troops. Prior to this appointment, the top-ranking officer was posted as the GOC 1 Corps at Mathura. He takes over from Lt-Gen TK Sapru, who has retired. Earlier, Gen Ghosh paid tributes to the martyrs at the Veer Smriti War Memorial and reviewed a guard of honour presented to him by a contingent of 6 Sikh. He also met all the senior officers of the Command. Lt-Gen Ghosh’s wife, Bulbul Ghosh, presently serving as the Controller General of Defence Accounts, took over as president of the Army Wives Welfare Association (Regional). An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Gen Ghosh was commissioned into Brigade of The Guards on November 14, 1971 and immediately participated in the Indo-Pak War in Jammu and Kashmir. His earlier appointments include a stint in the Directorate of Military Operations at Army Headquarters, Defence and Military Attache at Embassy of India in the USA and additional DG (Manpower) at Army HQs. He has commanded brigade in an active Sector on the Line of Control, where he was awarded the Sena Medal.
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Kaiga authorities seek police help Bangalore, December 3 Unable to make any headway into the mystery, the plant authorities have knocked the doors of the local police to investigate the matter. Talking to the TNS, Uttarakannada SP Raman Gupta said the plant authorities had filed an FIR with the police with regard to the contamination of drinking water in the plant. Several workers were found having excess Tritium in the body after drinking the water that was spiked with the radioactive substance. “They have provided me with a report of the internal inquiry. It is of very general nature and does not identify anyone as the culprit behind the incident”, the district police chief said. According to Gupta, the plant authorities finally decided to hand over the case to the police, five days after Tritium contamination was detected in the bodies of the affected workers after they suspected that the Tritium contamination of water was “an act of mischief”. Gupta said a police team headed by a deputy superintendent of police had been constituted to investigate the incident. “We shall work in tandem with the plant officials to identify the culprit”, he said. The FIR, filed by a senior manager of the plant, did not name anyone as having a hand in the incident. “The FIR is against unknown persons”, an official at the Mallapur police station, where the FIR has been registered, said. Soon after the news about the radiation leak in the plant broke in the media, Anil Kakodkar, who was then the chief of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), said the mixing of Tritium with drinking water was an act of sabotage. S K Jain, CMD of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), under whose aegis the plant functions, also said it was an act of mischief by an insider. However, all these days the plant authorities insisted on having the matter investigated internally with the Intelligence Bureau looking into certain aspects of the incident. It is evident that having failed to make any progress with its own apparatus, the plant authorities have been compelled to call the local police for action. A spokesman of the Kaiga plant, when contacted by this reporter, said the FIR was filed following directives from the NPCIL head office in Mumbai. “All our actions are controlled by the head office”, he said. N-plant processes under review: Chavan New Delhi: The government is reviewing processes and procedures at all nuclear power stations to prevent a Kaiga. Union Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan said this in Parliament. He was making a suo moto statement on the “deliberate” contamination of drinking water at the Kaiga Atomic Power Station. He maintained that there was no damage to KAPS and “all plant systems are operating safely”. “As regards the investigation, the local and Central agencies are at work and the evidence like log books, close circuit TV footage, analysis of water samples etc are being used to ascertain the facts,” he said.
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Grammy nomination for Rahman, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
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The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command Lt-Gen SR Ghosh today said though some level of tension is expected to continue across the western border, there was no need to panic. Speaking to mediapersons soon after assuming charge as the Western Army Commander at Chandimandir here, Ghosh said the situation along the international border was peaceful and under control.
