 |
|
|
Lalu ‘violates’ poll norms, booked
Kargil war widows feel let down
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Adarsh housing scam fuels internal strife in Congress
Tribunal denies bail to Lt Gen in ration scam
No-project area between Gomukh, Uttarkashi
Hotline between Manmohan, Wen
Chavan issue yet another shadow on AICC meet
Cong sweeps MC polls in Goa
Elephant smuggling racket busted, 5 arrested
Koda’s bail plea rejected
|
|
Lalu ‘violates’ poll norms, booked
Patna, November 1 The average percentage of polling reported from the 42 constituencies that went to polls today was 52% despite a boycott call by Maoists. The polls saw stray incidents of landmine blast and bomb explosion. Maoists triggered a blast near a bridge on the Chakai-Jamui main road in Batia jungle, but none was injured. The Naxalites fled after BSF commandos retaliated, DGP Neelmani said. The anti-socials set off two bombs near a booth in Danapur Assembly constituency in which a woman was injured, Neelmani said. Four persons were arrested. Over 250 persons were arrested from different places and over 105 vehicles seized during polling hours, he said. The fifth phase of polling is scheduled on November 9 after Divali. Confirming the institution of a case against the two high-profile voters, Chief Electoral Officer Sudhir Kumar Rakesh said the incident related to veterinary college booth under Digha Assembly constituency. He said the Election Commission had ordered an inquiry. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi also exercised their right to franchise today. On being informed about a case being lodged against Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar castigated his political rival and said: “Laluji is a habitual lawbreaker. He has been doing it for years and he also takes pride in breaking the rules and law. He can never change.” Answering questions from mediapersons after casting his vote, Nitish also had a bit of advice for the Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. He said, “Rahul should first become the chief minister of any state before aspiring to become the Prime Minister straight away. He would learn the nuances of governance.” 
|
|
Kargil war widows feel let down
Jalandhar, November 1 While many Kargil war widows expressed ignorance of any such flats meant for them in the society, others lambasted Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan for claiming privileges in the name of Kargil martyrs. They have demanded a thorough probe into this incident. Manjeet Kaur, widow of Kargil martyr Subedar Nirmal Singh from 8 Sikh Regiment, said: “Post-Kargil war, some politicians had mentioned about flats for widows in Mumbai. But that was 11 years ago and after that nobody contacted us. It is only through the media that we got to know about the flats. While they were already occupied by politicians and senior Army officers, we were kept in the dark.” Manjeet Kaur, along with two sons, lives in Chinna Bet village in Gurdaspur. Surinder Kaur, widow of Naib Subedar Ravail Singh from Jammu, said: “It is disgusting that while we are managing our livelihood with many hardships, politicians are enjoying over our rights. We were never aware of any such flats in the society in Mumbai. It seems that politicians and Army officers are hand in glove with each other,” she added. Dr NK Kalia, father of the first Kargil martyr, Capt Saurabh Kalia of 4 JAT, termed the Indian political system as “hopeless”. “It is always a lone battle for the families of the martyrs later. Who cares about war widows and their families? But it is shocking that why the Army authorities did not inform the Kargil war widows about flats all these years”, he maintained. Lt Col JS Rathore from 8 Sikh Regiment, who had sustained injuries during the war and whose name has been mentioned in dispatches for his bravery, also condemned the scam. He said: “Our regiment lost one officer, four junior commissioned officers and 34 personnel below officer rank (PBOR) to the war. We know how much it hurts to see a soldier die and his widow making a living later.”
|
|
Adarsh housing scam fuels internal strife in Congress
New Delhi, November 1 Denying any role in the scam, Deshmukh, who signed the “letter of intent and not the final order” as the Chief Minister, ruled out resignation from the Union Government. “The application, which was made earlier, was made to construct houses for servicemen. That was the main proposal, but ultimately what happened in between is that they changed the bylaws. The society was asked to change the bylaws by the then Revenue Minister, Ashok Chavan. That is on record. He called a meeting and called members of the society and asked them to change the bylaws and 40 per cent of civilians should be allowed to be members of the society. There it created a lot of problems,” Deshmukh said. Asked about the fact that it was under his chief ministership that the final permissions were given and whether he accepted responsibility for the same, he said “No, I don’t deny that, but the problem is what I signed was the letter of intent and not the final order. Secondly, the prerogative of clearing everything is with the Revenue Department. Whatever the recommendations made by the Revenue Department, in good faith I have signed the file.” This was a general practice, he said. Asked whether he would resign as Chavan has offered to step down, the Union Minister shot back, “For what? There is no need for that.” Meanwhile, Congress President Sonia Gandhi earlier today held consultations with senior party leaders in New Delhi on the fate of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan over the scam. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister AK Antony and senior party leader Ahmed Patel met Gandhi and are understood to have discussed the matter. — Agencies Promoters to move HC
Mumbai: Promoters of the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society have decided to file an appeal in the Bombay High Court against the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) for their decision to disconnect electricity supply to the society and revoke occupation certificates issued to its members. Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had earlier directed the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority to revoke the occupation certificates (OC) issued to the members of the controversial housing society. BEST, which supplies water and electricity to the building, has issued a notice to the society asking members to produce occupation certificates or else the electricity supply would be disconnected. Congress gags leaders
New Delhi: The Congress today virtually issued a gag order against its Maharashtra leaders on the issue of the Adarsh housing society scam. “An AICC inquiry is being carried out by two very senior leaders and anyone who wants to say anything in the matter should give his views to them,” party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed told reporters. Besides, he said, the leaders should not say anything that would put the party into trouble. His remarks came following statements by some detractors of Chavan, including Vilasrao Deshmukh, regarding the scam.
|
|
Tribunal denies bail to Lt Gen in ration scam
Chandigarh, November 1 Observing that the charges against Gen Sahni was serious, the Tribunal Bench comprising Justice Ghanshyam Prashad and Lt Gen HS Panag said the bail could not be granted at this stage as deposition of prosecution witnesses was still in progress. The Tribunal, however, directed the Army to complete the court martial within two months. Sahni, the first officer of the rank of Lieutenant General to face court martial proceedings for alleged professional impropriety, has been under arrest since July 31 when his trial commenced at Jalandhar. He is facing eight charges under Sections 52 and 63 of the Army Act for intent to defraud and acts prejudicial to military discipline in the procurement of dry rations for troops. Claiming that charges against him were time-barred and there was no evidence against him on record, he had sought bail to avail medical treatment and also to take care of his aged mother. Apart from seeking bail, General Sahni has also challenged his trial. The matter is scheduled to come for for hearing on December 15. Pension anomalies of Majors removed In a relief to over 100 officers to the ranks of Major and equivalent, Tribunal Bench comprising Justice NP Gupta and Lt Gen NS Brar today allowed their writ petition seeking removal of anomalies in pension that would now entitle them to higher pension. Consequently, the Majors, who had retired prior to 2006 and were getting pension lower than even junior commissioned officers, would now get an additional basic pension of about Rs 5,000 per month besides consequential benefits. After the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, the pension of Majors was fixed at Rs 14,100 per month. This even less than JCOs four ranks below their grade who were getting a pension of Rs 16,145. The anomaly in pension fixation arose because the minimum of the entire Payband-3 (Rs 15,600-39,100) was taken into account instead of considering the minimum of the grade applicable to the Majors (Rs 23,810). The petitioners had contended that the existing basic pay inclusive of grade pay and military service pay works out to be Rs 36,410. Hence their pension at the stipulated 50 per cent of basic works out to be Rs 18,205 per month, to which they were entitled. The pension of Lieutenant Colonel is fixed at Rs 25,700 where as that of Majors who retired before 2006 is Rs 14,100, creating a huge difference of Rs 11,600, the petitioners claimed. Prior to the Sixth Pay Commission, the difference was just Rs 950. |
|
No-project area between Gomukh, Uttarkashi
New Delhi, November 1 The Lohari Nagpala project, being built by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), had already been shown a red flag by a three-member Group of Ministers comprising Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. However, the decision were awaiting a final approval from the NGBRA, which has Chief Ministers of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal - the states through which Ganga flows, as members. Environment activists have been up in arms against hydropower projects on the Bhagirathi, forcing the Centre to stop work at Lohari Nagpala, Bhairo Ghati and Pala Maneri.
|
|
Hotline between Manmohan, Wen
New Delhi, November 1 A key aide of Chinese President Hu Jintao, Zhou Yangkong’s visit comes within days of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting his Chinese counterpart in Hanoi on the margins of the ASEAN Summit. Indian officials said the visit was significant since it would provide an opportunity to the two countries a chance to have a “much freer, broader sort of exchange of views” at high level.
|
|
Chavan issue yet another shadow on AICC meet
New Delhi, November 1 The first major meeting being held after Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s fourth consecutive re-election as party chief, it was to set the tone for next month’s plenary session, which is also to bring down the curtain on the year-long celebrations of the party’s 125th anniversary. As it happens, the meeting could not have come at a worse time for the Congress. Instead of celebrating its able leadership and track record in governance, the party is weighed down with allegations of corruption surrounding the Commonwealth Games and the Adarsh Housing scam which has rendered Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan’s continuation in office as untenable. The Congress finds itself on the backfoot as its plank of probity in public life has been severely dented, while an aggressive opposition is all set to hit out at the Congress and the UPA government in the upcoming Parliament session on the issue of corruption. Consequently, Congress president and Prime Manmohan Singh’s speeches at tomorrow’s meeting are being keenly awaited as it is widely expected that the two leaders will spell out their position on the controversies plaguing the party and provide a clear direction to the 1,000-odd AICC delegates who are attending the meeting at the Talkatora Stadium. The AICC meeting has essentially been called to conduct elections to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body. However, an election is all but ruled out as the delegates are expected to adopt a resolution authorising Sonia Gandhi to nominate the working committee members. According to the party’s constitution, 12 of the 24 CWC members are to be elected. However, the party is particularly averse to the democratic process and has been taking the nomination route for the past several years.
|
|
Panaji, November 1 He said it was good governance that has paid in these civic polls. Although the elections were not fought on party basis, the results indicate that voters favoured Congress, he said. Eleven municipal councils in the state went for polls on Sunday which saw 72.62 per cent people exercising their right. The CM said as far as possible, the councillors would be asked to have stable council till the end of term. — PTI
|
|
Elephant smuggling racket busted, 5 arrested
Guwahati, November 1 Kokrajhar SP PK Dutta today informed that the gang had smuggled about 91 elephants from the state during the last five years. Those arrested included kingpin Krishna Mohan Singh, Ganesh Tiwary, Ravinder Singh, Durga Kutum and Doyaram Doley. Krishna and Genesh were arrested from a hotel in Guwahati on the basis of information provided by one Ravinder, who was arrested from Srirampur. An elephant and a calf were seized from the possession of Durga and Doyaram who were arrested from Bokakhat town in Golaghat district. Alleging that the elephants smugglers were operating in collusion with the forest officials, several local NGOS have raised a demand for CBI inquiry to unearth the big picture of elephant smuggling from the region.
|
|
Ranchi, November 1 Koda, who made a personal appearance before the court, had moved the interim bail petition to attend the monsoon session of Parliament beginning November 7. Koda has been in judicial custody ever since he was arrested on November 30 last year. - PTI
|
||
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Patna, November 1
The ongoing controversy over the allotment of flats in Mumbai’s Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society has left Kargil war widows across the country
shocked
New Delhi, November 1
