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Congress, BJP play politics over floods
Bodies decaying, govt goes for mass cremation
Rahul visits flood-hit areas
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Power plants shut in Uttarakhand
Modi offers help in reconstruction
Shinde, PC booked for ‘cheating’ on Telangana
Special trains ferry stranded pilgrims
Govt committed to ensuring no interference in CBI probes: Sibal
2 Maoists held
MiG-29 crashes; pilot safe
Setback for Salman in hit-&-run case
Manipal gang rape: Sketch of one accused released
GoM to submit report on
CBI autonomy on June 27 Stop using CBI to destroy Gujarat, Modi tells
Centre
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Congress, BJP play politics over floods
New Delhi, June
24 BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar argued that while the US President reacts to even the smallest of incidents to take his people into confidence “our PM did not even bother to speak a word about the grievous tragedy. Had he (the PM) appealed for help, he would have found thousands of hands reaching out to him”.
Meanwhile, the Congress also sent its heir apparent Rahul Gandhi to the hill state to take stock of rescue operations and apparently, to offset the “Modi
effect”. This prompted the BJP to demand what Rahul was doing in Uttarakhand, especially when Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had urged VVIPs to stay away from the disaster-hit
state. Just ahead of Modi’s visit, Shinde had suggested that Chief Ministers, except that of Uttarakhand, should not visit the flood-hit region as it hampered rescue
operations. Senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes, however, maintained that the public appearance of their top leaders was different from Modi’s “parachute, Rambo act” in Uttarakhand. The presence of Sonia and Rahul, he said, was to enthuse party workers engaged in relief operations. Rahul, he claimed, was coordinating relief work even while he was
abroad. The Congress vice-president’s presence at the flagging-off ceremony today was his first public appearance since the tragedy. He was out of the country when the floods hit - a fact that the BJP took great care to highlight. Party spokespersons said, “Rahul Gandhi is needed and he is in a foreign
country...” Seething under the attack on Modi over his reported rescue of 15,000 Gujaratis, the BJP is now questioning the veracity of the figure of 80,000 - the number of persons rescued by the government. Attacking Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna for shoddy preparedness of the state, BJP leaders say the government should create an institution to put on record the lessons learnt from the
tragedy. Congress spokespersons had slammed Modi after reports of his evacuation of 15,000 persons from his state. They said his “Rambo act” not just reflected "rank opportunism and the sheer desperation to try and politicise and even milk the tragedy for political gains” but also highlighted his favouritism for the Gujaratis. Modi aggravated his already stressed-out relationship with the Congress, which governs Uttarakhand, by offering to rebuild the holy shrine of
Kedarnath.
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Bodies decaying, govt goes for mass cremation
Gaurikund, June
24 The number of dead may be in thousands as there were bodies still buried under mud and slush. Faced with the sheer impossibility of ferrying these decaying bodies from the treacherous terrain, the local administration has decided to go ahead with the mass cremation of bodies recovered along the 18-km stretch from Gaurikund to Kedarnath. The mudslide in this worst-affected area has buried homes, shelters and dharmshalas. “It will be impossible to bring down all bodies, which are decaying. There is also fear of an epidemic,” said a member of the rescue team.
Army sources said the bodies were in a bad shape, some of them even infested with maggots.“It’s not feasible to airlift these bodies,” sources said.
Trucks carrying 71 tonnes of firewood, 50 tonnes of ghee and 2 tonnes of ‘samaghari’ have been parked at the main rescue launching pad, Gauchar. Pandits would be airlifted to the area to conduct the last rites of the dead.
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Rahul visits flood-hit areas
Gauchar,(U'khand) June 24 The visit came amid criticism from the Opposition for his absence from flood and landslide-hit Uttarakhand. Heavy rains pounded the state on June 16, triggering the
disaster. Congress sources said Rahul would monitor the relief work being done by the party during his visit. A ITBP battalion centre is located in Gauchar
town. At the AICC briefing in Delhi, party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary ducked the question on the number of days the Congress leader will stay in Uttarakhand, saying it is
immaterial. "That does not matter. He (Rahul) is there and working," Chowdhary
said. Party sources said Rahul is also expected to meet the victims during his
visit. Rahul, who along with party chief Sonia Gandhi today flagged off a convoy of trucks carrying relief material from Delhi, will be visiting the AICC control room set up in Dehradun to monitor the relief work being done by party
workers. "Rahul Gandhi is not going there as a VIP. He is going there as a citizen, as the vice-president of the Congress to oversee that the relief material reaches the right place. Rahul did not say I am a Rambo and I did this and I did that," Chowdhary said, as she tried to make a difference between Rahul's visit and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s tour of the flood-hit
areas. Opposition parties, mainly the BJP, had questioned Rahul's absence at the time of the calamity and Congress spokespersons have had to face tough questions during the party's regular press briefings on the
issue. Chowdhury said Congress worked as a team and it was not necessary that all leaders visited a place together and hampered the
work. She apparently lost cool, when asked why Rahul was found absent on the occasions when the country was fighting some big crises. —
PTI
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Power plants shut in Uttarakhand
New Delhi, June
24 Jaiprakash Power Ventures stock tanked 14 per cent today on the stock markets following the
announcement. The company said that district Chamoli where the company’s 400 MW Vishnuprayag hydro-power plant is situated has witnessed very heavy rain causing unprecedented flood of very high intensity with excessive silt, boulders and other materials in the Alaknanda river. This has resulted in disturbances to river protection works and leading to shutdown of the barrage operations and power generation from June
16. While the company is taking effective steps to restore generation, assessment of damages due to the flood conditions shall be made on restoration of commutation and connectivity to barrage
site. The NHPC Ltd said due to cloudburst and unprecedented high flood in Uttarakhand, the water has entered into the Dhauliganga Power Station (280 MW) and submerged all the systems in the early hours of June
17. The generation from the plant has been stopped and efforts are being made to restore the generation at the earliest. In addition to this the water has caused damage to various ancillary structures of the project like roads, residential and non-residential buildings.
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Modi offers help in reconstruction
Ahmedabad, June
24 Modi requested his Uttarakhand counterpart to allow Gujarat to take full responsibility of resurrecting the flood-ravaged Kedarnath and develop it into a modern temple complex.
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Shinde, PC booked for ‘cheating’ on Telangana
Hyderabad, June
24 Following the direction from a local court, a police station in suburban LB Nagar today booked cases against the two Union ministers under Section 420 of the IPC. The police took the action after a court in the neighbouring Ranga Reddy district pulled up the Station House Officer (SHO) of the police station for not following the orders passed in January 28 this
year. The court had on January 28 directed the police to file an FIR. Naresh Kumar, a member of the Telangana Junior Advocates’ Association, in his petition, alleged that both Chidambaram and Shinde made misleading statements on the Telangana issue which amounted to cheating the people of the region. He had then sought the court’s direction to refer the matter to the police for investigation and to book cases against the
ministers. The petitioner referred to the statements made by the two Cabinet ministers and particularly made a mention of Shinde’s remarks during the all-party meeting he had convened in New Delhi on December 28, 2012, to discuss the statehood issue. The home minister had then stated that the Telangana issue would be resolved within a month.
Chidambaram had also announced on December 9, 2009, that the process for the formation of a Telangana state would be initiated. He was the home minister then. However, following protests in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, Chidambaram had on Dec 23 modified the statement saying there was need for more consultations on the issue.
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Special trains ferry stranded pilgrims
New Delhi, June 24 Newly appointed Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge has been reviewing various arrangements regularly. Northern Railway and its Muradabad Division have been fully geared up to meet the rush of passengers. Special trains have been running regularly since June 20. "Two special trains ran on June 20, three on June 21 and one on June 22," it said. Pilgrims, who were stranded in the flood-affected areas, are being allowed to travel by special trains from Haridwar and Dehradun free of cost. Additional coaches have also been arranged which are being attached to the regular trains to accommodate the rush. Railway officials were camping at Rishikesh, Dehradun and Haridwar stations. Arrangement for revalidation of tickets of stranded passengers had been done. Special arrangements have been made at these stations to refund the fare of passengers. PRS (Computerised Passenger Reservation) Counters at Haridwar, Dehradun and Rishikesh have been made functional round-the-clock. Arrangements have also been made for opening of 10 extra counters, Doctors and paramedical staff have also been deployed to meet with any exigencies at these stations round-the-clock.
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Govt committed to ensuring no interference in CBI probes: Sibal
New Delhi, June 24 The Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on appropriate law being made to provide for the independence of the CBI and its functional autonomy, as directed by the Supreme Court, concluded its hearing today and would place its recommendations before the Cabinet on June
27. Emerging from the one-and-a-half-hour-long meeting in which CBI Director Ranjit Sinha was also called to present his point of view, Law Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters that once the Cabinet gives its views on changes proposed by the GoM, an affidavit would be submitted before the Supreme Court in this regard on July
6. "We have decided and that is fundamental principle of the Constitution that there should be no interference of the government or any other agency in the probe carried out by the CBI or any other agency. We are committed to that. We feel that there should be accountability along with autonomy," he
said. He said the group would move the Cabinet on June 27 for the changes that will be made "to ensure that there is no interference, whatsoever, in the processes of investigation" of the CBI either by the government or by any The move came after the Supreme Court had indicted the CBI for being a "caged parrot" of its political masters while hearing a case related to alleged irregularities in coal blocks allocation and directed it to make an effort to come out with a law to insulate the CBI from external influence and
intrusion. Chaired by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the GoM also includes External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy. Sources said Khurshid was not present in today's meeting.
— PTI
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2 Maoists held
Malkangiri (Odisha), June 24 The Maoists, identified as Ora Madhi and Kasa Kunjami, had joined the Naxal outfit over five years ago and had taken part in a number of strikes, he
said. It is suspected that the duo had taken part in the recent attack by red rebels in Chhattisgarh, police said adding that the two ultras were also involved in planting of seven landmines in Sikhapali area of Malkangiri last year. — PTI
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MiG-29 crashes; pilot safe
Jamnagar, June 24 The IAF has ordered a court of inquiry in the matter, officials said, adding that their team was reaching the spot where the crash took place. In August 2012, nine Air Force personnel, including five officers, on board two MI-17 helicopters were killed when two helicopters of the Jamnagar air base had collided mid-air shortly after take-off. — PTI
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Setback for Salman in hit-&-run case
Mumbai, June 24 Sessions Judge UB Hejib today turned down Khan’s plea challenging a magistrate’s order invoking charges of culpable homicide against him. The judge also gave Khan one month’s time to appear before the court and face trial in the case. Initially, a magistrate had charged Salman with causing death due to negligence which carries a two-year jail sentence. However the Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate's court overturned the magistrate's ruling and asked for the actor's retrial under charges of culpable homicide. Defending the actor, his counsel Ashok Mundargi told the court that the Metropolitan Magistrate's order “erroneous, bad in law and contrary to evidence on record.” Khan's lawyer said the magistrate had failed to appreciate that the actor had neither the intention to kill people, nor the knowledge that his rash and negligent driving would kill a person and cause injury to four others. The defence plea was rejected and the court has fixed the retrial to begin from July 19. The mishap happened early on September 28, 2002 when Khan drove his Land Cruiser on a group of people sleeping on the footpath outside a bakery in suburban Bandra.
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Manipal gang rape: Sketch of one accused released
Bangalore, June 24 The girl, a medical student from Kerala, was abducted by three persons from the Manipal University campus while she was returning to her room from the library and raped late Thursday night. She is in hospital and the police have not been able to interact with her due to her health condition, Udupi Superintendent of Police MB Boralingaiah told reporters. “We are interacting with the girl through doctors and medical attendants. This is the reason the probe is not moving as fast as expected,” said Boralingaiah. As many as 200 policemen are working on the case, and 17 persons have been questioned, he said. A case has been filed under Section 376 D (abduction and rape). “We are waiting for the girl to recover so that she can be questioned directly,” he said. Sketches of the other two accused would be released soon, Boralingaiah added. The three accused talked to the girl in Hindi and interacted among themselves in a language not known to the girl, the SP said.
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GoM to submit report on CBI autonomy on June 27 New Delhi, June 24 The GoM which finalised its recommendations on the methods to insulate the agency from external influence today suggested to form an accountability committee of retired judges which would oversee the probes carried out by the CBI, official sources said. They said the recommendation along with other suggestions of the GoM would be placed before the Cabinet on June 27 where a final view would be taken on the measures suggested by the GoM which was chaired by Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The GoM, constituted by the Prime Minister to consider the matter relating to an appropriate law being made to provide for the independence of CBI and its functional autonomy, has also agreed to increase the financial powers of the agency chief which was one of the demands of the agency for long time, they said. "We have decided and that is fundamental principle of the Constitution that there should be no interference of government or any other agency in the probe carried out CBI or any other agency. We are committed to that. We feel that there should be accountability along with autonomy," Law Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters after the meeting.He said the group would move the Cabinet on June 27 for the changes that will be made "to ensure that there is no interference, whatsoever, in the processes of investigation" of the CBI either by government or by any other authority. Once Cabinet clears changes proposed by the GoM, an affidavit would be submitted before the Supreme Court in this regard on July 6 which is likely to hear the matter on July 10. — PTI
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Stop using CBI to destroy Gujarat, Modi tells Centre Ahmedabad, June 24 Speaking at a function organised at the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar to mark the end of the week-long Vivekananda youth employment campaign, Modi attacked the Centre for the “blatant misuse of the CBI”, which he described as the Congress Bureau of Investigation. “But let the people in Delhi understand that Modi is not afraid of the CBI or any other politicised agency and will never stop Gujarat’s development under its threat,” he said.
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Couple arrested for suicide attempt
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As the country comes to terms with the Uttarakhand tragedy, politics on the misfortune has
begun.
The BJP today criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his silence and demanded that the tragedy be declared a national calamity.
Apart from saving over 4,000 stranded pilgrims in the flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, the biggest task at hand for government officials is to cremate the dead with full religious rites.
A MiG-29 fighter aircraft on a routine sortie today crashed near Lalparda village in Gujarat's Jamnagar district, with the pilot ejecting safely.
"A MiG-29 fighter jet today crashed at 1330 hours near Lalparda village south of Khambhalia town," IAF officials said.
The aircraft was on a routine sortie, they said. "The pilot ejected safely when the plane crashed," they added.
Bangalore, June 24
