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Hoshiarpur boy makes dramatic escape
Phones buzz, ring in hope
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22 Mandi youth have no money to come back
2-yr-old son waits to meet his father for first time
Efforts on to safely bring back Punjabis, says Harsimrat
Travel agents go into hiding
Now, insurgents strike Iraq’s heritage in Mosul
ISIL seizes key towns in Syria
Thousands flee, UN steps up aid
Some spot a ray of hope, others wait in despair
Putin, Obama to soon discuss Ukraine, Iraq
For him, earning bread for kin more vital than life
US advisers: what they can do
No intervention in Iraq sans UN backing: France
Breadwinners stuck, Doaba families in shock
Social media comes to rescue of Indians
5 youths from Khamano stranded too
Govt may clip Planning Commission’s powers
Campa Cola standoff
Free laptops, doles for jobless missing from UP Budget
Two new Corps Commanders in J& K
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Hoshiarpur boy makes dramatic escape
Amritsar, June 20 The youth made a call through the internet from Iraq to The Tribune’s Amritsar office and identified himself as Vikky, son of Satpal, a resident of Hoshiarpur district. Vikky stated that he has somehow reached an army camp at Kirkura, around 40 km from volatile Mosul. “I neither have my passport nor any other document to prove my identity. The conditions in Mosul are dreadful.” The youth appeared to be panic-stricken and was in a hurry to convey his message as he said he had accessed the Internet with great difficulty. Vikky claimed that apart from 40 Punjabi youths, the terrorists have also taken 45 nurses hostage. He, however, didn’t clarify whether they were Indian nurses. He also revealed that the ISIS terrorists have tied hands and legs of all hostages and are not even providing them water to drink. Vikky disclosed that he managed to give terrorists the slip on Friday morning when they went to offer prayers in a mosque. “My hands were tied a bit loose and I tried to free myself. Luckily, I succeeded and escaped from the place where they had kept the hostages.” He said the army camp, where he is staying put, has seven youths from Pakistan. He appealed to the Indian Government to make efforts to rescue him. “My passport is not with me so I can’t even make an attempt to move to some neighbouring country to save my life,” said the dejected boy. The Tribune also provided him the telephone numbers of the control room set up by the Punjab Government, but he could not contact them. The families of Punjabi youths stuck in Iraq met Union External Affairs Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi. “The government has assured us all help, but until they come back, we will remain anxious,” they said SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar has appealed the Union Government to make all efforts to ensure the safe return of Punjabi youth in Iraq.
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Phones buzz, ring in hope
Hoshiarpur, June 20 This turning point came on Friday night at 8:30 pm when Hoshiarpur resident Parminder was able to make call on the mobile number of his brother-in-law Kulwinder, who is among the 40 Indians abducted. However, no one answered the phone. "We tried to send SMSs and they were delivered," said Parminder, whose brother Kamaljit is also among those kidnapped. "I was working in the same company at Mosul from where my brother and 40 Indians have been abducted. So I have mobile numbers of many Punjabis working there. I tried calling one of my co-workers Mannu, a resident of Fatehgarh Choodian. Though the phone was ringing, no one picked it up," said Parminder. A call to another mobile number also met the same fate. "I have dropped an SMS telling them that we are very worried and they should let us know about their well-being. We are waiting for their reply," he said.
Terrorists changing location frequently
The 40 Punjabis abducted in Iraq are safe but the terrorists who have held them hostage are frequently changing their location. An official of the Ministry of External Affairs shared this information with Hoshiarpur resident Parminder, whose brother Kamaljit has been abducted in Iraq. "We have been receiving frequent calls from Delhi and Indian Embassy in Iraq. An official from Delhi told me that the location of the abducted men has been traced but the kidnappers were regularly changing the location. I was told that they are safe but are at such a place that could not be contacted yet," Parminder told The Tribune. The family of Kamaljit Singh was not too satisfied with their meeting with Union Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. "We wanted some concrete assurance, but the government just gave us a vague promise," the family said.
An official from Delhi told me that the location of the abducted men has been traced but the kidnappers were regularly changing the
location.
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22 Mandi youth have no money to come back
Mandi, June 20 Kasim Ali said, "My son Mohammad Salamat has informed me on my mobile phone that he and 21 other youths from the village working with a construction company in Basra are keen to return. But their company officials are not paying them money. Salamat has asked us to arrange money." Safina, a resident of the village is also worried about her husband Liyaqat working in Baghdad and is in regular contact with her husband. Mandi MP Ram Swaroop Sharma visited Dinak village and promised the parents and relatives of the youths working in Iraq that they would return safely. "I have taken up this matter with the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. I have been conveyed by her office that Indian government is keeping constant watch on the situation in Iraq and making arrangement to bring back all Indians working there." "I have conveyed to the parents that in a day or two the youths would be brought back home through a special airplane," he added. In Shimla, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Thursday said though there was no information about the exact number of youth from Himachal caught in Iraq, he had urged the Ministry of External Affairs Ministry to ensure their safety. Virbhadra said he had learnt from media reports that there were eight youths who were being held hostage. "I have directed all the Deputy Commissioners to collect information so that we have the exact details," he said. Reports emanating from Kangra and Mandi, however, indicate that the total number of youth, working in construction companies in Iraq could be well over two dozen.
MP promises all help
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2-yr-old son waits to meet his father for first time
Ludhiana, June 20 Not only Perminder’s parents, his son Jaskaran (2) was also eagerly waiting to meet his father for the first time. Perminder has not met his son Jaskaran (2) as he left for Iraq when his wife, Anju, was seven months pregnant. Anju was inco solable ever since shecame to know about her husband’s kidnapping. From the past three days, there has been no contact with Perminder. Recalling his last conversation with his son, Jeet Ram said, “I received a call from my son on June 15 at 9 am. He told me that he and other workers had been kidnapped. He promised to call me again, but when I didn’t receive his call till the evening, I called him. But someone else (perhaps the kidnappers) attended the call and spoke in Arabic, which I could not understand.” Krishna Devi, Perminder’s mother, said Perminder was the sole breadwinner for the family, while her younger son was unemployed. The parents said they had brought the matter to the notice of authorities, but nothing had been done so far. “He had promised to visit the family in October. I am praying for his safe return,” said Jeet Ram. He said Perminder had earlier spent three years in Dubai. After spending a year in Punjab, he went to Iraq for work and had been at Mosul for the past two years and 10 months.
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Efforts on to safely bring back Punjabis, says Harsimrat
Jagraon, June 20 She stated this while speaking to mediapersons after paying obeisance at Gurdwara Nanaksar Sahib, 5 km from Jagraon. She also prayed to the Almighty for the safety of Punjabis who are stranded in Iraq and for their safe return to their home country. “The Indian government has been using all its diplomatic contacts and other sources in Iraq for ensuring safe return of Indian nationals stranded in Iraq. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Sawraj have been in touch with Iraqi authorities to bring the Punjabis back from Iraq,” said the Union Minister. “Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh has met Foreign Minister Sushma Sawraj and asked her to step up the efforts to make secure return of Punjabis. The state government has been in touch with the central government to get updates about the Punjabis stranded in Iraq,” said the Bathinda MP.
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Travel agents go into hiding
Jalandhar, June 20 Many families are finding it hard to locate agents who sent their children to Iraq. There are only 121 International Air Transport Association (IATA) approved agents in Punjab. But according to a rough estimate, the number of agents, including some unscrupulous travel agents, in the state has almost swollen to 1,100 in the last few years. Harjeet Kaur, wife of Gurcharan Singh from Majitha village, Amritsar, said the experience of sending her husband to Iraq was nothing less than a nightmare. "One of his friends returned to the village after spending three years in Iraq. He lured the village youths, including my husband, to move to Iraq to earn quick money. As our financial situation was crumbling badly, my husband too went to the travel agent advised by his friend who promised to send him to Iraq," said Harjeet. She said the agent took Rs1.5 lakh from them and kept them pushing around for at least three years. "We took most of the money on loan. Later, he even refused to acknowledge the receipt of money. It was only after the intervention of local police, they finally sent him to Iraq," said Harjeet. Similar experience was narrated by Gurnam Singh from Hoshairpur who recently returned from Qatar. His son Akwiner Singh is expected to be one of the 40 abducted youths from Punjab. "The agent took Rs 50,000 from my son and kept him lingering around for two years. In between, he kept on charging money on the name of various expenditures. But after two years, he refused to get the tickets and threatened us of dire consequences if we approach the police," said Gurnam Singh, Later, the agent hurriedly sent Akwinder to work in some company in Iraq, he said.
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Now, insurgents strike Iraq’s heritage in Mosul
MOSUL, Iraq, June 20 Witnesses said militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had destroyed a statue of Othman al-Mousuli, a 19th Century Iraqi musician and composer, and the statue of Abu Tammam, an Abbasid-era Arab poet. The tomb of Ibn al-Athir, an Arab philosopher who travelled with the army of warrior sultan Salahuddin in the 12th century was desecrated after ISIL took the city. Witnesses said the domed shrine had been razed and a park around it dug up. ISIL and other militants, whose strict Salafi interpretation of Islam deems the veneration of tombs to be idolatrous, have destroyed several tombs and mosques inside Syria and now in neighbouring Iraq where they have seized towns and cities. Militants also stole around 250 horses from the governor of Mosul's house and took control of cereal silos, the witnesses said. They said some of the horses that were too sick to be moved were killed. State television, run by the Iraqi government which is fighting ISIL, said the militants had imposed a tax on Christians living in the city. Reuters could not independently confirm the report. Most of Mosul's Christians have fled the city. — Reuters
Top cleric calls for new government
Baghdad: The spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiite majority has called for the creation of a new, "effective" government, increasing pressure on the country's premier as an offensive by Sunni militants rages on. n The call today by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani contained thinly veiled criticism that Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in office since 2006, was to blame for the nation's crisis over the blitz by the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. n Al-Sistani's message was delivered by his representative Ahmed al-Safi in the holy city of Karbala. He said the future government "should open new horizons toward a better future for all Iraqis."
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ISIL seizes key towns in Syria
Beirut, June 20 The Islamists, whose stated aim is to create a strict Islamic state straddling national borders, took over the towns of Muhassan, Albulil and Albuomar, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. ISIL, which opposes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has also been fighting rival rebel groups in Deir al-Zor, an oil-producing eastern province of Syria devastated by the three-year-old civil war. The newly captured towns are in an area running along the Euphrates River that links Syria and Iraq and are significant because they are close to Deir al-Zor's military airport and the Syrian city of al-Mayadin, the Observatory's Rami Abdurrahman said. "If you control al-Mayadin, this means there are no more important cities except Abu Kamal out of (ISIL) control," in the province, he said, referring to another town close to the Syria-Iraq border. "They are pushing forward." Muhassan, which is just over 100 km (60 miles) from the border with Iraq, is an important position for any attempt to capture the airport, he added. The Observatory, which opposes Assad, tracks the Syrian civil war through a network of activists in the country. Deir al-Zor has seen more than two years of fighting between opposition fighters and the Assad government forces and some civilians fled to Iraq to escape it. A second wave of internecine war among anti-Assad factions has erupted in parts of Syria they control. ISIL, a rebranding of al Qaeda in Iraq which fought American forces during the U.S. occupation, has been disowned by the al Qaeda leadership. It took neighbourhoods of Deir al-Zor city last month from the Nusra Front, Syria's official al Qaeda affiliate. ISIL has a core of foreign fighters and has imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law on the territories it controls. A car bomb in Syria's western Hama province on Friday killed 34 and wounded more than 50, Syria's state news agency SANA said, blaming the attack on rebels. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack on a government-controlled village. - Reuters
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Thousands flee, UN steps up aid GENEVA, June 20 Many families are living in the open, in urgent need of food, water, shelter and latrines, said Jacqueline Badcock, the United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq. "Humanitarian agencies are rapidly scaling up in the face of this unfortunate challenge," she said in a statement appealing for access to thousands of displaced in areas held by armed factions including the radical ISIL. Insecurity and depleted fuel stocks are hampering efforts to deliver supplies, amid fears of outbreaks of measles and diarrhoeal diseases, U.N. aid agencies said. Around 500,000 people who fled the northern city of Mosul after ISIL overran it 10 days ago have found refuge in a nearby Kurdish autonomous zone and adjoining areas in Nineveh province now largely under jihadi Islamist control. Roughly the same number have been uprooted by fighting in Iraq's vast western province of Anbar where Sunni Muslim jihadi militants largely hold the main towns of Falluja and Ramadi. "Right now it's a chaotic situation, you've had very large numbers of people who have moved across. They are trying to find accommodation, trying to exist on the funds they have and we are trying to get help to them," Adrian Edwards of the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR told a news briefing in Geneva. "Clearly new displacement in this region which is under immense strain is the last thing that we need at the moment." More than 2.8 million Syrian refugees have already flooded into neighbouring countries from their country's three-year-old uprising and civil war, including nearly 225,000 into Iraq, according to the UNHCR. Iraqi forces were massing north of Baghdad, aiming to strike back at ISIL, whose lightning offensive towards the capital has prompted the US to send in military advisers to stiffen government resistance. — Reuters UN chief warns against airstrikes on militants
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Some spot a ray of hope, others wait in despair
Kaithal, June 20 Though some have received phone calls from their kin in Iraq about when they are returning, others who have not been able to get in touch with their dear ones are still praying for their safe return. Baljinder Singh of Bhoona village in Kaithal district is stuck in Baghdad. He had gone to Iraq in December 2013 to help his family financially. His elder brother Baljit Singh said: "A relative of one of the villagers is in another city of Iraq, which is around 700 km from Baghdad where my younger brother is stuck. We spoke with their relatives today morning and were told that Baghdad is tense as terrorists are not allowing any movement." Though the SDM visited his house today evening, he did not give any latest information about the situation in Iraq. The sole source of information for the family is the electronic media and the family has been watching various news channels to get the latest information. "He used to call us almost every day through internet. The fact that he has not called us for the past six days indicates that he is in serious trouble," said Manjit Kaur, Baljinder's mother. Another family from Kakiour Majra in Kaithal district is lucky to have received a call from its missing family member Mastan Singh today around 2.30 pm. Though Mastan spoke only for 10-15 seconds, hearing his voice was enough for the family as he confirmed that he had got his return tickets and would reach India within two to three days. "We are relaxed a bit as my uncle called up to tell us that he had received his passport and ticket to come back in two or three days. Yesterday, he was tensed as bombs were exploding near his company and the company's management was unwilling to give the employees their passports," said Mastan's nephew Gurwinder. Mastan Singh had gone to Iraq only two months ago and had not received even a single penny till now from the company he worked for.
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Putin, Obama to soon discuss Ukraine, Iraq
Moscow, June 20 Speaking to reporters, Putin's top foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov, did not provide further details about the upcoming phone call. Separately, Putin will discuss the situation in Iraq with the conflict-torn country's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Ushakov said, noting that the situation there "causes serious concern." Relations between Russia and the US have sunk to their lowest since the Cold War over the crisis in ex-Soviet Ukraine with Washington accusing the Kremlin of backing a separatist rebellion. The two have also been at loggerheads over the war in Syria where Moscow has helped prop up the regime of strongman Bashar al-Assad. — AFP
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For him, earning bread for kin more vital than life
Hoshiarpur, June 19 The reason he wants to go back to the trouble-torn country is money. He has been working at a copper factory in a suburb near Chamchama city of Iraq for the past one-and-a-half year now and his leave will end in the second week of July. Tales of militancy have failed to change his decision of going back and earning bread for his family, which, he says, is more important than his life. Sodhi said: "The area where I work has not been disturbed, but the nearby city Chamchama has been hit. When I was in Iraq, we were usually asked to go to Chamchama to bring material for the factory and return as early as possible even in the broad daylight because no one knew when firing starts." About working conditions there, he said: "We work for extended hours, but that's fine as we are paid for it." He said the factory has no medical facility for its workers except a doctor who gave similar pills for all ailments. "We have been told that if we die, they will not send our bodies back home, but put it in a furnace," he said. “Once an Iraqi was burnt by furnace oil as the tank he was working on had collapsed. His body was sent to his home but no compensation was given to his family," he said. Sodhi's sister-in-law Manjit Kaur doesn't want him to return to Iraq. Her husband is dead and her kids are young. She feared: "I have no male member in the family to support us. If anything happens to Sodhi, whom will I rely upon?" Sodhi said: "If I also start thinking like them, how will my family survive? I have to pay back people who lent money to me when I wanted to go to Iraq." Another gloomy tale Bhupinder Singh and Beero of Chitton village were happy to receive their son Manjit's call from Iraq, but their joy did not last long as the call got disconnected not to hear from him again. Manjit told his parents that he was fine but could not return to India as his company was not letting him go.
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US advisers: what they can do
Intelligence
Reconnaissance US has already stepped up its monitoring. By Thursday, reports said, it had 34 piloted and unmanned flights. The piloted flights included F-18s from an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf as well as P-3 surveillance planes
Who are the advisers? High-ranking officers from Navy SEALs and Army Rangers. Are the most elite fighters
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New Delhi, June 20 The Indian Government said it was "knocking at all doors" to rescue its citizens. As concerns mounted for the kidnapped Indians and 46 nurses trapped in Tikrit, the government said it was making all out efforts and was in touch with a number of countries in the region besides Iraqi authorities to resolve the crisis. PM Narendra Modi reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said the meeting reviewed the "entire dimensions" of the situation taking into consideration all facts and information available to the government. "We are knocking at all doors, front, back, trapped," Akbaruddin said when asked whether negotiations had been initiated with the militants who kidnapped the Indians. Asked whether government was considering flying them as well as those stranded in the conflict zone, he said, "When lives of our nationals are involved, no option is off the table". He said all those in captivity were "safe". The 40 Indian construction workers were kidnapped from Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, that was seized by militants. The government is in touch with the 46 nurses stranded in Tikrit town, which was also taken over by Sunni militants. “There is electricity in the hospital and arrangements for food have been made. Nobody intruded the hospital and they felt that the situation there was quiet as there was no gunfire,” he said. — PTI ISIS men strike heritage in Mosul MOSUL: Militant Sunni Islamists have destroyed symbols of Iraq's heritage in the city of Mosul, including statues of cultural icons and the tomb of a medieval philosopher. Witnesses said militants from the ISIL had destroyed a statue of Othman al-Mousuli, a 19th Century Iraqi musician and composer, and the statue of Abu Tammam, an Abbasid-era Arab poet. The tomb of Arab philosopher Ibn al-Athir was desecrated. — Reuters Insurgents seize chemical weapons unit Baghdad/Washington: Sunni radicals in Iraq, who have overrun a swathe of territory north of Baghdad in a lightning offensive, have taken control of one of Saddam Hussein's former chemical weapons factories, a US official has said. "We are aware that the ISIL has occupied the Al Muthanna complex," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. But she said she didn't think the ISIL militants would be able to produce usable chemical weapons there, because any materials remaining are old and unwieldy. — Agencies
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No intervention in Iraq sans UN backing: France
Paris, June 20 Asked by the news channel BFMTV about a possible French military intervention in the strife-torn oil-rich nation, the country's top diplomat said: "We have a principle: we could intervene if there was a request from the Iraqi government and with UN authorisation." "Western intervention can be effective if it is backed up by a unity government. With or without Maliki," Fabius stressed. Fabius also warned that "the situation in Iraq is extremely serious," as "it is the first time that terrorist group threatens to take control of a state", Xinhua reported. US President Barack Obama has announced he was sending up to 300 US military advisers to the Arab country. — IANS
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Breadwinners stuck, Doaba families in shock
Jalandhar, June 20 Facing tough time, the families claim they are running the household on borrowed money and if the volatile situation continues in Iraq, they will find it difficult to feed their children. Says Manjit Kaur of Rurka Kalan village in Jalandhar: “Six days ago, I got a call from my husband Davinder Singh, who told me that has been kidnapped.” Davinder had gone to Iraq three years ago as a construction worker. Davinder told his wife: “After first attack in Mosul, 60 persons from Punjab and 10 from Himachal Pradesh were abducted. We are bundled in one room. Initially, we got food once in a day, but no food has been served since then. We can hear sounds of bomb blasts and continuous firing.” “My husband is the sole breadwinner of our family. I’ve borrowed money to feed my three children. But how long this can continue? The government should expedite the process to save Indians stuck in Iraq,” said Manjit. Amarjit Kaur, a resident of Manar village in Kapurthala, is also worried about the fate of her husband, Govinder Singh. “On June 15, I spoke to my husband and he told me said that he’s safe. But since then his phone is coming switched off. I’m really worried. We depend on him for everything,” she said. Family of Joginder Singh of Pamna village, who is also missing, is going through a tough phase. Joginder, father of two children, apprised the family about the tension prevailing in Iraq four days go. “He told us that his company was planning to send him back, but we have had no communication with him after that. We hope he is safe,” said a member of his family.
Lehragaga man stuck too
Hardeep Singh from Lehragagais also among 350 Indians stuck in a factory in Basra in Iraq. “Factory owners were not allowing them to leave the country,’ claimed Hardeep’s brother Kuldeep Singh. The owners have seized their passports and have not paid them salaries for the last two months, he said. He urged the Centre for speedy steps to ensure their release. — TNS
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Social media comes to rescue of Indians
Jalandhar, June 20 Some of them are also regularly in touch with their families over the phone with the pre-paid calling cards which they are managing to get from the market with the help of some Iraqi nationals in their area as they are not allowed to leave the premises of their company. The Iraqi Government has withdrawn internet services from most parts since Thursday. “Till yesterday, the internet was working and we were regularly sending photographs and emails to our families. But after the government has now shut internet services in the area, we are left with no option but to call them with the pre-paid calling cards that we are managing to buy with the help of local Iraqi nationals living nearby. Presently, we are in touch with our families but may not be able to do that for longer as it is a very expensive affair as the company has held our salaries for the last two months and we do not have enough money to buy the cards,” revealed Sandeep Lal over the phone from Najaf, which is around 450 km from the conflict zone, Mosul. Jasvir Singh Gill, President NRI Sabha, Punjab has also confirmed to have received two messages on whatsapp from Baljinder Singh and Jatinder Singh hailing from Amritsar and stranded in Mosul. “They have informed me that they are left stranded in Mosul as the banks in the area are closed for indefinite period and also most of the airlines have also closed their ticket counters,” said Gill.
Active on Whatsapp, FB messenger
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5 youths from Khamano stranded too
Khamano/ Machiwara, June 20
Two are from Maheshpura village and others, including two real brothers, from Sidhupur Kalan village. Gurmeet Kaur, mother of Jasvir Singh of Maheshpura village, said they were in touchwith his son. — TNS
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Govt may clip Planning Commission’s powers
New Delhi, June 20 Sources indicate that Modi wants to curtail the financial and approving powers of the plan panel in such a way that it becomes a ‘facilitator rather than a hurdle in India’s growth story’. In other words, the states and the Centre may not have to go to the Planning Commission to get their projects approved. The panel’s services may just be used for technical detailing. This also means more power to the Finance Ministry, which may become the ultimate stop for financial approvals and decisions. The government is also planning to do away the ‘outdated’ concept of the Five-Year Plan, on which the Indian economy has been premised since Independence. As per the new concept, the planning will be done on a ‘year-on-year’ basis to remain updated with the changing situations. Though BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain did not confirm the development, he said: “The institution, which believes that a person with a daily expenditure of Rs 26 or Rs 32 should not be considered poor, should not continue in the national interest.” “The commissions should not become places to accommodate people,” he added. During the UPA-II regime, the commission pegged the BPL cap at an expenditure of Rs 32 and Rs 26 by an individual in the urban and rural areas, respectively. Sources say Modi is not too keen to continue with the outdated commission and its five-year pear plans. The delay in the appointment of the vice-chairman of the Planning Commission even after a month of the government formation is being seen as an indicator that the commission is in for an overhaul.
Panel ‘flabby, unwieldy’
The Planning Commission needs to be a much more limited body tasked with drawing of prospective plans. At the moment it is too big, flabby and unwieldy. That is my personal view which I have voiced when in
Government
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Residents force BMC squad to return
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, June 20 The BMC’s demolition squad, which was asked to snap water and power supply to illegal flats, had to return empty-handed this afternoon after residents formed a human chain around the gates of the society. Civic officials accompanied by police personnel urged, pleaded and threatened the residents with contempt of court if they did not let in the squad to do the job. Despite the authorities warning, the residents refused to budge. The BMC officials returned at noon only to return a couple of hours later with more reinforcements. However, the efforts did not yield any results.
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Free laptops, doles for jobless missing from UP Budget
Lucknow, June 20 Speaking to mediapersons after the presenting the Budget here today, CM Yadav admitted that priorities of his government had changed. Responding to questions on these schemes, which were claimed as being the cornerstone of the SP’s ‘socialist’ ideology, Yadav said instead of them, the Budget had a provision for the Samajwadi pension scheme, which would benefit 40 lakh families. A whopping Rs 2,424 crore has been set aside for the ambitious pension scheme under which one beneficiary of a marginalised family would get Rs 500 per month which would gradually be increased to Rs 750 per month.
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Two new Corps Commanders in J& K
New Delhi, June 20 Also a formal announcement has been made to appoint Lt General DS Hooda as the Northern Army Commander. Though Lt General Hooda is already functioning as the Northern Army Commander-designate after Lt Gen Sanjeev Chachra retired on May 31, his formal orders say he will be deemed to have assumed charge on July 1. Lt General Hooda earlier commanded the Nagrota-based 16 Crops — also in J&K. He was replaced by Lt General KH Singh in April. Lt General Subrata Saha, who was till now posted in the office of Director General Military Operations (DGMO), will replace Lt General Gurmit Singh at
Srinagar-based 15 Crops on June 23. At Leh, Lt General BS Negi will take over from Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma. — TNS
Fresh postings
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President Obama on Thursday said the US would send up to 300 military advisers to strife-torn Iraq. Here's what the US military presence and the advisers' role look like: