MoD transfers ‘inconvenient’ officer
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Dec 16 — There is anger and resentment among officers of the Directorate-General of Defence Estates (DGDE) following the transfer of a fellow women officer for carrying out her work sincerely.

The officer in question, Cantonment Executive Officer Bhavna Singh was transferred from Bareilly UP to Jammu, apparently on specific orders of Defence Minister George Fernandes.

Bhavna Singh after taking up her posting identified a large number of encroachments on defence land in Bareilly. There were a number of shacks which had been built on defence land.

Reports said when the encroachers were not ready to move out even after repeated notices, Ms Bhavna Singh started carrying out demolitions. This was not to the liking of local politicians who took up the matter with the Defence Minister.

The Defence Minister initially gave oral orders for stopping the demolitions. But when Ms Bhavna Singh refused to be cowed, written orders for her immediate transfer to Jammu were passed by the MoD.

Kalyan’s remarks perverse : Advani
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Dec 16 — The Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, today reacted strongly to former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and expelled BJP leader Kalyan Singh’s tirade against the Prime Minister and the party saying, “his utterances reveal a person who has totally lost his sense of balance”.

Mr Advani said in a statement here that initially he was disinclined to react to Mr Kalyan Singh’s statement “but, I cannot ignore what he has said in Delhi yesterday”.

PTI adds: Expelled BJP leader Kalyan Singh on Thursday stuck to his controversial statement that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was hatching a conspiracy to politically finish Mr Advani but declined to comment on the denial by the Home Minister on his (Kalyan’s) remarks.

Pay by Dec 24

NEW DELHI, Dec 16 (PTI) — The government has ordered payment of salaries and pensions to its employees before December 24 to reduce load on banks that would be busy tackling the Y2K problem in the last week of this year. It has also directed banks to provide hard copies of accounts statements to people if demanded, Mr P.V. Jayakrishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Information Technology, said today.