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Sunday,
December 2, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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POTO aim to harass opponents: Sonia Ordnance factory blast: probe ordered Call off strike, Paswan urges coal workers
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Laloo to face trial on Dec
6 Laloo threatens to dislodge Marandi ‘High-handedness’ of CPM irks allies Role Model award for Chandigarh resident Strike threat by Delhi bus operators Govt to unveil science policy
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POTO aim to harass opponents: Sonia Lalitpur (Uttar Pradesh),
December 1 Raising the pitch of her party’s attack against the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government, the Congress President said that POTO had been brought by the BJP-led government to fulfil its “fundamentalist ideas.” Warning that innocents could be harassed by POTO, she said that the legislative measure had several faults. “The government says that POTO has been introduced to curb terrorism but the reality is different,” she said, while addressing a ‘Kisan Rally’ here. Reminding that both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had fallen to terrorist attacks, she said that it was shameful for the government to doubt patriotism of those who were opposing POTO. “We will oppose every communal and fascist legislation of the government,” she declared. Paying tributes to Jhansi Ki Rani and recalling the sacrifices of the people of Bundelkhand, she said that the BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh had let down the people. “The farmers were not getting remunerative prices, no industry was being set up, roads were filled with potholes, teachers were unhappy and the law and order situation was bad,” she said. The Congress President refrained from attacking either the Samajwadi Party or the BSP during her 25-minute address, saying that the BJP-led government in the state had failed to safeguard the interests of the minorities, SCs, STs and women. The BJP, she said, had suddenly started remembering Lord Rama after three years. “People who can betray God, can easily betray people,” Mrs Gandhi maintained. The rally organised by the local Congress MP, Mr Sujan Singh Bundela, was addressed by Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ms Mohsina Kidwai, Congress general secretaries, besides the UPCC chief Mr S.P. Jaiswal and the CLP leader Mr Pramod Tiwari. The presence of Mrs Sonia Gandhi at the rally, her fourth in the Uttar Pradesh, is being seen as her lending support to Mr Bundela’s claim to decide candidates for most of the 17 Assembly seats falling in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. |
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Ordnance factory blast: probe ordered New Delhi, December 1 The Minister of State for Defence Production along with the Defence Production Secretary, Mr Subir Dutta, left for Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh for an on-the-spot inquiry this morning. The two are scheduled to return tonight and would submit their report to Defence Minister George Fernandes. The blast at the factory, set up in 1970, had ripped through the gunpowder processing unit and brought down the entire building. The factory has been manufacturing small arm propellant, nitric and sulphuric acids and explosives like nitroglycerine, nitrocellulose and picrite. Meanwhile, the Centre today cautioned ordnance factories about competition from the private sector and foreign firms owing to liberalisation in armament production field and said they should evolve a time-bound plan to enhance exports to Rs 1,000 crore from the present Rs 10 crore in the next three to four years. Inaugurating the two-day Conference of General Managers of Ordnance Factories the Minister of State for Defence Production said they must expand their customer and product base to emerge as a viable global industrial organisation. The minister said the recent government decision to open up defence production to private investment and even to limited foreign investment was likely to challenge the ordnance factories “in their own turf”. The factory heads and Ordnance Factory Board Chairman S.B. Mohanty stood in a minute’s silence to mourn the deaths of three workers in yesterday’s blast in Madhya Pradesh’s Itarsi unit. |
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Call off strike, Paswan urges coal workers New Delhi, December 1 In a statement, the minister said when the coal industry was on a recovery path, when Coal India
Limited hoped to post a profit this year against a huge loss last year and when production was in full swing, the threatened strike would jeopardise the future of the public sector coal industry. The already sick three coal companies i.e. ECL, BCCL and CCL may become sick beyond redemption, he pointed out. Mr Paswan said it was unfortunate that strike notices had been served by four major trade unions of the coal industry calling for a three-day strike. Referring to the trade unions’ demands, Mr Paswan said the Group of Ministers, on receipt of the strike notice, under the chairmanship of the Finance Minister, was called in to deal with the grievances of the coal industry. The GoM met the trade union leaders on November 22 and assured them that the Bill to open up the coal sector would not be rushed through Parliament,
especially in the current session, without taking into consideration the views of the coal trade unions, Mr Paswan said. The GoM has also assured that the ability of different coal companies to pay the arrears of the Sixth Wage Board, the restructuring of the public sector coal industry by reviving the sick companies and the reorganisation of Coal India itself were inter-related issues which needed careful examination to ensure that the revival plans were sustainable in the long run. Mr Paswan had personally met the trade union leaders personally on November 25 for half-a-day and explained at length the inadvisability of a strike at this juncture. The minister assured the trade union leaders that CIL would pay 40 per cent of the Sixth Wage Board arrears by the end of December, 2001, and another 40 per cent by March. |
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Pulse polio drive launched New Delhi, December 1 The President administered polio drops to Ishika Chaudhury while the First Lady, Ms Usha Narayanan, gave the drops to Anav Bagla at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, according to an official statement. Nearly 30 lakh volunteers at 6.5 booths all over the country will be involved in this round of immunisation.
For the programme tomorrow, the Pulse Polio Day, the estimated expenditure is Rs 150 crore. The Ambassador of Japan, representatives from UNICEF and WHO, also attended today’s function.
PTI |
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Laloo to face trial on Dec 6 Ranchi, December 1 The directive was given by special CBI judge Harish Chandra Mishra on the trial court’s request to produce Mr Yadav in the court in connection with the DA case. Meanwhile, Jharkhand Home Commissioner Sushma Singh said Mr Yadav would be taken to Patna on December 6 under tight security. The former Chief Minister would be brought back to Ranchi on December 10 and produced before the special CBI court here in connection with the regular case 47(A) of the multi-crore-rupee fodder scam.
UNI |
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Laloo threatens to dislodge Marandi Ranchi, December 1 He said at least five legislators who had met his party leaders had expressed willingness to shift allegiance which could turn around the number game any time. He warned Mr Marandi to “refrain from disturbing and harassing the Rabri Devi government in Bihar.” He said eight Jharkhand ministers wanted to call on him, but could not as the Special Branch sleuths were surrounding the camp-jail. “They had not come to the forefront as part of a political strategy,” he added. Hinting at fresh polarisation of political forces in the state, Mr Yadav said the entire Opposition unitedly supported his cause.
UNI |
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‘High-handedness’ of CPM irks allies Kolkata, December 1 Leaders of these parties have alleged that the CPM leadership at Alimuddin Street had been enjoying extra-constitutional rights. They demanded the formulation of a special code of conduct for the smooth and better running of the Front as well as the government. The secretary of the FB’s state unit, Mr Ashoke Ghosh, alleged that of late, there had been unnecessary interference and pressures on the functioning of their ministers by the CPM leadership at Alimuddin Street. He said he had received complaints in this regard from his party ministers, including Mr Kamal Guha (Agriculture), Mr Kalimuddin Shams (Food) and Ms Chhaya Ghosh (Agriculture Marketing). He said these ministers had already brought it to the notice of the Chief Minister. Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharyya. Mr Ghosh said during Mr Jyoti Basu’s tenure as Chief Minister the party leadership would never dare to interfere in the day-to-day administration. |
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Role Model award for Chandigarh resident New Delhi, December 1 Fortysix individuals/organisations selected for the award for outstanding contribution towards promoting the cause of disability will be honoured by Vice-President Krishan Kant here on the World Disability Day on December 3. The awards given in 10 categories carry a citation and a medal. Some awards given to individuals for promoting the cause of disability and to the best institution also carry an award of Rs 1 lakh. Mr Ajit Pal Singh, a visually challenged resident of Chandigarh has bagged the first Role Model award for mobilising people to participate in desilting Sukhna Lake. Individuals selected for promoting the cause of disability are Mr Kailash Srivastava (Agra), Mr Subhash A. Dattarange (Mumbai), Mr Onkar Sharma (Delhi) Mr Ranbir Bakshi (Dehra Dun) and Mr P. Hanumantha Rao (Secunderabad). |
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Strike threat by Delhi bus operators New Delhi, December 1 “The government is playing a very bad political game with commuters and operators Himmat Singh, general secretary of the Bus Operators Joint Action Committee, said. Meanwhile, commuters in the Capital faced hardships, with about 3,000 diesel buses going off the roads following a notice by the Delhi Government earlier this week asking private operators to phase out diesel buses by today or face impounding. PTI |
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Govt to unveil science policy New Delhi, December 1 “Thereafter we will sit together and present the policy,” he said. Dr Joshi, however did not disclose the salient features of the policy. Appreciating Dr Kalam’s services to the nation and the country’s missile programmes, Dr Joshi said whatever progress India had achieved in the field of missile technology, was because of Dr
Kalam. |
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