tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Friday, July 16, 1999
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72 feared drowned
BARH (Bihar), July 15 (UNI) — At least 72 persons were feared drowned when a country-made mechanised boat capsized in the Ganga at Snanighat in Patna district, an official camping at the site told UNI. Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Chand Kishore Singh said the overloaded boat was ferrying 96 people. While 24 passengers swam ashore, rescue operators have recovered three bodies so far. There was confusion about the death toll with state Director General of Police K.A. Jacob telling UNI in Patna that 28 people were feared drowned. Mr Jacob maintained that the boat was carrying 66 people, 38 of whom swam ashore. Mr Singh said the bodies of Chandra Singh Chandrashekhar Rai and Nageshwar Singh of the nearby villages were recovered so far. Most of the passengers of the boat were labourers. He said the authorities have deployed motor boats, large nets and divers in nearby areas to recover bodies. The fast current and overloading are stated to be the cause of the mishap. Irate villagers blocked the Mokamah-Patna road this morning in protest. They alleged that the authorities’ failure to check overloading of boats had led to the accident.

Maharashtra House dissolved
MUMBAI, July 15 (UNI) — The Maharashtra Governor, Mr P.C. Alexander, tonight dissolved the house on the recommendation of the state Cabinet to facilitate Assembly poll along with Lok Sabha elections in September. The Cabinet had recommended simultaneous poll following the unanimous decision taken earlier in the day at the coordination committee meeting of the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. A Raj Bhavan communique stated that the Governor has dissolved the state Assembly exercising powers conferred on him under Article 174 (II) (B) of the Constitution.

S.D. Sharma stable
NEW DELHI, July 15 (UNI) — The condition of former President Shankar Dayal Sharma, who suffered a severe heart attack on Saturday, is steadily improving and he is "cheerful’’, family sources said today. Dr Sharma, undergoing treatment at the Escorts Heart Research Institute here, however is still described as being in a "critical condition’’.

15 killed in fighting
COLOMBO, July 15 (Reuters) — Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry said today 12 Tamil tiger rebels and three government soldiers were killed in fresh clashes in the north and east of the country. It said in a statement the soldiers were killed when troops engaged a rebel bunker with rockets and machine guns at Kalyanapura village in northeastern Welioya region yesterday.

SC notice to CBI
NEW DELHI, July 15 (UNI) — The Supreme Court today issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a petition filed by former Railway Minister C K Jaffer Sharief seeking discharge from a disproportionate assets case instituted against him in Bangalore. A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice G T Nanavati and Mr Justice S N Phukan, while issuing the notice, asked the investigating agency to file its reply within four weeks.

Jharkhand bandh
RANCHI, July 15 (UNI) — The dawn-to-dusk Jharkhand bandh call, given by the regional parties in protest against the alleged murder of trade union leader Ratilal Mahato, evoked a mixed response in this tribal belt of Bihar. The bandh sponsored by the All Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (AJMM) in protest against the killing of its labour cell in-charge, has the support of a number of political parties, including the Congress, the Jharkhand Peoples Party, the Janata Dal and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Soren).

Trans-border surgery
CHENNAI, July 15 (PTI) — There may have a war on between India and Pakistan but the case of a six-year-old girl from Karachi in Pakistan shows that humanism neither knows frontiers nor consider battle-lines. Suffering from a serious heart ailment, Sadia Saif has got a new lease of life, thanks to an unknown Indian who donated his valve for the child. Sadia Saif, a who underwent a surgery at the Madras Medical Mission recently, is now fine and will be able to lead a normal life.

Swamy snaps ties
CHENNAI, July 15 (UNI) — The three-year-long political honeymoon between Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy and AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha came to a sudden end this evening, with the former snapping his party's ties with the AIADMK in the face of rejection of his claim for renomination from the Madurai Lok Sabha constituency.

Parties' merger
NEW DELHI, July 15 (PTI) — In what could turn out to be a significant pre-poll realignment of political forces at the national level, the Samata Party, the Lok Shakti and the Janata Dal are planning to merge under the Dal banner and form part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP, Dal sources said today.