Friday, November 12, 1999
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India’s no to
immediate talks PM flags off relief trucks |
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 Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal flag off a fleet of trucks carrying relief material donated by Punjab to the cyclone-hit Orissa. — Photo by Vijendra Tyagi
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6 Union Ministers in
Inter-State Council Former cop, 4 gangsters arrested Bodies of kidnapped students found
HP offers sops for power projects ‘Delete’ Rajiv’s
name from charge sheet Petrol station looted |
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India’s no to immediate talks ON BOARD THE SPECIAL AIRCRAFT, Nov 11 (UNI) — The President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, has ruled out talks with Pakistan till the policies of its military regime became clear. "So far it is not clear what would be Pakistan’s policies and that is why we are a little cautious in opening a dialogue,’’ he told newspersons on board the special aircraft on his return from a three-day tour of Austria last night. Starting a dialogue, he said, would depend on what system would emerge in Pakistan. "We are seriously interested in opening a dialogue with Pakistan. But now there is a new military regime in that country.’’ Pakistan, he said, was encouraging terrorism in Kashmir and it must stop before we have trust in resuming the process. Mr Narayanan said he told his Austrian counterpart, Mr Thomas Klesteil and the Chancellor, Mr Victor Klima, about the danger of the Taliban in Afghanistan, which was a creation of Pakistan, spreading to Europe. "They (Mr Klesteil and Mr Klima) saw this point and wanted to know whether India would start a dialogue with Pakistan. I told them that we are always willing to start a dialogue with Pakistan provided they stop encouraging and aiding terrorists,’’ Mr Narayanan said. The Austrian President and the Chancellor had a better understanding of Asia than many others in Europe, he added. The President said Austria would not adopt a "strident’’ position on India’s nuclear policy. "I have explained to them the circumstances under which we had to go nuclear and they now understand.’’ "I was refreshingly surprised that they understood our rationale behind our nuclear policy. But they are obsessed with the idea that we should sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty,’’ he said. Mr Narayanan said he also explained to the Austrian leaders India’s difficulties in signing the CTBT. Asked if the attacks on Christians in India came up during the discussions, he said the Austrian leaders were satisfied that they were only stray incidents. They knew even Pope John Paul II during his visit to India had expressed satisfaction about religious tolerance in the country. During Mr Narayanan’s three-day visit two agreements on bilateral promotion and protection of investments and double taxation were signed. The agreements were signed by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan and Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Deputy Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Narayanan, who was
accompanied by his wife Usha Narayanan, also visited the
historic city of Salzburg during his stay in Austria. |
PM flags off relief trucks NEW DELHI, Nov 11 — Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, today jointly flagged off 300 trucks loaded with relief material for cyclone-hit Orissa from near seven Race Course Road. While flagging off the trucks, the Prime Minister appreciated humanitarian gesture of the people of Punjab for the victims of the natural calamity in Orissa. The Prime Minister praised the role of the Punjab Chief Minister for motivating people and the state administration for collecting cash and other relief material at the state capital and the district headquarters. The initiative taken by the Punjab Chief Ministers would inspire the Chief Minister of other states for taking similar steps, he said. The relief material included 20,000 bags of rice, five truck loads of chura (beaten paddy), gur, potatoes, sugar, milk powder, utensils for cooking purposes, clothes, tarpaulins and other articles of daily use. Speaking on the occasion, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said the state would make further efforts to mobilise resources in cash and kind to mitigate sufferings of the people of Orissa. Today’s consignment would follow by another full trainload relief material to the cyclone-hit areas. The Chief Minister said a special team led by a minister of Punjab and senior officials would be sent to supervise the distribution of the relief material in Orissa. On his request Baba Mann Singh ‘Pehowa’ had left for Orissa with his 500 followers to organise langar (free community kitchen) in the cyclone-affected areas for two months, he said. He said on his appeal the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee had also planned to send service jathas along with community kitchen infrastructure for serving food to the needy people. Besides the Chief
Minister, six other state ministers, including Mr Madan
Mohan Mittal, Mrs Upinderjit Kaur, Master Mohan Lal and
senior officials, were present at the ceremony. |
Dark days ahead for cyclone-ravaged people BHUBANESWAR, Nov 11 (UNI) — Dark days are ahead for the cyclone-ravaged people of coastal Orissa. Lakhs of people, rendered homeless by the killer super cyclone that ripped the entire coast on October 29, will have to remain in darkness for several months. If the statement of US-based AES Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Bakke is any indication, resto-ration of electricity in the affected areas may take even a year. The Central Electricity Supply Corporation (CESCO), a subsidiary of the AES Corporation, which supplies power to the area, estimates the loss at $ 60 million. Mr Dennis said the corporation could only provide $ 1 million for the restoration of power supply, while the remaining amount would have to be arranged by the central government, the state government and the World Bank. Mr Dennis said 90 per cent of the infrastructure had been completely damaged in the super cyclone. At present, an assessment was on to estimate the losses, but a preliminary report said the total damages would be around $ 60 million. He said the AES would approach the World Bank to provide soft loan and also ask the Centre to come forward with assistance and grants so that the restoration work could be taken up on a war-footing. CESCO sources said they were already engaged in restoring power supply to the towns. "We could not supply adequate power even to the towns due to several constraints", sources added. Mr Dennis, who visited the cyclone-battered areas, said thousands of electricity poles and pylons had been uprooted. The CESCO sources said about 1100 workers were working for the restoration of the power supply to the state Capital, while another 650 workers were working in the silver city of Cuttack. These two cities were still facing a severe power crisis. ERADANGA: As patches of black cloud appear in the eastern sky, Janaki Das shudders with fear. The super cyclone that ravaged coastal Orissa claimed his wife, and most of his worldly possessions. His two room mud house was reduced to a heap of rubble and he fears a fresh shower would destroy whatever is left. Janaki’s fear is shared by more than 1 lakh persons residing in about 30 panchayats in Pattamundai, Bari, Aul and Binjharpur which are sandwiched by the two rivers — Kharasotra and Brahamani. Barring a few pucca houses, almost all other structures were blown away by the cyclone. Tirthabasi, a local primary school teacher, is still to recover from the shock. "After the cyclone intensified, I took my wife, two small children and aged mother to my uncle’s pucca house nearby to take shelter. By the time we reached, there was hardly any space to stand." "But somehow we managed to push ourselves in. For 30 hours, we joined the others in praying to God to save us from nature’s fury," he said. "With no food to eat, no water to drink, we huddled together to pass the ordeal in complete darkness," he recollected. "The floods that followed the cyclone made the situation worse," said Nari Behera of Natara. The flood waters inundated the entire area and gave it the appearance of a small sea making communication almost impossible. A few boats ferrying people during normal times were swept away in the flood, he said. Foodstuffs like biscuits and grounded rice in small village shops of the area were exhausted on the first day of the calamity. Mothers had nothing to give to children crying for food, Nari said. Although the entire area was submerged for more than a week and remained cut off from the rest of the country, no food was airdropped here, lamented Naria Jena of Gunudia village. "We only saw helicopters making sorties over our heads once or twice but without dropping any relief," he said. Despite tall claims by the government, only rice and chuda were given to the people once, he said. Madhu Sudan Das, stringer of a leading Oriya daily, claimed the area was being neglected both by the administration and the politicians. Only a revenue inspector had so far visited the area, he said. A survey of the damaged
houses was yet to start. No medical team had visited the
area and disinfection of the ponds and wells was yet to
be taken up, he said. |
Planet-orbiting pair of stars discovered NEW DELHI, Nov 11 (PTI) — Astronomers have reportedly found what may be called the first evidence of a planet orbiting a pair of stars. Earlier, planets have been found circling only single stars. The finding implies that there exist more planetary systems than previously thought. Between half and two-thirds of stars in the solar system are members of binary or multiple star systems — a group of two or more stars moving in the same direction in space. Only 20 planets have been detected outside the solar system all of which orbit single stars, although some of these stars are part of binary star systems. Using a technique called "gravitational microlensing", a team of astronomers has found "a planet orbiting a pair of stars", astronomers from University of Notre Dame in France, who led the team, report in the British journal "Nature". Gravitational lensing, first noted in the 1930’s, means when a celestial body like a star or a planet moves in front of a more distant star, the gravity of the body serves as a "lens", magnifying the light from the distant star and making it appear brighter. Data analysis from such
an event in 1997, that involved a lens about 20,000 light
years (a light year is the distance travelled by light in
an year) from earth, showed the brightness pattern was
too complex to be produced by the lens of a single star,
the astronomers say. |
6 Union Ministers in
Inter-State Council NEW DELHI, Nov 11 — The Prime Minister has nominated six Cabinet ministers to the Inter-State Council and three others as permanent invitees. The Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Murasoli Maran, the Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister, Mr Suresh Prabhu and External Affairs Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh have been nominated to the re-constituted council. The Human Resource
Development Minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, the Railway
Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, and the Minister for Mines
and Minerals, Mr Naveen Patnaik, will be permanent
invitees, according to a Home Ministry spokesman here
today. |
Former cop, 4 gangsters
arrested NEW DELHI, Nov 11 - An ex- constable of Haryana Police, Naresh alias Kala, was arrested yesterday along with two gangsters of Anoop — Balraj gang of the Capital on charges of alleged murder. He along with Anoop and others allegedly killed Devender Coach in Maharshi Dayanand University in Rohtak in 1998 and Subhash Rohil this year, the police said. The other arrested accused were identified as Vinod, alias Dani, and Manoj, alias Vinod. The police recovered one US- made revolver, two pistols each made of China and Italy along with six bullets from their possession. All arrested criminals were reportedly wanted in six murder cases in Delhi, including Vedpal, alias Lalloo, murder case in 1998. Mr Vedpal was Samata Party candidate in Assembly elections in Delhi. The gang has rivalry with Kishen pahlwan. NOIDA: The Noida police arrested two notorious gangsters from Kalindi Kunj. According to the police the two arrested gangsters were planning to commit a dacoity in Noida and kidnap a businessman for ransom. The arrested duo, identified as Sanjay and Maharaj Singh were wanted criminals in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi after the kidnapping of Meerut-based businessman Swatantra Rastogi. They were also planning to kidnap a Delhi-based businessman also. The police added, Sanjay allias Bunty used to travel to north-east to dispose of stolen cars, had reportedly purchased the weapons seized by the police, from Imphal. Sanjay alias Bunty, has
43 cases against him in various police stations in Uttar
Pradesh. |
Bodies of kidnapped students
found SAHARANPUR, Nov 11 — The highly decomposed and mutilated bodies of two students, Manish (18) and his classmate Kuldeep (17), were recovered from the bank of the Ganga canal after a villager informed the police about these yesterday. According to the DIG, Mr P. Singh, and the SP, Hardwar, Mr Vipin Kumar, the deceased were students of Intermediate College, Roorkee, and were kidnapped on October 22. A ransom of Rs 10 lakh had been demanded to release them. Since it was not paid, both were killed a week after the kidnapping incident. Villagers and students of the college shouted anti-police slogans for its failure to protect the two students. Although the police claimed to have information about the kidnappers, it had not, so far, succeeded in finding them. Meanwhile, another
student was kidnapped last evening. |
Wage Board report RANCHI, Nov 11 (UNI) — Union Minister of State for Labour Munilal has made it clear that the Manisana Singh wage board report for the journalists and non-journalists will be implemented positively by March 31. Talking to newspersons here yesterday, the minister stated that the term of the committee would not be extended beyond December 31. To a query, he said the
wage committee had been asked to submit its report latest
by December 31. |
HP offers sops for power
projects NEW DELHI, Nov 11 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to provide incentives to private participants for the early completion of hydroelectric power projects. The state Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, said in case the projects were completed before the scheduled date, the mandatory supply of free power to the state government would be reduced by as much percentage points as the number of years which had been saved in the completion of the project. The reduced free power to the government will be applicable up to the scheduled commercial operation date and thereafter it will be 12 per cent for the first 12 years and 18 per cent for the remaining period of the agreement. In case of delay of commissioning of the projects, the free power to the state government will be increased by as much percentage points as the number of years by which the projects have been delayed beyond the scheduled date. Mr Dhumal said the new equity structure had been finalised for the projects of more than 100 MW capacity. In the new structure, private investors would have 26 per cent of the total equity, 25 per cent from the public while the rest would be financial institutions and banks. No financial institution, however, would individually be allowed to hold an equity of more than 26 per cent, a statement said. The government has also
decided to substantially reduce earnest money taken in
the form of bank guarantee from the industrialists. |
‘Delete’ Rajiv’s name from
charge sheet NEW DELHI, Nov 11 — The government should consider the views of all sections of concerned Sikhs before bringing in the new all-India gurdwara Bill, the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Tara Singh), Mr Rachhpal Singh, has said. Addressing a press conference here today, he said the new Act should meet the needs of all gurdwaras throughout the country and should not grant absolute power to the few residing in Punjab. Mr Rachhpal Singh urged the Prime Minister to intervene and delete the name of Rajiv Gandhi from the Bofors charge sheet. "Rajiv Gandhi’s name has been unduly dragged into the charge sheet," he said, adding that Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee was a senior Cabinet member when Mr George Fernandes’ name was recommended to be dropped from the Baroda dynamite case. Meanwhile, the General
Secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress, Mr Pradeep
Devgan, also demanded the government to delete Rajiv
Gandhi’s name from the Bofors charge sheet. |
Petrol station looted NEW DELHI, Nov 11 — Four unidentified youths looted Rs 35, 000 on gun point from a petrol station in the Sangam Vihar area in South Delhi today. The youths, who were in
a Maruti car, hit the cashier and snatched the money.
They locked all employees of the petrol station in one
room and fled, the police said. |
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| First woman Speaker of AP
Assembly HYDERABAD: History was created in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Thursday with the election of senior Telugu Desam Party legislator Pratibha Bharathi as the first woman Speaker. The unanimous election of the 43-year-old Ms Bharathi was announced by pro-tem Speaker Kolla Appala Naidu amidst thumping of desks by members cutting across party lines. Ms Bharathi’s candidature was supported by the main Opposition Congress, the BJP and the MIM parties. — UNI Security stepped up in
Tripura 6 killed in
van-bus collision Three Indians
honoured Newspaper
houses’ stir in Tripura Siberian cranes
arrive at park HC stays
Pillai’s imprisonment Malaria deaths
in Jalpaiguri |
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