Monday, September 6, 1999

EC rejects shifting of Orissa DGP
BHUBANESWAR, Sept 5 — The Orissa Director General of Police Dilip Mohapatra, under attack for his controversial remarks on the recent killing of a Christian priest, got a reprieve with the Election Commission shooting down the state government's proposal to transfer and revert him to the post of Additional Director General in view of the state being in election mode.

Pak denies knowledge of 4 jawans
NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — Pakistan today said it had no knowledge about the whereabouts of four Indian soldiers, who were part of a six-member patrol team missing in Shyok-Turtuk sector near Siachen since the night of August 29.

Dawood’s henchman held, arms seized
LUCKNOW, Sept 5 — The Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police today foiled a gameplan by a henchman of Dawood Ibrahim to unleash violence during elections, by arresting him following an encounter.

5 more arrested for murder of priest
BARIPADA, Sept 5 — Five more persons were arrested today in connection with the killing of the Roman Catholic priest, Arul Doss, in Orissa's Mayurbhanj district last Thursday, taking the total number of arrests to eight.

Intrusion into India has not stopped: Malik
PUNE, Sept 5 — Chief of the Army Staff General V.P. Malik today said more posts would be set up in the Kargil-Dras sectors to prevent further intrusion into the region.

Intrusion ‘planned’ in Sir Creek area
JODHPUR, Sept 5 — Pakistan is trying to create a Kargil-like situation in the Sir Creek area of Gujarat along the Indo-Pak border. The Inspector-General of BSF (Rajasthan and Gujarat) Mr Bakshish Singh, has said.

Delhi records 47 pc polling
NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — The Electronic Voting Machines failed to enthuse the voters to exercise their right to vote for the seven parliamentary seats in the Capital today as the voter turnout in a by and large peaceful polling was 47 per cent which was 5 per cent less than the turnout recorded in the 1998 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi.

BJP for fiscal emergency in MP
BHOPAL, Sept 5 — The BJP on Friday demanded imposition of an economic emergency in Madhya Pradesh.

Three arrested for impersonation
NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — Polling in Delhi was peaceful except for a few stray incidents.

Rajiv ‘hastily’ sanctioned Bofors
NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — A retired General, who held a key position in the Army when the decision to acquire Borors guns was taken, says former Premier Rajiv Gandhi had “hastily” sanctioned the deal but was “not responsible for introducing the gun into the Army”.

2000 cr plan for education
CALCUTTA, Sept 5 — The Union Human Resource Development Ministry has chalked out an action plan to create ‘centres of excellence in polytechnic education’ in the North-Eastern states, Pondicherry, Jammu and Kashmir and three union territories.

Priest's killing
EC rejects shifting of Orissa DGP

BHUBANESWAR, Sept 5 (PTI) — The Orissa Director General of Police Dilip Mohapatra, under attack for his controversial remarks on the recent killing of a Christian priest, got a reprieve with the Election Commission shooting down the state government's proposal to transfer and revert him to the post of Additional Director General in view of the state being in election mode.

The state government decided to shift Mr Mohapatra and also revert him to the post of ADGP, but linked the decision to the Centre's non-sanctioning of a third post of DGP rank in the state police.

However, the move was widely perceived to be related to his remark that the killing of the priest Arul Doss in Mayurbhanj district was a reaction to reports of "forcible conversions" in the area.

The Orissa Government had forwarded to the Election Commission last night for its approval of the proposal to transfer Mr Mohapatra who was brought in as DGP soon after Mr Giridhar Gamang assumed Chief Ministership following the resignation of Mr J.B. Patnaik early this year.

Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill rejected the proposal to shift Mr Mohapatra saying, "We are in the midst of elections which will end by October 10. Therefore, the Commission desires that Mr Mohapatra, who is a key functionary, not be shifted till October 10".

Dr Gill also made it clear that the Orissa Chief Secretary and the Home Secretary should under no circumstances be disturbed in any manner till the conclusion of the poll process — October 10.

Meanwhile, Mr Mohapatra told "Star News" television channel his remark on the killing of the priest had been quoted out of context.

According to him, all that he had said in reply to questions from reporters why Arul Doss was killed that the incident might be a reaction to reports from there about "forced conversions".

Mr Gamang, who had gone to attend the priest's funeral yesterday, faced angry outbursts from church leaders who demanded the immediate suspension of Home Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy as well over his reported statement that Catholic priests were trying to split families through conversions.

Pak denies knowledge of 4 jawans

NEW DELHI, Sept 5 (PTI, UNI) — Pakistan today said it had no knowledge about the whereabouts of four Indian soldiers, who were part of a six-member patrol team missing in Shyok-Turtuk sector near Siachen since the night of August 29.

This was conveyed by the Pakistani DGMO to his Indian counterpart during their discussions this afternoon, an Army spokesman said here.

The Pakistani DGMO Maj-Gen Tauqir Zia, promised Lt-Gen N.C. Vij to expedite the return of two soldiers of the patrol team belonging to 3 Rajput Regiment who were captured by Pakistan after they "inadvertently strayed into Pakistan territory," he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs was also pursuing the matter through diplomatic channels.

Pakistan had captured two soldiers, Lance Naik Ram Singh and jawan Bajinder Singh, when they strayed into the enemy territory on that night in Haneefuddin sub-sector near Siachen.

The missing members include a Captain and three jawans.

After Pakistan showed a video clip of the two captured soldiers in Islamabad on Thursday, Gen Vij spoke to Gen Zia and said that they be returned.

Pakistan had on Friday said it would return the two men through the International Council of the Red Cross (ICRC), but after that there was no news about the soldiers.

News analysis
EC’s name not found in voters’ list
From Shubhabrata Bhattacharya
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — Two incidents during the first phase of polling today exposed chinks in the armour of the Election Commission. And both took place not in remote parts of the country but in the New Delhi and Gandhinagar constituencies.

The incidents highlighted the plight of the common voter. Many voters often find their names missing from the electoral rolls. Or even if they find their name, it is not properly enumerated. The "dull to moderate" polling today, which can be attributed to "voter apathy" due to elections being thrust upon the nation "too soon", is also partially due to the harassment voters have to face after reaching the polling booth, as the incidents in New Delhi and Gandhinagar, involving high profile voters, showed.

The incident in the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency takes the cake: an Election Commissioner, Mr G.V.G. Krishnamurthy, found his name missing from the electoral roll when he went to his polling station at Pandara Park. Initial reports said that he "had to leave the polling station without casting his vote as his address was not found on the roll". Later, Mr Krishnamurthy did cast his vote. "There was some mistake by the polling staff which has since been corrected", he told a news agency.

However, the question arises: if this be the plight of Mr Krishnamurthy, that too in a polling booth located half a kilometre from India Gate and less than 2 km from the nation’s seat of power, then what could be the condition in remote areas?

The second incident, also concerning electoral rolls, took place in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. The Union Home Minister, Mr Lal Krishna Advani, who is also a voter in that constituency apart from being the BJP candidate, was challenged about his right to vote by the Congress’ election agent, Mr Vinod Kantharia, as his father’s name was missing from the electoral roll.

On the face of it, the Congress agent’s act may seem petty. But in terms of law, he was not wrong. Here too, as in the case of the "missing" and then "found" name of Mr Krishnamurthy in the Pandara Park polling station, a serious lapse in the preparation of electoral rolls is thrown up. Mr Advani’s name should not have appeared in the electoral rolls minus his father’s name, as per norm and form.

Ultimately Mr Advani did cast his vote, but the question remains: Is the Election Commission doing its job?

Undoubtedly conducting elections in a vast country like India is a daunting task. However, when we find the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr M.S. Gill, give moral sermons to politicians in media interviews, one does expect the administrative machinery he presides over to be above suspicion — like Caesar’s wife.

Mistakes in electoral rolls is not a matter to be taken lightly. The Election Commission basically derives its powers from Article 324 of the Constitution of India, which gives primacy to the preparation of electoral rolls. The Article reads: "The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to Parliament and to the legislature of every state..... shall be vested in a commission referred to in this Constitution as the Election Commission."

Thus, the name of a EC member going "missing" from the rolls is not a small matter, its later "discovery" notwithstanding.

When this Correspondent went to cast his vote today, he carried with much pride the voters’ Identity Card. However, the polling staff was least bothered about this document, which now has the sanctity equivalent to that of a ration card.

Dawood’s henchman held, arms seized

LUCKNOW, Sept 5 (UNI) — The Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police today foiled a gameplan by a henchman of Dawood Ibrahim to unleash violence during elections, by arresting him following an encounter.

State Director-General of Police K.L. Gupta told mediapersons here that the STF seized a Bulgarian-made pistol, 95 cartridges, a mobile phone, 10 SIM cards and a motorcycle.

He said following a tip-off about the suspicious activities of a man named Thakur in Varanasi the STF personnel combed the cantonment area and after an encounter arrested Ram Singh Thakur. Thakur hailing from Jaunpur was settled in Mumbai and had joined the Dawood Ibrahim gang.

The DGP said Thakur came to Varanasi two months ago on the instructions of Dawood Ibrahim and began to form another gang and procure bombs and ammunition for assassinating senior political leaders and to cause explosions during the election.

Mr Gupta said during interrogation Thakur confessed having killed Vijay Karki, the owner of Mughal Mehal restaurant in Mumbai, Senior Executive of AIR India Kelvin Kolo and extorting money from film star Ajay Devgun. The Mumbai police had confirmed all these as true.

Thakur regularly talked to Dawood Ibrahim in Dubai and Chhota Shakeel in Karachi on telephone. Before coming here he had written to the Human Rights Commission fearing torture at the hands of the UP police.

The DGP said Thakur worked for Ibrahim in lieu of money. The police also seized a diary from him with records of transactions worth lakhs of rupees. His interrogation was continuing, the DGP added.

5 more arrested for murder of priest

BARIPADA, Sept 5 (PTI) — Five more persons were arrested today in connection with the killing of the Roman Catholic priest, Arul Doss, in Orissa's Mayurbhanj district last Thursday, taking the total number of arrests to eight.

All arrested were "directly involved" in the killing of the priest and belonged to Jamubani village where the murder took place, Superintendent of Police Pradeep Kapoor told PTI here.

Some more persons were also being interrogated at different places in connection with the incident, he said.

The district administration today convened a meeting of the elected representatives of panchyat bodies at Karanjia and appealed to them to help maintain communal harmony in the district.

The meeting, attended by the Special Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) Amarnanda Patnaik, Collector R. Balakrishnan and the S.P., also urged them to inform the administration about any incident of communal tension.

Vajpayee to file nomination from
Lucknow on Sept 7

LUCKNOW, Sept 5 (PTI) — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would file his nomination from Lucknow Parliamentary constituency on September 7, BJP sources said here today.

The Prime Minister would attend a "havan" in his party's election office in the city before filing his nomination, the sources said.

He would also address party workers later in the day before departing for New Delhi, the sources added.

Intrusion into India has not stopped: Malik

PUNE, Sept 5 (UNI) — Chief of the Army Staff General V.P. Malik today said more posts would be set up in the Kargil-Dras sectors to prevent further intrusion into the region.

Besides, the Army had also undertaken steps towards modernisation, General Malik said but refused to go into the details while speaking informally to reporters. The Army chief was here for the convocation ceremony of a management institution.

All necessary measures were being taken to ensure that no intrusion could take place again, the Army chief stressed while admitting that infiltration was still continuing and there was no cessation of cross-firing even after the mission in Kargil had been accomplished.

General Malik said there had been heavy artillery shelling from across the Line of Control (LoC).

General Malik refused to comment on Kargil Brigade commander Brigadier Surinder Singh’s letters on ‘enhanced threat perception in Kargil, saying curtly that the Army headquarters had issued a comprehensive press note on the matter and he had nothing more to add.

Acknowledging that the Indian Air Force had played a useful role in the Kargil conflict, he said the Army’s own Aviation Corps needed some expansion considering the lethality of air power.

"The Kargil crisis was thrust upon us and in the end of it we have emerged stronger as a nation. The whole nation stood together during the conflict which helped the armed forces achieve their aim" the Army chief said adding that national integration was the tangible result of the Kargil operation.

To a query relating to intelligence failure, the General quipped that it was not possible to know everything about the other side. Had this been possible, the Kargil conflict would not have occurred at all, he added.

General Malik urged private organisations to inculcate the same spirit that guided the armed forces.

In his convocation address at the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS) here, he said the man in uniform was always guided by the virtues of self-respect, self-esteem, comradeship and team spirit. "Moral courage and righteousness are the essential ingredients that go into the making of a good soldier."

He urged the students of the SIMS, which also conducts management courses for defence personnel, to develop high-level of professionalism and cultivate an awareness of socio-political, economic and technical issues to cope with the fast-changing world.

PTI: General Malik said the Army was taking care to ensure that the soldiers were well armed with equipment ad paraphernalia needed to withstand extreme weather conditions.

Asked whether the Army had asked for an increase in the Budget after the Kargil conflict, he said, "we are working out our requirements. I expect some expenditure will be inevitable but I cannot spell out the quantity."

Intrusion ‘planned’ in Sir Creek area

JODHPUR, Sept 5 (PTI) — Pakistan is trying to create a Kargil-like situation in the Sir Creek area of Gujarat along the Indo-Pak border. The Inspector-General of BSF (Rajasthan and Gujarat) Mr Bakshish Singh, has said.

"Pakistan is preparing to send intruders and smuggle a cache of arms and ammunition" taking advantage of the marshy land in this area, he told newsmen here last night, adding the exchange of fire at Karanpur sector in Bikaner along the border stopped yesterday after a high-level meeting between the commandants of the two countries.

Mr Bakshish Singh said arrangements had been made to pre-empt any Pakistani attack along the border in Gujarat and Rajasthan and rocket launchers, double engine equipped aeroplane, bullet-proof boats would be acquired soon for this purpose.

President reminds teachers of role

NEW DELHI, Sept 5 (UNI) — President K.R. Narayanan today said the traditional reverence to teachers as a “guru” survives to this day and called upon them to preserve this position and live up to the expectations.

“The teachers should be up to the mark, up-to-date in knowledge and set an example to the younger generation,” he said giving away the National Teachers Day Award to 274 teachers from all over the country at a function here.

Mr Narayanan said teachers had a very important role to play in the field of human development and quoted late Pt Jawaharlal Nehru who regarded “investment in man as more important than investment in machine.”

“At a time when values are in confusion and traditions are fast changing, teachers should equip themselves with modern knowledge and inculcate in students the elementary values of life,” he said and underlined the need for inculcation of the values of tolerance.

Referring to the problem of absenteeism from work among teachers, the President said this aberration should be avoided so as to maintain the respect for teachers. Congratulating the recipients of the Teachers’ Day award, he pointed out that India was one of the few countries which observed Teachers’ day in honour of late President S. Radhakrishnan, a great scholar.

Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi said the government was considering adoption of a new strategy of having a single national programme for the universalisation of elementary education.

The programme known as ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ would merge all existing schemes into it. It will cover the entire country and will be holistic in approach while the micro planning could vary from district to district, he said.

The government was fully aware of the conditions and constraints in which teachers were working, Dr Joshi said and added that to improve their working condition in-service training for capacity building had been undertaken.

A satellite-based distance education methodology would be adopted to meet the training requirements of a large number of teachers spread over a wide geographical area, he said.

Delhi records 47 pc polling
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) failed to enthuse the voters to exercise their right to vote for the seven parliamentary seats in the Capital today as the voter turnout in a by and large peaceful polling was 47 per cent which was 5 per cent less than the turnout recorded in the 1998 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi.

Election Commissioner, G V G Krishnamurthy faced some embarrassing moments as he had to return home without casting his vote in the morning since his new address could not be located on the electoral roll. However, he was able to exercise his franchise in the afternoon.

Voting which was low in the first few hours picked up as the day progressed. The EVMs helped reduce long queues which normally are seen during elections.

“No major incident was reported from any of the 220 polling booths which have been identified as hyper sensitive or sensitive,” a senior Delhi Police official said.

Among the early voters were President, K. R. Narayanan, Chief Election Commissioner, M. S. Gill, Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit and former Delhi Chief Minister, Madan Lal Khurana.

While Mr Narayanan cast his vote at the President’s Estate at 7 am, Dr Gill voted at a polling booth at Tughlaq Crescent — both in New Delhi constituency.

Mrs Sonia Gandhi exercised her franchise at the Nirman Bhavan polling station, Mrs Dikshit at Nizamuddin and Mr Khurana in Delhi Sadar.

Many of the voters The Tribune spoke to said that despite the `quick’ frequency of elections, they were keen to vote just to experience the much-touted EVMs.

I am not enthused about with elections being held each year. Had it not been for the EVMs, I would have stayed at home,” Mr G K Sharma, a bank official, after casting his ballot in a East Delhi polling booth, said.

Poll agents said that many families belonging to neighbouring states left for their native places on account of three-day holiday from Janmashtami on Friday.

A college student, Preeti, first-time voter, said “I am excited to vote as from now on I can decide the future of the country. I am happy that I will vote on EVMs, but I feel that I had been bit older I would have had the experience of using ballot paper. I feel that I have missed that opportunity.”

The polling officers said a large number of voters at the first instance enquired whether their votes had been registered. And, when they were assured, they expressed surprise that the process was so simple and were all praise for the system.

“The EVMs have made our jobs so easy that there are no long queues outside the polling booth and there is no cumbersome process of counting each ballot paper, folding it and depositing it. The machines are easy and compact to handle and transport,” Mr G D Verma, a polling officer said.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were used in all seven seats and there are 8668 polling booths. While one balloting unit was used in each polling booth in six constituencies, in East Delhi seat two balloting units were used at each polling station as the number of candidates here exceeds 16. The total number of names which can be accommodated in each balloting unit.

The Capital has a total electorate of 87,07,436 comprising 50,19,152 male voters and 36,88,284 women voters. While Outer Delhi has the largest number of voters at 31,01,838, Chandni Chowk has the least at 3,76,603.

The fate of 97 candidates for seven Lok Sabha seats was decided today. Prominent among them were the former Union Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, former Jammu and Kashmir Governor, Mr Jagmohan, former Union Minister, Mr Jagdish Tytler, former Delhi Chief Ministers, Mr Sahib Singh Verma and Mr Madan Lal Khurana, the Congress Working Committee members, Mr R. K. Dhawan and Ms Meira Kumar, Delhi Mayor, Dr Anita Arya, former Delhi Lt. Governor, Air Vice-Marshal (retd.) H. K. L. Kapoor, former MPs, Mr Vijay Goel and Mr J P Aggarwal.

The Delhi Police had identified about 220 polling booth as “sensitive” and “hyper sensitive” and the entire police strength of 55,000 personnel and 8,000 Home Guards were on poll duty.

BJP for fiscal emergency in MP
From N.D. Sharma

BHOPAL, Sept 5 — The BJP on Friday demanded imposition of an economic emergency in Madhya Pradesh.

The party’s national vice-president and former Chief Minister Sunderlal Patwa said the financial position of the Digvijay Singh government had become so precarious that the government “may collapse on its own by November-December”. Imposition of economic emergency in the state with stringent financial discipline under the supervision and control of the Reserve Bank of India was the only way out, he argued.

Mr Patwa was speaking to mediapersons after releasing the party’s white paper on “a bankrupt and financially crippled state”.

State BJP working president Vikram Verma said the white paper had been prepared by culling up figures from official documents of the state and central governments by a four-member committee headed by Dr Sharad Jain, former adviser to the Asian Development Bank.

Mr Patwa said the state had a public debt to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore when he became Chief Minister of the BJP government in 1990, and it was the same when the BJP government exited office at the end of 1992. Today, he said, it was over Rs 33,000 crore. No one knew where the money had gone because no new irrigation schemes had been launched, no new power generation units set up, no new state-level highways constructed and no new industrial units established.

He said power tariffs had been raised exorbitantly while the state was having an acute shortage of power resulting in closure of industrial units.

Three arrested for impersonation
From Our Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — Polling in Delhi was peaceful except for a few stray incidents.

Though the Delhi Police has sealed the borders to prevent liquor smuggling and entry of musclemen from the neighbouring states to the Capital on the eve of the elections, a large number of liquor pouches were seized from a bus at the Delhi-Noida border this afternoon.

In another incident, a bus carrying a number of alleged bogus voters were stoned and damaged by both Congress and the BJP workers at the Gole Market area, which falls within the prestigious New Delhi parliamentary constituency.

The police said three persons were caught when they were trying to impersonate for someone else to cast vote at East Delhi. Another person was nabbed under the West Bengal Property Defacement Act.

The North-West district police detained some persons at the Shahbad dairy area for creating trouble inside a polling booth.

The police had also arrested 60 musclemen a few days back.

Rajiv ‘hastily’ sanctioned Bofors

NEW DELHI, Sept 5 (PTI) — A retired General, who held a key position in the Army when the decision to acquire Borors guns was taken, says former Premier Rajiv Gandhi had “hastily” sanctioned the deal but was “not responsible for introducing the gun into the Army”.

Instead, he blames the then Chief of Army Staff, (late) Gen K. Sundarji, for having “forced this weapon onto India” and claims that Bofors was 100 per cent General Suderji’s baby”.

Lt Gen (retd) M Mayadas, who then worked as Director, Weapons and Equipment at the Army Headquarters here in 1984, claims that the order of merit and comparative charts prepared for acquisition of 155-mm howitzers for the Indian Army were arbitrarily changed to favour the Swedish Bofors FH-77 guns.

In his book, “How the Bofors Affair Transformed India (1989-99)”, which is yet to hit the stands, General Mayadas says, “I wish to make one thing abundantly clear, that apart from agreeing hastily to sanction the Bofors deal, Rajiv Gandhi was not responsible for introducing the Bofors gun into the Army”.

“I am convinced that General Sundarji (and two of his senior subordinates) was to blame for having forced this weapon onto India”, he says in his book published by Lancer Publishers.

General Mayadas claims that General Sundarji, who was then Deputy Chief of Army Staff (DCOAS), “worked first on (Minister of State for Defence) Arun Singh... and persuaded him to spend much time on tour. Then the two of them worked on Rajiv Gandhi, another innocent amateur as far as defence matters were concerned.

General Sundarji as the professional, somehow dubbed as a ‘thinking general’, prevailed over Rajiv and Arun’s reservations, and got the government to sign the Bofors deal in a great hurry.

“This gun was 100 per cent General Sundarji’s baby and nobody else”, alleges General Mayadas.

The retired Army officer also claims that General Sundarji “requested” then Army Chief Gen A.S. Vaidya to change his stance by favouring Bofors instead of the French TR gun manufactured by GIAT (Sofma) Company.

Besides Bofors and Sofma guns, two other — Austrian GHN 45 manufactured by Voest Alpine and FH-70 built mainly by Britain with assistance from Germany and Italy — were the contenders for the Howitzer orders from India.

General Mayadas claimed that when the pros and cons of one system against the other were being discussed, “We discovered that contrary to all norms no General Staff Qualitative Requirement (GSQR) existed for the 155 mm (Bofors) gun system”.

After GSQR was acquired from the Artillery Directorate, “My staff pointed out a startling new entry. For the first time and never before mooted in any papers or discussions a ‘burst fire capability’ had been entered.

2000 cr plan for education

CALCUTTA, Sept 5 (PTI) — The Union Human Resource Development Ministry has chalked out an action plan to create ‘centres of excellence in polytechnic education’ in the North-Eastern states, Pondicherry, Jammu and Kashmir and three union territories.

India will soon receive World Bank aid of about Rs 2000 crore for improving and upgrading the quality of technical education in these regions, special secretary of the ministry’s department of education, Prof Ashoka Chandra told PTI at the end of a workshop on ‘Development of polytechnic education with external assistance’ here on Friday.

BJP condemns priest’s murder
KOHIMA: The Nagaland unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strongly condemned the brutal murder of Father Arul Doss in Mayurbhunj district of Orissa. In a statement here, BJP spokesman Johny G. Rengma said that the party state unit held the Congress fully responsible for the brutal killing. The state unit also demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits. — UNI

8 killed in jeep-tanker collision
JAIPUR: Eight persons were killed and two seriously injured in a jeep and tanker collision in Chittoregarh district, the police said on Sunday. The mishap occurred near Soniyana village in the district on Saturday. The injured have been admitted to a hospital. — PTI

International Silk Assn’s conference
BANGALORE: The 23rd conference of the International Silk Association (ISA) will be held here in 2001. The directing board of the ISA had accepted the invitation of India extended by Central Silk Board Chairman H. Ekantaiah to hold the conference. “Taking into professional and climatic considerations, the best time for the conference would be the first week of December,” the ISA said in its special newsletter on the 22nd conference of the ISA held in Lyon in France recently. — UNI

Comedian makes fun of own nominee
KOZHIKODE: Enter Mamu Koya, a popular comedy actor on the Malayalam screen. And there certainly is scope for some entertainment. This was painfully realised by UDF leaders who roped him to campaign for KPCC Vice-President K. Muraleedharan at two centres in Wayanad district the other day. In his characteristic Muslim dialect, the actor reeled off a variety of complaints against the Congress before the large crowds that had gathered at Kambalakkad and Kalloor to the utter discomfiture of Congress leaders present there. Apparently forgetting that he was to win votes for Mr Muraleedharan, contesting the Kozhikode Lok Sabha seat, Mamu Koya even described Congressmen as ‘unreliable’ citing his personal experience. — PTI

LPG tanker overturns
MUMBAI: Road and rail traffic between Mumbai and Nasik came to a halt on Sunday after an LPG tanker overturned at a ghat (hill) section of the highway in Thane district of Maharashtra, the police said. The Indore-bound tanker turned turtle at 7.50 a.m. at Jawahar Phatta on Kasara ghat section in Thane, causing panic in the area, state police sources said here. No reports of any casualties have been received so far, the police said. As a precautionary measure, the police authorities have alerted the Central Railway to cancel all Nasik-bound trains as the tracks run close to the road and some gas may have leaked out from the tanker. — PTI

Naxals shoot police constable
HYDERABAD: Naxalites of the banned People’s War Group (PWG) shot dead a police constable in a busy area of Parkal town in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday. The police here said three armed Naxalites of the Parkal Dalam snatched an AK-47 from the constable and fired at him. The seriously injured constable Waheed Pasha (30) was rushed to the MGM hospital at Hanamkonda but was pronounced dead on arrival. — UNI