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Tuesday,
October 30, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Pradhan appointed BJP’s vice-president Koshiyari elected Uttaranchal CM Coterie caused Swami’s downfall
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West Bengal not to implement POTO Editors Guild oppose POTO provisions
Exercise restraint:
Mori
Three more killed in firing Cine Welfare Fund Act to be amended ‘Don’t panic over bio-terrorism’ RSS generating insecurity: Cong No funds for printing ration card forms
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Pradhan appointed BJP’s vice-president New Delhi, October 29 Mr Sanjay Joshi, who was the general secretary (organisation) of the party’s Gujarat unit and a close
confidante of Mr L.K. Advani, has been appointed as general secretary, while Dr Devendra Pradhan, who was dropped from the Vajpayee cabinet as the Minister of State for Agriculture, has been appointed as the vice-president. While Mr Joshi, has been appointed in place of Mr Narendra Modi, who relinquished the post of the general secretary to take over as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Dr Pradhan has been accommodated in the vacancy arisen due to appointment of Mr Kariya Munda as a Cabinet minister at the Centre. In the all important post of treasurer, Secretary of BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit Sukumar Nambiar, who recently lost the Lok Sabha byelection from Tiruchi constituency and known to be close to Mr Krishnamurty, has been appointed. Mr Nambiar has been appointed in place of Mr V P Goyal, who was appointed as a minister in the Vajpayee cabinet recently. Mr Mansukbhai Vasava, a tribesman and a Lok Sabha MP from Bharuch constituency of Gujarat has been appointed as the secretary, which was lying vacant for quite some time. Mr Vasava has been made an office-bearer to give representation to tribesman in the party’s Central set up, as Mr Kariya Munda, who was a tribesman was recently appointed as a minister at the Centre. |
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Koshiyari elected Uttaranchal CM Dehra Dun, October 29 At the meeting of the state BJP Legislature Party, Mr Nityanand Swami, outgoing CM, proposed the name of Mr Koshiyari as the new CM. It was seconded by Mr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Finance Minister. Mr Kuchubau Thakre, in charge of the party affairs of Uttaranchal and another senior party leader Om Prakash Kohli were also present at the meeting. Earlier, some supporters of Mr Swami tried to establish a lobby under the leadership of Mr Mohan Singh Gamvasi, Panchayat Minister, but were later pacified by senior leaders of the BJP. Talking to TNS, Mr Gamvasi said that he was in the race for the post of CM till this afternoon, but after discussions with his colleagues and Mr Thakre, he decided to abide by the high command decision. Mr Koshiyari said his foremost priority would be to revive the image of the party and take up the challenge of the panchayat and Assembly elections which are due in the next few months. He ruled out any major change in the constitution of his council of ministers. Mr Thakre told mediapersons that the party high command was not likely to make any major change in the organisational set-up of the state unit of the party. It is worth mentioning that the president of the state unit of the BJP, Mr Puran Chand Sharma, and Mr Koshiyari, the new CM, are both from the Kumaon region. Political observers feel that in order to keep the regional balance, there might be a change in the leadership of the party in Uttaranchal. Two opponents of Mr Swami — Mr Lakhe Ram Joshi, BJP MLA from the Tehri constituency, and Mr Harbans Kapoor, Deputy Chairman, 20-Point Programme Implementation Committee and MLA from Dehra Dun, — have started lobbying for berths in the new Cabinet. |
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Coterie caused Swami’s downfall Dehra Dun, October 29 The BJP party high command was not happy with the style of his functioning that turned out to be disastrous at a time when the panchayat and Assembly elections were round the corner. Opposition parties and his opponents within the party took the interference of his family members and his team of advisers in the administrative system of the state seriously. He had a team of nine advisers who enjoyed their time getting their vested interests explored with political influence. At times when he was in trouble they hardly gave a wise advise to the helpless Chief
Minister. The one among them, Mr Liladhar Jagurhi, media adviser, who removed from his services last week, did not have a single interaction with the mediapersons posted in the state Capital. Among his family members, his son in law, Mr Brijesh, was the most influential persons who, along with his friends Mr Sunil and Mr Shirkant (OSDs to the CM), misused the power to gain financial benefits. Mr Brijesh, a civil contractor, got many civil works from the
Mussoorie Dehra Dun Development Authority (MDDA) and the state government. Mr Shirkant, who runs an advertisement agency and offset press, was allegedly financially
benefited by the personal influence of the Chief Minister. The contract of publishing the official coloured magazine of the state government was provided to given to the Microsoft Press run by him. Besides this, most of the advertisements released by the state government were done through his company, Graphic Advertisements. Not only this, the Chief Minister’s daughter was employed as a Librarian in the state Assembly allegedly without advertising the post. Similarly 22 other employees were recruited in the Assembly without creating posts allegedly under the influence of the Chief Minister. These acts of the Chief Minister office did not remain undisclosed and the Opposition lashed out at Mr Swami. His opponents within the party added fuel to fire. The opponents within the party explained these facts to the party high command. Mr Swami, who was once known for his clear image, was forced to give explanations to the party high command for his acts that had an adverse affect on the BJP before submitting his resignation. Moreover, his media policy totally failed to impress the media on developmental works he initiated. Even during his last speech as leader of the House in the Vidhan Sabha this morning, Mr Swami admitted that there were some flaws in the functioning of the system of the Information Department. He also admitted that the people of Kumaon, Garhwal and the plain districts of Hardwar and Udham Singh Nagar were not happy with the BJP government. He appealed to the people of
Uttaranchal to maintain peace and share their energy in developing the new state as a welfare state. The volte face of the state government on many issues like selection of a permanent Capital, liquor policy, recruitment policy of teachers, the attitude towards the Hardwar issue were among the few that forced the BJP high command to bring about a change of leadership in the state. |
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West Bengal not to implement POTO Kolkata, October 29 West Bengal Chief Minister Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharyya, now in Delhi to attend the party’s central committee meeting, has declared his government’s decision to oppose the ordinance as he feels it is an attempt at hitting at the democratic rights and privileges of the people. Moreover, it would be direct interference in the law and order matters of states. Mr Bhattacharyya said: “We had not implemented TADA and also would not execute the ordinance. Our government in the state has already decided to implement the West Bengal Prevention of Organised Crimes Ordinance, 2001, which is competent enough to tackle the problem”. Between 87-95, over 80,000 innocent men and women had been detained under TADA all over the country excepting, West Bengal, which did not implement the Act. The CPI (M) leadership feels the proposed ordinance will be just a substitute for TADA, which was withdrawn in 1995. Mr Bhattacharyya himself would oppose the Centre’s move to bring back the TADA-like Act once again at the CM’s conference in November called by the Prime Minister in the Capital. The Home Ministry, however, has made it clear to the states that it would be binding on the part of the state to implement the ordinance in view of the present alarming spurt of terrorist activities in the country. |
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Editors Guild oppose POTO provisions New Delhi, October 29 “These provisions can compel journalists to reveal details of their sources and also give away to the police news material obtained from such sources,” guild president Mammen Mathew and secretary-general Alok Mehta said in a statement here. Pointing out that journalists could be arrested for even meeting their sources or receiving information, they said such provisions would seriously affect the freedoms granted under the Constitution to the media. Urging that these provisions be deleted or suitably altered, they demanded that the government and Parliament should desist from devising laws which restricted the media. The guild also expressed shock that the government did not had consultations with media organisations before promulgating the ordinance and described it as a “restrictive law against the Indian press”. |
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Exercise restraint:
Mori New Delhi, October 29 Talking to reporters after an hour-long meeting with Mr Advani, Mr Mori said India and Pakistan should resolve the Kashmir dispute through mutual dialogue. He remarked that India and Japan would have to cooperate in the fight against terrorism and made known Tokyo’s stand that “terrorism cannot be justified in whatever form or at whichever place it exists.” |
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Three more killed in firing
Nasik, October 29 The three were killed as police opened fire to quell a fresh bout of violence even as the curfew clamped on Friday remained in force for the fourth day today. The police said an unruly crowd indulged in rioting soon after Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal toured Malegaon, about 110 km from here, yesterday and urged the people to maintain peace.
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Cine Welfare Fund Act to be amended New Delhi, October 29 Talking to The Tribune, Mr Yadav said it was necessary to bring in 92 per cent of the total workforce in the country in the social security network as at present under the social security cover of the ESI only 86 lakh persons were covered. Almost 40 crore workers were not covered by social security, he pointed out. Stressing that workers engaged in beedi-making and construction works had to be brought under social security net schemes, such as the ESI and EPF, the minister said several decisions had been taken to promote the welfare of the unorganised workers. In the forthcoming Parliament session, Mr Yadav said, he was going to bring amendment to the Cine Workers Welfare Fund Act to raise further the ceiling on income, appearing in the definition of cine workers to enable the government to prescribe the same by issue of notification from time to time. To provide relief to agricultural workers, the government had already launched a model scheme called “Krishi Shramik Samajik Suraksha Yojna” in 50 districts of the country, Mr Yadav said. It was proposed that a worker would contribute Rs 365 per annum i.e. Re 1 per day, and the government would contribute Rs 730 per annum, i.e. Rs 2 per day, he said, adding that for pension, eligibility period would be 10 years. The minister said the government had enhanced the ceiling on maximum amount of compensation from Rs 2.28 lakh to Rs 4.56 lakh in case of death and for permanent total disablement from Rs 2.74 lakh to Rs 5.48 lakh by amending the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923. Mr Yadav said the government was going to create very soon a welfare fund for overseas Indian workers and it would be utilised for repatriating the workers stranded in foreign countries, providing financial assistance to the kin of workers who die during foreign employment, transportation of the bodies of dead workers to their homes and for lump sum assistance to workers permanently disabled while in foreign employment. The ministry was taking several steps to prevent exploitation of emigrant workers both at home and abroad, Mr Yadav said. The government was also keen to set up 7 more vocational rehabilitation centres for the handicapped, 5 skill training workshops and 12 rural rehabilitation extension centres, he said. |
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‘Don’t panic over bio-terrorism’ New Delhi, October 29 Inaugurating a workshop on bio-terrorism here today, the minister cautioned that the threat to India was real, not imaginary. He said the government had started an exercise to assess the preparedness of our system. Two meetings of experts, hospital administrators and officials had been held this month. The government had decided to gear up the public health machinery, stock adequate amount of antidotes and organise Continuing Medical Education (CME) programmes for medical professionals. Listing the problems posed by biological terrorism and warfare, Dr Thakur said biological terrorism was more likely than before and more threatening than either explosives or chemicals. Official action directed at the threat had been marginally funded and minimally supported. He warned that preventing or countering bio-terrorism would be extremely difficult as recipes for making biological weapons could be accessed on the Internet and even groups with modest finances and basic training in biology and engineering could develop weapon at a little cost. The minister said specialists in infectious diseases constituted the front line of defence. The rapidity with which the specialists and emergency room personnel reached a proper diagnosis and the speed with which they took therapeutic measures could help prevent thousands of casualties. He said survival of physicians and healthcare staff caring for the patients might be at stake. |
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RSS generating insecurity: Cong New Delhi, October 29 Referring to the message of RSS chief on Dasehra, Congress chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy said, “the call to Hindus to protect themselves with firearms was both ridiculous and reprehensible.” Alleging that the RSS was trying to widen the communal divide, Mr Reddy said the call for protection through firearms was ridiculous in an age of miniature nuclear devices and remote-controlled explosives. “History shows that fascism comes into play if the majority community is given an insecurity complex,” he said. Expressing concern at the massacre of Christians in Pakistan, the Congress called upon the new government in Bangladesh to provide full protection to the minority Hindu community in that country as they were living under a new sense of insecurity. Asked about the party’s reaction to the proposal of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for a summit meeting with Mr Vajpayee in the USA during their forthcoming visit, Mr Reddy said only the Centre could take an appropriate decision on the issue as it had access to all information. “In principle, however, we remain committed to a dialogue between India and Pakistan,” Mr Reddy added. |
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No funds
for printing ration card forms Hanumangarh, October 29 Ration cards were issued to the city residents in 1997. Recent census shows increase in the population. Number of those eligible for ration cards has also increased. Ration cards printed four years ago are in bad condition. The office has been making efforts to print new cards for almost two years, but lack of funds is standing in the way. The office plans to issue cards to eligible residents and also it wants to eliminate ration cards issued illegally. Following government directions, the office had to issue blue coloured cards to LPG consumers having two cylinders, pink colour to families BPL and of other colours on basis of various categories. For this the office is seeking Rs 1 lakh needed to print ration cards. Now the office has got, printed the required 50,000 forms of ration cards for Rs 10,000, of which it has taken loan of Rs 5,000 from a local organisation and is trying to arrange the rest of the amount. For the printing of ration card forms the office approached the government printing press. It demanded Rs 1 lakh for printing 50,000 forms. This got the office in trouble. Sources said now the office has decided to take loans for printing of ration cards forms also from voluntary organisations which have agreed to lend. The office has decided to print cards in instalments of 10,000 each. Sources said the department was thinking to distribute cards and is hoping to repay the loans by charging two or three rupees from card seekers. |
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Dehra Dun, October 29
