Kolkata, October 16
The Calcutta High Court today ordered a CBI probe into the mysterious death of graphic designer, Rizwanur Rahaman, whose body was found on September 21 on the railway tracks near the Dum Dum station.

Rizwanur had married a businessman’s daughter Priyanka Todi under the Special Marriage Act on August 18, which the Todi family did not approve.

Following a writ petition filed by the victim’s mother, Kiswar Jahanand, and brother, Rukhbanur, in the high court, Justice Saumitra Pal today ordered a CBI probe into the death of Rizwanur and sought a report to the court in a sealed cover within two months. The court rejected the CID inquiry, ordered by the government in this connection, as null and void. But the court did not make any observation on the judicial inquiry already ordered by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee into the death case.

Rizwanur’s mother and other family members, friends and well-wishers were not happy with the decision of the CID inquiry as well as judicial probe. They all demanded CBI probe, which was also the demand of the Trinamool Congress, Congress and all other political parties, including the three major partners of the Left Front, namely, the CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc.

But the Chief Minister had ignored all their demands. Instead he stuck to the CID inquiry and the judicial probe. He also did not remove the senior police officials, including the two IPS, Ajoy Kumar (DCDD) and Gyanbanth Singh (DCHQ), allegedly involved in the death of Rizwanur. Bhattacharjee, who was in Purulia today for laying the foundation of a steel plant project at Raghunathpur, refused to make any comment on the high court’s judgment But Subahs Chakraborty, the state transport minister, alleged that the high court had over-stepped its jurisdiction, as it had no legal authority to order a CBI probe in this connection without the approval of the state government.

Meanwhile, the victim’s mother, relatives, friends and well-wishers welcomed the high court’s decision.

Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and Congress general secretary Manash Bhuia expressed satisfaction and advised the Chief Minister not to fight against today’s order in the higher court. 

New Delhi, October 16
Having earned the ire of parliamentarians for his controversial remark of “headless chickens” to describe those allegedly opposed to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, the two Houses of Parliament have summoned India’s Ambassador to Washington Ronen Sen to appear before their respective privileges committee.

While the Rajya Sabha decided to summon Sen before the privileges committee at a meeting yesterday chaired by deputy chairman K. Rahman Khan, the Lok Sabha had already decided in this regard.

The decision of the Rajya Sabha was unanimous and the meeting was attended by Ravi Shankar Prasad, S.S. Ahluwalia, Shantaram Naik and R.K. Dhawan. The next meeting of the privileges committee of the Rajya Sabha would be held on November 2 while that of the Lok Sabha was scheduled for October 29 and 30.

Sources in Parliament explained that firm dates were yet to be fixed for the appearance of Sen before the privileges committees.

The comments of Sen in an interview to Rediffnews.com in August had created a furore in both Houses of Parliament and to make amends, the Ambassador in the evening of his extended diplomatic career sought to make amends by tendering an unqualified apology to the ministry of external affairs. The high profile ministry in turn had pleaded that in view of the apology tendered by Sen, the matter be treated as closed.

However, parliamentarians were in no mood to accept the MEA’s suggestion and leave things at that. This was also because of the strong views expressed by members who went to the extent of demanding that Sen be called to the bar of the House and recalled as Ambassador immediately. Sen laboured hard to explain later that his comments referred to media persons and not to MPs.

Sensing the mood of the House, Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee had referred the matter to the privileges committee.

Embarrassed by the comments of Sen in respect of the Left and that opposing the deal would affect India’s credibility an have grave implications for Indo-US relations in future, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee expressed regret and said if the Ambassador had made this comments then they were “totally unwarranted and unacceptable”. At the same time the MPs condemned the undiplomatic behaviour of Sen.

Sen, a key protagonist of the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement and the architect behind scripting the resurrection of the 123 Agreement as it lay virtually dormant for several months, was aghast by the opposition to the deal from the Left not to speak of the BJP’s attempts to torpedo it. Judging by the angst of parliamentarians, Sen could well be at the receiving end.

Now, Manmohan Singh in a telephonic conversation with George Bush during his visit to Nigeria has expressed reservations in going ahead with the nuclear deal. It is apparent that the deal has been put on the back burner. 

Guwahati, October 16
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) today said it would be better for the Congress to forget the nuclear deal and George Bush for the survival of the UPA government.

CPM politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP, Sitaram Yechuri, said the party was not out to topple the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal and plunge the nation into mid-term elections, but it wanted to safeguard the interests of 110 crore Indians and the country’s prestige.

Delivering a speech on “Contemporary socio-economic and political situation: Left alternative” in a party forum here, he disclosed that the Left parties would ask for a clear-cut statement from the government on its specific plan with the Nuclear deal during the meeting of the UPA scheduled for October 22.

“The UPA government can survive by sticking to the common minimum programme (CMP) and putting the nuclear deal on the back burner as the operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal will be in violation of the CMP and it would put the country’s independent foreign policy under pressure of the US.”

He said, as per the CMP, the UPA government was supposed to pursue an independent foreign policy but the nuclear deal was in sharp contrast to it. “As per the agreement, Bush will have to ‘certify’ India’s conduct as far its foreign policy is concerned for continuation of the nuclear deal. It is a question of the country’s prestige,” he added.

“From the economic point of view, India can not afford the nuclear deal that is expected to generate 40,000 MW of electricity --- 10,000 MW from indigenous nuclear plants and rest 30,000 MW by importing nuclear reactors and nuclear fuels - at an exorbitant cost of Rs 30 crore per MW,” Yechuri said.

“Equal amount of electricity could be produced in the country by tapping its abundant resources of coal, natural gas, water, wind and solar energy by spending about Rs 2.5 lakh crore less. So why try to create work for US nuclear companies which have not received any order for the last 30 years. It will be prudent to use these precious resources in sectors like education, health for the sake of uniform socio-economic development,” he said.

Dehra Dun, October 16
Taking a serious view of the official laxity in ignoring the need for mandatory permission to undertake trekking expeditions in higher Himalayas in the region on the Indo-China border, the Uttarakhand government has asked for strict compliance of rules by the administrative top brass of the border districts concerned.

The government realised the seriousness of the matter after the presence of a 10-member Russian trekking team caught in heavy snow in Chamoli district came to light. Seven of them were rescued in a joint operation launched by the ITBP, the Air Force and the district administration. The team undertook the expedition without valid permission.

As per rules, the outsiders have to obtain inner line permits from the district administration concerned to move in the sensitive border districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Pithoragarh. In a missive to the respective district authorities, the state government has asked to ensure strictness in allowing the trekkers to move in the higher areas on the international border.

Sources, however, revealed to The Tribune that the rescued Russian trekkers were not aware of the rules requiring permission for undertaking trekking expeditions in the area. The revelation came after the rescued trekkers were questioned in this regard. The team members were not asked whether they had obtained permits when they were checked at forest and police post at Vasukitaal in Uttarakashi district from where they had set out. Interestingly, SDM, Bhatwari, P.C. Dandriyal disclosed that no permits were issued after September 19 due to hostile weather conditions.

According to Principal Secretary (home) N.S. Naplichiyal, a letter has also been sent to the union government to issue an advisory to High Commission offices of different countries to advise climbing teams from their countries to seek proper permission before undertaking any expeditions into the restricted high altitude areas along international boundaries.

Meanwhile, three trekkers, including a woman, are still trapped in heavy snowfall and helicopters could not operate to rescue them for the third consecutive day. In this situation, the Chamoli district authorities are depending on the ITBP team that has undertaken the rescue operation on foot. SDM, Joshimath, Nidhi Yadav said the trekkers would then be handed to the Uttarkashi administartion.

New Delhi, October 16
Women activists from various parts of the country have got together to form India’s first political party called United Women Front (UWF).

With Suman Krishna Kant as its national president, the party was launched in the Capital today.

Calling it a historic moment for the women in India, Prem Ahluwalia, general secretary of the UWF, promised that the party would address politically both traditional and modern issues related to women.

“It is after a long struggle that we have decided to take this step. We have not separated ourselves as women out of choice, but we were fed up raising our concerns on deaf ears,” she said.

The party claims to be a political party for women and its agenda includes all the facets of the mainstream Indian political scenario.

“We are not only raising the issues related to women but also the issues that affect the larger population like poverty, corruption and an overall degeneration of politics,” said Suman Krishna Kant.

Being the wife of former Vice-President of India late Krishna Kant, Suman has visited rural areas spreading awareness against alcoholism. “We are not averse to the idea of working with men. There are good men as well,” she said.

Constituting half the population of India, merely 8 per cent women are present in Parliament. The UWF’s main agenda right now is to ensure more than 33 per cent reservation in Parliament.

“Political parties have been mentioning it since forever. We want it to be implemented right away,” said Prem Ahluwalia.

With its registration already in place, the party is all set to fight the upcoming elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. “We have applied for the election symbol. It would be either torch or lamp,” added Shanti Das, working president of the front. The party has also made it clear that in case it’s not fielding any candidate, it will consider supporting other candidates with similar ideology.

The present membership of the UWF is around 150. For those, who are skeptical about the party, it will not take much time to test the ground experience with elections in two states just round the corner.

Mumbai, October 16
The Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), which has been awarded the contract to rehabilitate slum-dwellers living on land belonging to the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, will have to find alternative accommodation for people living in nearly 80,000 structures.

According to activists of the Mumbai Vimantal Rahivasi Sanghatan (MVRS), the slums are spread over 276 acres of land belonging to the airport. The Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (MIAL) company which is operating the airport, today said the contract had been awarded to the HDIL.

As per terms of the agreement between the MIAL and the HDIL, the latter will resettle the slum-dwellers over the next 48 months and develop the property to recover its costs.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority is the project implementing agency which will oversee the rehabilitation process.

Chairman of the MIAL, G.V. Krishna Reddy, said, “We have awarded the contract to the HDIL who has past experience in undertaking slum rehabilitation projects in Mumbai and has financial capabilities to undertake a project of this size. We are committed to undertaking a model slum rehabilitation exercise in line with the policy laid down by the Maharashtra government.”

New Delhi, October 16
Under constant threat of being dethroned, beleagured Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh looked set to get a reprieve after his 40-minute meeting with the new AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who has clearly emerged as alternative power centre in the Congress.

Deshmukh is not the first senior Congress leader who has come calling on the party scion after his induction as AICC general secretary. Among others who have met Gandhi junior at his Tughlak Lane in recent days include Union ministers P.Chidambram, Murli Deora and Oscar Fernandes.

Given Gandhi’s pre-eminent position in the Congress and the ongoing speculation about Deshmukh’s removal, it was only natural for the beleagured Maharashtra Chief Minister to have sought the party scion’s “blessings”.

Although Deshmukh has so far managed to survive despite constant talk of his removal, he was seen to be on the hit list when his bete noire Margaret Alva, AICC general secretary, was retained as Maharashtra in charge in the recent organisational reshuffle.

AICC sources said Gandhi evinced keen interest in the prevailing political situation in Maharashtra and also dwelt at length on the Congress party’s prospects in the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections in his meeting with Deshmukh. The two are also learnt to have discussed organisational deficiencies in the state unit and ways of strengthening the party organisation in Maharashtra with an eye on the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Although there is no official word on Deshmukh’s future, Congress leades maintain he appears to be out of the danger zone, as Congress president Sonia Gandhi is unlikely to make any changes in Maharashtra at this stage as it could create ripples in neigbhouring Gujarat where crucial assembly polls are to be held in December. Maharashtra leaders are generally drafted for election work in Gujarat, especially in the bordering constituencies.

Deshmukh must have gone back a relieved man today given that he has been in the eye of a storm for nearly two years.He was under attack for his government’s inaction on the Srikrishna Commission report and was even hauled up by Sonia Gandhi in this regard. He has been accused of being a slack administrator, who has not been able to deal firmly with critical issues like communal tension, internal security, farmers’ suicides and the power crisis in the state.

New Delhi, October 16
The BJP will seek to nail Virbhadra Singh government on the issues of corruption, unemployment, price rise, regionalism, slackness in development and nepotism during its campaign for the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh.

Former state Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal told The Tribune here that the BJP would hold 350 public meetings, apart from some large rallies across the state, to muster support for the party and highlight the failures of the Congress government. The BJP has planned a youth rally in Mandi in the third week of the next month.

The BJP has also drawn up a schedule for the process of selection of candidates for the second phase of polling-for 65 seats. Dhumal said all applications from the constituencies would reach the district units by November 5 which would then send them to the state office with necessary comments and observations by November 10.

The state election committee is expected to meet well before the start of nomination process to send its recommendations to the party's parliamentary board. He said the state election committee would strive to send single name recommendations.