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SGPC members warn Kamaljit’s family against ‘bhog’

JALANDHAR, May 1: A number of SGPC members of Doaba region of Punjab today warned the family members .....more

Parkash Singh Badal

CHANDIGARH, May 1: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that dissident Akali legislator Ravi Inder .....more

Uma Bharti

UMA begins fast unto death against MP Govt decision

BHOPAL, May 1: Firebrand BJP leader and Lok Sabha MP from Bhopal, Uma Bharti today began her fast unto........more

‘Culture campus’ to be set up in Tehri

DEHRA DUN, May 1: A ‘Sanskriti Parisar’ (culture campus) will be established in the Tehri region of the Garhwal hills in order to .....more

Arun Jaitley

24-hour Gujarati DD channel launched

AHMEDABAD, May 1: Radio FM regional channels would be launched in different languages by the end of the year .....more

Mamata Banerjee

Free 2nd class rly season tickets to girl students

NEW DELHI, May 1: Railway Ministry has directed the zonal railways to provide free second class monthly season tickets to girl students up to Class ...more

Depot fire reduces Mandwani to ashes

MANDAWANI (BHARATPUR), May 1: Friday’s fire at the Bharatpur ammunition depot has caused widespread destruction in this village leaving ..more

Dehydration in border village posing a challenge

GADRA ROAD (RAJASTHAN), May 1: There are wrinkles on the forehead of the doctor at the primary health care at this drought-ravaged village near ......more

SGPC members warn Kamaljit’s family against ‘bhog’

JALANDHAR, May 1: A number of SGPC members of Doaba region of Punjab today warned the family members of Kamaljit, the youth who claims to be the husband of SGPC chief Jagir Kaur’s deceased daughter, against holding a parallel bhog (last prayers) for Kaur’s daughter Harpreet, who died under mysterious circumstances recently.

Eleven SGPC members led by advocate Partap Singh, in a written statement here, said the decision of the family of Kamaljit to organise the parallel bhog for Harpreet was ridiculous and amounted to rubbing salt into our wounds.

Harpreet had died under mysterious circumstances with her mother claiming that the death was caused by food poisoning while Kamaljit, hailing from Begowal village, later surfaced with claims that he was a lover of the deceased and had married and fathered her son.

The SGPC members Jang Bahadur Singh Rai, Jiwan Singh Bhandal, Shangara Singh Lohian, Jaimal Singh Sultanpur Lodhi, Ranjit Singh, Harbhajan Kaur Dogranwala, Gurdip Kaur, Surinder Kaur Lalian, Mohinder Singh Hussainpur and Tarlocahn Singh Dopalpuri said before talking about organising the parallel bhog, Kamlajit’s family should first educate itself about Sikh traditions of marriage.

We warn the parents and sisters of Kamaljit that if they did not desist from their shameful actions, the consequences would not be good, the SGPC members said.

They said Kamaljit was playing into the hands of political rivals of Bibi Kaur.

Kaur was hand-picked by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to head the SGPC and the appointment was largely hailed as she was the first woman to head the premier Sikh Shrine Management Panel. (PTI)

No one can topple Akali Govt: Badal

CHANDIGARH, May 1: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that dissident Akali legislator Ravi Inder Singh’s claim about toppling his Government was baseless and weightless as rebels have no standing in the state.

No BJP leader met Ravi Inder Singh over the issue of toppling SAD-BJP alliance Government as is being claimed by the rebel leader, the Chief Minister told reporters after the oath taking ceremony of Himachal Pradesh Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri as Punjab Governor.

The Punjab Governor J F R Jacob has gone on 18 days leave to the United States.

Asked about Singh’s repeated claim of toppling Badal’s Government, the SAD President said why BJP leadership would meet Ravi. He does not represent any party and moreover he does not carry weight as a leader in Punjab.

The Chief Minister said that there was complete understanding between the Akali Dal and its partner. The two would also contest the next Assembly elections jointly and form the Government, he claimed.

He said both Singh and Sarv Hind Shiroma Ni Akali Dal (SHSAD) chief G S Tohra were conspiring with the Congress to weaken the Akali Dal.

The two leaders are trying to topple my Government not for themselves, but for Punjab Congress chief Capt Amrinder Singh, he said.

Accusing the Congress of doing the maximum damage to the country in the last many years, he said that today the country is in doldrums on all fronts as a result of weak policies followed by the Congress over the years. (PTI)

UMA begins fast unto death against MP Govt decision

BHOPAL, May 1: Firebrand BJP leader and Lok Sabha MP from Bhopal, Uma Bharti today began her fast unto death’ agitation here, to protest Government decision to retrench about 30,000 daily wage employees.

Addressing a gathering, including state BJP working president Vikram Verma and about 20 others who were on chain-fast with her, near the State Matralaya, the former Union Minister said Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh had urged her to postpone the stir till May 6 as the state machinery was busy with the "village contact programme".

Bharati said she told Singh that she would put off her agitation on conditions that the Government accepted her three demands "on principle" — reinstating sacked daily wage employees, no professional tax on those below income tax limits and issuance of white paper on the circular to retiring Government staff who have served over 20 years and aged above 50 years.

The Chief Minister firmly said that he would not give any assurance on any of the demands, Bharti said, adding he merely said that he was concerned about her health that is why he was pursuing her not to launch the agitation.

Those who began chain-fast with Bharti include representatives of MP Government Employees Association, Forest Muster Daily Wage Employees Union, Time Keepers’ Association, Diploma Engineers’ Association, MP Dalit Karmachari Congress Association, Water Resources Employees Union and several sacked daily wage workers. (PTI)

‘Culture campus’ to be set up in Tehri

DEHRA DUN, May 1: A ‘Sanskriti Parisar’ (culture campus) will be established in the Tehri region of the Garhwal hills in order to preserve the artefacts of the area submerged by the Tehri dam project.

State Culture Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said here yesterday that the Sanskriti Parisar would be constituted by the Tehri Hydroelectric Development Corporation (THDC). Mr Pokhriyal was addressing a meeting at the circuit house regarding the safety and re-establishment of the temples of the Tehri region.

The minister directed the THDC officials to construct an auditorium, a museum, a mini stadium, an art gallery and a "Dharamshala’ in the culture campus to preserve the cultural identity of the region being submerged by the Tehri Hydroelectric Project.

The minister nominated Additional District Magistrate fo Tehri as the nodal officer for the project of the culture campus.

Mr Pokhriyal also directed the officials concerned to discuss the matter with Mr Manvendra Shah, MP, and president of the temple board of Tehri.

The Government would cooperate in every way with the THDC in setting up the culture campus, the minister said.

Mr Vijay Kumar Ghildiyal, ADM, Tehri, said the Temple Board of Tehri was engaged in maintaining 66 temples located in the submerged region of the Tehri dam. The state administration provided Rs 78,440 annually for these temples, he added.

Eighteen of these temples were to be re-established during the first phase of re-establishment, Mr Ghildiyal said.

THDC’s Assistant General Manager Subhash Sharma, Regional Archives Officer Lalta Prasad, Additional Commissioner (Garhwal) P S Jangpani and various other officials were present at the meeting. (UNI)

24-hour Gujarati DD channel launched

AHMEDABAD, May 1: Radio FM regional channels would be launched in different languages by the end of the year on the lines of Doordarshan, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley said here today.

Speaking at a function held to launch 24-hour Gujarati Satellite Channel of Doordarshan, the minister said it was an appropriate gift to the Gujaratis on the occasion of the formation day of the state today.

In the past four months, Doordarshan had launched eight regional channels namely in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bangla, Gujarati (whose all programmes were being beamed through satellite) and Kashmiri (at present dependent on terrestrial network), he added.

Beamed through INSAT 2C satellite, the programmes of the Gujarati regional Doordarshan channel could be accessed in 34 countries including Pakistan and China.

Being public service oriented, Doordarshan could not be expected to be motivated by profit alone, Jaitley said.

Doordarshan would try to improve its technology and software but would not jettison its role as public service utility. "Though our programmes would provide entertainment and information, we would not have the private television channels as our role models", the minister added.

Speaking on the occasion, union home minister l k advani said the electronic medium was very influential and the country was witnessing a media explosion for second time after emergency.

"Immediately after the emergency was lifted, there was an explosion in print medium which during the period when civil liberties were suspended existed in a suffocating atmosphere.

Now we are amidst a second explosion which was taking place in the electronic medium because of development of new technologies and launch of powerful satellites", Advani said.

However, he reminded that the Doordarshan always would have a social role to fulfill.

Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel expressed happiness that the programmes beamed in the Gujarati Doordarshan channel could be seen in 34 countries.

He said he has been informed that soon the programmes could be seen in the USA, where it was not reaching at present, having a sizeable Gujarati population.

Asking the Gujaratis settled abroad to preserve their culture and language, the Chief Minister said the State Government has set up a separate department to address the problems of the non-resident Gujaratis.

He said next week a Nrg Bhavan would be opened here with a view to provide accommodation facilities for the visiting nrgs, Keshubhai Patel added. (PTI)

Free 2nd class rly season tickets to girl students

NEW DELHI, May 1: Railway Ministry has directed the zonal railways to provide free second class monthly season tickets to girl students up to Class 12.

The monthly season tickets would enable girl students for commuting daily between their homes and the schools.

The instruction follows an announcement in this regard in the 2000-2001 budget proposals presented in Parliament by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.

So far the free second class monthly season tickets were being provided to all students studying up to Class 10.

The facility shall also continue to be available to boys studying up to Class 10, an official release said today. (PTI)

Depot fire reduces Mandwani to ashes

MANDAWANI (BHARATPUR), May 1: Friday’s fire at the Bharatpur ammunition depot has caused widespread destruction in this village leaving nearly 200 people homeless and destroying large storage of wheat, a senior police officer said here.

This village located seven kilometres northeast of the ordnance depot bore the maximum brunt of the flying shells and other ammunition including grads (used in multi-barell rocket launch vehicles) and most of the houses and thatched huts kept burning even 24 hours after the depot tragedy.

Residents of Mandawani fled to places as far as Agra and Jaipur. However, it was not a welcome return for them as they saw their houses reduced to ashes.

My home has been reduced to ashes and I do not know where to stay in the scortching sun, says Rama Devi, a resident of this village.

The Superintendent of Police (Bharatpur range) Madhusudan Singh said the winds on Friday were blowing in the direction of the village and caused severe damage here.

A shocked Sukhi Ram, a resident of this village, does not know what is in store for him as the yield of his hard-work (wheat) has been reduced to ashes.

I do not know what I will do for the near future as I do not have anything to feed my family, Sukhi Ram, who had returned from Jaipur said.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who visited the village yesterday asked the district administration to provide relief. Dev Raj, another resident of the village, is busy salvaging house-hold articles from the ruin the fire caused. At least this would be of some help while building a new house, says Raj, picking up some mud bricks from the ashes.

Meanwhile, reports of theft were pouring in from some villages but the authorities confirmed only one.

Madhusudan Singh, SP, said police has registered two cases of theft from village Kasuda and we believe that people who did not leave during Friday’s melee were responsible for the act.

He said that police was investigating the incidents and would soon apprehend the culprits.

In a related development, Gehlot announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 50,000 to the next of kins of those killed in the ordnance depot fire here on Friday last.

Gehlot also went around hospital and villages and saw the extent of damage caused by explosion of shells and rockets.

The Chief Minister also visited the houses of those killed and gave a relief of Rs 10,000 on the spot.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by State Home Minister G S Shaktawat and former Chief Minister of the State Jagannath Phadia. (PTI)

Dehydration in border village posing a challenge

GADRA ROAD (RAJASTHAN), May 1: There are wrinkles on the forehead of the doctor at the primary health care at this drought-ravaged village near Indo-Pak border. As you talk to him, early signs of worry are discernible in him.

With acute shortage of drinking water, dehydration is posing a big challenge and some cases of diarrohea have already been reported, says Dr B L Soni, incharge of the Primary Health Care with just six staff and limited stock of medicines catering to 40 villages.

There is no epidemic yet. But dehydration problem is turning serious with every passing day, he says.

The scarcity of water and fodder has taken a heavy toll on the cattles in the area and forced migration of people of the village.

The entire region west of Barmer district under which Gadra Road falls is littered with carcasses, mostly of sheep and cow. Once in a while, one comes across carcasses of camels too.

Life has been particularly cruel to farmers and those rearing cattle.

The migration has consequently not stopped. In a village of 500 households, one or two from each of them has left the village in search of greener pastures, said 65-year-old Udara whose son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren have also joined the exodus.

Another man ready to leave the village is pan-shop owner Udham Lal. But he has no idea where to go.

Sahib, I’ll go anywhere. Take me along. I’ll do anything, says Lal. Desperation and the urge to live on are unmistakable in his eyes and voice as he walks towards the tiny railhead outside the village.

Udham Lal is not alone in his quest for a better place to live. Others are waiting at the gadra road bus stand and railway station waiting to be transported out. (PTI)