But for Kant’s security,
terrorists would have
made it to Parliament: Azad

NEW DELHI, Dec 13: Congress leader and former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today said had it not been for .....more

Terrorists were part
of suicide squad:
Fernandes

NEW DELHI, Dec 13: The terrorists who attacked Parliament house today were part of a suicide squad and one of them blew himself up near the main ...more

Army jawan cremated
with military honours
in Dhule

NASIK, Dec 13: The 27-year old Army Jawan Keshav Digambar Mali, hailing from Maharashtra’s Dhule town, who was ...more

Kalazar spreads its
tentacles in North Bihar

DARBHANGA (BIHAR), Dec 13: Despite tall claims of the union Health Ministry in eradicating kalazar from the ......more

Kargil mine detectors
came in 2000, eight
months late

NEW DELHI, Dec 13: A major fear of the Indian Army as the Pakistanis vacated Kargil after the 1999 conflict was the small, deadly anti-personnel...more

Cong members move
privilege notice against
Chief Minister

BHUBANESWAR, Dec 13: Twelve opposition Congress members today moved privilege notices against Chief Minister Naveen ...more

Punjab Govt announces
pre-poll bonanza

CHANDIGARH, Dec 13: After the Prime Minister’s multi-crore rupee pre-poll development bonanza for Punjab, the State Government has upped the ante .......more

SC to decide on the
fate of Laloo’s bail today

NEW DELHI, Dec 13: The Supreme Court will pronounce tomorrow its decision on the question whether Rashtriya .....more
 

But for Kant’s security, terrorists would have made it to Parliament: Azad

NEW DELHI, Dec 13: Congress leader and former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today said had it not been for the Vice President’s security, the terrorists would have succeeded in entering Parliament house complex.

"If it was not for the Vice President’s security at gate number 11, the terrorists would have entered Parliament’s main building", he told newspersons.

Mr Azad said had Vice President Krishan Kant come out a little earlier it might have been a different picture. "The whole of Parliament was targeted and it was not an attack on a single individual or party."

He blamed the Government for scaling down security in sensitive areas instead of tightening it after the September 11 attacks.

Mr Azad said security should have been beefed up at places like Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House, residents of the Prime Minister and leader of the opposition.

Without giving details, Mr Azad said the security of individual MPs had also been withdrawn or down-graded.

It was an attack on the people of the nation as Parliament represents the citizens. (UNI)

Terrorists were part of suicide squad: Fernandes

NEW DELHI, Dec 13: The terrorists who attacked Parliament house today were part of a suicide squad and one of them blew himself up near the main gain on the Vijay Chowk side, according to Defence Minister George Fernandes.

The minister said the terrorists came to Parliament house in a White Ambassador (DL3CJ 1527) with a blaring siren. The car, he said had both Parliament house as well as Home Ministry stickers.

Immediately, after getting off the car, the terrorists opened indiscriminate fire and one of them who apparently had explosives strapped to his body blew himself up to cause maximum casualties.

Fernandes said under the hail of gunfire, the other terrorists rushed towards gate number 5 and 8. He said three of them were killed outside gate number 8 and one outside gate number 5.

He said he had himself seen the bodies of the slain terrorists and confirmed that six Delhi police personnel had been killed. Chinese made grenades, AK-47 and RDX were found at the spot, he said.

"Their (terrorists) intentions were very sinister but the security forces acted promptly.... Government would have to come down heavily on this." He said.

The minister said the attack was not unexpected as there were intelligence inputs that Parliament house could be targeted along with some eminent personalities.

The troops, carrying rocket launchers, in full battle-gear were standing outside the residence and office of the Prime Minister and the residence of leader of the opposition Sonia Gandhi. Soldiers were also standing outside the residence of Home Minister L K Advani.

Official sources, however, said the security of the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition was continuing to be looked after by the elite Special Protection Group. (PTI)

Army jawan cremated with military honours in Dhule

NASIK, Dec 13: The 27-year old Army Jawan Keshav Digambar Mali, hailing from Maharashtra’s Dhule town, who was killed after a gun-battle with militants in Kashmir Valley on December 8, was cremated with full military honours, near here yesterday.

Three rounds of shots were fired in the air as a mark of respect to the departed soul, official sources said.

Mali of 26th Maratha Regiment, was posted in Dochang area of Surankot in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.

During ‘Operation Rakshak three’, Mali, alongwith other Army personnel, was on patrolling duty when militants fired at them, killing eight persons, including a Major and Subhedar while Mali and four others were seriously injured.

Mali was admitted to Udhampur Army Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. (PTI)

Kalazar spreads its tentacles in North Bihar

DARBHANGA (BIHAR), Dec 13: Despite tall claims of the union Health Ministry in eradicating kalazar from the country, the disease has taken an epidemic form in Biraul sub-division in Darbhanga district of North Bihar.

Kalazar has taken the form of epidemic and has engulfed the entire Biraul subdivision, Darbhanga district malaria and kalazar officer Dr Sandeep Mitra said.

The situation will blow out of proportion if preventive measures were not taken in right earnest, he said.

He said the Centre had not taken pains to supply any alternative medicine after the state was disallowed to use sodium antimony gluconate.

Exasperated with the apathetic attitude of the Government, the local health officials have messages to Non-Government Organisations to extend help in the treatment of kalazar patients as phangizone was not even being supplied at Government level.

‘Nadi Vapsi Abhiyan Samiti’, an NGO, said some 389 people were presently suffering from kalazar, while the disease had taken lives of 307 people last year. At least 80 per cent of youth have died of the disease in the area.

Some of the families has been completely wiped out due to the spreading disease, Samiti patron Ranjeev said.

Meanwhile, kalazar has so far taken lives of 75 people in Dighibhapar village under the subdivision. Apart from this the very existence of Mushar was at stake due to the spread of the disease as the section were living in miserable conditions due to poverty. They were helpless and even could not bear the treatment expenditures.

He said neighter the central nor the State Governments were paying any attention on them.

Located just ten km away from block headquarters at Kusheshwar sthan, this village has over 24 patients of kalazar.

The living condition and prevailing poverty in the areas had compounded the problems of the people residing there.

The people depended on crabs and earth worms and other insects for their survival as they could not afford to buy vegetables and other nutritious food for their family.

The unhygienic living conditions, non availability of pure drinking water and other dirty habits have helped spread of the disease. Furthermore illiteracy had also aggravated the situation as the people of the hamlet still prefer to contact the quacks and traditional ‘Ojhas’ for the treatment in case they fell ill.

The entire atmosphere of the village is conducive for breading of sand flies responsible for kalazar as there is no public lavatory, drainage system and cleanliness arrangements.

Meanwhile the District Magistrate of Darbhanga held a meeting recently with the officials of the Health Department and reviewed the actual situation.

The magistrate said that a survey would be done within a week to assess the actual situation. However, funds were immediately released to purchase medicines and all health centres had been instructed to make special arrangements for treatment of kalazar patients, he said. (UNI)

Kargil mine detectors came in 2000, eight months late

NEW DELHI, Dec 13: A major fear of the Indian Army as the Pakistanis vacated Kargil after the 1999 conflict was the small, deadly anti-personnel mines left strewn around by the intruders but despite mounting injuries to troops, it took the Government more than eight months to get hand held mine detectors from a German firm.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which unearthed major scams on procurements for Operation Vijay, said the supply of 1800 mine detectors at a cost of Rs 10 crore was made by a German firm only by February, 2000 although it was a Kargil emergency procurement.

The non-metallic plastic mines laid by the Pakistanis had caused injuries to many soldiers and it was reported that as many as 8,500 of these dangerous mines had been scattered in the kargil sector. With troops sweeping the area to clear the mines, the Indian army projected the requirement for hand held mine detectors in June, 1999.

"Even though the indent was raised in June, 1999 (by the Army headquarters) indicating requirement for Operation Vijay, bids were invited only in July, 1999, negotiations held in August, 1999, and the contract for supply of 1800 mine detectors at a cost of 4.26 million Deutsch Marks concluded in October, 1999, well after the operation was over", the CAG said.

The CAG said the supply was to be effected after opening of letter of credit but the Government delayed it by two months.

Although the supply was completed by February, 2000, the inspections were not carried out till June, 2000 on the plea that the firm’s representative did not participate in the inspection even though no such provision was envisaged in the contract.

The audit scrutiny revealed that the multi purpose boots worth Rs 1.85 crore bought from a swiss firm were too small, the troops had to make do with defective gloves as those ordered from italy for Rs 10.22 crore were supplied in December and woollen socks worth Rs 5.86 crore from Switzerland were not warm enough as there was a variance of wool and polyamide content.

A test check by the CAG revealed that 24 cases involving an expenditure of Rs 1388.91 crore were made on grounds of urgent requirement for Op Vijay. Audit, scrutiny however revealed that the excuse of Kargil was cited to push through procurements that would otherwise have been scrutinised more closely.

In 22 cases, aggregating Rs 514.04 crore, store procured did not conform to the qualitative requirements of the Army. Also, in 34 cases, aggregating Rs 656.74 crore, stores were procured in excess of authorisation and requirements. In 12 cases, worth Rs 157.71 crore, contracts were concluded with vendors other than the lowest. The extra expenditure on this account worked out to Rs 21.16 crore. In six cases, stores indigenously available were imported at a total cost of Rs 79.10 crore.

The CAG said in 35 cases relaxation of rules and procedures led to the Government knowingly paying Rs 24.21 crore more for certain items and ordering supplies worth Rs 260.55 crore which did not meet the qualitative requirements. The Government was saddled with shelf-life expired ammunition worth Rs 91.86 crore and purchases in excess of requirement aggregating Rs 107.97 crore.

"Furthermore, delays at various stages of processing the cases hindered timely deployment of stores aggregating Rs 199.42 crore.

While critical supplies of clothing, ammunition and arms could not reach troops during the operation, an amount of Rs 1046 crore, almost half of the total, entirely in foreign exchange, was spent fruitlessly, breaching established principles of propriety. (UNI)

Cong members move privilege notice
against Chief Minister

BHUBANESWAR, Dec 13: Twelve opposition Congress members today moved privilege notices against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for "misleading" the Assembly on the vigilance inquiry into the alleged kickback in the purchase of groundnut seeds in the state.

The privilege notice against the Chief Minister was moved a day after the ruling BJD-BJP members brought the same against the leader of opposition Ramakanta Mishra (Congress) for "misleading" the house on the CAG report on the groundnut scam.

The issue was first raised by Mr Umesh Swain (Congress) during the zero hour when, raising on a point of order, he drew the attention of the chair stating that Mr Patnaik had "misled" the house by withholding the information on vigilance inquiry into the seeds scam.

The house witnessed uproarious scenes for some time as the members from the treasury bench opposed the move of the Congress member for the privilege notice against the leader of the house. Congress chief whip Santosh Singh Saluja wanted to know why the vigilance inquiry announced by the Chief Minister did not find a mention in the statement of Agriculture Minister Amar Prasad Satpathy during his reply on the groundnut seeds scam debate on December six.

He said the Chief Minister had "misled" the house by stating that he had already ordered a vigilance inquiry into the scam on November 22 immediately after the matter was reported in the newspapers.

Mr Kalpataru Das (BJD) who moved a privilege notice against the leader of opposition yesterady for "misquoting" the CAG report in connection with the scam, said the Chief Minister, being the leader of the house, had the right to intervene and supplement the statement of all his council of ministers.

Congress member Prasad Harichandan, however, took objection to Mr Das’s clarification saying that the rule did not permit him to do so. Mr Ashok Das (Janata Dal-S) said there should not be any scope for discussion on the privilege notice when the chair had already ruled that he would look into the matter.

Deputy Speaker Ram Chandra Panda, who was in the chair, said he had already received 12 such privilege notices against the Chief Minister. Since all the notices were identical in nature, he would study and examine those before giving his ruling, he added. (UNI)

Punjab Govt announces pre-poll bonanza

CHANDIGARH, Dec 13: After the Prime Minister’s multi-crore rupee pre-poll development bonanza for Punjab, the State Government has upped the ante for opposition in the run-up to the Assembly election in February next by making a series of populist announcements in a bid to woo the electorate.

The state cabinet, in its meeting held here last night, decided to provide accident insurance cover to 40 lakh school students, two per cent reservation to Vimukat jatis in Government jobs, scrapped Anandgarh and Ranjitgarh townships projects, granted pension and gratutity to lecturers working in 140 Government-aided private colleges in Punjab, raised monthly pension of freedom fighters and their widows, set up 26 new sub-tahsils, reduced entertainment duty on cinema houses, set up elementary education directorate and grant of Rs 15 lakhs to Idgah at Malerkotla town.

The Council of Ministers, presided over by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at his official residence, declared noted Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans as "Raj Gayak" (state singer) in recognition of his distinguished services for promotion of cultural heritage of Punjab. Higher Education Minister Master Mohan, in a statement here today, appealed to the lecturers to call off their agitation now that the cabinet has cleared the pension-cum-gratuity scheme for teaching and non-teaching staff working against covered posts in private-aided colleges from April 26,1999.

A Government spokesman today said the state will meet the expenditure for the implementation of this scheme. While this important demand of the college teachers, who have been boycotting house tests and courting arrests since December four, has been met, the agitators and their respective college managements have also been demanding that uncovered posts should also brought in the ambit of the scheme by regularising them against 95 per cent grant-in-aid by the Government. The teachers launched agitation to press the Government that it and not the college managements should take responsibility for implementing the scheme.

The student safety insurance scheme for school children from class one to 12th would cover risks against injury, death and theft of books for amount varying from Rs 250 (for loss of books) to Rs 25,000 in the event of death or total handicap due to damage to atleast two organs like eye, hands and legs. The scheme provides for a maximum medical expense of upto Rs 1000. The spokesman said total premium for the scheme would be paid by the Government. It is understood that it would entail a monthly expenditure of Rs 40 lakh for as many school students at the rate of monthly premium of Rs one per student.

By dropping the controversial Anandgarh project, the cabinet stamped the announcement made by the Chief Minister early last month much to relief of people whose land was to be acquired for setting up the new township the Government had announced on the occasion of Khalsa tercentenary in April,1999. The cabinet is also understood to have authorised the Punjab Advocate General to withdraw Special Leave Petition (SLP) the Government had filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the decision of Punjab and Haryana High Court which had quashed the Government notification for acquiring land for the project. Anandgarh was to be set up virtually in the periphery of Chandigarh and villagers whose land was to be acquired for it had challanged it in the High Court.

Ranjitgarh, which was conceived by the Congress Government of late Darbara Singh two decades ago but had been defunct all these years, was to come up on the banks of river Sutluz near Phillaur town of Punjab.

The cabinet raised monthly pension from Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 for 6800 freedom fighters and their widows from November one. It would cost the state exchequer Rs 3.40 crore in the current financial year, an official release said.

The Government’s decision reducing entertainment duty on cinema houses from 125 per cent to 50 per cent with flat rate and also the decrease by 33 per cent in lumpsum tax for each category of cinema hall would provide big relief to cinema owners and help reduce ticket rate in Punjab. (UNI)

SC to decide on the fate of Laloo’s bail today

NEW DELHI, Dec 13: The Supreme Court will pronounce tomorrow its decision on the question whether Rashtriya Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav could approach the court directly bypassing the Jharkhand High Court for bail, denied to him by a Ranchi special court in one of the multi-crore fodder scam related cases.

A decision on the question was pressed by the CBI before a bench of Justice K T Thomas and Justice S N Phookan during arguments on Mr Yadav’s bail plea.

CBI counsel Mukul Rohtagi strongly opposed Mr Yadav’s bail plea on the sole ground that he could not directly move the apex court for bail bypassing the High Court. He also opposed the bail plea on merit.

The counsel contended that it would set a bad precedence if Mr Yadav’s plea was accepted by the court.

He submitted that while the bail pleas of other accused in the fodder scam cases were not directly entertained there should not be any exception in this case simply because the accused was a former Chief Minister.

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mr Yadav, submitted that it would be against the interest of justice if his client had to go to jail on the same allegations in different fodder scam related cases.

He also told the court that there were instances in which the apex court had granted bail to the accused persons who had directly approached it against the orders of the trial courts.

The court also reserved its verdict on a similar bail plea by former Bihar Chief Minister Jaganath Mishra in custody after dismissal of his bail plea by a Ranchi special court.

Sibal said Laloo was not the first accused in the fodder scam to approach the Supreme Court for bail as earlier the apex court had granted bail two accused including Animal Husbandry Department’s top official and main accused S B Sinha, who has since died.

He said Laloo had been incarcerated in jail for about eight months in four fodder scam cases in which he had been chargesheeted.

The court would have to consider his bail plea in the light of its earlier ruling that if an accused had undergone judicial custody for more than five months he should not be confined to jail merely because he had been chargesheeted in cases where sentence is not death or life imprisonment, Laloo’s counsel argued.

The CBI counsel said the apex court had earlier rejected bail applications of two other accused in the case Mahinder Prasad and Tripuri Mohan.

Laloo is currently lodged in a camp jail at Ranchi’s Bacon factory guest house after he surrendered before the special judge on November 26, which had issued non-bailable warrants to him, Mishra and 31 other accused.

CBI accused them of being involved in a conspiracy related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 139.35 crore from a treasury in Doranda, in excess to the State Animal Husbandry Department’s budget between 1998-96. (PTI)

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