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power cuts due to various faults not sabotage NEW DELHI, July 4: Amid repeated long-duration power cuts in the capital, Delhi Government.......more FIR registered against MADURAI, July 4: Police today registered a FIR against MDMK leader and MP Vaiko and eight .....more Jaswant to instill NEW DELHI, July 4: Asserting that the nation’s economic fundamentals are sound, the new Finance...more MP Speaker and Dy CM BHOPAL, July 4: Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Speaker Sriniwas Tiwari and Deputy Chief.....more |
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Interstate narcotic gang busted CHANDIGARH, July 4: In an interstate narcotic gang bust, the Haryana Police recovered 704 gms of....more Ruling BJD retains BHUBANESWAR, July 4: The ruling Biju Janata Dal today retained the Nayagarh Assembly seat......more I left no stone unturned NEW DELHI, July 4: Denying charges of being indifferent during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the then ......more Sanjay denies making MUMBAI, July 4: Film star Sanjay Dutt today denied making a telephone call from.....more |
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Delhi
Govt says power cuts due to various NEW DELHI, July 4: Amid repeated long-duration power cuts in the capital, Delhi Government today said disruption in power supply during past two days was due to various faults and not sabotage as Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit reviewed the situation with officials of the Government and the two private companies responsible for power distribution. The meeting held three days after power transmission was handed over to Tata Power and BSEs was informed that the problem in the Northern Grid and other such faults were responsible for the breakdowns, official sources said. The officials of Tata Power and BSEs, who attended the meeting, ruled out any sabotage by the employees of the erstwhile Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) as was speculated being cause of the breakdowns. The officials of the companies said the employees were fully cooperating and there were no apprehensions on account of their performance, the sources said. The peak power demand yesterday was recorded at 3050 mws. Several parts of Delhi have been facing power cuts which at times range for hours causing immense problems to the people in the sultry heat conditions. Dikshit said 105 mw of power generated by Pragati power would supplement the electricty available to help improve the situation. She said the private companies should be given some more time to demonstrate their performance as these had been handed over power distribution only three days back, they said. Consumer satisfaction should be the top priority, Dikshit told the meeting convened to build "effective cooperation between Transcom (transmission company), Gencom (generating company) and Discom (distribution companies). Delhi Chief Secretary Shailja Chandra and Power Secretary Ramesh Chandra also attended the meeting. (PTI) |
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FIR registered against Vaiko, eight others MADURAI, July 4: Police today registered a FIR against MDMK leader and MP Vaiko and eight others under POTA and Unlawful Activities Act of 1967 in what is considered to be a prelude to arresting him for his pro-LTTE statements. Police have also formed a special team to nab Vaiko when he returns to India from the us, indicating that they were all "serious" on arresting him, a top police officer said. This was the first time that FIR was being filed in the state under POTA. Cases against Vaiko and the eight others, Veera Ilavarasan, Bhoominathan, Madurai Ganesan, Azhagusundaram, P S Maniam, Erode Ganesamurthy, Nagarajan, Sivandhi Appan, had been registered under IPC 120(B) and 109 of the IPC, dealing with unlawful assembly and conspiracy. Police registered a case on a complaint filed by the Thirumangalam Town Inspector Thangavelu, who said that Vaiko had stated in a meeting that "he supported the LTTE yesterday, today, and would support it tomorrow." Vaiko’s utterances were against provisions of POTA which clearly stated that a person should not support banned terrorist outfits. Meanwhile, a police officer told PTI that cases had been registered against all the nine persons who addressed the meeting at Thirumangalam on June 29. The sources told PTI that two of those against whom cases had been registered had been taken into custody but police refused to confirm the arrest. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had written to the Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on tuesday that her Government had no other option except to arrest Vaiko under POTA for his pro-LTTE utterances. (PTI) |
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Jaswant to instill confidence in investors NEW DELHI, July 4: Asserting that the nation’s economic fundamentals are sound, the new Finance Minister Jaswant Singh today said his top priority would be to address some of the infirmity in regulatory mechanism, instill confidence in investors and take steps to improve the standard of living of the people. "I do believe the fundamentals are sound and I shall endeavour to strengthen them. We need to address the regulatory mechanism which had shown some infirmity," Singh who assumed office as the country’s 29th Finance Minister, told reporters. Apart from attending to infirmity in the regulatory mechanism, which shall be done in due course, Singh said a much greater sense of confidence needed to be instilled in investors, domestic and foreign, besides trade,industry and commerce. Stressing that he does not treat the functions of Finance Minister as that of a "policeman", Singh said in simple terms the job is to ensure food for all, especially the poor. Also, he said the job of the Finance Minister is to ensure that more spending power is provided to citizens. "There should be more money in his (citizen’s) pocket and more money in housewife’s purse," he said. Turning to the economy, Singh said prices are under reasonable control, balance of payments comfortable and fundamentals are sound. "I have to continue to strengthen the fundamentals and to address some of the infirmities," Singh said adding the 5.4 per cent growth in GDP in 2001-02 was no mean achievement considering the difficult global economic situation and several other adverse factors. There were, however, certain deficiencies in the fundamentals which needed to be addressed, he added. To a question on what he proposed to do about several important economic legislations that were pending for quite some time, Singh said when Parliament session starts "we will be addressing all those.(PTI) |
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I left no stone unturned during 84 riots: Rao NEW DELHI, July 4: Denying charges of being indifferent during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the then Home Minister P V Narasimha Rao has submitted before the Justice Nanavati Commission that he "left no stone unturned" in discharging his duty during the communal carnage that followed the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. "Despite my sorrow at the death of the late Prime Minister, I was fully conscious of my onerous duty and left no stone unturned in the full discharge of my duty. At no point of time was I indifferent in any way. There was never any question of callousness on my part," the former Prime Minister said in his statement filed before the Commission. Mr Rao, who had appeared before the Commission on May two, was asked by the panel to file a written submission explaining his role during the riots in the context of allegations of some witnesses that he was indifferent and inaccessible during the communal carnage. Former Union Minister Ram Jethmalani and Sikh historian Patwant Singh had alleged before the Commission that Mr Rao seemed "indifferent" when they called on him during the riots. While Mr Jethmalani had gone to meet the Home Minister on the evening of October 31—the day Mrs Gandhi was assassinated, Mr Patwant Singh called on Mr Rao along with former Prime Minister I K Gujral and Gen J S Aurora on November one. About charges of inaccessibility during the riots, Mr Rao said: "I never avoided to talk to any important person. I remained in touch with the authorities continuously and gave them information as well as necessary instructions." Former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, in his deposition before the Commission, had stated that on November one he had tried to contact Mr Rao over phone from the Rashtrapati Bhawan but despite his hour-long efforts the Home Minister did not come on line. Mr Paswan had gone to meet President Zail Singh along with former Prime Minister Charan Singh and former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal to express their concern over the communal violence. The President had suggested them to contact the Home Minister. Mr Rao, who was also accused of being busy attending foreign dignitaries amidst the riots, said that in the absence of External Affairs Minister at that time he had to help in receiving foreign dignitaries at the Teen Murti House. However, "my duty as Home Minister continued to remain my primary concern." he added. About his sense of duty, Mr Rao said: "This was never called in question all these years at any time. Any such attempt at insinuation after the lapse of such a long time could only be an afterthought without any basis or iota of truth." In his statement, Mr Rao also gave a detailed account of his activities right from the moment he received the news of attack on Mrs Gandhi at around 1100 hrs while he was in Hanumakonda, his constituency headquarters in Andhra Pradesh. He said that after hearing the news he immediately left for New Delhi by a BSF plane and from the palam airport he drove straight to All India Institute of Medical Sciences where Mrs Gandhi’s body was kept. It was at aiims that he learnt that Mrs Gandhi was already dead. "There was no time even to grieve. A duty lay ahead," he said. Mr Rao then goes on to narrate that he had to attend a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Board wherein it was decided that Mr Rajiv Gandhi be sworn as the next Prime Minister. Mr Gandhi was sworn in at Rashtrapati Bhawan in the evening. Immediately after the swearing-in, he said, a meeting of the cabinet was held. "The cabinet gave general clearance to the steps that would need to be taken, including imposition of curfew, deployment of police personnel and also using army units in whatever manner it was required." (UNI) |
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Sanjay denies making call to Dawood’s brother in Dubai MUMBAI, July 4: Film star Sanjay Dutt today denied making a telephone call from his Bandra residence to prime conspirator Annes Ibrahim in Dubai prior to the 1993 bomb blasts here and also picked up holes in the prosecution’s case to strengthen his defence in a special court. There was nothing on record to show that the call was made to Annes Ibrahim, brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Dutt’s lawyers Rajendra Singh, Satish Maneshinde and Farhana Shah told Designated Judge P D Kode. CBI has produced a computer print-out of MTNL records to show that a phone call was made to Dubai. It is the case of the prosecution that Dutt, an accused in 1993 bomb blast case, had contacted Annes Ibrahim in Dubai in furtherance to the bomb blast conspiracy. Dutt, however, argued that prosection had not placed any evidence to show that the call was made to Annes Ibrahim. Even presuming that the call was made to Annes, there was nothing on record to highlight the outcome of the talks between them, Dutt argued. The actor’s lawyers also pointed out material contradictions in the evidence of Constable Shinde who was posted at his residence when the co-accused had allegedly come to his house in January 1993 to deliver weapons. Constable Shinde had told the court that co-accused had come to Sanjay Dutt’s bungalow in a white Maruti car. However, co-accused Sameer Hingora said in his confession that the colour of the car was blue. This was a material contradiction and demolised the case of the prosecution, Dutt’s lawyers pointed out. Dutt harped on delay made by police in recording Constable Shinde’s version. The co-accused allegedly came to Dutt’s residence in January 1993 and the blasts shattered the city on March 12, 1993. Shinde’s statement was recorded on May one and May 27 in the same year. The delay in recording his statement was not explained by the prosecution, Dutt argued. Constable Shinde was posted at Sanjay Dutt’s bungalow between January 11 to January 19, 1993, following a threat received by his father Sunil Dutt who was involved in relief work after the communal riots broke out in early 1993. Dutt pointed out that Shinde had fumbled during his cross-examination by saying that the co-accused had come to his house with weapons on January 15 or 16 in the same year. As Shinde was not sure of the date his version should not be relied upon, Dutt pleaded before the court. Dutt further argued that his alleged confession recorded by police did not lead to recovery of incriminating material. The only consolation police had was the arrest of his friend Yusuf Nullwalla but no incriminating material was discovered. The case of the prosecution is that following Babri Masjid demolition in December 1992, communal riots broke out in Mumbai in which several persons lost their lives. A total of 172 accused hatched a conspiracy within India and outside to create serial explosions in Mumbai to shatter the economy. In pursuance of the conspiracy, arms and ammunition were smuggled from Pakistan and the consignment landed at Shekhadi and Dighi Coasts in Raigad district near Mumbai. A portion of this consignment was allegedly taken by Samir Hingora, Baba Chavan and Abu Salem to Dutt’s house. The actor allegedly kept one AK-56 rifle and returned other weapons. (PTI) |
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