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Anonymous call that terrorists on board, proves to be hoax

NEW DELHI, Oct 31: An anonymous call to Hong Kong immigration authorities stating there were two terrorists on board an Air India flight from Mumbai to Hong Kong via Delhi triggered panic and led to a thorough search of all the 178 passengers and the baggage at the international airport here this morning but it proved to be the latest in a series of hoax calls in the last few days.

The immigration authorities at Hong Kong received the call early this morning as the Air India plane, an airbus a 310, was on its way from Mumbai to Delhi.

The information was passed on by the Hong Kong authorities to Air India office there which in turn led to a full security alert when the plane landed here at 7.05 a.m.

All the 178 passengers were told to disembark and subjected to a thorough check, but the two passengers whose names were mentioned in the anonymous call were not on the passenger manifest.

The baggage was also offloaded and thoroughly searched as scores of security personnel and emergency services stood by.

After the search proved fruitless, the Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain declared that it was a hoax call and expressed concern over the increasing number of such calls in the last few days.

"We had information that there could be terrorists on the a 310 plane from Hong Kong but it turned out to be a hoax call," Hussain said.

An Air India spokesperson said the information they received was that two persons- Paramjit Kaur and Pawan Kumar-were carrying explosives which may go off when the aircraft (AI 303) lands at Hong Kong. The plane is expected to resume its flight to Hong Kong in the afternoon.

Four calls on possible threat to aircraft had been received in the last two days but one anonymous message in relation to Bangladesh Biman Aircraft early this week had proved to be authentic and it led to the arrest of a Bangladeshi on a forged passport.

Of the 178 passengers, 138 were travelling on the Mumbai-Delhi sector. The remaining 40 were proceeding to Hong Kong along with the booked passengers from Delhi.

All the 138 passengers bound for Delhi were allowed to go after being thoroughly searched.

Hussain said the number of hoax calls posing threat to aircraft in 2002 was down compared to last year but the spate of such calls in the recent days was a matter of concern.

A total of 269 hoax calls have been received so far this year across the country and Bureau of Civil Aviation security have been directed to trace the origin of the calls. A high level meeting was also convened recently to deal with such cases.

As part of a drill, all phones at Delhi airport had caller IED and strict action would be taken against those who make the calls. (PTI)

Shiv Sena to enter poll fray in Godda

RANCHI, Oct 31: The Shiv Sena has decided to contest the Godda seat in the bypolls scheduled on December 12, paving way for an interesting contest with two saffron brigades pitted against each other.

The Sena, which held a three-day state convention here, announced this at the concluding session yesterday to mark its independent political presence in Jharkhand.

Sena Rajya Sabha member Satish Pradhan told newspersons here that his party would contest the Godda seat despite the BJP fielding its nominee.

The Sena would raise issues that has been plaguing the new state since its creation, he said charging the BJP-led Government in the state with creating "ethnic tension".

Mr Pradhan reacted strongly to the reported move in Jharkhand to identify people as local residents on the basis of land rights records of 1932.

He said all those living in this area for the past 15 years should be considered as Jharkhand’s local resident.

The Sena leader also expressed his party’s desire to contest the panchayat polls in Jharkhand, either alone or in alliance with like-minded parties.

He said his party had a strong base in the state which needs to be strengthened and broadened. He called upon his partymen to fan out in different parts of the state for the purpose.

The Sena would soon gear up its electoral machinery in Godda, he added.

Besides the Sena, the BJP in the state might face a stiff contest from other national and regional parties including the opposition JMM, the Congress and the RJD, who have announced to enter the fray to prevent the ruling party from retaining the Godda seat. Bypolls have been necessitated following the death of sitting BJP representative Jagdambi Prasad Yadav.

Meanwhile, hectic activities are under way in most of the political parties including the BJP to field a suitable candidate for the seat.

If the search in the state BJP for its nominee in Godda was gradually zeroing in on party legislator and Minister of State for Rural Development Pradeep Yadav, the Congress is busy choosing its nominee from among five leaders, including a legislator and youth functionary who have been projected as strong contenders.

Prominent names doing the rounds in the Congress circle include state youth chief Manishanker and legislature party leader Furkan Ansari who represents Jamtara, one of the six Assembly segments of the Godda parliament constituency.

While the RJD is likely to bank on its young legislator Sanjay Yadav, the JMM has in its list of contenders a minority legislator, a former MLA belonging to the backward community and a senior Muslim leader. The two strong contenders in JMM are Mr Prashant Kumar (Mondal) and Mr Abu Talib Ansari.

Godda seat is electorally dominated by minorities and the backwards.

Meanwhile, efforts are on among a few opposition parties, including the left to ensure that the seat was contested unitedly in a bid to thrash the ruling BJP.

RJD sources said talks were on with the Congress high command for ensuring support to the Dal’s claim in Godda.

Mr Singh said the Congress which had been backed by RJD during the past biennial polls and the by-elections in Dumka must support Dal nominee at Godda this time.(UNI)

Jogi denies playing caste politics

RAIPUR, Oct 31: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Yogi has denied the opposition charge that he was playing ‘caste politics,’ saying that none could stop him from making the downtrodden aware about their rights.

"Efforts to empower the oppressed classes are not casteism. Its Gandhism," he told UNI here.

Mr Jogi, who completes two years in office tomorrow, said the Congress Government was committed to work for the welfare of the poor and the downtrodden and it was its duty to make the underprivileged aware about their rights.

About the Bharatiya Janata Party’s charge that he was encouraging defections, the Chief Minister said it was not that the split took place only at the level of BJP legislature party. "There is a mass exodus from the BJP from the village level itself as the people have realised that the Congress Government could ensure development", he added.

Alleging that the BJP has alienated itself from the ‘Chhattisgarhi pride’, he said the party had demonstrated that it was a "weak and demoralised opposition" during the last two years.

Replying to a question, Mr Jogi said the Congress party has been organising several programmes to propagate the achievements of its Government during the last two years. The party’s padyatra was getting encouraging response, he said and admitted that there was a need to further intensify the campaign to underline the achievements of its Government.(UNI)

To a query, Mr Jogi said he was ‘proud and satisfied’ over the pace with which the new state has been able to move forward in all areas during a short span of two years.

Stating that ‘right steps in right direction’ has contributed towards speeding the pace of development, the Chief Minister cited examples of power, irrigation and roadways sector, saying that development in these areas were clearly visible.

Mr Jogi said all this was made possible mainly due to the state’s initiative to increase revenue and its efforts to keep expenditure fixed at 40 per cent.

Chhattisgarh’s revenue has increased by 26 per cent, which was higher than any other state including the two new states of Uttaranchal and Jharkhand, he added.

Throwing light on the efforts to curtail expenditure, he said at present there were only 18 departments in the state as against the 64 departments in undivided Madhya Pradesh.

Besides, the state also did not create 30 state owned corporations that existed in the undivided state, he added.

The Chief Minister hinted at the Government planning to abolish divisional level offices as it felt that they were not needed in the small state.

On his Government’s decision not to create a state road transport, he said this was not against the basic concepts of a welfare state.

Mr Jogi said the Government felt that the private operators could provide much better service in this sector.

He disagreed with the perception that private transport operators would not ply on un-profitable routes and rural areas. He expressed confident that adequate transport facilities would be made available to the people.(UNI)

‘1984 riots political meat for leaders’

NEW DELHI, Oct 31: Eighteen years on and each year leaders of different parties condemn the bloodshed of Sikhs in the wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, shooting memoranda to Government and squatting on the streets as a mark of "protest".

The saga of commissions and committees set up to determine the causes, consequences, deaths, prosecutions, compensation and disciplinary action relating to the 1984 carnage began that year itself and continues to this day.

According to official figures, 2,733 Sikhs were brutally killed, burnt or slaughtered in the capital within 72 hours. Countless others were injured, women raped and hundreds of homes and shops looted and destroyed.

The massacre sparked widespread protests for years — and ironically many small-time politicians swept to public prominence by holding annual sit-ins for "speedy justice to the survivors".

Today also, the BJP held a protest day, coinciding with the death anniversary of the slain Prime Minister, to "highlight the Sikh community’s sufferings during the 1984 riots".

Delhi BJP chief Madan Lal Khurana met Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani to demand that the report of the Justice Nanavati Commission — the latest in the series of enquiries into the anti-Sikh carnage — be submitted at the earliest.

"I do not believe in protests... They have become a racket in India," remarked columnist and author Patwant Singh. He disapproved of such acts as "ridiculous" and alien to "civilised conduct".

At the same time, Mr Patwant Singh blamed what he called "absence of integrity of intention" in delivering justice to the survivors of the pogrom.

"Not a single man has been hanged 18 years after Sikhs were burnt alive on streets of Delhi. Howsoever critical of the United State we may be, we should appreciate its justice-delivery system, an example of which is the death sentence to a man who killed a Sikh Arizona gas station owner, Balbir Singh Sodhi, in reprisal to 9/11," said Mr Patwant Singh while speaking to UNI.

The author, however, expressed optimism that the Nanavati Commission would provide valuable insights into the anatomy of the 1984 tragedy.

"I was the first witness to depose before the Nanavati Commission which has since examined a number of witnesses, including former Prime Ministers, politicians, police and administrative officials." In his affidavit to Justice Nanavati, Mr Patwant Singh said that on the afternoon of November one, 1984, he along with I K Gujaral, and Lt-Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora had gone to see then Home Minister P V Narasimha Rao to urge him to take immediate steps to stop the killings of Sikhs — which had started already - all over Delhi.

"We told him that the least he could do was to call in the army. He said it would take up positions in Delhi that very evening."

In his affidavit, Mr Patwant Singh said the Home Minister had lied to them because the army was not called till the night of November three.

"In no civilized country do those elected to govern, so abuse the trust placed in them, with the exception of Slobodan Milosevic or some other Serb or Bosnian despot. India has proved it is no better than them," Mr Patwant Singh had earlier said in one of his columns on communal violence in India.

Human rights activists who worked in Delhi during the 1984 riots and in Gujarat also after the Godhra train carnage this year recalled that both instances of violence were well-planned and executed with open assistance from the police and the Government machinery.

"Public memory defines these incidents as ‘the 1984 riots’ — a continuing misnomer. There is substantial recorded testimony of both victims and other citizens of Delhi to show that it was not a riot, but a massacre, a mass murder," says The Quest for Justice, a report written jointly by scholar Vrinda Grover and her associate, Kajal Bharadwaj.

Recorded testimony points to the fact that mobs were assigned the task of "systematically eliminating and looting Sikh families", the report said.

But some community members regret that the violence against the Sikhs had been "politically overused".

"Non-delivery of justice to the survivors of the 1984 riots has unfortunately become political meat," remarked senior Sikh leader Manjit Singh.

He called for a stop to what he called empty but politically-motivated 1984 riots protests that coincide with elections. (UNI)

Punjab will soon file petition in SC: Amarinder

FATEHGARH SAHIB, Oct 31: Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today maintained his stand that the State would soon file a fresh petition in the apex court for the adjudication of the share of river waters between the State and Haryana.

Addressing a press conference after launching Suwidha, a single user-friendly window disposal and help line for the applicants here at the office of Deputy Commissioner, Capt Singh said Punjab and Haryana had 105 and 80 lakh hectares of land and were getting 12 maf and 14.5 maf water respectively.

He said it was really an ironical situation that the State having more land was getting lesser share of water. He asserted that his Government would safeguard the interests of the farming community at all costs and would not spare any effort in defending the just claim of the State.

He accused former Chief Minister and SAD president Parkash Singh Badal, who bartered away the interests of the State with Haryana to meet his narrow and vested political ends.

Replying to another query, Capt Singh said," Badal was suffering from ‘Amarinderitus’ - a disease of fear psychosis in which he apprehends me behind every bush."

He categorically said his Government was not at all meddling with the affairs of the SGPC since the Congress was a secular party rather Badal was creating hurdles for the smooth and fair conduct of presidential elections of SGPC slated to be held on November 12, by harbouring them at his farm house at Balasar in Haryana where he had kept about 41 SGPC members as hostages. Referring to the tariff order of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission, Capt Singh said the order was binding on the State Government as the commission was a statuary body which was constituted during the regime of Akali-BJP under the Chief Ministership of Parkash Singh Badal and his former Chief Secretary R S Mann was the chairman of the Commission.

He said the regulatory commission had levied tariff of Rs 212 per BHP per month on the agriculture pump-sets taking into consideration the losses suffered by the farmers due to failure of monsoons in the State and the poor financial position of the farmers.

He said the State would subsidise this tariff heavily and bill the farmer at a highly subsidised reduced rate of Rs 60 per BHP per month, which was less than the old rate of Rs 65 per BHP per month, which remained effective in the year 1994-95.

He said this way the Government would provide subsidy of more that rs.900 crore to the agriculture sector. The agriculture tariff of Rs 60 per bhp applicable on agriculture pump-sets was the lowest as compared to neighbouring Haryana and other northern state of Rajasthan, UP and Delhi, he added.

Capt Singh reiterated his firm resolve for the welfare of the farming community and announced that the State Government would provide eight-hour uninterrupted power supply to the farmers for the sowing of wheat and would spent Rs 250 crore for buying power from other States.

Showing deep concern over the massive sales tax evasion in the State, Capt Singh said the State’s sales tax collection was less as compared to Haryana, which was a smaller state and had fewer resources.

He hoped that with the emerging trends of e-governance in the State the loopholes in the tax evasion would be plugged soon.

Later, addressing the public meeting on the occasion of Sanklap Diwas to commemorate the martyrdom day of Indira Gandhi, Capt Singh said the entire history of the Congress was replete with the sacrifices and Indira Gandhi laid down her life for strengthening the bonds of communal harmony, universal brotherhood and peace.

He pointed out that Congress would soon form the Government at Centre under the stewardship of Sonia Gandhi as the party has already formed Governments in almost 15 States.

He said Fatehgarh Sahib district would be developed as the model district in the field of e-governance and Information Technology and later on this technology would be introduced in all the districts of the State.

He said 25 major industrial groups of the country and 22 NRIs had evinced keen interests to set up industrial units in the State. He said the Government would soon announce its industrial policy, which would be more facilitating and less regulatory.

He also announced that an urban state would be set up at fatehgarh sahib to provide high-class housing facilities. Earlier, the Chief Minister paid obeisance at the sanctum sanctorum of Gurdwara Sri Fatehgarh Sahib and inaugurated a blood donation camp on the occasion in which about 250 voluntary donors donated blood.

Prominent among others who addressed the public meeting included H S Hanspal, president PPCC, Shamsher Singh Dullo, MP, Dr Harbans Lal, Minister of State for Forests, Sadhu Singh, Amrik SiDgh dhillon (both MLAs). (UNI)

Smaller parties could tilt the balance in Gujarat polls

AHMEDABAD, Oct 31: In a state known for political polarisation between BJP and Congress, smaller outfits, which polled over 20 per cent votes five years back and won nine seats, could play a crucial role in the ensuing Gujarat elections to emerge out of their ‘sign board parties’ image.

In 1998 Assembly polls, though BJP and Congress shared between them the lion share 79.66 per cent of the votes, smaller parties including five national and 12 registered outfits bagged 20.34 per cent.

While BJP accounted for 44.81 per cent with Congress polling 34.85 percent, among the registered parties, All India Rashtriya Janata Party bagged 11.68 per cent and snatched as many as four seats in the 182-member Assembly.

Janata Dal had managed four seats by polling 2.63 per cent of votes while Mulayam Singh Yadav’s fledgling Samajwadi Party with 0.40 per cent had romped home in one constituency.

It is this encouraging factor coupled with the supposed disillusion of the electorate with both BJP and Congress, these outfits, including NDA convenor George Fernandes-led Samata Party, Sharad Pawar’s NCP and newly floated save India front backed by influential confederation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, have started flexing their muscles for the much talked about December 12 hustings.

Fernandes has announced that his party will go alone in at least 50 seats while Udit Raj of Save India Front has shown willingness to field at least 75 candidates in segments with strong presence of Dalits and tribals.

Among the five national parties, with meagre presence in Gujarat, Samata Party polled as low as 0.05 per cent from the eight constituencies, while Kanshi Ram’s BSP, which fielded seven candidates, including a woman, had recorded a vote share of 0.08 per cent.

Two Communist outfits, CPI and COI (M) put together shared 0.18 per cent with CPI managing 0.06 per cent from eight Assembly segments and the Marxists had considerable 0.12 per cent in one Assembly segment of Bhavnagar north.

Interestingly, among the registered parties five of them — Ajay Bharat Party, CPI (ML-Liberation), Akhil Bharatiya Manav Seva Dal, Rashtriya Surajya Parishad and RPI (Khobargade) could not open their account.

Three others — Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Laloo Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal shared 0.01 per cent, while Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena managed 0.02 per cent out of five candidates.

RPI had managed 0.03 per cent only while out of 415 independent candidates including 17 women three were elected making it a total vote of 5.24 per cent among themselves.

Leaders of smaller parties here feel even if they cannot win any considerable number of seats, they could easily play a ‘spoil sport’ in many constituencies. (PTI)

SC asks Centre to consider linking major rivers by 2012

NEW DELHI, Oct 31: Expressing concern over the Centre’s plan to link all major rivers in the country by the year 2043, the Supreme Court today asked the Government to immediately constitute a task force to consider achieving it by 2012 to effectively control flood and drought situations.

A bench comprising Chief Justice B N Kirpal, Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice Arijit Pasayat made this observation while saying that the task force would work out the modalities for creating the National River Netwrok (NRN).

Appearing for the Centre, Attorney General Soli J Sorabjee with advocate Krishnan Venugopal assured the court that the president and the Prime Minister both have given their personal attention to the issue and were in favour of the same being worked out at an early date.

Sorabjee stated that the Centre has in principle agreed with the concept but a major constraint was the huge expenditure of Rs 560,000 crore at today’s prices.

The centre in its affidavit stated that it would be able to link the peninsular rivers by the year 2035 and the Himalayan rivers by the year 2043.

However, the bench said that the plan was being considered for last two decades without anything happeneing and it would be in the interest of all that the task was completed in the next 10 years.

The bench asked the Attorney General to give the Centre’s response to the court on December 16, the next date of hearing on the issue which was taken up suo motu by the court.

The Union Government in its affidavit listed four major constraints facing the project linking the rivers, the major one being the finances.

The Government pointed out that many of the canals would have to pass through national parks and sanctuaries and the ministry of environment was not even giving permission for carrying out of the initial survey for mapping of these canals without which the cost calculations could not be done.

The other important issue concerning the project was the relief and rehabilitation measures to be taken by the Governments for settlement of huge population displaced by the canals, it said.

However, after hearing amicus curiae in the matter Ranjit Kumar, the bench was of the view that the Union Government could effectively implement the project for networking of rivers by passing necessary orders under entry 56 of list I.

Entry 56 states that "regulations and development of inter-state rivers and river valleys to the extent to which such regulation and development under the control of union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest".

However, Centre was of the view that any such law introduced by Government for the purpose of achieveing networking of rivers could face opposition in the Rajya Sabha, where the NDA Government did not have the majority. (PTI)