Excelsior... Nation

Temple may gain world
heritage monument status

DARASURAM, TAMIL NADU, June 8: The famous ‘Lord Airavatesvarar Temple’ here, which is being renovated by the Archaeological Survey of India .....more

Cauvery issue: PM assures fair solution acceptable to all

NEW DELHI, June 8: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured an all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu that after discussions with the....more

Special drive to check
illegal weapons on the cards

MUMBAI, June 8: The Mumbai Police is seriously contemplating launching a special drive to curb smuggling .....more

CPI(M) seeks assurances from UPA Govt on
various issues

NEW DELHI, June 8: CPI(M) today sought categoric assurances from the UPA ....more

Class of encounter
specialists

MUMBAI, June 8: They are the ‘encounter specialists’ of the Mumbai Police from the class of ‘83 and their lives have even featured in Bollywood movies. ....more

Controversial Murugan
idol removed at famed
Palani Temple

PALANI, TAMIL NADU, June 8: The raging controversy over the "surreptitious" installation of a Panchaloha idol in front of the presiding deity ......more

Cloud-less sky brings
the glory of Venus alive

KOLKATA, June 8: With the blazing Sun for a backdrop and not a speck of .....more

Kalam suggests tax
reduction on buildings
with solar features

NEW DELHI, June 8: In a bid to encourage use of solar energy and its management,....more

Temple may gain world heritage monument status

DARASURAM, TAMIL NADU, June 8: The famous ‘Lord Airavatesvarar Temple’ here, which is being renovated by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), may soon attain the status of a world heritage monument.

UNESCO was processing the request for recognising the over 800 years old Temple, Mr T Satyamurthy, Superintending Archaeologist, Chennai ASI, told reporters here yesterday.

The ASI has so far spent Rs one crore for restoring and preserving the ancient "Lord Airavatesvarar Temple" here. The Temple was built during the reign of Raja Raja (1146-1173) at a time when the Chola empire was at the zenith of its glory.

The Temple was taken over by the ASI under the notification of 1954.

Out of 30 acres, the ASI had retrieved 18.38 acres and it had completed restoring the sanctum sanctorum, the Artha Mandapa, the Maha Mandapa and the unique Agra mandapa and had arrested the rain water leakage.

The ASI had also strengthened the pillars and readied the Chola masterpiece for Kumbabishekam, scheduled to be held on July five next.

He said the ASI had planned to spend another Rs one crore to complete the project in the next five years.

The ASI would arrange for a permanent exhibition of early Chola painting, stripped off from the original layers of the early Chola paintings found on the circumbulatory walls of the big Temple at Thanjavur, built by Emperor Raja Raja Chola (985 to 1014) at the sanctum sanctorum of the Temple.

Mr Satyamurthy said the science wing of the ASI had deligently removed the thin layer of Nayak paintings, presumably done after 1100 AD, with modern techniques and had been able to place them on fibre-glass frames.

The ASI Chennai circle, comprising Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, would soon launch its own website, highlighting its projects.

The ASI also planned to stage a sound and light show (Sun et Lumie’re), projecting the glorious past of the Cholas at the Lord Airavatesvarar Temple at Darasuram. The ASI had already obtained the approval from the Union Ministry of Tourism and the Tamil Nadu Government for the same.

Babaji Rajah Bhonsle, senior Prince of Thanjavur and the heriditory trustee of Lord Airavatesvarar Temple, who was also present in the Temple, told reporters that the Kumbabishekam of the Temple would be performed at a cost of Rs four lakh.

He said the Department of Tourism, Union Government and the Tamil Nadu Government had sanctioned Rs 24 lakh and Rs 14 lakh respectively for the Thanjavur big Temple and the Darasuram Temple for general illumination in and around the Temple complexes. (UNI)

Cauvery issue: PM assures fair solution acceptable to all

NEW DELHI, June 8: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured an all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu that after discussions with the Governments concerned, including Karnataka, a fair solution acceptable to all may be evolved.

"It is essential that we reach a suitable settlement acceptable to all. It is necessary that distress is shared equitably so that no specific region suffers excessively.

"The rain God has been kind this year and owing to an early monsoon and heavier than expected rainfall, it is likely that we may not face a situation of distress this year", Singh told the delegation which sought his intervention to direct Karnataka Government to release water to Tamil Nadu as per the interim award of Cauvery tribunal.

The Prime Minister said he was discussing the matter on "priority" with the concerned Governments including Karnataka and assured that he would listen all points of view in the Cauvery basin both in Karnataka and in Tamil Nadu so that a "fair solution acceptable to all may be evolved", a press released issued by the PMO said.

Showing a rare unanimity, AIADMK joined the DMK-led delegation to the Prime Minister to demand immediate release of water by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu.

The delegation comprising all Central ministers belonging to DMK, Congress and PMK and MPs from Tamil Nadu apprised the Prime Minister of the need for emergency supply of water by Karnataka to enable Tamil Nadu Government to open the Mettur dam for cultivation of summer crops.

In a memorandum, the delegation drew the attention of the Prime Minister to the non-implementation of the tribunal award by Karnataka "even once" and there was no release of water at all.

Since Karnataka has not released water to Tamil Nadu, the release of water to the delta farmers by Tamil Nadu on June 12 this year seemed nearly impossible, it said. (PTI)

Special drive to check illegal weapons on the cards

MUMBAI, June 8: The Mumbai Police is seriously contemplating launching a special drive to curb smuggling of country-made weapons from other states into the metropolis, Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Dr Satya Pal Singh has said.

Just before the recently concluded General Elections, Mumbai Police Chief A N Roy had ordered a similar special drive to keep a check on illegal weapons and more than 100 firearms, kept illegaly, were seized by the police then.

Dr Singh told reporters here recently that the police was concerned about the "access to firearms" and did not rule out launching of another drive to seize weapons kept without licences. He was replying to a query about the three incidents of firing last week.

Dr Singh, who heads the Crime Branch-CID, said yesterday that these country-made weapons are being smuggled from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Dr Singh, who was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner of Police (detection) Dhananjay Kamalakar, to a question whether the three incidents of firing last week implied that the underworld had become active once again, said that these were mainly incidents of rivalry and not "exactly gang related".

On Thursday night, a cable operator Balabhau Waval (34), residing in Sion Pratiskha nagar, was shot dead by two unidentified persons in north-central Mumbai. The Wadala truck terminus police station, which has registered a case of murder, said that investigations were on and efforts were being made to track down the killers.

Same day, a mutton merchant was gunned down at Khar area of north-west Mumbai. Jarad Quereshi (45) was on his way with his son to their shop, when he was shot dead.

In another firing incident two motor-cycle borne persons fired towards a furniture mart at Bandra in north-west Mumbai here. However, no one was injured. (UNI)

CPI(M) seeks assurances from UPA Govt on various issues

NEW DELHI, June 8: CPI(M) today sought categoric assurances from the UPA Government it is supporting on various issues including reduction of interest on central loans to states, increase in states’ share in the central pool and laws to protect farm labourers’ interests and guarantee 100 days employment to unemployed rural youth.

Observing that these issues had not found place in the Presidential address to the joint sitting of Parliament despite being part of the UPA’s Common Minimum Programme, CPI(M) leaders Basudeb Acharia and Rupchand Pal also wanted the Government to clarify its stand on India’s relations with Israel and whether it would affect ties with Palestine.

At a press conference here, they also sought a statement from the Government’s on its stand on Iraq to clarify that power should not be handed over by the US-led forces to a "puppet regime propped up by Washington".

Maintaining that the party MPs would raise the issues in Parliament, Acharia and Pal said the categoric assurances on most of them, which were made in the CMP, had not found place in the Presidential address.

Asked whether they had been involved in the drafting of the Presidential address, Pal said it was a job of the Union Cabinet and not the supporting parties.

To a question on a mechanism to enable coordination between the ruling UPA and the supporting parties, Acharia said it has not yet been set up formally. "At the moment, we draw attention by reacting at various levels including Parliament, on one-to-one basis or informally", he said.

On BJP and NDA raising the issue of dropping of "tainted" ministers from the Manmohan Singh Government, both the leaders said they had "no moral right to do so after they continued with the chargesheeted ministers for about five years despite our demand. One minister quit and was reinstated three months later even though the enquiry commission did not clear his name".

Asserting that the CPI(M) had been fighting corruption all through, they said the BJP and NDA should allow the Prime Minister to reply "instead of disrupting the proceedings. They even have a right to move censure or no-confidence motions". (PTI)

Class of encounter specialists

MUMBAI, June 8: They are the ‘encounter specialists’ of the Mumbai Police from the class of ‘83 and their lives have even featured in Bollywood movies.

Senior Police Inspector Pradeep Sharma, who last week eliminated his 100th criminal in an encounter, is in fact from the 1983-batch, which had produced outstanding officers like Vijay Salaskar and Praful Bhosale.

Sharma, Salaskar and Bhosale are the trio who are the leading ‘encounter specialists’ of the commercial capital.

The three-some, who head separate Crime Branch-CID units now, have over the 10 years, gunned down more than 350 notorious criminals of various gangs and syndicates like that of Chhota Shakeel, Chhota Rajan, Amar Naik, Abu Salem, Ijaz Lakdawala and Hemant Poojari.

With an excellent information gathering network and dare-devil attitude, their teams had played a key role in gathering information about the spate of blasts in 2002-03 in which more than 80 persons were killed and 200 others injured. Their investigations led to the arrest of the main culprits.

While Sharma, who has earlier headed the Andheri Crime Intelligence Unit (AIU) and the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC), is now nos posted at the Kandivli Crime Branch-CID, his batchmates of the nashik police training academy — Salaskar and Bhosale head the Bandra and Ghatkopar units respectively.

The recent films on encounters that have got appreciable attention are ‘Encounter’, ‘Kagaar’ and ‘Aab Tak Chappan’.

In fact, through "Encounters" which are now known as "Police Operations", they and their key men like Police Inspector Daya Nayak and Sachin Vaze and other officers like Dilip Patil and Police Inspector Ravindranath Angre of Thane Anti-Extortion Cell, have wiped out the underworld from Mumbai and neighbouring thane district.

The first encounter in Mumbai took place in January 1982 when dacoit-turned-gangster Manya surve was killed at Wadala area. In the early nineties, former ACP A A Khan’s team killed kive gangsters including Maya Dolas in the Lokhandwala shoot-out.

In April 2003, Mumbai police added another feather to their caps when they took on terrorists. Three members of the Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed in an encounter at Goregaon suburbs here by the team of Sharma. Daya Nayak, who had now been shifted to the Charkop Police station in the wake of allegations that he had links with underworld, was part of that team.

Vaze, another encounter specialist, who too was part of Sharma’s team was arrested in connection with a custody death. Though now on bail, he is currently under suspension following allegations that one of the accused in the recent blasts Khwaja Yunus died in his custody. Earlier it was claimed that the accused fled after the jeep in which he was being taken to Aurangabad met with an accident on the Ahmednagar highway.

Information gathering is their main forte and according to police sources, within minutes they can confirm which gang is involved in a shoot-out.

Salaskar shot into fame in 1997, when he killed Amar Naik in an encounter that virtually crippled the activities of the Arun Gawli gang.

Arun Gawli, who has never been convicted, had floated his political outfit, Akhil Bharatiya Sena (ABS), and even contested the Lok Sabha elections, but failed. In fact, Salaskar was deputed as a special officer at Mumbai south central on the day of elections to monitor the activities of the Gawli gang. A fearful Gawli did not even come out of his bastion Dagdi chawl to vote.

In fact, the names of Pradeep Sharma, Vijay Salaskar, Praful Bhosale, Daya Nayak, Sachin Vaze, Dilip Patil and others like Rajan Ghule, Rajan Pillai, Anant Kenjale and Arun Bourde Chill the spines of underworld elements. (UNI)

Controversial Murugan idol removed at famed Palani Temple

PALANI, TAMIL NADU, June 8: The raging controversy over the "surreptitious" installation of a Panchaloha idol in front of the presiding deity at the sanctum sanctorum of the historic hill shrine here, which is one of the famed six abodes of Lord Murugan, has been put to rest following its removal yesterday.

There have been vociferous demands from the faithfuls and various leaders for the removal of the idol ever since the Temple administration installed it in January this year, stating it was to protect the main idol that was made of Navabhashanam - a non-metallic chemical mixture with herbal extracts - and severely damaged due to various reasons.

In a press communiqui yesterday, the administration merely said that the step (the removal of the idol) was taken following the plea of devotees for unhindered ‘darshan’ of the main idol, which is said to be over 1,800 years old.

Stating that the permission of the Commissioner of the state Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) department was obtained for the removal, the communique, however, was silent on the timing of the removal.

Earlier, the Temple administration had dropped its plan to install a 100-kg golden idol following protests from devotees.

Controversies are not new to this ancient Temple. In 1984, there was a controversy when damages to the main idol were detected.

Years of ‘Abishekams’ also could have had an impact on the non-metallic idol’s structure.

Leading astrologer Parapanangudi Unnikrishna Panikker said, "the ‘Navabhashana Moolavar’ idol, believed to be made by saint Bogar, one of the 18 Tamil Siddhars, has become disfigured due to continuous scraping done deliberately to remove parts of it, as it is believed to cure some diseases."

He said the neck, hand and the pelvic girdle of the centuries-old idol had suffered damages.

On Monday last, state HR and CE minister P C Ramasamy held closed-door discussions with Panikker, who had come down from Kerala.

The removal of the Panchaloha idol was presumably the topic of discussion during the meeting between Mr Panikker and Mr Ramasamy.

Panikker had earlier "warned" that the installation of the idol would bring "disgrace to the rulers, besides inflicting disasters". However, the idol was installed "surreptitiously" during the night of January 25.

It immediately caused a furore among not only religious heads but also among leaders of many political parties, who criticised the move as an authoritarian step that disregarded the cultural significance attached to the Temple as well as the main idol.

The Temple administration denied any mischief and said the step was taken in "consultation" with experts and Sivacharyas. The installation of the Panchaloha idol, made of five metals, was done as per Temple rituals, a Temple official said.

Meanwhile, another Temple official debunked the "warning" of Panikker, saying the astrologer had talked about nine idols similar to that of the ‘Moolavar idol’ buried in a cave below the sanctum. But digging yielded nothing but big boulders, the official had said.

Now, political observers and locals, pointing out to Panikker’s "warning’, believe that the removal of the idol was more to do with the electoral debacle that the AIADMK suffered in the elections. (UNI)

Cloud-less sky brings the glory of Venus alive

KOLKATA, June 8: With the blazing Sun for a backdrop and not a speck of cloud to play spoilsport, the planet of love - Venus - began its rare cosmic jouney across the solar disc today enabling the city’s skygazers to witness the phenomenon in all its glory.

Despite the muggy summer and the monsoons playing truant on the official date of its scheduled onset, amateur skygazers and astrophysicists were more than happy that a murky sky had not been a hindrance to the viewing of the celestial event.

"Any other year, we would certainly have cribbed over the monsoon not showing up. Not this time. The pictures of Venus’ transit across the Sun have come out spectacular," said Debi Prosad Duari, the Scientific Director of the M P Birla Planetarium.

The planetarium has installed two telescopes of 2.5 and 1.5 inch diameter to project the images alongside using powerful binoculars and filters for its "Venus show".

Overwhelmed at the massive public response to the show arranged on the planetarium’s sprawling lawns, Duari said over a thousand people had turned up by mid-day to see the first and the second contacts of the planet as well as the ‘black drop’ effect when Venus seems reluctant to move away from the entry point creating a waterdrop like effect.

At the Positional Astronomy Centre (PAC), which is also studying the technical details of the cosmic phenomenon, thousands gathered to see direct images through an 11 inch telescope and projected images on a six inch one.

"But the highest turnout was to see the maximum transition phase at 1:52, which signifies the mid-position of the transit of Venus across the Sun," PAC Director B K Mandal said.

Scientists were also happy that the ‘hype’ generated over the phenomenon as it had helped in pulling huge crowds to demystify the event and inculcate scientific spirit in masses plagued by superstitious beliefs.

"The rarity of the event has no doubt been played up by the media but for a change this hype is more than welcome. We are being flooded with questions from housewives and children, who otherwise harbour wrong notions about most cosmic phenomena," Duari said.

Instead of shutting themselves up at home to ward off evil spirits during the ‘mini-eclipse’, people are thronging the exhibition centres to turn the event into a mini-festival, he said appreciating this spirit of enquiry.

The national council of science museum’s Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM) has put up a four inch telescope to project images of the transit.

"However, more than just showing the transit event, we felt it was important to explain the physics behind it. So we have put up a display that demonstrates the technical aspects like the entry and exit points, when the transit last occurred and when it is expected to occur next," BITM Director Jayanta Sthanapati said.

The BITM has not put to use any filters. "On a projection one can appreciate the movement of the planet over a period of time which is not posible for more than 10 seconds on a filter’’, he added. (PTI)