BJP against Orissa Govt’s move to deport Bangladeshis

KENDRAPARA,(ORISSA), Feb 4: Ruling coalition partner BJP has come out into the open against the Orissa Government’s move to deport over 1,500 Bangladeshi ‘infiltrators’ from coastal Kendrapara district, saying the party’s stand on the issue had ‘changed’ since 2000-2001.

"BJP cadres and Sangh Parivar activists would form human

chains around the identified infiltrators and would not

allow their deportation", party state chief Jual Oram said.

He assured the people that he would take up the matter

with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to ensure that "Hindus were

not sent back to Bangladesh".

Oram, who visited some of the villages in Mahakalapada

block of the district where ‘Quit India’ notices had been

served against the Bengali-speaking inhabitants, said his

party was totally opposed to the move to deport the people.

When reporters drew his attention to the deportation of

some Hindus from Nabarangpur district during the NDA regime

in 2000-2001, Oram said BJP’s stand on infiltration had

"undergone change since then".

The State Home Secretary Santosh Kumar had on Tuesday

said there was no question of the Government reviewing the

matter as the list of ‘infiltrators’ had been certified by the

District Collector.

Oram said that the BJP stand is that these people "are

refugees and not infiltrators. India has a moral obligation

to provide these people with shelter."

Quoting the UN General Assembly resolution of December

14, 1950, he said a "person who was outside his home country

owing to fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion,

nationality or political opinion was essentially a refugee".

The 1,548 persons whom the Government has asked to quit

the country on the ground that they were Bangladeshis were not

‘infiltrators’ but ‘refugees’ as per the UN resolution.

The same was applicable to the Buddhist Chakma tribes who

had ‘fled’ to Tripura from Bangladesh, he claimed.

The BJP leader faced unpleasant questions from the

agitated settlers who asked "how can you support us when your

own Government wants to deport us ?"

"If the State Government sticks to its decision to

deport, why is the BJP making tall claims ?," The anxious

people asked pointing to the Home Department assertion. (PTI)

Construction of two modern jails soon: Birmi

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4: Keeping in view the high occupancy

of the under trials in the jails, the Punjab Government has

decided to upgrade and modernise the jails in the state

besides constructing two ultra-modern high security jails at

a cost of Rs 340 crore.

Disclosing this here today, Malkiat Singh Birmi, Chief

Parliamentary Secretary, Jails said that these jails would be

equipped with facilities such as a separate cell with attached

toilet for two prisoners, television set with access to few

news, religious and informative channels, a fan and round the

clock water supply.

To keep strict vigil and tight security close circuit

cameras would be installed in all the barracks and towers so

that these jails could be turned into ‘reformatories’ (Sudhar

Ghars) for the prisoners.

He said that afteer visiting few jails in the state, Punjab

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh deputed him and A P

Bhatnagar, Advisor (prisons) to Government of Punjab to study

the functioning and administration of jails in Australia, so

that the required changes could be made on the same pattern

in the existing jails of the state.

He said that on their way back from Australia they also

analysed the prisons of Malaysia and were quite impressed with

the set up there.

Then they roped in a well known Malaysian construction

company PJI for construction of two ultra modern jails in

Punjab.

The company had already made detailed presentations for

this purpose to the Chief Minister and a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) would likely to be signed shortly.

Giving details of the proposed project, Birmi revealed

that in the first phase two ultra modern high security triple

story jails would be constructed at Nabha and Kapurthala.

The State Government would provide required land and funds

for this purpose and these jails would be completed in a

record time of 18 months.

Each jail would have the capacity to house 5000 inmates.

The inmates of Patiala and Jalandhar jails would be shifted

to these prisons.

In second phase three more ultra modern jails would be

constructed at Feroepur, Amritsar and Bathinda of which first

two jails would have the capacity of keeping 2500 inmates

each while Bathinda jail would accommodate one thousand

prisoners.

He said that the State Government had planned to sell some

land belonging to Bathinda and Jalandhar jails and hoped that

it would generate funds to the tune of Rs 350 crore

approximately, which would be used for the construction of

these two jails and further for the up-gradation of other

jails.

While explaianing the proposed project, Birmi said that

there would be further four jails within one jail complex with

different boundary walls.

One for women, another for convicts and two others for

under trials. Boundery walls would be 20 feet high and eight

feet deep and the entire complex would have one outer wall

and the floors were made of steel and concrete.

Birmi said that each jail would have a community centre

have sitting capacity of 3000 inmates. Besides this, a

Gurudwara, Mosque, Temple and Church would also be

constructed in the jail complex.

The Chief Parliamentary Secretary said that there are seven

central jails situated at Patiala, Bathinda, Ferozepur,

Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and Ludhiana in addition to

five district and 11 sub-jails in the state.

These jails have an authorized accommodation for 9484

prisoners but some jails having the occupancy rate as high as

150 percent and that was the reason that these modern jails

have been proposed to accommodate the increased number of

inmates. (PTI)

Vilasrao says second term more relaxed
due to Pol stability

MUMBAI, Feb 4: Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, today said the Mumbai vision project, safeguarding the farmers’ interests, strengthening the rural sector and streamlining the backlog in different regions of the state would be his Government’s priority areas during the next year.

Mr Deshmukh, who in his second tenure, completes 100 days in office next week, said he was more at ease in decision-making and governance in his present term due to the current political stability.

In an interview to UNI, Mr Deshmukh said the issue of drinking water and irrigation would be dealt with comprehensively.

The Chief Minister said his first 100 days in office this time were more relaxed as compared to earlier term.

"There is political stability which has ensured effective decision-making. I am relaxed and can concentrate on developmental work, unlike the last time where there were eight parties in the coalition Government. Besides, frequent confrontation with the opposition, I had to first concentrate of ensuring survival of my Government rather than governance."

However, there were challenges including the natural calamities like the Wai temple stampede, crop losses due to unseasonal rains, and water scarcity.

Mr Deshmukh pointed out the significant change for the Democratic Front (DF) Government in its second term was that the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) had fought the elections as pre-poll coalition partners and got 139 MLAs, four short of simple majority. Independents were supporting the government unconditionally, he added.

Mr Deshmukh said it was in the interest of both the Congress and the NCP to ensure stability of the coalition.

"It is better to remain united to cut to size the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) and not each other. I have excellent relations with the NCP in governance. There is no issue of confrontation on ideology. We are now an alliance like the Shiv Sena-BJP combine, the differences at the party level are being tackled at that forum."

The Chief Minister said apart from governance, he was actively involved in rejuvenating the party in the state.

"We have had district level meetings to strengthen the party and I am in constant touch with the party leadership at the state level. We are now in the process of organisational elections".

Mr Deshmukh did not feel that the Congress performance in the recent by-elections could be viewed as a vote against his Government.

"In Nagpur south, two Congress rebels bagged 36,000 and 19,000 votes each and the official nominee managed to retain the seat. In Solapur south, there were differences in the local unit over choice of candidate. Besides, there were issues of caste and social combinations not related to development and decisions of my Government and the official nominee lost by 1500 votes," he said.

Replying to a question on when he proposed to expand his Council of Ministers, Mr Deshmukh said he would consult the party high command after the Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana election process is completed. (UNI)

Kanchi Mutt wears a deserted look

KANCHEEPURAM, Feb 4: Once a beehive of activity with devotees thronging from various parts of the country, including abroad, one of the most revered religious institutions — Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam — now wears a deserted look.

The Mutt had been bustling with its usual activity till November 11 last year, before the sudden arrest of senior Acharya Jayendra Saraswati in connection with the Varadharaja Perumal Temple manager Sanakraraman murder case, robbed the 2,500-year-old Hindu institution of its sheen and pride.

The religious fervour of the Mutt disappeared as panic-stricken devotees chose to stay away from it.

The number of people visiting the Mutt had come down drastically since then.

But for the presence of Mutt employees and a few locals, there is hardly any activity in its precincts containing the Samadhis of the second Kanchi Seer Sureshwara, a disciple of Adi Sankara and the 68th Mutt head, Chandrasekerendra Saraswati.

Once the investigation into the case picked up pace, all those connected with the Mutt began to be summoned by the police for questioning. The devotees became all the more nervous and preferred to stay indoors.

Junior Seer Vijayendra Saraswati, who had cut short his stay at Mahboobnagar where the senior Seer was arrested and chose to return to Kanchi Mutt, saw restoration of some sanctity and return of some ardent devotees to the Mutt but it was shortlived.

Even as normalcy started to set in with the increase in the daily attendance of devotees, came the arrest of Vijayendrar, sending shockwaves among the devotees.

His January ten arrest and the subsequent release of the senior Acharya from Vellore central prison the next day after he secured bail in both the murder case and the Radhakrishnan assault case, did not bring in any perceptible shift in the Mutt activities.

This was because the senior chose to stay in Kalavai, about 45 km from Kanchi Mutt, following the Supreme Court’s directive not to enter the Mutt till the charge sheet was filed.

Even after filing of the final report on January 21, Jayendrar continued to remain in Kalavai, which had now "virtually" turned into a new abode of the Kanchi Acharya as devotees started making a beeline to the place to seek his blessings.

There was nothing left in Kanchi Mutt as a majority of the items, mainly relating to pooja, was shifted to Kalavai to enable Jayendrar to continue with his traditional Chandramouleeswarar poojas.

As one enters the Kanchi Mutt, the life-size posters of the three revered seers — Jayendrar flanked by his immediate predecessor and Vijayendrar — not only greets the devotees, but also reminds about the "unsavoury" incidents that unfolded, starting from the arrest of senior Acharya to the junior Acharya.

The latter was arrested from the inside the Mutt, which had virtually become "dysfunctional," since then.

The rooms of both the Acharyas in the Kanchi Mutt are locked and the keys are with the new manager, Pollachi Mahadeva Iyer, who took over after the arrest of his predecessor and long-time manager N Sundaresa Iyer.

Except for a few devotees, who turn up at the "Brindavan," the ‘Mukthi Sthal’ of 68th Seer when the Mutt priests perform daily poojas, there was hardly any activity in the Mutt.

But for some grand old people who were living in the Mutt for years together, there was absolutely no new visitors. Even the security strength had been scaled down from ten to three policemen at the Mutt.

Even some of the local and petty shops in and around the Mutt, reported that their business had marginally dwindled due to non-arrival of devotees.

While one shopowner said that he had seen at least ten to 15 per cent drop during the last two months in his normal sales, the other poetically said "the business is dull."

With the threat perception of the senior being arrested in two other cases — Tirukkottiyur Madhavan assault case and the Mutt accounts tampering case — looming large following which the acharya had filed anticipatory bail petitions in Chennai courts, this had only heightened the anxiety of the devotees and Mutt followers alike.

As Vijayendrar was incarcerated in Chennai central prison and Jayendrar, deciding to adopt a "wait and watch" approach and continuing to stay in Kalavai, the resumption of normal activity in the Kancheepuram Mutt, appears unlikely in the near future. (UNI)

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