Border
fencing to be completed expeditiously:
Governor
SHILLONG, Mar 24: The Meghalaya
Government is committed to complete the
fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border
in an expeditious manner, Governor S S
Sidhu said today.
Fencing
along the Indo-Bangla border is expected
to help in restricting illegal influx of
Bangladeshis into the country, he said in
his address on the first day of the
state’s budget session, the first
sitting of the newly-sworn in Donkupar
Roy-led Meghalaya Progressive Alliance
ministry.
"The
Government has sanctioned funds for
setting up a Border Management Institute,
to be located at Baghmara, which will
provide training to police personnel
engaged in the task of preventing
infiltration," he said.
In his
32-page speech, Sidhu also asserted that
the anti-insurgency operations in the
state would continue and the Government
will work for modernisation of the police
force.
Sidhu said
in the preceding year, successful police
operations were conducted against
militant outfits which will be continued.
On the
economic front, the Governor said there
was a direct relationship between peace
and development, and "it is expected
that the stable law and order prevailing
in the state will result in enhanced
economic activities both in the private
and public sector."
"To
accelerate the state’s development
and economic activities, focused and
well-directed investment and employment
promotion policies coupled with a better
framework of implementation, grass-root
participation in plans and programmes and
enhanced absorptive capacities across
sectors are required," he said.
The State
Government will also stress on human
development through extensive health
care, provision of educational avenues,
improvement of environment, alleviation
of poverty, he said.
The
Governor said funds from the Planning
Commission, Ministry of DONER, NEC and
other ministries will have to be
leveraged to greater degree to address
resource limitations.
"The
education policy, sports policy, mining
policy and revised industrial policy are
at draft stage and are likely to be
finalised shortly," he said.
"Further,
various sectoral masterplans such as in
roads, tourism, power, besides
perspective district integrated plans
under National Agriculture Development
Programme and district block plans under
Border Areas Development Programme are
also envisaged," the Governor said.
On the IT
sector, Sidhu said, the State Government
would be expanding and consolidating IT
facilities like the GIS laboratory and IT
Park. (PTI)
Maha
Govt action declaring private
lands as pvt forest upheld
MUMBAI, Mar 24: In a decision that
will affect status of over 100 acres of
land in North Mumbai suburbs, Bombay High
Court today upheld Maharashtra
Government’s action of declaring a
host of private lands as private forests.
As a
result, the government can now proceed
with acquisition of these lands under
Maharashtra Private Forests Acquistion of
Land Act, 1975, advocate Nitin Deshpande,
additional Government pleader said.
The
decision will affect several big
construction groups in the city.
Government
had issued notices to the owners of these
lands, mostly builders situated
in-Kandivali, Mulund, Borivali, and other
areas, terming them to be private
forests, and therefore suitable for
acquisition by forest department.
A bunch of
petitions filed by several builders had
challenged these notices.
Division
bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar
and Justice S C Dharmadhikari today
dismissied these petitions, holding
Government’s action of issing
notices and altering revenue records to
show these lands as private forests to be
valid. (PTI)
Life
terms for all four convicts in
Shivani Bhatnagar murder case
NEW DELHI, Mar 24: A fast track court
today sentenced all four convicts in the
Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, including
former Haryana cadre IPS officer R K
Sharma, to life imprisonment.
The
sentence was pronounced by Additional
Sessions Judge R K Shastri, who had
deferred it for today after hearing the
three-hour-long arguments of the defence
and the prosecution on the quantum of
punishment on Thursday.
While the
prosecution demanded capital punishment
for the convicts, the defence urged for a
lesser punishment so that the quartet can
reform themselves, adding moreover the
case did not fall under the rarest of
rare category.
Besides
Sharma, three others, including Pradeep
Sharma, Satya Prakash and Sri Bhagwan,
were convicted by the court on Tuesday,
bringing to an end the nine-year-old
trial in the murder case of the principal
correspondent of the Indian Express.
Two
others-Ved, alias Kalu, and Ved Prakash
Sharma-were, however, exonerated in the
case for want of evidence.
Shivani
was found murdered in her east Delhi
apartment on January 23, 1999 (UNI)
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