NEW DELHI, July 31:
Opposition led by Congress today upped the ante against the Government on the bugging issue demanding a judicial probe and a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter which, they said, has put NDA’s credibility at stake.
There were sharp exchanges between the opposition members and the treasury benches over the issue, with the opposition adamant on a debate saying it is a breach of privilege over which the Government can even be dismissed.
“When Ministers’, MPs’ phones are tapped, secrecy is breached. People’s faith in the Council of Ministers has been shaken. To help restore that faith, constitute a judicial committee to probe the matter,” Pramod Tiwari (Cong) said, raising a point of order.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venakaih Naidu, however, dismissed the demand saying, “I have to set the record straight. There is no need of a inquiry without any substantive reason.”
Deputy Chairman P J Kurien had a tough time in maintaining order in the House, as members kept raising points of order with the purpose of pressing for a discussion.
The Upper House saw three adjournments – two in the Question Hour and another in the Zero Hour – and no business could be taken up during the pre-lunch sitting for the second day in succession except laying of papers.
The Chair ruled that there was no point of order as Home Minister Rajnath Singh has already stated that there is no truth in the allegations of bugging.
“As far as Chair is concerned, available material is only the statement of the Home Minister. I am unable to find any substantial material to prove that (bugging). Therefore, I cannot allow the question of privilege. The Chair cannot go by newspaper reports. It has to go by facts,” Kurien said while refusing a point of order raised by opposition members.
Without naming the Prime Minister, Tiwari alleged that “some people have the history of tapping phones of ministers in states”, while K C Tyagi (JD-U) said history is witness to fall of governments in US and India on such issues.
Linking the issue with the privilege of members, the opposition said the government can be dismissed over the matter and cited the examples of resignations of US President Richard Nixon and India’s Prime Minister Chandrashekhar, who had to quit after phone tapping allegations.
Quoting a report, P Rajeev (CPI-M) said the alleged recovery of high-powered listening equipment was part of the US surveillance programme on Indian leaders.
Raising the issue of then Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley, whose phone call records were accessed unauthorisedly during the UPA regime, Naresh Agrawal (SP) said that time too Government had denied it.
“But subsequently, it was proved that his phone was tapped and some people were also arrested by Delhi Police. There was a discussion on the issue then,” he said, questioning, “Why not now?”
Agrawal raised the issue of members’ rights, which he alleged have been violated and reminded the Chair that it was “your duty to provide protection to us”.
Supporting him, Tyagi said, “It is not small issue. US President Nixon and Indian Prime Minister Chandrashekhar had resigned on this issue (of phone tapping).”
Satyavrat Chaturvedi (Cong) stressed that debate should take place as they had already given notices.
“It is a violation of members privilege…That is why we want discussion. The issue is so serious that the government can be sacked. If there was no tapping why are you shying away from discussion,” asked Ashwani Kumar (Cong).
This was countered by Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (BJP) who termed the allegations as “unfounded” and “uncalled for” when the House had many important issues to discuss like flood and loss of lives in Pune due to landslide. Many BJP members were on feet.
For the second consecutive day, the Upper House witnessed uproar from the start of day on the issue of alleged surveillance and phone tapping of Cabinet Ministers, with Opposition forcing two adjournments during the Question Hour. (PTI)
Oppn demands judicial probe, PM statement on bugging issue
HC permits petitioner to continue in service beyond 58 years, issues notice to State
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 31: In a petition highlighting controversy over the retirement age of Citizens Cooperative Bank employees, High Court today issued notice to the State through Commissioner Secretary Cooperative Department, Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K, Citizens Cooperative Bank through its Managing Director and Chief Manager (Adm) Citizens Cooperative Bank returnable within three weeks.
The petitioner Sushma Sharma raised a question as to whether she being employee of Citizens Cooperative Bank should be made to retire at the age of 58 years, which is the date prescribed under SRO 233 of 1988 dated July 8, 1988 or she should be permitted to continue till the age of 60 years, which is prescribed under the Citizens Cooperative Bank Employee Service Rule.
During the course of argument, Advocate Abhinav Sharma appearing for the petitioner submitted that Service Rules are being applied continuously till date by the Bank and the stand of the respondent bank has been that SRO 233 of 1988, which prescribes the retirement age as 58 years, is not at all applicable to the bank. He referred orders passed by Coordination Bench of the High Court in a petition, which according to him, were passed in similar matter.
After hearing the counsel for the petitioner in-length, Justice Janak Raj Kotwal directed that subject to objections by the order side and till further orders the petitioner shall be permitted to continue in service beyond 58 years at her own risk and responsibility. She, however, shall not be given the salary for the period till the matter is finally considered after the objections are filed by the respondents.
“In case it is found that the petitioner had to superannuate on attaining the age of 58 years, the present order shall not confer any benefit upon the petitioner monetarily or otherwise”, the High Court directed while issuing notice to the State through Commissioner/ Secretary Cooperative Dept, Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K, Citizens’ Cooperative Bank through its Managing Director and Chief Manager (Adm) Citizen Cooperative Bank returnable within three weeks.
Disabled persons protest outside SDM’s office
Excelsior Correspondent
AKHNOOR, July 31: A large number of physically challenged persons took out a protest rally in the town and held strong protest demonstration outside the office of SDM here today.
A large number of handicapped persons under the banner of Disabled Welfare Association led by Sushil Kumar Sharma, chairman, assembled in the town here in the morning and took out protest rally. Carrying banners in hand, they were shouting slogans in support of their demands.
Later they moved to the office of Sub Division Magistrate. They submitted a charter of demands. These agitating handicapped persons were demanding Rs 1500 pension per month and 7 % job quota and issuance of BPL ration card to the members of this category.
As they could not find senior officers including SDM, they marched towards the office of Tehsildar and Tehsil Social Welfare Office. They held strong protest and conducted `gherao’ of these offices. They alleged that physically challenged persons in Kashmir are getting Rs 750 pension while those in Jammu region are being provided Rs 400 which is totally discriminating. Later, they dispersed and suspended their protest.
Tankers’ drivers, cleaners call off strike
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 31: All J&K Oil Tanker Drivers and Cleaners Union has called off its strike from tomorrow morning on the assurance of IG, Jammu Rajesh Kumar who paid Rs 20,000 each to two injured drivers for treatment and also assured that he will pursue Red Cross tomorrow to pay Rs 15,000 to each injured driver after the Union meeting with Divisional Commissioner Jammu.
On this assurance the Union called off strike and decided to resume the supply from tomorrow. This was stated by Anan Sharma a representative of the Union.
Earlier the oil tankers drivers and cleaners took to streets at Transport Nagar here today and protested against the attack on their colleagues.
The protest was launched by All J&K Oil Tanker Drivers and Cleaners Union led by Khair-ud-Din. The protestors raising slogans against the failure of Government to ensure security to tank drivers and cleaners supplying oil and petrol to strife torn Valley and hilly Ladakh region warned that in case the Government failed to provide security to them they will stop supply to the two regions.
The protestors said though it has now become a routine practice that the tanker drivers and cleaners are being thrashed in Kashmir Valley by the mob and their tankers are broken, the Government has over the years except assurances failed to ensure their safety and security.
They said throwing their lives to risk the tank operators are maintaining the supply of petrol, diesel and oil to strife torn Kashmir Valley as well as hilly Ladakh region and instead of appreciating their role the unruly mob in Kashmir subjects them to attack. Many times the tankers carrying petrol etc are damaged in stone pelting by unruly mob, they added.
The Union leaders said this has created a sense of insecurity among the family members of the tanker drivers and cleaners who are opposed to sending their kith and kin to Valley for maintaining supply position in view of the role of anti social and anti national elements there.
They said many times the tankers have been damaged and drivers got injured. They said recently two drivers of tanker No JKO2A R-5528 run by Ramesh Kumar and JK02AU-8161 were attacked by the anti social elements and the drivers got injured.
They said that the oil tankers are usually attacked at Pampore, Sumbal, Ganderbal, Gund, Kangan and other places by anti social elements and Government over the years ahs failed to ensure security at these places.
They said the drivers and cleaners feel harassed and insecure and they demand security and compensation for injured drivers and cleaners.
Govt directed to look into illegal toll collection
NEW DELHI, July 31:
Government was today directed to look into
reports of illegal collection of toll on national highways after members cutting across party lines in the Lok Sabha expressed grave concern over the practice.
The main grouse of members was that the construction companies start collecting tax even before completion of the project which was illegal.
Minister of Road Transport and Highways Krishnapal Gurjar’s reply to the supplementaries, which related to National Highway between Varanasi to Aurangabad during Question Hour, could not satisfy the members. They said they want to know what specific action the government
was going to take to correct the situation. Sensing members’ strong feelings on this issue, Speaker Sumitra
Mahajan directed the Minister to look into the matter. Earlier, the Minister in a written reply to the main question said there was provision in the Concession Agreement of some projects
for collection of user fee on partial completion and in such cases
user fee was levied and collected for the completed length of the project.
He said companies were required to inform the National Highway Authority about applicable fee and detailed calculation at least 15 days prior to the revision of fee. They will not revise, display or collect any amount in excess of the rates of fee payable under the Fee Rule. (UNI)
Feroz dedicates DG set to people
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 31: Minister of State for Science and Technology, Information Technology, School Education, Horticulture, Floriculture, Youth Services and Sports Feroz Ahmed Khan, along with a team of officers of various departments visited Staqpa/Umba village of Kargil district and dedicated 150 KV Diesel Generator (DG) set to the people.
The DG set costing Rs. 17 lakh has been sanctioned out of his Constituency Development Fund (CDF). The Minister also distributed 7 numbers of portable Generator Sets worth Rs. 5 lakh out of CDF in the un-electrified hamlets of Umba.
The Minister also announced Rs. 10 lakh for completion of various ongoing developmental works in the area.
En-route, various individuals and deputations met the Minister and projected demands relating to developmental needs of their areas. The Minister assured that their genuine demands would be looked into and redressed on priority. He said the Government headed by Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah is committed for all round development of far-flung areas of the State.
Disclose snags which brought metro services to halt: CIC
NEW DELHI, July 31:
The Central Information Commission has directed the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to disclose the details of technical snags due to which trains halted on the routes during the last one year.
The order of the Commission came on the petition of Aseem Takyar who had sought details of technical snags which brought the metro operations to a halt causing inconvenience to the passengers. During the hearing, Information Commissioner M A Khan Yusufi said appellant has been asking a complete list of incidents when train services were halted due to technical snag or due to other reasons on all the routes and lines along with duration of the halt in the service.
“The Commission feels that respondents are under legal obligation to provide the complete list of the incidents, as asked, for free of cost to the appellant,” he said.
Takyar had also sought copy of some documents for which Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has asked him to deposit Rs 550 as fee for giving him photocopies of 275 pages but Takyar did not provide any fee.
The Commission felt that DMRC was justified in seeking Rs 550 as fee for photocopy and asked him to pay for it.
Technical snags on Blue Line have repeatedly forced the DMRC to halt the services causing inconvenience to passengers who travel on the Dwarka Sector 21-Noida City Centre/Vaishali route. Recently doors of a metro train was left open on the Gurgaon-Jahangirpuri Line causing safety scare among the passengers. About 25 lakh people use the service of DMRC per day. (PTI)
Grapplers give India 2 more gold as India take medals tally to 44
Glasgow, July 31:
Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt and Babita Kumari breezed their way to gold medals as wrestlers continued to rule the roost by bagging an impressive two yellow metals for India on the eighth day of the 20th Commonwealth Games, here today.
While Yogeshwar (men’s 65kg freestyle) and Babita Kumari (women’s 55kg) won golds, Geetika Jhakar (women’s 63kg) failed to match her compatriots and managed a silver on the wrestling mat for India.
It was good news for India in other disciplines as well as young Dipa Karmarkar today scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games by bagging a bronze in the vault event.
By virtue of this two golds and Dipa’s bronze, India have moved have consolidated their sixth position in medal standings with a total haul of 44 medals — 12 gold, 19 silver and 13 bronze.
England were at at the top of the chart with a total of 115 medals followed by Australia (110), Canada (56), Scotland (41) and New Zealand (39).
The Indians enjoyed a good day on the final day of wrestling competition as Yogeshwar hardly broke sweat en route to his gold medal effort by using his trademark ‘fitele’ (leg-twisting) technique to great effect.
Yogeshwar first beat Alex Gladkov of Scotland 4-0 and then easily defeated another Scottish wrestler Gareth Jones in the quarterfinals by employing the same leg-twisting technique he had used while winning bronze in the London Olympics.
In the semifinals, Yogeshwar successfully used his favourite technique again to get the better of Sri Lanka’s Chamara Perera in just two minutes and three seconds.
Yogeshwar won with a 0-5 verdict after taking a 10-0 lead on technical points.
He continued his dominance in the final and made light work of his Canadian opponent Jevon Balfour to clinch the gold medal in just 1:53 seconds.
But it all started with Babita who completely dominated her gold medal bout against Brittanee Laverdure to seal the contest 9-2 in her favour and give India its first yellow metal of the day.
However, it was some sort of disappointment for India in the women’s 63kg as Geetika was no match for her Candian opponent Danielle Lappage. The world junior champion overpowered the Indian grappler 7-0 to pocket the gold with consummate ease.
Meanwhile, it was silver lining for India in gymnastics as 20-year-old Dipa collected 14.366 points to finish third in the women’s vault final at the SSE Hydro here.
The gold went to England’s Claudia Fragapane who got 14.633 points while Elsabeth Black was second with 14.433 points.
In the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, Ashish Kumar became the first Indian gymnast to win a medal at the CWG by winning a silver in vault and bronze in floor events.
On the hockey turf, India produced a clinical performance to breeze past South Africa 5-2 to qualify for the semi-final.(PTI)
England crush India by 266 runs to level series 1-1
Southampton, July 31:
A listless India crashed to a humiliating 266-run defeat against England in the third cricket Test after an abject batting surrender allowed the hosts to level the five-match series 1-1 here today.
Needing to bat out the whole day with six wickets in hand in order to save the match, Indian batting crumbled in the first session itself getting bundled out for a meagre 178 in 66.4 overs in a completely lopsided contest at the Ageas Bowl.
It was one of the biggest defeats for India in terms of runs on English soil but not their worst, having lost a Test match by a mammoth 319 runs in Nottingham during the last tour in 2011.
For England, the victory meant an end to a winless streak of 10 Test matches starting from the Ashes Down Under.
To add insult to the injury, it was part-time off-spinner Moeen Ali, who bamboozled the lower-oder batsmen with his career-best haul of 6 for 67 in 20.4 overs.
Pacer Jimmy Anderson provided the first breakthrough in the morning when he had Rohit Sharma (6) nibbling at an away-going delivery to be caught by wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (6) couldn’t replicate the resilience of the first innings as he was again a victim of an outswinger, edging to the keeper.
While Ajinkya Rahane waged a lone battle at the other end, he could do little as he saw wickets falling like nine pins at the other end.
Moeen, then got into the action as he got the ball to turn and jump from the rough as well as bowling the classical off-breaks. He cleaned up Ravindra Jadeja (15) with a delivery that pitched on the rough and came in to hit the off-stump.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar got out to a bat-pad catch with a delivery that spun in after pitching. His maiden ‘five-for’ was completed when a typical off-break cleaned up Mohammed Shami.
Rahane duly got his second half-century of the match hitting a brilliant square drive off Chris Woakes with No 11 Pankaj Singh for company.
Pankaj was finally cleaned up by Moeen for his sixth scalp as he played inside the line.(PTI)
Govt liberalizes guidelines for obtaining passport verifications
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 31: Under the directions of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, the State Government as a people friendly measure had in 2011 simplified the guidelines relating to the issuance of verification for obtaining passports.
These guidelines, inter-alia, provide for issuance of verification for passport purposes to the relatives of militants who have died ten years back or have surrendered twelve years ago.
However, there is no provision for issuing such clearance in respect of an applicant whose militant relative is still in PoK/Pakistan. Further, there is no explicit provision to deal with the cases of such youth who had returned to the State from PoK/Pakistan.
Now keeping in view the overall improvement in the security scenario in the State, representations received from the general public, political representatives and in keeping with its citizen friendly policy, the State Government has considered the matter and decided to further liberalize the policy for issuance of verification for obtaining passports.
The amended policy provides for issuance of clearance for obtaining passport for Haj/Umrah in respect of an applicant who had crossed over to PoK/Pakistan for obtaining arms training, but has returned, eschewed violence, is silent, has exhibited a good conduct and completed fifteen years or more in the State from the date of his return and on the date of application.
The amended policy further provides that clearance for issuance of passport will be granted in favour of applicant(s) whose relative(s) have crossed over to PoK, fifteen years ago, is/are silent there and do not have any adverse report from the concerned agencies.