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IMPHAL WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014
Brief News
Rajnath Singh
adopts Beti village
LUCKNOW, Nov 11: Union
Home Minister and Lucknow
MP Rajnath Singh has adopted
Beti village in the district under
the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh
Gram Yojna.
“The Union Home Minister has adopted Beti village in
Sarojini Nagar (Assembly
segment) under the model
village scheme,” Secretary of
BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit
Virendra Tiwari said on
Tuesday.
Though in Lucknow district, Beti village is not part of
the Lucknow parliamentary
constituency. It falls in the
Mohanlalganj parliamentary
constituency.
Under the scheme launched
by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, MPs of urban areas
can adopt villages in other
places as well.
Tiwari said there is an atmosphere of jubilation in the
village following the news of
its adoption by Mr. Singh.
Recently, during a visit to
his parliamentary constituency Varanasi in Uttar
Pradesh, Narendra Modi had
adopted Jayapur village.
Pension to Statehood
agitationists in
Uttarakhand
DEHRADUN, Nov 11:
Uttarakhand government has
announced that it will give pension to statehood agitationists
aged over 60 years and enact a
law in the state Assembly granting 10 per cent reservation to
their kin in government jobs.
The decision was taken by
the state Cabinet at a meeting
here chaired by Chief Minister Harish Rawat, an official
release yesterday here said.
Photographs of martyred
statehood agitationists, who
fought for a separate
Uttarakhand, will up for display at the Vidhan Bhawan
this session beginning later
this month, the release added.
Their villages will also be
developed as 'ideal villages'
and the educational institutes
in the state will be named
after them, it said.
The Cabinet has made a
provision of Rs 10 crore for
the welfare fund for
agitationists named Rajya
Andolankari Kalyan Kosh,
the release added.
The committees to identify
statehood agitationists, headed
by District Magistrates, were
also decided to be dissolved,
and replaced with new government appointed panels
which will look into deserving cases left out of the list,
the release stated.
Pratap said that he had
done a great service to
agitationists by fulfilling their
long pending demands.
The Cabinet also decided
to reduce the security money
taken from investors in higher
education sector from Rs 10
crore to five crore.
Women who become
mothers through surrogacy
will also get maternity leave,
the release said.
Agencies
Explosion outside NIA office in Kolkata
KOLKATA, Nov 11: The
explosion outside the NIA
office in Kolkata has once again
brought into focus the reach and
spread of terror network in
West Bengal.
With the NIA said to be
close to cracking the
Burdwan blast case after it
arrested several key operatives of the Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), reports said that investigators
suspect the blast outside NIA
office was carried out as a
warning against further probe.
The blast – though a minor
one – may have been meant
as an intimidation, reports
added.
The blast occurred around
7:30 pm yesterday evening
outside the NIA camp office,
situated in the Bidhannagar
area in the Salt Lake suburb
of the city, when two crude
bombs were thrown from a
car passing by the camp office area.
Reports said no explosives
were found at the spot and
Police officials investigates at the blast side after a powerful
explosion outside the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp.
the material used could be a
firecracker. No one was injured in the incident.
Among the suspects in
NIA's custody is the alleged
mastermind of the Burdwan
terror module Sajid alias Sk
Rahamatulla.
He was nabbed last Saturday from near Kolkata airport
by the West Bengal Police and
was subsequently handed
over to the NIA.
Sajid - investigators said
he used to taught in madarsas
and impart jihadi ideologylater admitted before a court
that he served several years
in Bangladesh jails and fled
to India earlier in the year.
Sajid's close associate and
key 'jihadi motivator' Zia-ulHaque and key operative
Amjad Sheikh are also in
NIA's custody.
Sheikh, alias Kajal, a resi-
Mizoram presents tax-free deficit budget for 2014-15
AIZAWL, Nov 11: Mizoram
Finance Minister Lalsawta
Tuesday presented a tax-free
deficit budget amounting to Rs
6,770.79 crore for the current
fiscal.
Lalsawta explained that he
could not present the full
budget during the budget session in March and was
compelled to seek vote-onaccount for two times for a
period of eight months due to
late finalisation of the state
annual plan outlay for 201415.
The budget, presented in
the state Assembly, has
provisioned Rs 3,140 crore
under plan outlay and Rs
3,630.79 crore under nonplan expenditure.
The fund is expected to be
received under Non-Lapsable
Central Pool of Resources
(NLCPR), Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) and
North Eastern Council (NEC)
now allocated in the plan fund
since the past one year.
The closing deficit for the
current financial year was
estimated at Rs 608.39 crore
as against the opening deficit
of Rs 357.18 crore. He did
not announce any new tax.
In his budget speech,
Lalsawta spoke about the
acute financial difficulties being faced by the state and
stressed on the importance of
following strict austerity
measures.
NLUP or the New Land
Use Policy, the flagship programme of the Congress
government in the state led by
Chief
Minister
Lal
Thanhawla, continued to be
the top priority of the state
government. As much as Rs
317.32 core were earmarked
for implementation of the programme during the current
fiscal, he said.
He said 1.35 lakh families
would be benefited under
NLUP which aimed at giving
sustainable livelihood by engaging in different activities
including agriculture and allied services, industries and
forest-based income generating activities.
Lalsawta was the first finance minister to deliver
budget speech in Mizo language for the second time.
––PTI
Angry parents agitating inside the G.D.Birla centre for education after a class I girl was allegedly
molested, in Kolkata.
Sushil Modi seeks BHRC SP's
suspension on Giriraj issue
PATNA, Nov 11: Former
Deputy chief minister Sushil
Kumar Modi on Tuesday took
exception to the allegation by
BHRC SP Amitabh Kumar
Das against the Union
Minister Giriraj Singh of
having links with an outlawed
militia in Bihar and sought his
immediate suspension.
Claiming that Das had a
controversial track record,
the senior BJP leader said
the officer exceeded his
jurisdiction by writing a
letter to the IG (Special
Branch) J S Gangwar for
intimation to Intelligence
Bureau (IB) about newlyappointed union minister's
alleged links with the
outlawed Ranvir Sena.
The state government
must take note of the Bihar
Human Rights Commission
(BHRC) SP's "misconduct
and breach of service rules"
and suspend him with
immediate effect for making
baseless allegations against
the BJP Lok Sabha MP
from Nawada, he said.
On the charge by BHRC
Superintendent of Police
that Singh attended funeral
of the slain Ranveer Sena
chief Brahmeshwar Singh
alias Brahmeshwar Mukhiya
and also participated in his
last rites in June 2012,
Modi defended his party
colleague saying that a
number of JD(U) leaders
too had attended that
funeral, but it does not
connote any link with the
outlawed militia.
The veteran BJP leader
said he will speak to the
party MPs from Bihar and
explore option of initiating
privilege motion against the
police official in the
Parliament.
Meanwhile, BHRC
(Bihar Human Rights
Commission) Chairperson
Justice (Retd) Bilal Nazki
has served show cause
notice on Das for writing a
letting to the IG (Special
Branch) alleging Singh's
links with the private militia
and asked him to reply
within seven days. BHRC
has also sent a copy of the
show cause letter to Bihar
Police headquarters for
information.
Singh, who has been
appointed as Minister of
State for Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprise, could
not be reached for his
comments on the issue.
dent of Birbhum district of
West Bengal, is alleged to be
the main person who used to
procure material, meant for
making improvised explosive
devices, from open market.
The accidental bomb explosion in a house in
Khagragarh had left two suspected JMB militants dead
and another injured and broke
the lead on the most sensational
jihadi
terrorist
conspiracy in the state in recent times.
Shakil Ahmed died on the
spot and another person
Sovan Mandal died in hospital. Both were suspected to
have links with JMB. Another person - Hasan Saheb,
who was also injured in the
blast, gave some information
which led to the arrest of six
people in Assam.
However,
only
two
women including the wife of
one of the dead man, was
useful in giving some sketchy
information about the blast
conspiracy. Agencies
'Justice Shyamal Sen
commission report
should be tabled'
KOLKATA, Nov 11: Demanding the Justice Shyamal
Sen Commission report be tabled on the floor of the
Assembly, BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh
today welcomed the Serious
Fraud Investigation Office
(SFIO) report on Saradha
scam and hoped that the culprits would be booked soon.
"I have told our party
MLA to place the demand that
the Shyamal Sen Commission
report on Saradha scam be
placed on the floor of the Assembly. Everybody has the
right to know what is there in
the Saradha Scam," Singh
told reporters here.
Singh hoped that investigating agencies in the ponzi
scam would soon tighten their
noose on the culprits.
Completing its over-a-year
long probe into the Saradha
scam, the SFIO had submitted its final investigation
report in September this year
to the government, which
may soon start prosecution
proceedings for numerous
serious violations.
The final report, submitted
by SFIO to the Corporate
Affairs Ministry, has listed
violations of many provisions
of Company laws by various
entities.
The scam, wherein lakhs
of investors in West Bengal
and neighbouring states were
duped of thousands of crores
through illegal money pooling activities, came to light
early last year and also had
its political ramifications.
Two killed, seven
injured in mishap
AURANGABAD, Nov 11:
Two persons were today killed
and seven others seriously
injured when the vehicle
carrying them was hit by a truck
here, police said.
The incident took place on
G T Road near Katharua village under Town police
station in the district, SubDivisional Police Officer
(SDPO) Ajay Narayan Yadav
said.
The deceased persons are
natives of Andhra Pradesh
while the injured ones are
from Andhra Pradesh and
Tamil Nadu, he said, adding,
they were on their way to
Bodh Gaya.
Two of the injured persons are in critical condition
and have been referred to
Anugrah Narayan Magadh
Medical College and Hospital
in Gaya district, police said,
adding they have impounded
the truck and trying to identify the victims. ––PTI
8 women die after sterilisation
surgery, 4 docs suspended
BILASPUR, Nov 11: Eight
young women died and 52
others were hospitalised after
botched sterilisation procedure
at a state-run camp in
Chhattisgarh's
Bilaspur
district, following which the
government has suspended
four health officials and ordered
a probe.
60 women were admitted
to different hospitals after
they developed post-operative
complications at a sterilisation
camp organised by the government at a private hospital
in Pendari village on the outskirts of Bilaspur town on
Saturday, district Collector
Siddharth Komal Pardeshi
said today.
Eight of them, all below
32 years of age, died from
complications, Pardeshi told
PTI.
Under attack from opposition
Congress
which
demanded his resignation,
Chief Minister Raman Singh
announced a high-level probe
and suspended four officials,
including the Chief Medical
and Health Officer of
Bilaspur.
He ordered registration of
FIR against the surgeon under whose supervision the
sterilisation camp was organised at Nemichand Jain
Cancer and Research Centre
where 83 women had undergone surgical procedures for
sterilisation.
The state government initially
announced
a
compensation fo Rs 2 lakh to
the kin of each of the victims
but the Chief Minister raised
it to Rs 4 lakh. Rs 50,000
would be given to those undergoing treatment the cost of
which will be borne by the
government.
Chief Medical and Health
Officer of Bilaspur R K
Bhange, laparoscopic surgeon Dr R K Gupta, State
Programme Convener, family
planning, Dr K C Urao and
Block Medical Officer,
Takhatpur, Dr Pramod Tiwari
have been suspended in connection with the incident.
The Chief Minister said
prima facie the tragedy had
occurred due to negligence
and ordered registration of an
FIR against Gupta under
whose supervision the camp
was held and surgeries performed.
"Its a very unfortunate incident. Prime facie it appears
that the incident occurred due
to negligence (by doctors). A
detailed enquiry will be conducted keeping in view all
angles including the quality of
the medicines, standard of the
surgery, post operative measures and others," he said.
A three-member committee
has been constituted to investigate the incident, he said.
Deputy Director, Health
Services, Amar Singh said
preliminary examination suggested hypovolemic shock, an
emergency condition in which
severe blood and fluid loss
make the heart unable to
pump enough blood to the
body, or septic infection as
possible causes for the
deaths.
However, the exact reason
would be known only after
autopsies have been performed.
Social media played role in our
party's victory: Mulayam
LUCKNOW, Nov 11:
Samajwadi Party supremo
Mulayam Singh Yadav on
Tuesday said that social media
played a pivotal role in the
party's victory in Uttar
Pradesh.
Addressing a seminar on
'social media: boon or bane'
organised by Indian Federation of Working Journalists,
he said that no political party
could make progress by ignoring social media.
"Akhilesh Yadav is heading a majority government in
Uttar Pradesh and social media had played a pivotal role
in this success," he said.
"Social media put forth the
efforts of SP before the peo-
ple as a result the party
gained sympathy of students,
lawyers, farmers and all sections of the society," he
added.
He claimed that the atti-
tude of social media towards
SP has been good so far.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav landed
into controversy last year in
March for claiming that media
were defaming the SP government over alleged law and
order situation in the state,
and asked media to publish
news responsibly.
"I tell those in the government that why you blame
media. You tell media about
your decisions. This is the
shortcoming of the government," Mulayam said.
He said that social media
has a big responsibility to
show mirror to the government and the society. ––PTI
Patna passport office 3rd in country for pendency
PATNA, Nov 11: With 90,000
passport applications pending
in various stages, the Regional
Passport Office (RPO) in
Patna has achieved a dubious
distinction of being at the third
position in the country in this
regard. However, the Patna
RPO has also notched a record
revenue.
Patna Regional Passport
Officer Anand Kumar told
PTI, "A major chunk of the
outstanding passport applications is due to delay in
getting the mandatory Police
Verification Report, which
comes from the district police
headquarters of respective
applicants.
"Of the 90,000 pending
applications, around 69,000
are due to pending PVR (Police Verification Report)."
Kumar said 8,000 applications are pending due to
incomplete information or errors by the applicants, while
13,000 are pending at the
RPO.
"We are making all efforts
to cut down the pendency
factor. The District Police
Headquarter (DPHQ) model
of online police verification
has been operationalised in
all districts earlier this year.
We have also appointed senior officials at refusal
counters at the Passport Seva
Kendra (PSK) to guide and
help the applicants," Kumar
added.
With regard to 13,000
applications pending at the
RPO, Kumar said around
6,000 out of them are those
submitted at Passport Application Collection Centre
(PACC) in Darbhanga, where
the work is done manually.
"Since the entire passport
application system has been
shifted online, we are going
to launch a drive to clear the
6,000 forms submitted manually
at
PACC.
The
information given in them will
be fed into the online system
by our officials. The rest
7,000 applications pending at
our office have doubtful
documents," said Kumar.
However, the Patna RPO
has also attracted around 2.5
lakh passport applications
this calendar year till now and
notched record revenue of Rs
37.5 crore, he said. In 2013,
it had received 1.79 lakh applications and earned Rs 33.3
crore.
"Of the applications received till now we have
alreadyissued over 2.1 lakh
passports this year. This is the
first time in the history of
RPO that we have crossed the
barrier of 2 lakh," Kumar
said.
"We are happy that more
and more people are applying
for passports these days. It is
the only Indian document,
which is valid all over the
world," the official said.
Kumar also added that he
is expecting the numbers to
go up to 2.8 lakh to 3 lakh
and the revenue to shoot up to
Rs 42 crore by the end of this
calendar year.
The Patna office is behind
Lucknow RPO, which is at
the top with 1.51 lakh pending passport applications and
the Kolkata office is in the
second position with 1.47 lakh
pending applications, according to records available with
RPO.
––PTI