Communication gap helped culprits escape Monday, October 29, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: A state-wide alert has been sounded to nab the four terrorists who escaped under the cover of darkness in the wee hours of Saturday, as the state police picks up the search trail left behind by the core team of the CBI in Patan district.
The local police feel the insurgents escaped on account of "lack of communication" between the central and local agencies, but combing of villages in the border districts of Kutch, Banaskantha and Patan _ that have earlier known to harbour intruders _ have been intensified nevertheless.
Sources said even the state unit of the CBI was reportedly unaware of the operation by the Delhi team of the agency. While the secrecy of the operation can be appreciated, the police feel that "if properly co-ordinated, the local police may have negotiated the unfamiliar terrain better and helped trap them," said one senior official.
Further, with the area being infested with the 'Prosospis Juliflora' (a babool-variety), the police confess that the search is going to be difficult.
The persons who escaped abandoning the truck (RJ-02-G 9560) loaded with RDX, assault weapons, wireless sets and accessories to assemble explosives, are believed to be supported by Jaish-e-Mohammad militant outfit.
But the investigators are not ruling out links with local counterparts that may have co-ordinated the transit of the consignment, believed to be meant for New Delhi. The possible involvement of the SIMI is also being investigated.
The culprits left abandoning the truck at Babara Patia some 26 km from Varahi police station. SPs P B Upadhyay (Patan) and R B Brahambhatt (Banaskantha) camping here said the Patan police was informed of the incident four hours after the operation.
The four persons involved in ferrying the consignment are believed to have made their way into the surrounding villages. "Special dog squads are being used in the house-to-house search and vehicle-checking," said Brahmbhatt.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Communication gap helped culprits escape Monday, October 29, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: A state-wide alert has been sounded to nab the four terrorists who escaped under the cover of darkness in the wee hours of Saturday, as the state police picks up the search trail left behind by the core team of the CBI in Patan district.
The local police feel the insurgents escaped on account of "lack of communication" between the central and local agencies, but combing of villages in the border districts of Kutch, Banaskantha and Patan _ that have earlier known to harbour intruders _ have been intensified nevertheless.
Sources said even the state unit of the CBI was reportedly unaware of the operation by the Delhi team of the agency. While the secrecy of the operation can be appreciated, the police feel that "if properly co-ordinated, the local police may have negotiated the unfamiliar terrain better and helped trap them," said one senior official.
Further, with the area being infested with the 'Prosospis Juliflora' (a babool-variety), the police confess that the search is going to be difficult.
The persons who escaped abandoning the truck (RJ-02-G 9560) loaded with RDX, assault weapons, wireless sets and accessories to assemble explosives, are believed to be supported by Jaish-e-Mohammad militant outfit.
But the investigators are not ruling out links with local counterparts that may have co-ordinated the transit of the consignment, believed to be meant for New Delhi. The possible involvement of the SIMI is also being investigated.
The culprits left abandoning the truck at Babara Patia some 26 km from Varahi police station. SPs P B Upadhyay (Patan) and R B Brahambhatt (Banaskantha) camping here said the Patan police was informed of the incident four hours after the operation.
The four persons involved in ferrying the consignment are believed to have made their way into the surrounding villages. "Special dog squads are being used in the house-to-house search and vehicle-checking," said Brahmbhatt.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Bharuch :: Environmentalists slam NEERI report on Amlakhadi Monday, October 29, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: Environmentalists have strongly criticised the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute's (NEERI) report on pollution control in the heavily-polluted Amlakhadi channel of Bharuch district.
They stated the standards recommended by NEERI are ideal but not achievable by any industry or common effluent treatment plant (CETP), even by using expensive treatment methods. They instead stressed on the need of turning to cleaner production technologies and zero-discharge goals and not on developing standards for Amlakhadi.
Activists who participated in a meeting organised by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board at Gandhinagar, strongly criticised the report and demanded that it needs to be prepared in a scientific manner.
Representing the Centre for Social Justice, Mahesh Pandya described the report as incomplete and was creating confusion on the water balance aspect.
Amlakhadi, the 25-km-long natural channel flowing parallel to Narmada river, is heavily polluted by the highly-toxic and polluted effluents discharged by three major industrial estates -- Ankleshwar, Panoli and Jhagadiya -- and scores of other industries.
Anand Mazgaonkar of Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti took a strong exception of GPCB on not providing any time to the participants and distributing only the executive summary and not the complete report.
NEERI was entrusted with the task of preparing a report to work out the standards for discharge of treated waste water into Amlakhadi.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Environmentalists slam NEERI report on Amlakhadi Monday, October 29, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: Environmentalists have strongly criticised the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute's (NEERI) report on pollution control in the heavily-polluted Amlakhadi channel of Bharuch district.
They stated the standards recommended by NEERI are ideal but not achievable by any industry or common effluent treatment plant (CETP), even by using expensive treatment methods. They instead stressed on the need of turning to cleaner production technologies and zero-discharge goals and not on developing standards for Amlakhadi.
Activists who participated in a meeting organised by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board at Gandhinagar, strongly criticised the report and demanded that it needs to be prepared in a scientific manner.
Representing the Centre for Social Justice, Mahesh Pandya described the report as incomplete and was creating confusion on the water balance aspect.
Amlakhadi, the 25-km-long natural channel flowing parallel to Narmada river, is heavily polluted by the highly-toxic and polluted effluents discharged by three major industrial estates -- Ankleshwar, Panoli and Jhagadiya -- and scores of other industries.
Anand Mazgaonkar of Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti took a strong exception of GPCB on not providing any time to the participants and distributing only the executive summary and not the complete report.
NEERI was entrusted with the task of preparing a report to work out the standards for discharge of treated waste water into Amlakhadi.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
State to submit action plan to deal with anthrax Monday, October 29, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: A team of senior state health department officials, headed by health minister Ashok Bhatt, is leaving for New Delhi on Monday to attend a meeting of state health secretaries convened by Union health minister C P Thakur to review the preparedness against biological and chemical warfare.
Bhatt has been summoned to the official-level meeting because Gujarat is the first Indian state to have prepared an action plan to deal with anthrax. He will brief the officials on the possible precautionary measures and other drills to be followed in case of an anthrax attack.
Bhatt will be accompanied by health secretary S K Nanda and other experts from medical colleges, who have helped prepare the 40-page action plan against anthrax.
Microbiology experts from civil hospitals of Ahmedabad, Jamnagar and Surat have examined as many as seven suspected packages, including three envelopes containing white powder. The biology department head of Government Medical College, Jamnagar, checked the contents of two packages received by Reliance Industries from the US. But nothing threatening was found from either of the packages -- one contained chocolates, while the other had five books.
Similarly a letter received by the state home minister's office in Gandhinagar, that was handed over to experts at B J Medical College, too tested negative. The Surat mayor had also received such a letter but the tests conducted found nothing threatening as feared.
According to Bhatt, the state government has already asked for a financial assistance of Rs 5 crore from the Centre to strengthen the existing facilities to deal with a possible anthrax threat. Besides this, the state was the first to organise workshops in all its six major cities which are now well-equipped to tackle any crisis arising out of anthrax. Primary and community health centres too have adequate stocks of antibiotics, he said.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
