Congress sore at re-induction Tuesday, October 16, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: GPCC president Amarsinh Chaudhary criticised the BJP-led NDA coalition over the reinstatement of Harin Pathak and George Fernandes into the Union ministry and charged Prime Minister Vajpayee of "making a mockery of the inquiries against them".
Chaudhary said Pathak had not yet been proved innocent in the case in which criminal charges have been filed against him over the 1985 communal riots.
He also said, "Fernandes had himself stated that he would not join the ministry till proved innocent by the Venkataswamy Commission which was inquiring into the Tehelka expose, but he has backtracked."
He accused the BJP of adopting a dual stand where former prime minister Narsimha Rao and L K Advani had resigned after being charged in the hawala scam. "This only shows to what extent Vajpayee can stoop to save his government," Chaudhary said.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Matrimonial market experiences big boom in Saurashtra Tuesday, October 16, 2001
NARANDAS THACKER, TIMES NEWS NETWORK
RAJKOT: Marriages are made in heaven! So it is said. Really?
Some may feel it is Utopian! But the real participants are ecstatic, indeed.
And, the dramatis personae include besides the bride and the groom, people who witness the janaiya (people accompanying the groom) and the mandaviya (those on the bride's side).
Besides these groups directly connected with the matrimony, are those who participate and profit directly or indirectly. The likes of which are those owning the halls, the party plots, caterers, videographers and photographers, the Brahmins acting as Gor Maharaj (priests) solemnising the ceremony.
Terror Tuesday and its aftermath don't bother these people. If winter comes, how can the spring be far behind? said the British poet. And, rightly so. Closely after Navratri and Diwali follows the most busy marriage season which may be colourful and full of sound-bites and dazzling.
This year, in the wake of satisfactory monsoon in Saurashtra and Kutch, the matrimonial market is experiencing a boom, recession in the economy notwithstanding!
So much so that bookings for the halls, party plots, clubs, community halls, mandap services, caterers, videographers etc. are full for the four-month period from November.
Unbelievable but many are on the waiting list, hoping for cancellations, which are indeed few and far between.
During the past two years, in the wake of the severe drought, the marriage season was on a low-key. The people preferred to wait for a better time or just opted for mere ceremonies, keeping it to bare minimum, devoid of fanfare and ostentation.
But things have changed dramatically this year. The people, in anticipation of the marriage season, are in an elated mood, hoping to derive maximum in the next few months.
According to astrologers the marriage season would begin on November 28 and would end in March, with two-month break from December 11 to February 15. Thus the effective marriage season would last six weeks.
Astrologers say maximum marriages may take place in the first eleven days of December. So the major demand for the marriage-related paraphernalia is confined to these two main slots in December and February.
The people in Saurashtra and Kutch are staunch believers in the Muhurta (auspicious time) for the marriage. As a general rule, no marriage takes place during the Kamurta (inauspicious phase) which normally is of four-week duration from the second week of December to second week of January. The auspicious season begins with the Makar Sankranti.
However, the people in Mumbai and nearby areas don't stick to such rigid belief and marriages are solemnised there even during the kamurta.
The economics of the matrimonial market is rather interesting.
How much money is spent on marriage celebration? Anybody's guess, no doubt. But, some estimates are revealing.
Something like Rs.10,000 is spent on a single marriage.
The expenditure may be many times more, in the case of the upper middle class and the aristocrats.
It is estimated that the number of marriages, which may take place in the Saurashtra and Kutch region as a whole, with a population of 11 million, spread over eight districts, will be around a quarter million.
The share of Rajkot may be 10,000 marriages or just four percent of the two-and-a half lakh marriages in the region.
But, expenditure-wise, the money flow in the matrimonial market may be Rs. 250 crore in the region with Rajkot's share around Rs.10 crore.
And, the people of Saurashtra and Kutch, celebrate the 'once in a life-time' event in a style with the bursting of crackers and dancing on the thoroughfares, even in scorching heat!
Such scenes are now common in towns and villages alike.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
"Be prepared for any eventuality -- biological and chemical disasters" Tuesday, October 16, 2001
BY SOURAV MUKHERJEE, TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: "Be prepared for any eventuality -- biological and chemical disasters, natural (or manmade) disasters ... ," said a telex message marked 'confidential' from the Centre to all state home secretaries which reached Gandhinagar recently and galvanised officials into an unprecedented civil defence preparedness.
This was followed by the Central government's declaration of sanctioning a whopping Rs 1,000-crore for disaster mitigation and being prepared for any contingency -- upgradation of flagging services of the fire department, paramilitary forces and the police force.
While the January 26 earthquake could achieve little in terms of disaster management or civil defence, the Centre's directive has shaken Gujarat's civil defence mechanism into action.
The sirens fixed atop tall structures that had seldom wailed have suddenly been tested and made operational. While the inevitable continues -- meetings and more meetings between police, fire brigade, civil defence officials and government authorities at Gandhinagar -- tangible action is also visible.
The collector of Ahmedabad, K Srinivas, who is also one of the two controllers of civil defence told TNN: "We have already categorised and identified different cities and urban conglomerates of Gujarat to be prepared for a war-like situation. Civil defence will be at a state of readiness for any circumstance. Focus areas for us are ability to warn the masses of an impending danger -- through sirens or through mobile 'alert' units and to mobilise a civilian workforce network to deal with exigencies."
Srinivas added, "Civil defence acts as an auxiliary unit to other state or central government agencies by mobilising doctors who are outside the government's health system and by reactivating civil defence warders. During non-peace situation, civil defence officials focus on managing masses and extending rescue and relief while the other agencies are busy with other emergency responsibilities. This department is currently reactivating its warders (essentially volunteers from public) and the people involved with civil defence."
Another tangible result of the brain-storming is the conceptualisation of the city's first all-round disaster mitigation vehicle. The disaster mitigation vehicle that in the first phase will also be readied at Surat and Rajkot will be prepared for biological, chemical and other disasters (natural and manmade).
A motor boat for unimpeded rescue work even in water-logged areas due to heavy rainfall or cyclonic conditions, a high-voltage pumping unit capable of sucking out 12,000 litres of water every minute, a high-pressure water tender with a 2,000-litre water tank and a water pump of 150 litre per minute capacity.
That's not all. An emergency rescue vehicle will be made available to accommodate one officer, five firemen apart from the driver. This unit will be fitted with a 100-watt halogen clear and fog lamps and an electrically operated siren with a range of 1 km. Apart from these illuminants and alert devices, the vehicle will have a trussed-type ladder with 10.5 metre extension, a set of concrete saw with water pump and two portable cutters, imported life jackets, lifebouys and two imported dry diving suits, a 5 horsepower submersible pump.
The other facets of the vehicle are a set of pneumatic high-pressure lifting bags that can provide a buffet to disaster victims trapped under tonnes of debris, gas cutters and a hydro-glider with an onboard engine, propeller and controls to manoeuvre at least six personnel. That apart, nine different types of hydraulic tools (all to be imported) will be there in the emergency vehicle that will also have suits to insulate the rescuers from chemical or biological hazards.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Legal sword still hangs over Bhatt, Pathak Tuesday, October 16, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: Their successful political career came to a grinding halt on November 7, 2000, when the additional city civil and sessions judge Sonia Gokani framed charges against 11 persons. Union minister of state for defence production Harin Pathak and state health minister Ashok Bhatt figured in the list of co-accused. Four days later they resigned from the respective ministries.
But even as the legal battle lingers on, Pathak was on Monday reinstated in the Vajpayee ministry and there are indications that Bhatt is enroute to becoming a member of the Modi Cabinet on Wednesday.
On April 22, 1985, a commission appointed by the Gujarat High Court was investigating into the police role during the communal riots near Chhabila Hanuman in Raipur area of the city that took place a few weeks before.
It was alleged that after the speeches delivered by Bhatt, Pathak and others, a mob attacked police constable Laxman Jabbabhai Desai with sharp weapons, killing him on the spot, and severely injuring another constable Ratiram Yadav, during the riots.
A complaint was filed by the then deputy commissioner of police J Mahapatra against 11 for unlawful assembly, injury to policemen on duty, attempt to murder and murder during the communal riots.
The accused then filed an application in the HC seeking to quash the complaint filed against them having charges of committing murder. The accused had challenged the complaint and the proceedings filed under Section 188 of IPC along with other charges, as the procedure provided under Section 195 of the Criminal Procedural Code was not followed by the police.
The HC had then quashed and set aside the charges on November 15, and had directed the sessions court to hear the case again after reframing charges and providing all the documents to the accused. Two of the accused had sought that the report of the inquiry commission appointed by the HC to investigate into the riots, was not made available to them despite an earlier HC order.
In addition, the government pleaded that it was found on perusal of the order of the additional sessions court, that the court had framed charges against accused No. 1 to 11 without considering the material documents, namely the inspection report of the court.
The court ordered that since the charges as framed by the additional session court in-charge is not only contrary to the law but was in violation of the direction given by the HC on September 25, 2000, hence they be set aside. It was also assured to the HC that the copies of the report would be provided to the accused.
It was on December 13, that the HC stayed the proceedings including those in the sessions court as well as the previous order of the High Court to find and produce the report of the Court Inquiry Commission. On December 26, the stay was extended till January.
This had kicked off a controversy as the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association president Yatin Oza had shot a letter last week to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India saying that the petition, on the basis of which the stay was granted by the court, was admitted at the last minute and was taken up for hearing immediately, without having intimated the relatives of the deceased constable.
Following a HC order to start a fresh trial in the trial court, the city civil and sessions court started hearing on August 7, 2001, with the widow of the slained police constable Laxman Desai joining as a party and advocate B M Gupta, who had earlier applied to join as a party, appearing on her behalf. The matter was assigned afresh to ASJ Z K Saiyed.
Saiyed, however referred the case to the principal judge, who moved it to additional sessions judge V C Modi. The accused then moved an application for discharge stating that there was no substantial case against them and cited the court commission's document which pointed that Bhatt was present before the commission at the time of incident.
However, the Court observing that there were prima facie evidence suggesting Bhatt's involvement in instigating the violence, it turned down the discharge plea. Now, they have moved the High Court.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Octroi raids on RTO Tuesday, October 16, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: The octroi committee swooped on the Regional Transport Office (RTO) on Monday, detecting eight two-wheelers being registered without having paid octroi duty.
With the help of a person posing as a customer to the RTO for registration papers to a new vehicle, the octroi committee members of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation uncovered a network of agents who wilfully evaded octroi duty with the help of some officials of the department.
Chairman of the octroi committee, Kishansinh Tomar, told TNN, "The eight instances that we have uncovered are just pointers to the widespread illegalities in the RTO which bring down octroi income. I have ordered an investigation on to how the vehicles were brought into Ahmedabad and registered without paying octroi. If officials of the octroi department are found guilty immediate suspension orders would be slapped on them."
After laying siege on the RTO the octroi department shifted focus to a two-wheeler showroom and financier based in Bapunagar. "We were informed that the two-wheeler outlet was evading octroi and we are trying to verify the facts. There are many more such showrooms in Bapunagar and the credentials of each will be checked by the octroi department," said Tomar.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
