MSUSU takes up payment seats issue Tuesday, September 18, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
VADODARA: The newly elected MS University Students' Union (MSUSU) issued an ultimatum to the varsity administration on the commerce faculty payment seats issue here on Monday.
In a tersely worded memorandum, the MSUSU general secretary Mehul Lakhani and vice-president Bharat Dangar fixed September 21 as the deadline for MSU authorities to act in the larger interest of students.
Lakhani and Dangar have asked MSU administration to revise downwardly the fees from the current Rs 6,100 to an affordable fee structure. Besides bringing down the fees, the two leaders have also asked to pay back fees paid under the payment seats fee structure to those students who have taken admission to FYBCom.
The leaders have also demanded that surplus seats in Padra college be converted into regular seats and admission be granted to eligible students.
"We have given a memorandum mentioning our demands. If the MSU does not act in the greater interest of the student community we will be forced to protest. Also, this time the protest won't be from individual leaders but the students' union as a whole," Lakhani and Dangar told TNN.
The deadlock over MSU commerce faculty payment seats issue has continued to haunt the administration for a long time now. With the newly elected MSUSU determined to fight to finish, the varsity administration has a tough task ahead of it.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
BSNL to set up customer service centre Tuesday, September 18, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: Wanting to become more customer-friendly in the face of heavy competition, BSNL is launching a computerised customer service centre at its new Navrangpura administrative building, adjoining the exchange on C G Road in Ahmedabad.
Chief general manager P.K. Chanda will inaugurate the centre on Tuesday.
The centre is the first to implement the single-window concept and provide all services instantaneously under one roof. BSNL has spent Rs 16 crore on the administrative building and Rs 12.5 lakh on the centre.
A large number of services will be available at the centre, including instant registration of a new line for Rs 1,000, on-the-spot booking and supply of WiLL telephones, sale of ITC cards in various denominations and selling of application forms for all services.
In future, the centre will sell latest telephone instruments, apart from issuing duplicate bills immediately and have its own cyber kiosk, providing video-conferencing, and internet services.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Advani's arrival to boost BJP morale Monday, September 17, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: In a cleverly-planned strategy, Union Home Minister L.K. Advani has finally decided to come to Ahmedabad to campaign for the Sabarmati Assembly by-elections, and yet keep his vow of stepping into Gujarat only after the Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank mess was cleared.
The details of the visit, however, are a closely-guarded secret especially after the turn of events consequent to the attacks in the US as also for "political reasons" since Advani's security is a sensitive issue for the police, sources said.
The BJP, in a press conference on Sunday, declared that the MMCB dues would be released to the depositors beginning Tuesday, and it was later confirmed that Advani would address an election meeting on Monday evening. He would then release the first cheque at a function on Tuesday.
With this, Advani has certainly hit two birds with a single stone. He might just win back the confidence of MMCB depositors numbering in lakhs, most of who are his voters. And second, he will pep up the campaign of BJP candidate Babubhai Jamnadas Patel on the penultimate day of campaigning.
Finally, the BJP camp is heaving a sigh of relief with their star campaigner returning. However, the BJP is tight-lipped about the news, in case Advani decides to call-off the visit.
According to highly-placed sources, Advani will arrive by the evening flight on Monday at around 8 pm, and address an election meeting on the grounds of Akash-Ganga Flats on Sola Road at 10 pm.
On Tuesday morning, he is expected to bring in a "lease of new life" for Madhavpura bank depositors by handing over cheques. It is no secret, however, that the BJP was certainly tense with the minister's decision about not visiting Gujarat, especially since Sabarmati falls in the Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency from where Advani was elected.
News Source : Times News Network [India's best Newspaper]
Cong alleges BJP is 'impersonating' them Monday, September 17, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee alleged on Sunday that BJP workers from the minority community were made to dress as Congress workers and distribute hand-outs campaigning for Sabarmati Assembly constituency candidate Narhari Amin in Hindu-dominated localities, with a motive to influence voters against the Congress.
Amin's supporter and former BJP legislator Yatin Oza told reporters that at least six persons were caught wearing wrongly printed Congress sashes, and caps worn by Muslims with visiting cards confirming their BJP identity, on their person, from the Naranpura and Nava Wadaj wards.
However, the Congress leaders fumbled when asked if the Congress would lodge a criminal complaint about this. Oza said they were not sure, but would examine the case from the legal angle.
GPCC vice-president Balubhai Patel said, "Yesterday we approached the chief election officer, the police commissioner and the collector about the illegal meeting held by the BJP at Stadium crossroads but there was no response - this attitude has deterred us from lodging a criminal complaint".
Patel said that these BJP workers were summoned to Gandhinagar by the vice-chairman of the Gujarat State Minorities Finance and Development Corporation, Kadarbhai Salot, and told that if they wanted their loans sanctioned from the corporation, they would have to visit certain localities of the Sabarmati constituency and campaign for the Congress.
According to Patel, "These workers were put under pressure and were asked to compulsorily wear their caps and the sashes which are different from the original Congress sashes, distribute the hand-outs and even abuse people to vote in favour of Amin, in order to tarnish the image of the party".
These workers reportedly went to the Naranpura and Ankur Road areas which are dominated by the BJP. "I got to know about this when someone from Naranpura called me up and said that four persons from the minority community had come to his place to campaign for Amin", said Oza.
The workers belonged to Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Gondal, and were even given vehicles for the campaign. Oza and Patel alleged that the "BJP had stooped to such level because they are sure that they would lose the elections".
The workers claiming to belong to the BJP are Sattarbhai Adambhai from Gondal, Iqbal Sipai from Rajkot, Nahin Kazi who is the general secretary of the BJP minorities cell, Bhavnagar, Hanif Qureshi from Rajkot, Harun Shah from Rajkot and Iqbal Bachchubhai from Gondal.
The Congress also distributed copies of the letter written by these 'impersonators' which stated that "the BJP had exploited their vulnerability and compelled them into this".
News Source : Times News Network [India's best Newspaper]
4 Gujaratis missing after attacks on WTC Monday, September 17, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: At least four non-resident Gujaratis (NRG), including Dipti Patel, a computer engineer working in the World Trade Centre, are missing after the dastardly terrorist attacks on the twin towers in New York on Tuesday, according to reports reaching at NRG control room here.
The NRG chairman, Hari Desai, who has been in constant touch with the functionaries of the Gujarati Samaj in the US told TNN that the identity of the missing woman employee has been confirmed.
Dipti Patel working with a computer firm has not reached her house, according to her father, Jayantilal Patel, who originally hails from Ode (Anand). This has been communicated by Jyotindra Patel, a leading NRG from New York, to the NRG chairman over telephone.
According to him, "We are trying our best to collect information regarding casualties, if any, of Gujarati people, but so far nothing concrete has emerged from any source."
A majority of Gujarati professionals who were inside the WTC had escaped to safety as the first tower was attacked.
One train carrying passengers from New Jersey had reached the subway station at WTC just when the first tower was slammed by the plane and it is feared that the train must have been buried under the debris of the tower.
Meanwhile, the Bochasanvasi Akshar Purshottam Sansthan of Swaminarayan organised prayer meetings at 132 centres all over America.
News Source : Times News Network [India's best Newspaper]
