Month: March 2010

IPL upholds Jadeja’s ban, reprimands MI

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New Delhi, March 27: Ravindra Jadeja’s hopes of playing in the ongoing Indian Premier League III were dealt a severe blow after the ban imposed on him for contractual violations was upheld by IPL governing council-appointed one-man committee.

IPL’S CEO Sundar Raman said the committee chairman and eminent lawyer Arun Jaitley, who is also the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Assoaciation, rejected Jadeja’s appeal and also reprimanded Mumbai Indians for showing interest in signing the all-rounder midway through his contract with Rajasthan Royals.

Modi questioning to resume at 9.00 PM

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Gandhinagar, March 27: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today questioned for five hours by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigating
Team(SIT) in connection with the 2002 post Godhra riots case.

Interacting with media persons, Modi said that the questioning was not over yet and it may resume in the night after a break.

Modi said that he will try to come back to SIT office to face further questioning around 9 PM tonight. “Will like the questioning to end today itself,” Modi said.

Modi questioned over 2002 riots case

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Gandhinagar, March 27: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Saturday appeared before a Supreme Court-appointed probe panel to be questioned for the first time over his role in the 2002 communal riots in the state.

Wearing his trademark crisp white kurta and pyjama, Modi reached the Special Investigation Team (SIT) office around noon under tight security. The venue was the Old Secretariat building where a battery of journalists and photographers was waiting for him since morning.

Teenage girl burnt alive after being raped in JK

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Jammu, March 27: A teenaged girl was raped and burnt alive by some unidentified persons in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir.

A semi-burnt body of the 17-year-old was found in a tin-shed in Majalta area of the district last night, police said today.

During preliminary investigation, it was suspected that the girl was raped and then set afire by the attackers.

Station House Officer (SHO) Arvinder Kotwal said that a case has been registered and an investigation was on.

—Agencies

Prosecution plea to declare Kasab fugitive dismissed by Pak

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Islamabad, March 27: A Pakistani anti-terror court conducting the trial of LeT’s Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six others accused of involvement in the Mumbai attacks today dismissed the prosecution’s application for naming Ajmal Kasab and Fahim Ansari as “proclaimed offenders” or fugitives.

Judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan of the Rawalpindi- based court, who is conducting the trial within the Adiala Jail for security reasons, rejected the application a week after hearing arguments by the prosecution and defence lawyers on it.

Students demand removal of APPSC chief

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Hyderabad, March 27: Students unions have stepped up their ante against the AP Public Service Commission (APPSC) chairman Y Venkatrami Reddy. Hundreds of BC, SC and ST students today enforced a bandh on the Osmania University campus and blocked traffic for more than half-an-hour demanding the removal of the chairman for alleged irregularities in the APPSC appointments.

Students affiliated to various BC, SC and ST student unions enforced a bandh and took out a rally from the OU library to the Arts College where they burnt Venkatrami Reddy in effigy.

Soaring crime graph has Government on the mat

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Hyderabad, March 27: Cuting across ideological lines, the TDP, MIM, CPM and BJP today lashed out at the State Government for its “failure’’ to maintain law and order and to check the crime rate in Andhra Pradesh.

The people were living in fear across the State, particularly in the urban areas, they remarked.

Raising the issue during Question Hour in the State Assembly today, senior TDP member M Narsimhulu demanded that the Government scrap the advisory committees for law and order and public safety.

Assembly passes 4 Bills to amend VAT

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Hyderabad, March 27: The State Assembly today passed four Bills meant for further amendments to the Andhra Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2005, The AP tax on professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1987 and the AP Excise Act, 1968.

Registering protest against the Government’s decision to impose tax burden on the people, members of the CPI, CPM and BJP staged a walkout from the Assembly. Discussion on the Bills took place in the absence of main opposition TDP members who were earlier suspended from the House for the day.

Abducted boy rescued

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Hyderabad, March 27: The 13-month-old boy, who was kidnapped from near his grandmother’s house at Banjara Hills two days back, was rescued by the police today.

The abductor was traced to Amudalavalasa in Srikakulam district. The boy, Vinay Kumar, was playing in front of his grandmother’s house at MBT Nagar when a woman, Sharada, abducted him.

Sharada reportedly lured the boy with a candy and took him to a nearby shop. She later took away the boy.

Police tracked the mobile phone signals of the woman and traced her to Amudalavalasa and rescued the boy.

OU students threaten to obstruct Jagan’s yatra

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Hyderabad, March 27: Osmania University students have now trained their guns on Congress MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

The OU Students Joint Action Committee (JAC) has warned to obstruct Jaganmohan Reddy’s proposed yatra in the region to console the people of Telangana.

The students today pulled down flexis of Bharathi cements, a firm owned by Jaganmohan Reddy, erected at the College of Engineering as part of a workshop held by the college.

HC adjourns OMC case to April 12

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Hyderabad, March 27: Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy of the AP High Court on Friday adjourned to April 12 a writ petition filed by Obulapuram Mining Corporation questioning the action of the State Government in referring to the CBI an enquiry against it. While the petitioner was represented by Parasaran, former Attorney General, a battery of legal experts including Additional Solicitors General Vivek Tanka for CBI, Ravindran for Central Government and State Advocate General DV Sitaram Murthy appeared for the respondents.

Small-scale units to get additional power

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Hyderabad, March 27: Bowing to the pressure mounted by the industrial sector in general and small scale industries in particular against frequent power cuts, the State Government has decided to supply power for one eight-hour shift during the notified 48 hour power holiday in a week. The Government is currently imposing a two-day power holiday per week on industrial sector.

Kurnool village folk crying out for water

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Kurnool, March 27: India, it is said, lives in her villages.

And what kind of life is it? Certainly far removed from the romantic song and dance sequences in films set against swaying, green paddy fields and alluring blue ponds.

Junaid still in AP as Pakistan disowns him

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Htderabad, March 27: He is a “guest” whom the Andhra Pradesh Government dearly wants to get rid of but both it and the Centre are in a bind.

His country disowns him, his wife claims he is innocent and the Government has no choice but to continue taking good care of him, providing him with daily meals, newspapers and accommodation.

Almost 12 years after this ISI-trained Pakistani militant was arrested by the Hyderabad police for planning to bomb places of worship to foment communal trouble in the city, Muhammad Saleem Junaid continues to be a “guest” of the Government.

State makes full use of RTI

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Hyderabad, March 27: The annual report of the AP Information Commission, submitted to the State Government on Friday, brought to light some interesting facts. In 2009 alone, a staggering 65,973 applications were filed under the Right to Information Act seeking information from government departments — six times more than the 8,864 filed in 2006, the year in which the commission was set up.

Given a befitting reply to my detractors: Narendra Modi

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Gandhinagar, March 27: After being questioned for five hours by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigating Team (SIT) in connection with the 2002 riots, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said that he has given a befitting reply to his detractors by appearing before the investigating agency.

Hailing his appearance before the SIT, Narendra Modi said that “nobody is above law” and he too is bound by the Indian Constitution.”

“I hope this might silence my critics as the team, which was questioning is appointed by the apex court itself,” he said.

State to create land bank for private players

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Hyderabad, March 27: In a bid to attract private investments and give a fillip to the tourism and hospitality sector, the State Government on Friday, said it is creating a land bank, which will be leased out to private players.

With measures such as this besides initiatives like Aam Aadmi tourism, the Tourism & Culture Department is targeting Rs 1,500 crore investments into the State over the next ten years.

“To promote the sector, we need to concentrate on infrastrucutre.

Two persons found murdered in vegetable market

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Hyderabad, March 27: Two persons were brutally done to death while another suffered injuries in an attack by some unidentified person, in a vegetable market at Vikarabad in the neighbouring Rangareddy district.

The murders came to light today morning at around 5.30 a.m when local farmers found the market security guard, Mohd Ali (50), lying in a pool of blood.

A little distance away from Ali’s body, they found another person lying dead. He was later identified as Hanumaiah (70), a beggar who used to take shelter in the market during nights.

‘Capacity of terrorists to strike India is high’

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New Delhi, March 27: In an apparent reference to Pakistan, Home Minister P Chidambaram today said the capacity of terrorists, operating from across the border, to strike places in India was high as they get support from the state.

At the same time, he said the security forces have the capacity to give a “swift and decisive” response to any terror attack targeted against the country.

2002 riots: Modi to be questioned again tonight

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Gandhinagar, March 27: Chief Minister Narendra Modi was today questioned for five hours by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT on his alleged role in the Gujarat riots, the first time he was being probed since the carnage eight years back.

The questioning which lasted for five-and-a-half-hours remained inconclusive and will resume in the night.

“I am taking a break from questioning” a smiling 59-year-old BJP leader told reporters putting up a brave face, as he emerged out of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) office at the old state secretariat building here.

NATO reports another Afghan death

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Kabul, March 27: An international service member was killed Saturday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, NATO said, raising the number of alliance troops who have died in the country this month to at least 36.

A NATO statement did not identify the victim by nationality or provide further details.

The alliance has been stepping up military operations in the south in a bid to turn back the Taliban, whose base is among the southern Pashtun ethnic community.

S Korean naval ship sinks near NKorea; 46 missing

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Baengnyeong, March 27: Military divers plunged into the waters near South Korea’s tense maritime border with North Korea to search for 46 missing marines from a naval ship that sank Saturday, but were hampered by fierce waves and high winds, officials said.

Families voiced their anger as hopes faded for the missing crew after an explosion sank the ship in one of South Korea’s worst naval disasters. Divers tried twice to get to the wreckage, Rear Adm. Lee Ki-sik of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told lawmakers.

Hurriyat ready for talks

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Srinagar, March 27: Hurriyat’s moderate faction led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq today said it was ready for talks with the Centre for resolution of Kashmir issue but the back channels have “fallen silent” for the past two months.

Stating that the Kashmir issue cannot be put on a “backburner”, the Mirwaiz sought a mechanism to “constitutionalise” the dialogue.

“In our endeavour we are ready for talks for resolution of the Kashmir issue provided India shows seriousness for resolution of the problem,” the Hurriyat leader told reporters here.

170 temples damaged in Kashmir

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Jammu, March 27: Jammu and Kashmir government today admitted in the State Assembly that 170 temples had been damaged in the militancy-related incidents in Kashmir valley in past 20 years.

Replying to a question from Jugal Kishore of BJP, Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla said in written reply that as many as 170 temples had been damaged during past two decades of militancy in Kashmir valley.

He further said there were 430 temples in the valley before the migration of Kashmiri pandits (KPs) in wake of eruption of terrorism in 1989.

Congress unfair to Bachchan: BJP

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Nagpur, March 27: Criticising the Congress for the “unfair” treatment meted out to superstar Amitabh Bachchan, the BJP today said it was an “insult” to the art and culture.

“It was not just an insult to Bachchan but it amounts to an insult of arts, culture and our traditions. Besides it is undemocratic,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here.

“Bachchan was duly invited for the inauguration of the second phase of the Bandra-Worli Sealink. Congress has taken exception only because the superstar does not enjoy good relations with Sonia Gandhi’s family,” he said.