Andhranews

New Delhi, Sept. 14: The Union urban development ministry has issued notices to at least 12 ministers of the Manmohan Singh government — some of them of Cabinet rank and others ministers of State — for unauthorised constructions in their official bungalows. Even the minister of State for urban development, Mr Ajay Maken, has got a notice from his own ministry.

Notices have also been issued to some members of Parliament, including a former Andhra Pradesh chief minister, for similar unauthorised construction in their official bungalows. As these houses fall in the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone, a heritage zone, no alterations are permitted under the law. The notices, which were issued last week by the chief vigilance officer of the ministry, states that the action was being taken after the Delhi High Court issued a directive that “appropriate action” be taken in the matter.

The ministry has given 90 days to all those to whom these notices have been issued to take steps to have the unauthorised constructions removed. Among those who have got these notices are chemicals and fertilisers (and steel) minister Ram Vilas Paswan, minister of State (independent charge) for civil aviation Praful Patel, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath, mines minister Sis Ram Ola and tribal affairs minister P.R. Kyndiah.

The ministers of State against whom notices have been issued include Ajay Maken (urban development), E. Ahmad (external affairs), Suresh Pachauri (personnel), K.H. Muniyappa (road transport and highways), Taslimuddin (agriculture, food and civil supplies) and Akhilesh Das (steel). According to sources in the urban development ministry, around 70 notices were to be issued by the ministry after the high court took suo motu cognisance of the matter and the ministry conducted a survey.

The survey, which was conducted during the month of May and June this year, revealed that there were many cases of excess construction beyond the prescribed plinth area norms. The original list also included the names of tourism minister Ambika Soni, health minister Anbumani Ramadoss and minister of State for women and child development Renuka Choudhary. But the ministry decided to delete their names from the list.

Mumbai, Sept. 14: Mohammed Shoaib Ghansar, accused of planting the bomb at Zaveri Bazar in south Mumbai on March 12, 1993, was pronounced guilty by a Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act court on Thursday. Ghansar was accused of helping pack explosives into vehicles and also driving a scooter laden with RDX with a timer device to Zaveri Bazar where he parked it, resulting in the death of 17 persons and injuries to 57 others.

The Tada court on Thursday summoned 31 persons who have been in jail since the beginning of the trial in 1995 for their involvement in the serial blasts. Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam argued in the beginning that since almost all the accused were charged with similar offences, the verdict for all of them could be announced.

However, the court chose to call only Ghansar, who stepped forward from the area demarcated for the accused, dressed in a white kurta and trousers and carrying a chain of prayer beads. The court then read out the charges against him and the crime of which he had been accused. Special Tada judge P.D. Kode said that the court had examined two eyewitnesses during the trial in the case but both of them were unable to identify Ghansar as being the person who parked the scooter at Zaveri Bazar.

Both the eyewitnesses were persons who had been injured during the blast. The court also said that it had considered the confession of Ghansar recorded by the police, which was accepted by the court as being true and voluntary evidence. Judge P.D. Kode said that after examining all the evidence, the court had come to the conclusion that Ghansar was guilty of having planted the bomb at Zaveri Bazar.

The court found him guilty under Section 3(3) of Tada for participating in the filling of vehicles with RDX on the night of March 11, 1993 at the Memon family residence at Al-Hussaini building in Mahim and Section 3(2)(i) of Tada for planting the bomb. The court also found him guilty on the charges of murder and attempt to murder.

Ranchi, Sept. 14: UPA-backed Independent MLA Madhu Kora is expected to be the next Chief Minister of Jharkhand after Mr Arjun Munda resigned on Thursday without moving the scheduled vote of confidence in the State Assembly. Assembly Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari, who on Thursday allowed three Opposition MLAs, who were facing disqualification under the anti-defection law, to take part in the trial of strength by the NDA, also resigned.

Mr Kora will head a coalition government which would include the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Independent MLAs. The Congress, the CPI(M-L) and the Forward Bloc will not be part of the government but will support it from outside. According to reports available till late Thursday evening, a 12-member-strong UPA government would accommodate seven Independent MLAs, including the four who recently moved out of the NDA, three from the JMM and two from the RJD.

The present Leader of the Opposition and JMM MLA Sudhir Mahto is likely to be the first deputy chief minister of Jharkhand, while Independent MLA Stephen Marandi is tipped to be the next Speaker of the Jharkhand Assembly. A UPA coordination committee headed by Union minister Shibu Soren will also be formed to look into the functioning of the state government. Mr Kora emerged as the consensus candidate for the chief ministership at a meeting of the UPA leaders in Ranchi. “He (Madhu Kora) will give a stable government to Jharkhand and work for the welfare of the people of this State,” railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who chaired the meeting, said.

Hyderabad, Sept 14: If Telangana becomes a State, the Telugu Desam will continue there with its current name. There will be no ‘Telangana Telugu Desam’ as was being speculated in the party circles. Party sources said that leaders and activists from Telangana met politburo member T. Devender Goud and requested him that the party should avoid talking about an integrated State in view of the growing Telangana sentiment and the party gaining ground in the region.

“Harping on integrated State would alienate the TD in Telangana. There is a Telangana sentiment and we should cash in on it,” a senior party leader said. The advise was posted to party president N. Chandrababu Naidu, who reportedly accepted the suggestion. Asked about the talk that the TD was planning to float a Telangana Telugu Desam if Telangana got Statehood, Mr Goud said it was merely gossip. “We will continue with the Telugu Desam brand name in Telangana as well. There are no plans to float separate party for this region,” he said.

Trying to recover lost ground, Mr Goud has undertaken tour of Medak and Karimnagar districts and plans to visit Nalgonda and other districts in the region in a phased manner. “It’s true that several party leaders and activists from the region have advised us to stop touting the integrated State line. They feel let down by the party ignoring the Telangana sentiment. We have decided to go by their suggestions,” Mr Goud told this correspondent.

He added, “We are trying to rebuild the party in Telangana after our good show in the panchayat elections. Telangana or no Telangana, TD will always be a force to reckon with.” He said both the Congress and the TRS had lost the faith of the people. “In the event of a byelection (in Karimnagar), it will be a fight between the TRS and the Telugu Desam. The Congress has been relegated to background.” The party will cash in on the growing unrest among farmers agitating against power cuts and the anti-government mood. Party president Naidu hit the road on Thursday for a day-long tour of Nalgonda district in support of crisis-hit farmers.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 14: Thanks to faulty software, many employees of Visakhapatnam Port Trust have been getting paid without doing an iota of work. An employee could skip work for months but his salary would get credited to the pay account regularly. This has been going on for at least five years, causing huge loss to the port trust.

Flawed accounting software developed by a private company is the main culprit. By the time the port trust authorities found out the problem, almost Rs 1 crore had been paid to about 200 absentee employees.
“It was only noticed after an honest employee pointed out the error,” said an official. “We think, it has been going on for five years.”

The accounting software system has a priority list of 52 items for recovery of wages from employees. These include provident fund, loans and court attachments. Availing leave has been included as last priority. In most public sector companies, an employee can take leave for a maximum of 30 days. If he or she is absent and has no leave on the credit, the salary would be marked as nil. In the port trust, however, employees absent for long periods were paid salary for 20 days every month.

This happened because the software calculated the wages from the first day to the 10th day separately and that for the rest of the month separately. “Apart from the software error, inefficiency and negligence of auditing officials are also to blame,” said a source in the port trust. Port director Y. Jayanthi told this correspondent that after the error was discovered, records of all the employees were checked. “We found that about Rs 35 lakh was not recovered on leave without pay in the last four years,” said the director.

“We will recover this amount from salaries. Action has also been initiated to modify the software.” The CBI, which probed the incident, found that it was a bonafide error of the software which caused the problem. Recoveries would be made from salaries and even pensions of these employees, said chief accounts officer K.V. Gupta.

Stellarton (Nova Scotia), Sept. 14: There are perils to being unattached in the stodgy world of diplomacy. Sometimes it has seemed that all US secretary of State Condoleezza Rice needs to do is show up in public with a man, and people start talking. The single, sophisticated American secretary of State once drew notice for wearing black stiletto knee-high boots with an above-the-knee black skirt while reviewing American troops in Germany, so she is bound to attract gossip.

That is particularly true on the dry, acronym-ridden diplomatic circuit of Nato meetings, APEC forums and Asean conclaves, where much imagination has focused on possible romantic links between Ms Rice and her counterparts. Until now, Ms Rice’s rumoured matches have been, shall we say, unlikely ever to appear on the cover of GQ magazine.

In July, Italy’s normally staid Corriere della Sera raised its eyebrows over a joint appearance in Rome between Italy’s similarly staid foreign minister, Massimo D’Alema, and Ms Rice. In April, a headline in the Boston Globe promised a tale of “Jack and Condi: A Love Story,” after Ms Rice gave the pullout bed aboard her plane to Britain’s former foreign secretary Jack Straw during a surprise trip to Baghdad from Blackpool, England, where she was visiting Mr Straw’s hometown.

But it took a two-hour flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia, this week, followed by a 90-minute motorcade north up Highway 102 to Pictou County, for Ms Rice to find herself linked to someone with similar star appeal: Peter MacKay of Canada, the single, sophisticated foreign minister, routinely named Canada’s sexiest MP by the Hill Times in Ottawa, and the closest thing to eye candy on the diplomatic circuit.

He has a tan and the build of someone who spends his time on the rugby field, not holed up reading G-8 communiqués. Sure, at 40 years old, he is younger than Ms Rice, who is 51, but that did not stop gossips from engaging in baseless speculating. Even the protesters who routinely show up wherever Ms Rice goes got in on the act. “Pete, Condi, Make Love Not War,” read one sign, carried by a grinning demonstrator who had roused himself to take a position early Tuesday morning in front of the Museum of Industry here, where the two spoke to local leaders and the press.

There needs to be a disclaimer right here. Foreign ministers rarely have a lot of alone time together. There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Ms Rice and Mr MacKay are linked by anything more than their shared status as singletons.

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu ‘Q’ branch police on Thursday made a breakthrough locating the mini factory on the outskirts of Chennai, where the parts of rockets and rocket-launchers seized by police in Andhra Pradesh were allegedly made.

“We have identified a person called Raghu, who appears to be the fictitious Srinivasa Reddy in whose name the three consignments of weapons were booked (from Chennai to Andhra Pradesh),” Tamil Nadu director-general of police D. Mukherjee told this newspaper. He said Raghu was still at large but there were positive leads.

“We are looking for him. However, we are questioning the manufacturers of the different weapon parts, who have been caught,"”the DGP said. Sources said Raghu’s house has been located close to Padi, in the northern outskirts of Chennai. The police is “pretty close” to nabbing him, they said.

Abductors held, realtor freed

Hyderabad, Sept. 14: Within 24 hours, the city police on Thursday hunted down a six-member gang of kidnappers and secured the release of city realtor Krishnam Raju who was abducted on Wednesday. The ransom of Rs 1 crore was reportedly not paid. The gang members, including a suspended constable of the Armed Reserve police, were arrested at Park Hotel in Nampally where they had holed out with Mr Raju. The arrests were carried out by special teams of the Task Force and Detective Department. Mr Raju’s pomeranian that was abducted along with him is missing. Among the arrested was gang leader Gowru Suresh, an MBA dropout. Suresh is named in seven cases including extortion and kidnapping. A native of Miryalaguda in Nalgonda district, Suresh dropped out of an MBA course in the city, started a study circle, ran into losses and took to crime. Mr Mohanty said that the gang moved between different hideouts before ending up at the hotel in Nampally from where they were arrested. They used two cars: While four persons bundled Mr Raju into the first car, the other was used as a shield. Police identified the other arrested as B. Suresh Kumar, 23 and Srinivas alias Vicky, 19 (both from Adilabad); Parmesh, 34 and Kanduluri Venkanna, 30 (both Warangal), Bandi Nageswara Rao, 30 (Khammam) and Doda Prasad.

Complexes flout rules, charge fee for parking

Hyderabad, Sept. 14: Most commercial complexes in the city are violating rules by collecting parking fee. As per the rules of the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, commercial complexes and cinema theatres have to provide parking space to visitors without charging any fee.However, parking fee is collected in most places. In Prasad’s IMAX, for instance, Rs 10 is collected for parking four-wheelers and Rs 5 for parking two wheelers. At the same time, there is no parking fee in PVR Theatres and Hyderabad Central Commercial Complex. MCH Additional Commissioner G. Ravi Babu said that it was a gross violation of rules to collect parking fee. “We are planning to introduce license system for charging parking fee in commercial complexes in the lines of Malaysian local bodies,” he said. “For this, the government has to amend the Municipal Corporation Act”, Mr Ravi Babu added. With this, MCH will get a substantial amount as license fee from complexes which collect parking fee. Meanwhile, the traffic police have identified nearly 8,000 commercial complexes in the city causing traffic congestion in 11 main roads.“To avoid parking fee, many people park their vehicles on the road,” said Additional Police Commissioner (Traffic) A.K.Khan. “Cellars meant for parking have been converted into shops. We have given the information to MCH”, he added. However, Vasanta Prasad, manager of IMAX, said that 30 staffers maintain the parking area and the fee charged was not enough to pay even their salaries.

PSC: SC disqualifies 109

Hyderabad, Sept. 14: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld 66 as the cut-off marks for Group-I preliminary exams. The court dismissed the selection of candidates for the main exam on the basis of cut-off marks at 61. The court asked the AP Public Service Commission, which held the exam, to select candidates for inte-rviews on the basis of 66 cut-off marks. It directed the APPSC to follow the 1:50 ratio for selecting candidates for the mains. Candidates who took the mains and appeared for interviews on the basis of 61 cut-off marks in prelims will be disqualified after the court’s verdict. Following the ruling, APPSC chairman Y. Venkata Rami Reddy said that 109 candidates who had appea-red for interviews would be disqualified. “We want to complete the selection of the new candidates for inte-rviews within a month. We have to examine the issue of physically challenged candidates also,” he said. Candidates for Group-I posts go through the preliminary exams, the main exams and the interviews. The APPSC held the first Group-I prelims in March 2004, with cutoff marks at 66 to qualify for the mains. The age limit was pegged at 34 years. The Congress came to power in May and as per its manifesto and following public requests, the APPSC put out a fresh notification lowering the cutoff marks to 61 for the mains, and raising the age limit to 38 years. It held a separate preliminary exam for these candidates in October 2004. Candidates who qualified in both sets of prelims were called for the main exam which was held in May-June last year. Based on those results, 1,139 candidates were selected for interviews to fill up 560 Group-I jobs. Candidates from the March 2004 exam [with 66 cutoff marks] who had failed to qualify for the interview moved the apex court. APPSC will annou-nce the Group 2 results after the ongoing Group-I interviews.

Gurukulam to start on November 1

Hyderabad, Sept. 14: The long-awaited 21st Century Gurukulam will start functioning on the AP Formation Day on November 1.To begin with, 300 rural students will be admitted to post-graduate residential IT academy programmes. Depending on the success of the programme, the number of seats may be incre-ased to 1000, AP State Co-uncil of Higher Education chairman K.C. Reddy said. Prof Raja Reddy of Carn-egie Mellon University, said the students who join the course would get a job at the end of the study.

Anti-ragging panel in colleges

Hyderabad, Sept. 14: The Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education has instructed college managements to set up committees involving parents, teachers and students to prevent ragging. The Council has also decided to make ‘freshers day’ mandatory in all educational institutions to bridge the gap between seniors and juniors. Council chairman K.C. Reddy said on Thursday that he had written to vice-chancellors of all universities to come out with guidelines in this regard. Meanwhile. the Commissionerate of Intermediate Education decided to emboss on the mark cards and other academic certificates of students involved in ragging incidents that the student had indulged in ragging and had “conducted himself in a manner unbecoming of a student.” The phone number of Hyderabad district collectorate control room set up to register complaints on ragging is 040-23204123. Complaints can also be e-mailed at collector_hyd@ap.gov.in. Meanwhile, City Police Commissioner A. K. Mohanty on Thursday said that strict action will be taken against those convicted in ragging cases.

CS heads panel to select metro rail developers

Hyderabad, Sept.14: The State government has appointed a high level committee headed by Chief Secretary J. Hari Narayana to select developers for the Rs 8,000-crore Metro Rail Project in the city. It will examine specifications, bid evaluation criteria, project funding pattern, equity participation and other issues carefully before selecting developers to construct the project on a build-operate-transfer basis. The committee has been given a deadline of January 2007 to choose developers from among the six international consortia cleared after the pre-qualification bids. “Once this is done, the real work will begin,” said Mr N.V.S. Reddy, project director of the Mass Rapid Transport System. The international constortia which got prequalified for the project include: 1. Essar Constructions (ECL)-SRE (Kolkata)-Singapore MRT, SEC-SEC-STE of Singapore. 2. Magna Allmore (Malaysia)-Siemens (Germany)-Emirates Trading Agency (ETA-Dubai)-Na-garjuna Constructions. 3. Reliance Energy (Anil Ambani group-Bombardier (Canada). 4. Metrail (Switzerland)-Macquarie bank (Australia)-MMC (Malaysia). 5. GVK-Gammons-Alstom (France)-IDFC 6. Navabharat-Maytas-ItalThai (Itd-Thailand)-ITD Cem. “The first phase will be ready by 2009 and we aim to complete the entire project by 2010”. The project will cover three busiest corridors in the city.

Free power shocks Congress

Hyderabad, Sept. 14: Free power to agriculture sector is gradually turning out to be a noose around the State government’s neck, with more and more illegal farm power connections causing tremendous burden on the power supply position. According to APTransco estimates, the agricultural power consumption has gone up by at least 20 per cent ever since the free power supply scheme was introduced on May 14, 2004 by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. The power consumption, which was around 11,000 million units in 2004, is now projected to go up to 14,000 MU this year. One of the reasons is the groundwater level in the last two years, prompting farmers to draw more water using their pumpsets. But according to APTransco sources, the main reason is illegal power connections. “While authorised power connections are around 25 lakh, there would be another five lakh illegal connections. Since power supply to farmers is free and no meters for agriculture pumpsets, it is difficult to assess how much power is being illegally tapped by the farm sector,” sources said. Every year, APTransco claims to be releasing 50,000 new connections under regular scheme and another 50,000 under Tatkal scheme (for which meters are a must and the power will be charged). In practice, however, they are not new connections but only regularisation of illegal connections, applications for which are pending with APTransco. Since agriculture power is not charged, the authorities are not planning to weed out illegal power connections. “Now that the Kharif season is midway through, any move to weed out illegal connections will have adverse impact. We can concentrate on the subject, after the season is over,” minister for power Md Ali Shabber said. The consumption by agriculture sector has a cascading effect. “The consumption has gone up to 180 MU per day this season, an all-time high, mainly due to increase in agricultural consumption. Inspite of that, farmers are making a hue and cry that the supply is not sufficient. So, we are forced to cut power four to six hours even in urban areas for all other sectors — domestic, commercial and industrial consumers,” the minister said.

Full salary for spouses of cops killed by Naxals

Hyderabad, Sept 14: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on Thursday announced that the spouses of police personnel killed in Naxal violence would get full salary. At present, only the last drawn salary is paid to the spouse till the date of retirement of the slain police personnel without the benefit of pay revision. Dr Reddy said in response to a representation by the Police Amaraveerula Families Women Employees’ Welfare Society of Warangal region that the pay would be re-fixed from time to time.

Congress hard-pressed to find KCR opponent

Hyderabad, Sept. 14: The Congress will find it difficult to select a suitable candidate to fight against Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K. Chandrasekhar Rao in the Karimnagar by-election which now looks imminent, going by the TRS calculations. According to party sources, the Congress does not have a strong candidate to field in Karimnagar. The fight will be tough, if the Congress fields M. Satyanarayana Rao, who has some reputation both at the State and national level as he was the Pradesh Congress Committee president for quite a long time. Moreover, his candidature will not lead to any internal troubles in the Congress. However, after the resignation fiasco, it is doubtful whether Mr Satyanarayana Rao would be fielded for the Parliamentary seat, sources said. The name of Jagitial MLA Jeevan Reddy is being talked about in the Congress circles but according to reports from Karimnagar, he has not grown beyond his constituency and does not have many friends. There is a suggestion within the district Congress circles that the party high command should field a BC candidate like Bomma Venkanna, who can attract BC voters. But they are not sure whether he has the abilities to face the TRS president. Secondly, the Telugu Desam is also planning to field a strong BC candidate L. Ramana, who was once elected as MP from this constituency. “Otherwise, the Congress will have to borrow leaders from neighbouring districts to fight against Mr Chandrasekhar Rao, who is also an outsider to Karimnagar,” sources said.

Karnataka releases more water

Hyderabad, Sept. 14: After persistently exposing pilferage of Tungabhadra water by Karnataka farmers, the Tungabhadra Board on Thursday started releasing more water into the high-level and low-level canals at the Andhra Pradesh border. The water discharge in Tungabhadra HLC on Thursday was 1,807 cusecs as against the requirement of 1,600 cusecs and in LLC, it was 500 cusecs. The increased water release followed a meeting of the Tungabhadra Board at Bangalore. Earlier, a five-member delegation, led by Minister for major irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah, had met their Karntaka counterparts and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. Both the Karnataka government and Tungabhadra Board had agreed to AP’s request for deployment of Central Industrial Security Forces all along the Tungabhadra canal to prevent pilferage of water by Karnataka farmers. The expenditure for deployment of Central forces would be borne jointly by AP and Karnataka. The Board also agreed to modernise and carry out repairs on the HLC, so as to increase its water carrying capacity. The estimates would be prepared soon. AP jawan kills Major in J&K New Delhi, Sept. 14: An Indian Army officer of the rank of major was shot dead by a soldier in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir late on Wednesday evening. The officer has been identified as one Major Harsh of the Rashtriya Rifles while the jawan, identified as Naik Ravi Kumar, has been placed under arrest. Naik Ravi Kumar pumped eight bullets from his rifle into the officer, killing him instantly. Sources said that Major Harsh and Naik Ravi Kumar had entered into an argument with each other recently. According to Army Headquarters here, the incident occurred at about 11 pm on Wednesday at the Thana Mandi area of Rajouri district. Naik Ravi Kumar was working as a clerk and Major Harsh was said to be unhappy with the jawan’s performance. A court of inquiry has been ordered into the killing. Sources at Army Headquarters said that Major Harsh belonged to Jaipur while Naik Ravi Kumar reportedly hails from Andhra Pradesh. The incident has been described as yet another case of a soldier “running amok”. It could be another indicator to the stressful environment surrounding troops engaged in counter-insurgency operations throughout the year in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast. Perhaps aware of the high stress levels, the Army had declared earlier this year that it was working out a plan to recruit psychiatrists and psychological counsellors and to open centres in the northern and eastern sectors where the troops are combating insurgency. The Army has also devised various measures to lower stress levels such as organising the “buddy system” at the unit level, informal interactions between senior and junior officers, besides utilising the services of psychiatrists and counsellors. But these measures have often proved unsuccessful in tackling the problem, as can be seen from the killing of Major Harsh by one of his own men. Yakub: We are scapegoats Mumbai, Sept. 15: Yakub Memon, brother of prime accused in the 1993 serial blasts case Tiger Memon, told the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (prevention) Act court on Thursday that despite surrendering to Indian authorities in 1994 to clear his name, he and his family members were being made scapegoats in the case. On Tuesday, Yakub, his brother Essa and sister-in-law Rubeena Memon pleaded for a lesser sentence from the court which had declared them guilty of participating in the conspiracy to conduct the serial blasts in 1993. The Tada court on Thursday recorded the statements of three family members of the Memon family found guilty by the court, barring Yusuf Memon, who was absent due to ill health. The court, on Friday, will hear the arguments from the defence and prosecution but will announce the sentence for them only after delivering the verdict on all the other accused persons. In sharp contrast to his angry outburst on Tuesday after hearing the verdict of the court, Yakub was calmer, but taking no chances the prosecution ensured that he was accompanied by a police escort when he stood in the paddock to give his statement. Dressed in a white shirt and jeans, the former chartered accountant spoke to the court in English and disputed all the evidence that had been placed against him by the investigating agencies in the serial blasts case. The Memon family members had been accused of having prior knowledge of the blast due to which they allegedly fled to Dubai before the serial blasts on March 12, 1993. Disputing the allegations, Yakub said, “The last time I travelled to Dubai with my family was on March 11, 1993 and it was nothing new for us since we had travelled there before. Suleman bhai (Yakub’s elder brother) was an NRI and we would visit his house in Dubai.” Terrorised Tamil traders flee to India New Delhi, Sept. 14: Several Tamil traders and businessmen have fled Sri Lanka following a spate of killings and abductions that activists say has led to one of the most traumatic periods for the island’s minority community. The flight of the Tamils has been reported from the eastern port town of Trincomalee, a region that has seen terrible violence involving the military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Many have made it to India. The businessmen’s hurried exit — quite different from the thousands of mainly poor Tamils who have reached Tamil Nadu — comes after the unprecedented mass displacement of Tamils and Muslims in the northeast. Among the businessmen who have left Trincomalee after being threatened are the owners of a leading cycle store, another store that has existed in the town for 40 years, a business providing mobile services, three hardware stores, a centre dealing in aluminium fitters, a transport company and a hotel. According to them, they had to take the threats seriously because some of their colleagues who ignored similar threats got killed later. Trincomalee residents provided the names of the businesses but requested that they be not published. They said they feared that local authorities might end up taking action against the establishments for publicising their grievances. UP probes IAS officer’s letter to Maya Lucknow, Sept. 14: The Uttar Pradesh government has asked its agencies to probe the letter reportedly written by an IAS officer, Mr Prabhudayal Srivas, to BSP president Mayawati seeking a ticket for the co-ming Assembly elections. The State’s parliamentary affairs minister, Mohammed Azam Khan, said in the UP Assembly on Thursday that the government had taken serious note of the letter and would take appropriate action if it was found to have been written by the officer. Earlier, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Lalji Tandon, had moved an adjournment notice on the issue. “It is a matter of great concern that a bureaucrat has dared to write such a letter to a former chief minister while still in service. In his letter, he has cast aspersions on a senior minister by saying that he had paid money to get posted as district magistrate. The State government should rein in the bureaucracy,” he said. Congress leader Jagdambika Pal intervened and said that the issue should not be raised since the officer had already denied having written the letter. Mr Azam Khan immediately ticked off the Congress leader by saying, “Ab dekhiye, district magistrate ke kaarinde yahan bhi maujood hain.” He assured the House that the government had taken a serious view of the letter and would not spare the guilty. It may be recalled that the officer, Mr Prabhudayal Srivas, had written a letter to Ms Mayawati asking her for a ticket to contest the Assembly elections. The officer claimed in his letter that he had already extended his “financial cooperation” to the BSP. He also mentioned how he had paid money to get his present posting. After the contents of the letter were first published in this newspaper on Wednesday, Mr Prabhudayal Srivas claimed that the letter was forged. “I have already made inquiries and found the letter to be forged,” he told reporters. However, when asked why he did not initiate action against the person who had allegedly forged the letter, the district magistrate said: “I do not have the time for all this.”Meanwhile, the officer was summoned to Lucknow on Thursday by the state government and was questioned by senior officials about the letter. Saffron magazine omits Atal New Delhi, Sept. 14: The BJP made a surprise omission in its fortnightly journal of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s concluding speech at its national executive in which he told the party not to write off its leaders because of age. Though BJP Today’s latest issue carry addresses of L.K. Advani and BJP president Rajnath Singh to their national executive meeting in Dehra Dun from September 7-9, it does not carry Mr Vajpayee’s speech. Apparently in disagreement with the alleged cold shoulder given to some senior leaders, he said that nobody should be consigned to the trash box because of old age. Digvijay asks KCR to continue in UPA New Delhi, Sept 14: Witnessing a game of one-upmanship and competition among Andhra Congress leaders to attack TRS and its president K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the central leadership of the Congress party has made a fresh attempt on Thursday to bring down the political temperatures in the State. AICC general secretary in -charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh, who had said a day earlier that once the Karimnagar seat were vacated, (by Mr Chandrasekhar Rao resigning) the Congress will contest and give the TRS a run for its money, counselled Mr Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday to continue in the UPA in order to more forcefully plead the case of Telangana. He also asked the TRS chief to reconsider his resignation from the Lok Sabha. The AICC general-secretary reiterated that the TRS had walked out of the Government and not thrown out and recalled that Andhra Pradesh PCC chief Keshava Rao had appealed to Mr Rao to withdraw his resignation. Congress leaders at the Centre are not particularly pleased by this competitive attack on the TRS and its leaders. It all started with TRS president calling upon in his Siddipet rally all the Congress and TRS legislators and MPs to resign their respective seats to prove who won on whose strength the last general elections. Immediately thereafter Andhra Power and Information minister Md Ali Shabber threw a challenge to the number two in TRS A. Narendra to resign and contest against him. Though Narendra did not respond, say AP Congress leaders in Delhi, the next day Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy at his cabinet meeting commended Shabber Ali. Soon, sports minister M. Satyanarayana Rao challenged the TRS president.