Andhranews

New Delhi/Islamabad/Jeddah/Lucknow, Sept. 15: Pope Benedict XVI was confronted with snowballing Muslim anger worldwide on Friday over his remarks in Germany earlier in the week in which he had linked Islam with violence. Pakistan’s foreign ministry summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to express regret over the Pope’s comments, as the country’s National Assembly passed a resolution earlier in the day demanding that the pontiff withdraw his remarks.

“Anyone who says that there is anything inherently evil or inhuman about Islam only shows his own ignorance of this great religion,” said Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam. The comments also stirred anger in India, and the head of the National Commission for Minorities said the Pope sounded like a medieval crusader.

“The language used by the Pope sounds like that of his 12th-century counterpart who ordered the Crusades,” said Hamid Ansari, chairman of the Minorities Commission. In New Delhi, the Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, demanded an apology from the Pope and said it was a “deliberate attempt to hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world at a time when they are targeted in the name of terrorism.”

Protests by Muslims took place in some parts of Delhi, and on a wider scale in Srinagar, Lucknow, Varanasi and elsewhere in the country. Imam Bukhari appealed to Muslims across India to protest against the Pope’s “anti-Muslim” statement till he apologises. Both the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP attacked the Pope’s criticism of Islam, but while the BJP demanded an apology from Benedict, the Congress said that it was “up to his conscience.”

In Lucknow, the Naib Imam of Eidgarh, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, said the Pope was “speaking the language” of US President George W. Bush. Maulana Khalid Rasheed, a member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, said: “The remark is more derogatory than the Danish cartoonist’s blasphemous sketches on the Prophet because it comes from a man who is the head of a religious group. This was the last thing we expected from the Pope. Muslims have tolerated Christian terrorism in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and now Lebanon, but no Muslim is going to tolerate such wild, baseless and unfounded allegations against the Prophet.”

In Turkey, which he is scheduled to visit in November — the first trip by this Pope to a Muslim country, the ruling party likened the Pope to Hitler and Mussolini and accused him of reviving the mentality of the Crusades. The Pope’s comments, made during a visit to his native Bavaria, were couched in a historical reference to a 14th century Byzantine emperor.

“He said, I quote, ‘Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,’” Pope Benedict said, quoting the Byzantine source on the Prophet Mohammed, founder of the Muslim faith. The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), a body that includes many Muslim scholars, condemned the statement.

Describing the Pope to be “a man who is supposed to be familiar with all religions,” the OIC said in a statement that such remarks would “increase hate between Muslim and Christian nations. It will also increase the gap between Muslims and Christians that many rational people from both sides are trying to bridge.” It added there was no “justification for such statements.”

The general consensus in the Arab world is that, intentionally or unintentionally, the Pope appears to have played into the hands of extremists on both sides of the Islam-West divide. What has pained Muslims and surprised them even more is that the attack has come from the Vatican, which been scrupulously avoiding doing or saying anything that offends Muslims even though some Christian leaders and evangelicals in the West have regularly indulged in anti-Muslim rhetoric.

The Vatican on Friday tried hard to defuse the growing anger, and its spokesman Federico Lombardi said the Pope had not intended to offend Muslim sensibilities, and insisting that Benedict respected Islam. In Pakistan, the Vatican envoy regretted “the hurt caused to Muslims.” But Muslim leaders said outreach efforts by papal emissaries were not enough.

Hyderabad, Sept. 15: BHC Agro (India) Pvt Limited, consultants for the Kuppam project, has slapped an arbitration notice on the State government seeking payment of Rs 15 crores as consultation fee. It is the first multinational company to take legal action against the Congress government for recovery of dues.The State government, however, remained defiant and said that there was no need to pay fee since the company did not render the promised service. It is seeking the opinion of the law department on how to respond.

Kuppam, the pet project of former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, is being kept in the cold storage by the Congress government following allegations of irregularities made by the government whip Kiran Kumar Reddy. The issue kicked up a row in the Assembly and the government set up a commission to inquire into the alleged irregularities in the selection of BHC Agro as consultants and misappropriation in payment of consultancy fee. Justice T.H.B. Chalapathi, retired judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, is heading the commission.

The inquiry commission is also probing whether the company possessed the required technology, knowledge and capability to undertake the task assigned to it and whether it was necessary to import heavy duty machinery from Israel at a huge cost. Agriculture production commissioner D.K. Panwar confirmed that BHC Agro had sought Rs 15 crores as fee. “Our stand is that there is no need to pay,” he said.

“A commission of inquiry is already looking into the issue.” However, Mr Pat Rao of BHC Agro said that the government owed Rs 15 crores to the company. “We sought arbitration as per the terms of MoU and it has nothing to do with the commission of inquiry,” he said. Kuppam project was launched in Mr Naidu’s Assembly constituency in 1997. The project was aimed at raising premium cash crops with Israeli drip irrigation technology.

Initially, BHC agro was awarded a three-year contract covering 200 acres for a consultation fee of Rs 2.43 crores (Rs 81 lakhs per annum). This amount has been paid. The second phase of the project, taken up in 2000, covered an area of 1,600 acres and the company was paid a consultation fee of Rs 8.26 crores.
The then Telugu Desam government cleared the third phase of the project in 2003 wherein 10,000 acres was brought under cultivation.

The company demanded Rs 11 crores as consultation fee out of which Rs 4 crores were paid. After the government extended the project to Mahabubnagar, Ranga Reddy and Vizianagaram districts, BHC Agro sought Rs 13 crores as consultation fee. But the project did not make much headway here and the government and the company agreed to terminate the contract in three districts. After the Congress came to power, BHC Agro was paid Rs 1.4 crores in May 2004. An order was also issued to continue the Kuppam project up to January 2006. The contract was not renewed thereafter.

Hyderabad, Sept 15: In a significant move, officials of the Outer Ring Road project have decided not to sub-let works of the prestigious eight-lane road to Transstroy India Limited (TIL). TIL, in which Congress MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao holds major stakes, is the Indian subsidiary of Transstroy Open Joint Stock Company, a Russian firm which bagged the contract for the 11-km stretch (first phase) of ORR for Rs 219 crores.

Sources said the Russian firm had also been pulled up for the delay in implementing the monthly schedules of work. The Taiwan-based Continental Engineering Corporation is racing ahead of schedule. The two executing agencies volunteered to give monthly schedules for meeting the deadline. “We found that the Russian firm was much behind the schedule in the first two months,” said an official. As per the agreement, Transstroy OPJSC can sub-let 33 per cent of works to others with the nod of ORR project officials. However, it has been asked to avoid TIL because of its track record.

“Our inquiries have revealed that TIL does not have adequate experience or finances to handle projects of this magnitude,” said ORR project director Piyush Kumar. “We have also got information about some road works being terminated by the Karnataka highway authorities.” The officials have taken five per cent excess of the normal 10 per cent performance guarantee from the Russian firm since it quoted an abnormally low figure to gain the contract.

They feel that it would be difficult to complete the project with the amount quoted. Meanwhile, Transstroy OPJSC has been asked to start earth work simultaneously at five stretches out of which three are free from litigation. As per the plan drawn up by the officials, the four-lane road from Gachibowli to international airport has to be completed by December 2007, the eight-lane road has to be finished by June 2008 and remaining have to end by December 2008.

New Delhi, Sept. 15: An undeclared war between the Sri Lankan security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is a reality and India needs to start doing something without delay, a Norwegian official has said, as the ceasefire comes under strain after renewed unrest in the island nation. “India is encouraging the main Opposition United National Party to cooperate with the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party but [it also] needs to start doing something to encourage the government of Sri Lanka to take a sensible approach and [resist the temptation of employing] a military solution,” the official told this newspaper.

“The SLFP and UNP [cannot cooperate without] Indian encouragement .... There is an Indian encouragement but an [even more] active Indian participation is a necessity,” he observed. The SLFP and UNP have agreed to hold talks for forging a “bipartisan consensus” and resolving a “national question”. “Despite Sri Lanka being a non-starter politically in Tamil Nadu, some still like to use the Lanka issue in the State and that is a reality,” he said. However, he was categorical that the LTTE, like government of Sri Lanka, “needs to show flexibility and accept that compromises are necessary to arrive at a solution.”

Incidentally, the US-based think tank Stratfor has said in a report titled Stalling for Time in Sri Lanka, “The Sri Lankan government smells blood, and is now attempting to seize positions that will allow it to secure all the transportation links into Jaffna that are currently in Tiger claws, such as the Elephant Pass and the town of Muhamalai, and drive the rebels farther into their traditional base in northern Sri Lanka.” The comments by the Norwegian official, who is also involved in facilitating the Sri Lankan peace process, come after the co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference met in Brussels on September 12 and said “the meeting [between Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE] should take place urgently in Oslo at the beginning of October.”

The official was candid that the proposed talks at Oslo should not be seen as Geneva-2. (The first meeting was held at Geneva in February.) “One should forget about Geneva, Oslo will be the first in a [new] series of talks that will take one or two years. We have a fresh situation and so there will be continuation of talks,” he said. “[We have] no great belief in quick fix solutions,” he hastened to add. “It will be foolhardy to look at agenda ... unconditional talks would mean no set agenda. If ambience is right, the [parties] will ask Norway to suggest an agenda,” the official said.

Mumbai, Sept. 15: The CBI on Friday sought the death penalty for three of the Memon brothers and life sentence for Rubeena Memon, the sister-in-law of prime accused Tiger Memon, all of whom were found guilty for their involvement in the 1993 serial blasts on Tuesday. Mohammed Shoaib Ghansar, who was pronounced guilty by the court for planting the bomb at the Zaveri Bazar, also recorded his statement in the court on Friday, where he asked for mercy saying that he had an ailing mother to take care of and wanted to marry a girl who had been waiting for the past 13 years for him.

The legal counsel for the CBI, Mr C.S. Sharma, argued before the court that the three Memon brothers, Yakub, Essa and Yusuf, had been involved in the conspiracy to conduct the blasts and should therefore be given the maximum sentence, which is the death penalty. He also argued that Rubeena Memon, wife of Suleman Memon - who was acquitted, should be given life imprisonment since she had provided a vehicle owned by her for the blasts. Mr Sharma argued that their cases were among “the rarest of rare cases” and therefore deserved the maximum punishment.

Earlier in the day, the counsel for four members of the Memon family, Mr Harshad Ponda, argued that they were not involved directly in the conspiracy to conduct the blasts and therefore deserved a lesser sentence. He pointed out to the court that Rubeena had been in Dubai when the conspiracy was hatched and had no involvement in its planning or execution.

Mr Ponda argued that Rubeena should get a lesser sentence than the minimum sentence of five years which she could receive under Tada and pointed out that she had already spent almost three years in jail. Arguing the case of Yusuf and Essa, Mr Ponda said that the two Memon brothers did not actually own the flat at the Al-Hussaini building where the bombs were prepared and that it had been in their name since their deceased father had kept it that way.

He also argued that Essa was suffering from a brain tumour while Yusuf had chronic schizophrenia and both of them had already spent 12 years in jail, due to which the court should show them mercy. Mr Ponda also said that the case against Yakub showed that he was not directly involved in the conspiracy and that he had already spent 12 years in jail, which was enough for the court to show him mercy in the case.

The court then recorded the statement of Ghansar, who was pronounced guilty by judge P.D. Kode on Thursday. Dressed in a white kurta and trousers, a soft-spoken Ghansar said: “I was born in a well-behaved family and there are no criminal cases against me or anyone in my family. While in custody, I have been sent to the hospital to receive treatment for illness and also visited my ailing mother once, but there has never been any complaint against me.”

He added: “I have an aged sick mother who is 75 years old, a sister who is 60 years old and a younger brother. If granted mercy by this court I would like to take care of my aged mother. Also, there is a girl who has been waiting for me since 1993, and if released I would want to marry her.” According to Ghansar, the girl had met him in 1993 after he was kept in the Arthur Road jail while she was visiting a relative who was also in jail in the serial blasts case.

Ghansar, while refusing to name the woman of his affections, said that despite being a graduate and attractive, she had rejected numerous marriage proposals since she wanted to marry only him. “I have tried to convince her many times to get married to someone else but she refuses to listen to me and says that she will marry me,” said Ghansar.

Speaking about the March 12, 1993, Ghansar said that he did not know the scooter he was driving was packed with explosives and realised it only after the blasts. “I do feel bad about what happened on that day and about the number of people who died. But I maintain that I never knew at any time that the scooter had explosives in it,” said Ghansar.

New Delhi, Sept. 15: A Delhi court on Friday granted bail to socialite Bina Ramani, accused in a cheating and forgery case, on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakhs. She is also a key witness in the Jessica Lall murder case. The investigating officer of the Jessica Lall case informed the court that Ms Ramani had been named as an accused in the FIR registered for tampering with evidence on the scene of the crime.

Ms Ramani was granted bail on Friday by additional chief metropolitan magistrate Kamini Lau. The court has also directed her to furnish a local surety. Ms Ramani has been told to surrender her passport and to report to the investigating officer of the case on the first Saturday of every month. Ms Bina Ramani’s counsel had sought bail on medical grounds as she suffers from asthma and cancer.

During the course of arguments, the prosecution informed the court that Ms Ramani had been made an accused for destroying evidence in the Jessica Lall murder case. An unnamed FIR has been lodged in this regard on March 6 this year after the furore over the acquittal of all the accused in the case. A witness in the case had stated that he had mopped up blood from the floor at the restaurant where Jessica Lall was killed on Ms Ramani’s instructions.

Later, it was she (Bina Ramani) who took Jessica to hospital. A special team of the Delhi Police had arrested Bina Ramani from Goa on September 6, executing the non-bailable warrant issued against her by the court. She has been accused of forgery and cheating for acquiring a licence to run a restaurant-cum-bar “Once Upon a Time” at Mehrauli in New Delhi.

The court issued the non-bailable warrant after the police had alleged in court that Ms Ramani had not been joining the investigations and had been evading meeting the investigating officer despite efforts to contact her. The police had sought her “custodial interrogation.”

Bank rules shatter students’ dreams

Hyderabad, Sept.15: Getting educational loans from banks is a tough task for ordinary students. Those who approach banks believing the pleasant talk on brochures are disheartened by inflexible rules and unhelpful attitudes of bank officials. This has shattered the dreams of thousands of students who were aiming to enter the portals of higher education. As per RBI rules, bankers should not insist on collateral security to sanction educational loans up to Rs. 4 lakhs. A third party guarantee is required for the loans between Rs. 4 lakhs and Rs. 7.5 lakhs and for loans above Rs.7.5 lakhs, tangible collateral security is necessary. But things are different on the ground. Banks are not ready to sanction loans to students whose fathers have died. Children of parents who work in other States are also finding it difficult to get loans. Students belonging to joint families whose properties are not bifurcated are also being turned away. Take the case of N. Phanindra, an MBA student of Osmania University. He got 642nd rank in ICET and got a seat in Osmania University College of Commerce and Business Management. His father works in Rajasthan and his mother is a private school teacher. Since their income is not enough to bear his study expenses, he approached three banks for a loan of Rs. 1 lakh. However, nothing came of it. He alleged that his application was rejected by the Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar branch of State Bank of Hyderabad even after it was cleared in a Loan Mela in 2005. “The attitude of officials sho-cked me,” said Phanindra. “I had to mobilise money from friends.” However, the branch manager, Mr B. Suresh, said that the student should have approached him if he had any grievance. “Of course, we examine the repayment of capacity of parents,” he said. “If the student fails to pay the loan after he gets a job, parents have to pay.”

Experts to dig for precious metals in State

Hyderabad, Sept. 15: After taking up exploration of uranium reserves in the State, the Atomic Minerals Directorate has now set its eyes on the vast resources of rare metals and rare earths in Andhra Pradesh. These metals are strategic in nature as they have a variety of application in nuclear and other hitech industries including electronics, telecommunication, space, defence and information technology. Nellore and Prakasam districts have been found to contain several of these rare metals and rare earths. The rare metals include Niobium, Tantalum, Lithium, Beryllium and Caesium. Some of the rare earth metals are Lanthanum, Lutecium and Yittrium. The AMD has carried out investigations to establish the resource base of these metals. According to sources, inv-estigations have revealed the presence of beryl (Beryllium), columbite-tantalite (Niobium-Tantalum), lepidolite, spodumene and amblygonite (Lithium) in the pegmatite belts of different States including Andhra Pradesh. The AMD also took up investigations in Rajasthan, Bihar, Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Moreover, several private studies have revealed the presence of these elements in Visakhapatnam and Krishna districts too.

AP diverts tribal land to industries: Brinda

Hyderabad, Sept. 15: The All-India Democratic Women’s Association on Friday accused the State government of handing over tribal lands to industries and irrigation sectors. Participating in a meet-the-press programme, organised by the Hyderabad Union of Journalists here, Association president Suhasini Ali and general- secretary Brinda Karat alleged that even lands falling under the V Schedule of Constitution were being diverted for non-forest and non-tribal purpose. They said as much as 13 lakh hectares of forest land had been diverted for non-forest purpose throughout the country during the past five years and a considerable chunk of this land is from Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. They said the AIDWA would press for the Women’s Reservation Bill and Tribal Land Bill in the winter session of Parliament. They alleged that the Central government was deliberately delaying the Tribal Land Bill so that the forest tracts could be converted for non-forest use.

Submit details on AIDS

In AP Court

Hyderabad, Sept. 15: A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday called for a report from the State government pertaining to measures taken to prevent the spread of HIV and increase in of number of AIDS cases. The bench comprising Chief Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy, responding to a letter addressed by Dr Ajay Chandra of Kurnool, directed the principal secretary, medical and health, to file a counter affidavit indicating the measures taken to prevent spread of HIV. The petitioner informed the court that there were more than 15 lakh HIV positive people and expressed concern over the alarming increase in the number of children falling prey to the deadly disease. The bench directed the State government to give the number and details of HIV positive persons. The bench also asked the department to inform the number of children who are HIV positive. The bench also wanted to know the steps being initiated to deal with the traffickers who are responsible for the spread of HIV. The bench directed the petitioner and a senior State government official to appear before the court to assist the court in this regard. The bench adjourned the matter to September 28. Report on water sources A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday called for a report from the State government in regard to measures taken to conserve water resources in the State. The bench expressed displeasure over the counter-affidavit filed by Environment and Forest Principal Secretary Janaki Kondapi in the writ arising out of a letter written by Dr Vyas complaining serious depletion of water resources. The bench adjourned the matter for two weeks.

Cops fine helmetless girls

Hyderabad, Sept. 15: “Mr Khan, you are my dad’s best friend,” a Villa Marie’s student pleaded when stopped and challaned for helmetless driving. But the additional commissioner A.K. Khan remained unfazed as traffic police went about challaning in a special drive to check college girls violating traffic rules. The drive was conducted between 7.30 am and 10.30 am at Villa Marie, St Francis (Begumpet), St Ann’s (Mehedipatnam), Sri Chaitanya (Narayanaguda), Osmania Medical College, Gandhi Medical College, Osmania Postgraduate Centre and Government Women’s College. But the girls didn’t give up easily and at various places entered into arguments with the police. City traffic police department chief A.K. Khan personally counselled the college girls. Some of the girls pleaded, “Uncle, please give us exemption. It is difficult for us to wear helmets as they are not fashionable.” Police booked 237 girls from nine colleges sending a strong signal that they will not be “soft” to women violating traffic rules. Students of Villa Marie at Somajiguda topped the violators’ list with the maximum number of violations. Seven women lecturers were challaned for violating helmet rule. Mr Khan said, “The traffic police staff is limited. So we are concentrating on specific group of violators who are vulnerable to road mishaps. Last week, we conducted a drive against underage drivers and school buses which violated the rules. More checks are in the offing.” Meanwhile, applications seeking helmet exemption were being flooded to the city traffic police headquarters. The reasons cited by two wheeler riders for the exemption were serious health problems, most of which turning out to be fake.”

Huda’s stake in ring road project raised

Hyderabad, Sept 15: The Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (Huda) has increased its stake in the Outer Ring Road project from 60 per cent to 74 per cent and will now become the absolute owner of the asset and revenue generated out of it. The board on Thursday took this decision keeping in view the urban authority mobilising funds for the two phases. The State had earlier set up Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited to execute the ORR in which Huda held 60 per cent stakes and the remaining were held by the Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh. The ORR project director Piyush Kumar will be the new managing director of HGCL.

3 IPS officers shifted

Hyderabad, Sept. 15: Three officers of Indian Police Service (IPS) have been transferred and given new postings in the State. Cyberabad Deputy Commissioner of Police(Crime) Soumya Misra is being transferred and posted as Warangal SP in place of Stephen Ravindra. The present Warangal SP, Stephen Ravindra, is being shifted to Ananthapur as Superintendent. Sanjay, who was SP of Ananthapur will be shifted to CBI.

PM lobbies NSG for US nuke deal

New Delhi, Sept. 15: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has now started lobbying personally with member nations of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for the India-US civilian nuclear energy deal even though the US Senate has still not given a date for the consideration of the bill. The focal point of his recent meeting with Brazil and South African leaders was to seek their endorsement for the nuclear deal that led junior US state department official Richard Boucher to describe it as a “significant development”. Time is running out for the nuclear agreement in Washington, however, with the Senate deaf to US President George W. Bush’s plea to take up the bill before it breaks for the elections to the US Congress in early October. US officials still insist, for the record, that they are optimistic that the Senate will set a date soon, but indications now are that the legislation will not be passed by this US Congress. As sources pointed out, even if a date is set, it is highly unlikely that the senators will agree to water down the bill to meet the reservations voiced by Prime Minister Singh in Parliament under pressure from the UPA allies and the Opposition. President Bush has approached the Senate to press for an early date but there has been no word yet from the legislators on this as yet. Prime Minister Singh is also lobbying with the NSG while he waits for the Senate’s verdict, with Mr Boucher pointing out to students of the John Hopkins University: “You saw a fairly significant development... where Brazil and South Africa, who are key members of the NSG, stood up and said ‘yes, we support the Indian plan, we support the Indian effort, we think it is good for that to go through and be able to cooperate with India on civilian nuclear power’.” He said that the US was also very active in bringing NSG member nations on board and that he himself in Europe pretty much grabbed anybody he could to explain the virtues of the US-India agreement. The US Congress will meet for a lame duck session in November, after the elections and the new Congress will be in place next January. If the US Senate does not pass the nuclear bill this month, the entire process will have to begin from scratch, particularly if the Democrats overtake the Republicans in the forthcoming elections. This will mean taking the legislation through the committee stage, back to the House of Representatives and the Senate, through a joint conference and a final signature by the President. It has already been 15 months since the agreement was reached between President Bush and Prime Minister Singh and, as sources pointed out, the first phase has not been successfully concluded as yet. It is unlikely, the sources added, that the deal will be in place by the time it reaches its second anniversary. The nuclear establishment is closely watching the developments in the US as any move by the Senate to pass the bill in its present form will be contrary to the assurances given by Prime Minister Singh to Parliament in the Monsoon Session. Given the pressure from the non-proliferation lobby in the US, it is not likely that the senators will intervene to change the complexion of the bill from that of an essentially non-proliferation (for India) legislation. Significantly, the Indian government has been projecting the agreement as beneficial for “energy security” while the Bush administration has been pushing it as a major “non-proliferation” measure. The bill sailed through the House of Representatives because of the strong non-proliferation measures that were included in it before the Parliament here woke up to the issue and took strong objection.

If ministers don’t act, CPWD will take action

New Delhi, Sept. 15: Trying to take a tough stand on the issue of unauthorised constructions in the Lutyens VIP bungalows, the Centre on Friday said that if the occupants of these bungalows did not get the unauthorised portions removed themselves, it would direct the Central Public Works Department to do so. As reported by this newspaper on Friday, the urban development ministry had issued around 70 notices to some ministers in the UPA government as well as a large number of MPs to get the unauthorised constructions removed within 90 days. The Centre’s notices came in the wake of a Delhi high court directive, and the matter is due to be heard again on September 18. There is, however, no provision to penalise the VIPs who occupy such official accommodation for violation of building norms in the Lutyens Bungalow Zone. According to ministry sources, if the constructions in question were found to be aesthetically acceptable and structurally safe, then the occupants could be allowed to retain them while having other portions removed.

Centre’s ABCD move limited only to State

New Delhi, Sept, 15: The Union ministry of social justice and empowerment chaired by Mrs Meira Kumar had sought reclassification of SCs across the country when the matter came up before the Union Cabinet on September 7. Subsequently a one-man commission was set up headed by retired Supreme Court judge Doraiswamy Raj to go into the categorisation of SCs. However, the Union Cabinet toned down the proposal restricting it only to Andhra Pradesh. The toning down of the original proposal is evident from the note prepared by the social justice and empowerment ministry and the contrasting Cabinet secretariat’s “extracts from the minutes of the Cabinet meet’’ available with this newspaper. Sources said modification was made following objections by certain members of the Cabinet to include other States when the demand was coming in a more concerted form from the Madiga community. The argument was based on the surmise that this may unnecessarily open a Pandora’s box.

Centre seeks Naxal dumps details

New Delhi, Sept. 15: The Union home ministry has asked Andhra Pradesh to send a ‘detailed report’ on the reports of the State police discovering arms dumps of Naxalites in the State, which included a large number of rocket launchers.On Friday, Union home secretary V.K. Duggal said that a meeting with Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police Swaranjit Singh on this issue could take place “soon’’, perhaps sometime next week. The Home ministry spokesman said that preparation of a ‘detailed report’ is a time-consuming exercise and is therefore presumed to take sometime. The ministry spokesman was non-committal on the possibility of such a meeting being held in the immediate future. But Mr Duggal gave clear indications that the Central Government was more than concerned with the recovery of such large dumps of sophisticated arms from Naxalite hideouts in Andhra Pradesh and later also in Tamil Nadu. The Andhra Pradesh DGP was in the capital earlier this week. But then Andhra Bhawan sources said that he had come on a different assignment and the Home ministry spokesman also said that the Andhra DGP held no meeting with the Union home secretary or any other senior officers at the North Block.

AP Naxal couple on the run

Chennai, Sept. 15: A young Naxal couple hailing from Nellore (Andhra Pradesh), identified as the brain behind the manufacture of rockets and rocket-launchers recently seized in Andhra Pradesh, is on the run hotly pursued by special police teams. Seven others involved in the case have been arrested by the Tamil Nadu ‘Q’ branch police. Thirty-year-old Raghu and his wife Sudharani (25), staying in a rented house at Ambattur, fled on a motorcycle on September 9.

Not appropriate: BJP, Congress; Sangh is silent

New Delhi, Sept. 15: BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Friday sharply reacted to remarks by Pope Benedict XVI criticising Islam for the concept of holy war. The BJP, which has been sharpening its Hindutva plank for the upcoming round of Assembly elections, chose to sharply criticise the Pope. Surprisingly though, the RSS distanced itself from the Pope’s criticism saying it was up to Muslims to react to the Pontiff’s remarks on their faith. RSS leader Ram Madhav said, “We have nothing to say on what the Pope has said about Islam. It is up to the Muslims to react to his comments.” At a press conference here, Mr Singhal also echoed the same views. BJP vice-president Naqvi said, “The Pope should clarify his position and if his reported statement is true, he should apologise.” Meanwhile, the Congress disagreed with the remarks. “The Pope is not only the leader of a religion, he is also the head of a State and, therefore, he should be careful in making statements,” party spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi told reporters.