PM
lays foundation stone of Jiribam-Imphal track
Imphal:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began his two day visit
to Manipur and Assam on Saturday by laying the foundation
stone of the Jiribam-Imphal (Tupul) rail line in Imphal
East district. The project costing of Rs. 727.56 crore,
will cover 97.90 km connecting Manipur with the rest of
the country for the first time through the railways.The
project encompasses 322 major and minor bridges, 52 curves
and 13 tunnels. Singh's maiden visit to Manipur got off
to a peaceful start with several organisations deciding
not to go ahead with their respective agitations over the
controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act, preferring
to reactivate them after the Prime Minister's departure.
PM
hands over Kangla Fort to Manipur Govt (Go
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Imphal: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today handed over
the controversial Kangla Fort to the Manipur government.
The Fort, which has been with the Army since 1947, was formally
handed over to Manipur Chief Minster Ibobi Singh by Assam
Rifles Director General Lt Gen Bhupinder Singh. The Prime
Minister's visit to the state, soon after his visit to Kashmir,
comes in the wake of a massive uprising in the state against
reports of human rights excesses by the Indian Army. The
historic Fort used to house the Assam Rifles, the unit that
came under intense scrutiny in the state recently, following
the death of a protestor Manorama Devi, who died while in
the custody of the Assam Rifles. Her death opened a Pandora's
box in the state and resulted in a mass protests in the
state, primarily against the Armed Forces Special Powers
Act. This Act gives Indian Army officers and jawans immunity
to arrest during operations.
18
constables killed in UP Naxal ambush (Go
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Varanasi:
Eighteen 18 police constables were killed by Naxals
in an ambush in Chakia in Uttar Pradesh's Chandauli district,
about 100 km east of Varanasi. The mishap occurred at around
8 a.m. on Saturday Reports coming in said that about 150
Naxals blew up a truck carrying an unspecified number of
police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) jawans, who
were on a combing duty this morning. The dead included 13
PAC jawans and 5 constables, police said, adding that the
injured had been rushed to a hospital in Varanasi. Uttar
Pradesh Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) R K
Tiwari said that the Naxals had placed explosives beneath
the small bridge over which the PAC bus was supposed to
pass in Chandrapara under Naugarh police circle. While the
two jeeps, moving ahead of the bus, crossed the bridge unharmed,
the explosion occured as soon as the bus appoached the bridge,
he said. The blast took place near the border with Bihar
where Maoist guerrillas, fighting for the rights of landless
labourers and poor peasants, have a strong presence.
Army
recovers 300 kg of RDX (Go
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Srinagar:
The Army on Saturday recovered 300 kg of deadly RDX
and other explosives and arms and ammunition at Khanabalon
in South Kashmir. A search operation on a specific information
resulted in the troops recovering the explosives, arms and
the ammunition.
India
pulls back more troops from Kashmir (Go
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Jammu:
India withdrew a fresh batch of troops from Kashmir
on Saturday just as Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
called for concessions to resolve the decades-old dispute
over the Himalayan region, the latest in a fresh round of
initiatives to push forward a fraying peace process. Tens
of thousands of troops are deployed in Muslim-majority region
to keep a lid on a 15-year-old revolt that has killed tens
of thousands of people in one of the world's most beautiful
regions. The unexpected and ambitious bid for army reduction
by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came after Musharraf's
call last month for a debate over the possibility of removing
arms and troops from divided Kashmir as part of efforts
to end more than five decades of enmity over the region.
Pakistan welcomed the troop cut as a positive step towards
reducing tension.
NCW
issues notice to television serial producer (Go
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Bangalore:
National Commission for Women (NCW) has issued a 'show-cause
notice' to the producer of a tele-serial and a TV channel
in connection with the airing of a rape scene in an episode.
NCW chairperson Poornima Advani said that summons have been
issued to Ekta Kapoor, the producer of the serial "Kyunki
Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' (Because mother-in-law was once
a daughter- in-law ) for airing a rape scene, which continued
for almost five minutes. "The NCW took objections to some
scenes in the serial "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi". We
have issued a summon to Ekta Kapoor so that we could hear
some of her version," Advani told reporters here. The Commission
has also asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
to get the tape and study the contents of the episode. The
action has been taken in response to a complaint and objection
raised by the 'Shakti Vahini', a voluntary organisation.
The organisation in a letter to the NCW, said that the serial
targeted an audience comprising entire family members and
broadcasting a rape scene for such a long time was totally
unacceptable.
