India
airlifts relief for Katrina victims in US
by Maya Singh
New
Delhi: India on Saturday dispatched its first batch
of relief materials for victims of Hurricane Katrina on
the U.S. Gulf Coast. An Indian Air Force Ilyushin plane
loaded with 22 tonnes of blankets, sheets, personal hygiene
kits and tarpaulins are being sent as part of India's commitment
to send immediate relief material to the US authorities
in carrying out their massive operations. On Thursday, India
donated five million dollars and medicines to the American
Red Cross as relief to the people of the devastated regions.
Official figures say, the death toll is expected to be in
thousands, with some local officials saying the total number
of dead could be as high as 10,000. Over a million people
in the region have been displaced and thousands are without
power. The total pre-storm population of the three most
affected states -- Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi --
was about 12 million.
Uttar
Pradesh encephalitis toll crosses 600 mark (Go
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by Kamna Hajela Mathur/Vipul Goel
Lucknow/Gorakhpur:
Authorities in Uttar Pradesh are struggling to cope
with an encephalitis epidemic where over 600 people have
died from the disease so far. The encephalitis outbreak,
which erupted in late July, is concentrated in the eastern
part of Uttar Pradesh, but has also spread to the state
capital, Lucknow. A leading English newspaper reported that
one child dies every hour of the fatal disease due to lack
of proper medical facilities and unhealthy conditions. According
to reports, children especially in the slums, who are the
most vulnerable, will risk their life like buying pigs.
Pigs, who are often carriers of the disease, can be seen
scavenging around the dirty lanes in the city. The number
of cases is increasing day by day in Lucknow and health
authorities said they have appointed special medical teams
to treat patients, mainly children. Most of those who have
died are children. Symptoms include high fever, severe headaches
and convulsions. Children, the most vulnerable to the fatal
virus, can still be seen moving in the filthy area.
Heavy
rains lash Mumbai for the second day (Go
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by Sushil Parikh
Mumbai:
Heavy rains continued to lash many parts of Mumbai for
the second consecutive day on Saturday, even as rail and
road traffic limped back to normalcy slowly. A state government
spokesman said the rains were not as heavy as in late July
when flooding killed more than 1,000 people in the region.
But many people working in business districts far away from
homes in the suburbs took no chances and left early, leading
to heavier-than-usual traffic on the roads. Officials said
traffic which earlier had to be stopped or diverted at several
places in the city due to waterlogging, had resumed but
at a much slower pace. Subways and road in Kalina and other
suburbs were still flooded and people could be seen wading
through knee-deep waters. All the train services on the
Western Railway were running 15 minutes late. Locals said
they had not been able to recuperate from the earlier rains
and the situation now also seemed to worsening and blamed
government for failing to contain the damages. Mumbai was
brought to a standstill for four days in late July and early
August, when more than 1,000 people died in floods and mudslides
in the city and surrounding state.
Army
says all 34 personnel drowned (Go
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Chandigarh:
Army officials have said that all the thirty-four soldiers
whose convoy fell into the fast-moving Sutlej River from
a temporary bridge in Himachal Pradesh earlier this week,
have drowned. Army denied reports of four soldiers having
survived the fall and the torrid river current, saying the
focus was now on retrieving as many bodies as possible.
"To all intents and purposes, we are taking all 34 personnel
as drowned. We would be very happy if a miracle takes place
and if we could get anybody alive. The effort today is on
retrieving as many bodies as possible. The area, the current
of the river which is more than seven knouts, the islands
which have been formed within the river itself, all that
make it difficult even for divers to go and perform the
job. The effort will carry on for the next 7-8 days," said
Lt. General Pattabhi Raman, GoC, Northern Command. The accident
took place in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district near the
border with Tibet, where dozens of soldiers were assigned
to repair bridges damaged by flash floods in June. Thousands
of Indian soldiers are deployed in Himachal Pradesh to protect
India's border with China's Tibetan region.
Militants
kill six, injure eight in Udhampur (Go
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Udhampur
(Jammu and Kashmir): Hizbul Mujahideen militants killed
six Gujjars in the remote village of Darmari in Jammu and
Kashmir's Udhampur District late on Friday night. Informed
sources said that the militants barged into the houses of
the Gujjars at around 9.30 p.m., pulled members of three
families out of their dwellings and shot them dead at point
blank range. Eight people were injured in the attack. The
dead have been identified as Jamaludeen, Rafiq, Shaukat
Hussain, Mohammad. Usman, Mumtaz Ahmad and Omar. The ultras,
who escaped after the attack, killed these persons on the
suspicion that Jamaludeen and Rafiq were police informers.
The injured have been shifted to hospitals in Jammu and
the army and police have launched cordon and search operation
for the ultras. This is the third violent incident in the
area in the past month in which the Gujjars have been targetted.
NLFT
make money by making porn films (Go
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Agartala:
Exchange and transfer of porn compact disc (CDs) and
MMS clips may have shook different parts of India this year,
but for the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT)
the business is proving to be a milch cow, with most of
its militants getting into making porn films to fund their
nefarious activities. When the Tripura police heard about
the presence of such CDs in the market they started raiding
different video parlours in Agartala, and found that the
militants were getting people from their own State or neighbouring
States to star in such films. Ghanshyam Murari Srivastava,
DGP of the State, said, "There are people who sell, smuggle
and make porn CDs available in the market to raise funds
for their activities." These porn CDs are in circulation
not only in the North-East, but also in Bangladesh, Myanmar
and some other neighbouring countries. Intelligence sources
claim that the shooting of these CDs is done in the rebel
camps in Khagrachari district of Bangladesh. NLFT was formed
on March 12, 1989, with Dhananjoy Reang (former Vice-President
of the Tripura National Volunteers) as its chairman. It
was outlawed in April 1997 under the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act, 1967, following its involvement in terrorist
and subversive activities. It is also proscribed under the
Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), 2002. The purported
objective of the NLFT is to establish an independent Tripura
through an armed struggle following the liberation from
Indian neo-colonialism and imperialism and furtherance of
a distinct and independent identity. The headquarters of
NLFT is located at Sajak, a camp in the Khagrachari district
of Bangladesh. Approximately 65-armed NLFT cadres are permanently
stationed in seven huts at the headquarters. Another NLFT
camp is in the Mayani Reserve area, which is also in the
Khagrachari district.
HIV
positive persons eligible for Govt jobs in Karnataka (Go
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by Kestur G Vasuki
Bangalore:
In a landmark judgement, the Karnataka Administrative
Tribunal (KAT), has held that a person who tests HIV positive
is also eligible for government jobs, including the post
of police constable. A division bench of the Tribunal comprising
its Chairman Justice A V Srinivasa Reddy and Administrative
Member P Kotilingangoud passed the order while allowing
an application filed by R Ramesh Rao of Shimoga. Rao was
provisionally selected for the post of police constable
(civil) in Shimoga district in 1999 and his selection was
subject to the results of his physical and blood tests.
However, his selection was cancelled after he was tested
positive for HIV. His appointment was cancelled on the basis
of a circular issued by the DG and IGP in 1994 declaring
that HIV positive persons as unsuitable for the post of
police constable. The tribunal found this circular as unconstitutional
and quashed it.
Sarabjit
involved in 1990 bomb blasts: Musharraf (Go
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Islamabad:
Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf has said that
Sarabjit Singh was involved in the bomb blasts that killed
14 people across three Pakistani cities in 1990. He said
that he was looking into the legal aspect of the case. "Irrespective
of how Sarabjit's family approaches the Indian leadership,
he is involved in the bomb blasts. It is a serious issue.
The man has carried out bomb blasts and killed many people
here," said Musharraf in an interview to Geo TV. Musharraf
further said that though he was a man who showed mercy,
he would nevertheless take decisions in a deliberate manner
in this case. "I have to take a decision in a deliberate
manner. Otherwise I am a man who shows mercy," he added.
Reports also said that the family members of the victims
of the bomb blasts had met Musharraf and threatened to immolate
themselves in front of Pakistani Parliament if Sarabjit
was pardoned. An eyewitness who testified against Sarabjit
also threatened to immolate himself. He said that Sarabjit
had planted a bomb in his goods trolley, and the explosion
had maimed him forever. Sarabjit Singh is facing death charges
on account of spying, and the Supreme Court of Pakistan
recently upheld his death sentence awarded by a Pakistani
court in 1991 for his involvement in bomb blasts across
three Pakistani cities in 1990, which killed 14 people.
