Protests over Meerut fire

     Meerut: With tears streaming down her face, a distraught Shagun pleads for help to locate her missing mother. More than five days after the deadly blaze at a consumer fair in Victoria Park here, Vandana, Shagun's mother, is still missing. On Saturday, relatives and friends of the family protested against the police and administrative inaction in trying to locate Vandana. "They (police) are showing as if they are helping us but in fact they are not. We don't know anything about her. They say they have sent 20 teams to locate here. Where are the teams? We have found all the clues they have not done anything. Nobody knows anything. Nobody is helping us," said Shagun. What adds to Shagun's agony is the family has a newspaper photograph to show that her mother was not severely burnt, like many others, and was in fact carried away by a few people, including police personnel. Vandana's whereabouts have since been unknown. Despite a frantic search from one nursing home to other, Vandana is nowhere. Her relatives later met the District Magistrate of Meerut and tearfully pleaded their case, saying they didn't even want any financial support for treatment. Dozens of distraught relatives are pleading authorities to help find their loved ones who went missing in Monday's blaze, who are neither in the 36 confirmed dead nor in the official list of missing people. More than 25 people, locals say, have simply vanished as their relatives failed to trace them at any of the town's hospitals, mortuaries or graveyards. Dozens of protesters ransacked the office of a top administrator of the city on Wednesday, protesting an alleged attempt to cover up the death toll.

     Authorities had initially said 51 people died in the fire that engulfed aircraft hanger-shaped temporary halls covered with plastic sheeting where around 2,000 people were browsing displays. But on Tuesday, officials revised the death toll down to 35. Three more victims succumbed to their burns taking the toll to 38. The moves triggered protests by people who said they were still looking for missing relatives, their anger fuelled by claims that bodies were run over by bulldozers in the aftermath of the blaze, and that some corpses were secretly cremated to scale down the disaster. The district administration strongly denied the accusations but officials gave widely conflicting accounts of the number of people still officially "missing".

Salman gets permission to go abroad (Go To Top)

     Jodhpur: The Jodhpur District and Sessions Court on Saturday granted permission to Bollywood actor Salman Khan to travel abroad between April 17 and June 14. The court granted Khan permission to travel out of the country after his counsel, H M Saraswat, gave an assurance that Salman would present himself before the courts on the expiry of the duration or whenever he was required. Salman's revision petition will come up for the hearing on April 22. The Jodhpur Sessions Court on April 13 granted bail to Salman in the 1998 chinkara poaching case in which he has been sentenced to five-year imprisonment. The court found him guilty under sections 51 and 52 of the Indian Wildlife Act. He was also sentenced to a year in jail in February for killing two black bucks in another case, but was granted bail to appeal to a higher court. The star is also facing trial in a case in Mumbai for a hit-and- run case that killed a man and injured three others sleeping on a Mumbai sidewalk in 2002.

Indian fast attack craft for Maldives (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: India will hand over an indigenously built fast attack craft (FAC) to the Maldives during the weekend visit of Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Mukherjee, who will arrive on a two-day visit to the Maldives today, will hand over the Goa Shipyard-built INS Tillianchan (named after an island in the Nicobar group of islands) to the Maldives, a step by New Delhi to build its maritime ties with Male in the non-traditional sector. To be renamed the Huravee (after the Maldivian island of Hura, the naval vessel has the potential to undertake surveillance and detect hostile craft. It also has the ability to induct and de- induct 35 Special Forces personnel and despatch two onboard high- speed boats for operational activities. The INS Tillianchan is a part of the Integrated Military Command in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and has already carried out coordinated patrols with the navies of Indonesia and Thailand. It has also effectively prevented violation of India's exclusive economic zone. During his visit, Mukherjee will seek to take forward previous initiatives of the Defence Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs in the Maldives, which lies approximately 600 kilometres southwest of Sri Lanka. The Indian Government has also agreed to help the Maldivian Government carry out a hydrographical survey of the sea close to the country with the help of the survey ship INS Darshak. The Maldives comprises of 1, 192 islands, of which only 200 are inhabited.

Bollywood PRO Rao found dead (Go To Top)

      Mumbai: Bollywood public relations officer K Rajendra Rao, who had promoted several films of stars Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgan, was found dead at his Juhu residence here on Friday night. Police officials investigating the incident said that the body of Rao, a bachelor, was retrieved from his Yari Road house after his neighbours informed that a foul smell was coming from his flat. According to Mumbai Deputy Commissioner of Police, Amitabh Gupta, Rao probably died of dehydration. A post-mortem examination is being carried out on the body and Rao's surviving relatives are being contacted to perfom his last rites.

Day curfew lifted in Aligarh (Go To Top)

     Aligarh: Day curfew was lifted from the entire old city today except in three areas - Sabzi Mandi crossing, Katra and Dahi Wali Gali - since it was clamped following the violent clashes erupted between two communities. The curfew was lifted for the first time today after authorities has imposed indefinite curfew at several places in the city on April 6 following clashes which left two persons dead and injured several others. According to the reports banks and other commercial organisations, closed earlier today functioned normally. The Aligarh Muslim University examinations will be held tomorrow as per the original schedule, said AMU spokesperson. He added that the new dates of the exams that were not held earlier due to curfew would be notified later. The University has made transport arrangements for the students who reside in areas presently under night curfew. The situation went out of control on April 6 when members of the two communities indulged in stone pelting on each other at Sabzi Mandi and Dahi Wali Gali areas under Kotwali Police Circle in the old city. This came after Muslims objected to the use of loudspeakers by Hindus, who were celebrating the Ramnavami festival.

Sonia pays tribute to Ghani Khan  (Go To Top)
by Ajitha Menon

     Kolkata: Congress party president Sonia Gandhi today paid tribute to veteran Congress leader A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury, who passed away at a city nursing home in Kolkata yesterday. She was accompanied by All-India Congress Committee General Secretary Margaret Alva. Sonia Gandhi arrived here by a special aircraft, which landed at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. Without delaying, she then, headed towards 'Bidhan Bhavan', the West Bengal Congress headquarters, to place a wreath on the body of the late leader and observed silence for a while. Other Congress party leaders present there included Defence Minister and State Congress president, Pranab Mukherjee, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Das Munshi, Working president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) Pradip Bhattacharjee and former State president Somen Mitra. Sonia Gandhi also spent a few a few minutes inside the Congress office. Ghani Khan Choudhury's body will be flown to his residence at Kotwali in Malda district, where his last rites will be conducted in the evening. He was 78 and died of acute pancreatitis.

Pak visa camp in Amritsar likely (Go To Top)
by Ravinder Singh Robin

      Amritsar: In a significant announcement, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has stated that Islamabad is seriously considering the option of opening a temporary visa centre in Amritsar to help Sikh devotees to cross over into Pakistan for the 400th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev in June this year. Aziz is said to have conveyed this missive to a Sikh delegation that met him in the Pakistan capital on Saturday. He also offered his government's assistance in making the functions associated with the 400th anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev a success.

Americans speak against Islam (Go To Top)

     Washington: A recent poll conducted by a US television network has revealed that only one in five Americans or a mere 20 percent of the American population surveyed had a favourable impression of Islam. The poll conducted by the US television network, CBS, found that 45 percent of respondents queried said they had an unfavourable view of Islam, a significant rise since the February poll results of 36 percent. Surprisingly, even in 2002, just six months after the September 11, 2001 WTC Twin Tower Attacks, 30 percent of Americans had a favourable view of Islam. Even in 2002, only 33 percent of the Americans had an unfavourable view of Islam, reports the Daily Times. The poll further revealed that 46 percent of Americans believed Islam encouraged violence more than other religions, compared to only 39 percent who felt the same in February 2006 and 35 percent who felt so in March 2002. The data revealed that 58 percent people had a favourable impression of Protestantism, 48 percent of Catholicism, 47 percent of the Jewish religion, 31 percent of Christian fundamentalist religions and 20 percent of the Mormon religion. Islam and Scientology ranked lowest at 19 and eight percent respectively.

India wins Indore ODI by seven wickets (Go To Top)

    Indore: India won the seventh and final one-dayer against England played at the Maharani Usharaje Stadium here today, by seven wickets, sealing the ODI series 5-1. Replying to England's 288, the Indians scored 289 for the loss of three wickets. Sreesanth got the Man of the Match award for his excellent spell and Yuvraj Singh bagged the Man of the Series award for his scintillating performance through out the series. Chasing England's score of 288, Robin Uthappa and Rahul Dravid gave India a good start and added 166 runs for the first wicket. Uthappa smashed an exhilirating 86 on his debut. The hosts had a useful contributions from Rahul Dravid (69), Yuvraj Singh (63 not out) and Suresh Raina (53) on a good batting strip. Kerala speedster S Sreesanth was India`s bowling hero with career-best figures of 6/55.

Back to Headlines                  Go To Top