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Poojary calls Yettinahole Project a scam, demands CID probe

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Janardhan Poojary

Mangaluru: Taking a dig at some politicians and officials, senior Congress leader B Janardhan Poojary on Monday again made a scathing attack not just stating that the Yettinahole Project is a scam, but also demanding CID probe into the project.

Addressing a press meet at the district Congress office here, Poojary said that the CM was being misled by a handful of politicians and officials as far as Yettinahole project is concerned.

Poojary who opined that well planned conspiracy was working to de-stabilise the government at the state, said that if the project is implemented then only 0.85 TMC water will be available as against  the projected 24 TMC as the fact is that Yettinahole does not have 24 TMC of water to offer.

Poojary said that as per a report from expert T V Ramachandra and his three-member team from Indian Institute of Science only 9.7 TMC of water is available, out of which 5.8 TMC is being used by the locals and 2.8 TMC flows out, and the only water available is 0.85 TMC.

Poojary lamented that the government was about to spend Rs 13,000 crore for just one TMC of water, which is ironic. He also stated that as against the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd’s claim in its affidavt to the the National Green Tribunal that 13 hectares of forest land would be destroyed, the fact is that 1,000 hectares of land is required for this project.

Poojary also pointed a norm that global tender must be called for any project that costs more than Rs 20 crore has been violated in this romping Rs 13,000 crore project and the project has been handed over to Meghana Constructions, of which tainted IAS officer Kapil Mohan is a partner.

(Agencies)

Bose alive in China in 1948, indicates declassified file

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Subhash_Chandra_Bose

Kolkata: Freedom fighter Netaji Subash Chandra Bose was “alive” and “somewhere in Manchuria, China” in 1948, one of his trusted aides, Deb Nath Das, had claimed then, according to the declassified files by the West Bengal government.

Among the released dossier, file No. 22 sheds light on intelligence gathered by the Bengal government (office of the deputy commissioner of police), on INA leaders, including Das.

An extract dated August 9, 1948, says: “Deb Nath Das, an ex-INA leader who is actively engaged in anti-Congress propaganda, is preaching in political and party circles that Netaji Subash Chandra Bose is alive and is somewhere in Manchuria, China at present.”

“To rouse the curiosity and even belief of the people, he (Das) says that Netaji told him before the plane-crash that the possibility of a third world war would emerge in the wake of the second world war.”

On August 22, 1945, Tokyo Radio announced the “death” of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in an air crash in Formosa (now Taiwan) on August 18, 1945, en route to Japan.

But the crash theory has been rejected by scores of Bose’s followers and admirers and claims of the revolutionary leader resurfacing continue to intrigue and divide Indians over the years.

Adding to the controversy, the extract further states that Das had asserted that in 1948 Bose was keeping tabs on the international as well as national scenario.

“Das adds that Netaji is watching both the international and national situation, vis-A-vis India, to find out as to which among the foreign powers was her friend or enemy. There is a talk that Deb Nath Das may contest the by-election from south Calcutta constituency of the West Bengal Assembly.”

Das, according to a declassified 1948 confidential diary page of the Calcutta police, was known to give “fiery lectures” against the then Indian government.

“Except for the meetings attended or presided over by Das, in which he always gave fiery lectures against the government of India, nothing else could be known of his anti-Congress activities.”

The Bengal government on Friday made public 64 files to help unravel the mystery behind Bose’s disappearance.

Bose, once the Congress president, made contact with the Axis powers during World War II. He formed the Indian National Army in Singapore, with the help of the Japanese, and fought the British Indian Army.

Ex-INA leader Das, was a key member of the provisional government-in-exile formed by Bose in 1943.

(IANS)

Journalist Nikhil Wagle gets threat from Sanatan Sanstha, rejects security cover

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Nikhil Wagle

Mumbai: Senior journalist Nikhil Wagle, who has been getting threat from the right-wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha, has rejected the security cover offered to him by the Maharashtra government.

The government has offered security cover to Wagle in view of increased threat perception to him in the wake of the arrest of a Sanatan Sanstha activist in connection with the Govind Pansare murder case.

“Last week, police officials came to me saying that government has decided to offer security cover in view of general threat perception. However, they did not specify whether it was because of the threat from Sanatan”, Wagle told PTI.

“I have been getting threats from Sanatan. Four years ago, Abhay Vartak of Sanatan (Sanstha) walked out of a programme I hosted. Even as recently as last week, Sanatan Prabhat (a publication of the outfit) carried an article warning me,” he said.

Sameer Gaikwad, an active member of Sanathan Sanstha, was arrested last week in connection with murder of slain rationalist Govind Pansare. He is being interrogated by Maharashtra police officials in Kolhapur.

82-year-old Pansare and his wife, Uma were shot at by two motorcycle-borne youths on February 16, 2015, near their home in Kolhapur. Pansare died four days later at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai while his wife survived the attack, suffering injuries that crippled her.

(PTI)

Modi scripting his own downfall: Rahul Gandhi

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rahul gandhi

Mathura: Firing yet another salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi today claimed that the PM is scripting his own “downfall” as he has “failed” to fulfil promises made to the people.

In a pepup up talk at Congress Executive meet in the key state of Uttar Pradesh, where Congress is reduced to fourth position, Rahul invoked Steve Jobs’ efforts to revive a floundering Apple and said the party men should work unitedly as a team so that they can fill the void that will be created after “exit” of Modi, who was “harming himself the most”.

The Congress Vice President said that everybody has “Congress DNA” and ideologically the party still occupies the first position as it is not like RSS “in which everything is decided from the top”.

He said that the Prime Minister has not fulfilled his poll promises and is “damaging himself” much more than Congress could have inflicted on him.

“He has promised good days to farmers. Now farmers are committing suicide. Wherever I go in the country, the farmers are abusing Modiji. They are not criticising but abusing. Youths are not getting jobs and despite making repeated promises thrice, OROP has not been given yet.

“Modi is damaging himself much more than we can together do to him. We have to make our place. Modiji is bound to go down but when he goes, we have to fill that space. You may keep on attacking Modi but Modi is attacking himself much more,” Rahul said.

The Congress Vice President, who has frequently taunted the PM with his “suit-boot” barbs, had yesterday attacked Modi over ‘Make in India’ initiative, saying it was “Take in India” in reality.

Telling party workers that everybody has “Congress DNA” in their blood, Rahul today said that they need to motivate people to work and fight together, and gave a message of unity to revive the party that has lost much of its base in the key Hindi belt state.

Maintaining that Congress is different from the RSS, Rahul said, “This is not RSS. Had it been RSS, (Mohan) Bhagwat would have come and told you that the sky is black and then all of you would have echoed that the sky is black. Decisions do not percolate from the top in the Congress party.”

(Agencies)

BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya dies of heart attack

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Jagmohan Dalmiya

Kolkata: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Jagmohan Dalmiya, who was admitted to hospital few days back after he complained of chest pain, passed away at a city hospital this evening following a massive cardiac arrest.

The 75-year-old Dalmiya was admitted to the city’s B M Birla Hospital on Thursday night after which he also underwent a coronary angiography.

“Mr. Dalmiya died of internal gastrointestinal bleeding and internal organ failure,” hospital sources said confirming the veteran cricket administrators death.

Cricket Association of Bengal sources added: “At 6 PM in the evening his condition deteriorated and shortly afterwards he suffered a massive cardiac arrest from which he could not recover.”

Dalmiya has not been keeping well for a while now and was not actively taking part in the day-to-day functioning of the BCCI.

Dalmiya took over the reins of the BCCI for a second time in March, after a gap of 10 years, when he got a walkover in the elections. But he has been ailing since then, and his health has deteriorated further over the last few weeks. According to sources, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur and IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla will reach here tomorrow.

(Agencies)

Centre needs to tread cautiously on Netaji files: Venkaiah Naidu

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Venkaiah Naidu

Hyderabad: The Centre will take a decision on declassification of files related to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose only after studying its impact on India’s relations with other countries, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said here today.

“The West Bengal government has made public certain confidential files related to Netaji. It is good… It needs to be studied what is there in those files before the Centre takes such a decision, its impact on the international community, our relations with other countries, neighbouring countries, needs to be studied.

“The Centre will have to take a final decision after studying that. I personally feel that people of the country have the right to know the truth on the Netaji issue. Government will think of it and decide how and when to do it,” the Parliamentary Affairs minister told reporters here on the sidelines of an event.

Seventy years after his mysterious disappearance, 64 files running into nearly 13,000 pages were declassified yesterday which shows some of Netaji’s family members were spied upon in independent India.

However, there was no clarity on whether Bose died in an air crash in 1945 as is widely believed.

Tucked away in police and government lockers for decades, the files containing 12,744 pages were declassified by West Bengal government in the presence of Bose’s family members, who have been demanding that information on Netaji be made public.

The files have been kept inside glass cases at the Kolkata Police Museum before they are made accessible to the public on Monday.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has demanded that the Centre declassify files pertaining to the nationalist leader and said that it is unfortunate that the mystery of Netaji’s disappearance has remained unresolved for 70 years.

Some of Netaji’s family members have rejected the theory that he had died in a plane crash in Taihoku airport in Taiwan on August 18, 1945.

(Agencies)

‘UPA awarded Aadhaar card projects over Rs.13,000 crore without tenders’

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Aadhaar

Mumbai: Aadhaar card projects of the UIDAI worth over Rs.13,000 crore were awarded without issuing tenders by the previous UPA government, according to a RTI response, an activist said here on Saturday.

RTI activist Anil Galgali had submitted queries under the RTI to the UIDAI officials, Public Information Officer S.S. Bisht and Deputy Director-cum-PIO R. Harish who provided the replies about the amount spent on the projects which was then headed by technocrat Nandan Nilekani.

In the reply, the UIDAI officials disclosed that total project contracts worth Rs.13,663.22 crore were awarded without any tenders of which an amount of Rs.6,563 crore has been already spent on issuing 90.3 crore Aadhar Cards till May 2015.

They further informed that a total 25 companies were awarded different responsibilities for the massive project and their empanelment was done under the process guidelines of Request For Empanelment of May 19, 2014.

“This is shocking as various sections of people, including the Supreme Court and civil society groups have expressed serious concerns about the right to privacy with sensitive personal data of 125 crore population going in the hands of private companies,” Galgali told IANS.

He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order a probe into the UIDAI to ensure transparency in the award of contracts for Aadhaar cards.

“The sensitive datas of finger prints and iris of each and every Indian could be unsafe with private companies,” cautioned Harsheet Shah, cyber law expert-cum-researcher.

According to the information, some of the companies awarded more than one project works include: Tata Consultancy Service, Mac Associates, Wipro, HCL, HP India Sales Pvt. Ltd., National Informatics Centre, Sagem Morpho Securities Pvt. Ltd, Satyam Computer Services Ltd, L1 Identity Solutions, Totem International Ltd., Linkwel Telesystems Pvt. Ltd. Sai Infosystems India Ltd, Geodesic Ltd, ID Solutions, NISG, SQTC, Telesima Communications Pvt. Ltd.

Others which secured a single contract include: Reliance Communication, Tata Communications, Aircel, Bharati Airtel, BSNL and Railtel Corporation of India Ltd.

(IANS)

39 Indians held hostage by ISIS alive: Sushma Swaraj

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sushma-swaraj

New Delhi: All the 39 Indians held hostage in Iraq by Islamic State militants for more than a year are “alive”, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the families of the victims.

Swaraj, who met the families for the eighth time since the abduction of the Indians in June last year from Mosul, reassured them about the well-being of the nationals on the basis of information received from multiple sources.

The government was making all sincere efforts for the safe and early release of the Indian workers, she told the families, who were accompanied by Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Official sources said the minister also told them that though there was no “first-hand confirmation” about the wellbeing of the 39 nationals but multiple sources have indicated that they were being made to work in Iraq.

Swaraj had earlier personally spoken to her counterparts in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as well as other friendly countries in the region for their assistance in the safe release of Indians in captivity.

The minister also assured the families that as soon as some concrete proof on the well-being of the workers is received by the government, it would be shared with them.

(Agencies)

Mobile Internet services banned in Gujarat after Hardik Patel’s detention

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hardik-patel

Ahmedabad: In a bid to curb spread, of rumours after detention, of Patel community leader Hardik, the Gujarat administration today banned mobile Internet services across the state.

“We have decided to ban mobile Internet service in the state to tackle the law and order situation and to curb the rumours across Gujarat for an indefinite period,” Director General of Police PC Thakur told media persons.

Hardik, who has been agitating to get reservation under OBC quota for his community, was today detained by the Surat city police ahead of his Ekta Rally.

According to a notification issued by Ahmedabad city Police Commissioner Shivanand Jha, mobile Internet services have been banned from this afternoon to 12 PM on September 20.

Jha in the notification said the action has been taken to curb rumours after Hardik’s detention and to control the law and order situation.

Soon after the 22 year-old leader’s detention, Surat district collector issued notification putting ban on mobile Internet services for 24 hours.

In Rajkot also, mobile Internet services have been prohibited for a week, said District Collector Manisha Chandra.

Gujarat had witnessed violence after Hardik’s detention on August 25, in which ten people were killed in the state and property of crores was damaged as well.

Then too, the state administration had banned mobile Internet services for around a week to prevent rumours.

(Agencies)

Sheena Bora murder case handed over to CBI

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sheena-bora

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Friday decided to hand over the Sheena Bora murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in order to ensure a fair and impartial probe.

The announcement was made by state Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K.P. Bakshi.

“For the last few days, since the former Mumbai police commissioner (Rakesh Maria) was replaced by Ahmad Javed, the media have sought to convey the impression that efforts were on to deliberately try and dilly-dally and interfere with the (murder) inquiry,” Bakshi told media persons.

However, when the transfers-cum-promotions took place, Bakshi said he had taken great pains to clarify that there was no connection between the administrative decisions and the particular case.

“I am compelled to say that because of this impression being created by certain sections of the media and based on the report of the DGP (director general of police), we have decided to hand over the case to the CBI,” Bakshi said.

The DGP gave a complete status report on the Sheena murder case and he also commented on what should be done in future, he added.

After lengthy discussions with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other top police and civil officials, the government decided that not a single state officer should be involved or connected with the investigation.

“We want to give a clear message to the people, and the government has no intention to interfere in the case and we want a complete and impartial investigation. We have been in touch with the centre and the CBI and completed all relevant formalities in the matter,” Bakshi explained.

However, he said it was upto the central government to take a final call on whether to assign the case to the CBI or not, depending on its workload.

(IANS)

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