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Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
100% rise in CWG project cost
RTI Reply Says Expenditure Up From Rs 1000Cr To 2460Cr
Himanshi Dhawan | TNN
New Delhi: Commonwealth Games 2010 is costing the taxpayer a pretty penny, with the cost of major projects going up from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,460 crore. Authorities have been facing flak for some time now over delays in completion of projects but it now appears that cost escalation is a major cause for concern as well.
In response to an RTI query filed by activist S C Agrawal, CPWD has admitted that construction and upgradation work on Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium has cost nearly double the original estimate — from Rs 455 crore to Rs 961 crore. Construction work at other stadia in the city has also seen a marked increase. The cost incurred on the Dr Karni Singh shooting range, for instance, has shot up from a mere Rs 16 crore to Rs 149 crore.
The revised cost for Indira Gandhi Stadium has gone up from Rs 271 crore to Rs 669 crore, while work at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee swimming pool complex finally cost Rs 377 crore compared to the estimated Rs 145 crore. Major Dhyanchand National Stadium — inaugurated by the sports minister in March — has cost the exchequer Rs 262 crore compared to the estimated Rs 113 crore while an additional cost of Rs 42 crore was added for consultancy services, which was not budgeted for earlier.
Explaining the revised expenditure, CPWD said costs went up because of revised cost indices and escalation, change in scope of work, additions and deletions made to the venues and the addition of ancillaries like service tax, quality assurance and contingencies.
Incidentally, JLN Stadium has missed its deadline with work on venues for athletics, lawn bowls and weightlifting still going on. The deadline has been extended for the weightlifting venue from February 15 to May 31. At Indira Gandhi Stadium, the cycling track was expected to be finished by March 31 but will only be ready by May 31 as is the case with the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee swimming pool complex.
himanshi.dhawan@timesgroup.com
No arrests in DU girl gangrape case
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Three days after a Delhi University (DU) student was gangraped by five youths in a flat in Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon, the cops are yet to make any arrest despite identifying four accused in the case. The girl was picked up by the accused, one of them known to her, from a bus-stop in Bijwasan on Sunday.
According to the police, the 22-year-old student was on her way to college when she was abducted and raped for over six hours by five men. The police said that they have identified another person on Wednesday but are yet to make any arrest. ‘‘The main accused into the case is still not identified. Teams have been fanned out to different locations and we will soon nab them,’’ said a senior police officer.
A resident of Bijwasan, the victim is a correspondence student of second year BA. She had to attend a class in South Campus at Dhaula Kuan on Sunday morning. She left her house and was waiting at the bus-stand around 8 am. The girl also told police that she had said no to one of the accused when he had wanted to befriend her. He had then threatened to teach her a lesson, said police.
Meanwhile, the girl’s family claimed that they are being pressured by the locals in the village to withdraw the case.
toireporter@timesgroup.com
Taxing times: 500 Meru drivers on strike
New Delhi: Commuters using radio cabs for their commute are an aggrieved lot as drivers of one the major radio cab operators, Meru Cabs, stayed off the roads on Wednesday. With barely 100 of the 1,200 cabs in service, a majority of those calling the call centre were turned away. The drivers are on strike as they are demanding a reduction in the daily subscription amount which is required to be paid to the company. Since its inception three years ago, this is for the first that the business model of radio cabs is being challenged.
‘‘I called the call centre for a cab from the airport to Defence Colony but couldn’t get one. Meru is one of the few efficient operators. How can such a strike be tolerated in a private setup,’’ asked Devyani Khanna, a chartered accountant.
The problem has arisen as over 500 cab drivers called a strike and put the fleet off the roads. On Tuesday, one of the cabs plying on the road was reportedly damaged after which the operator sent out an alert to the drivers to be careful and not to ply on the routes affected by the strike. Officials said that since commuter safety is paramount, the company took a decision to allow drivers to take a decision on whether they wanted to be out on the roads or not. With the result, a majority of the fleet remained off the roads on Wednesday.
‘‘We want the company to reduce the daily subscription amount from the present Rs 800 to Rs 600. We are not getting as many calls from the call centre and there are several days when drivers have to pay this amount from their own pockets,’’ said Daljit Singh (name changed on request), a driver. The striking drivers are sitting in protest in Dwarka Sector 11.
The operator, meanwhile, contend that only a handful of drivers are holding the entire service to ransom. ‘‘We have heard the grievances of the drivers and found that the two leaders who came to us have actually earned Rs 70,000 and Rs 50,000 last month as per our records. On an average too, a Meru driver earns about Rs 53,000 and after paying the subscription and CNG, their take home is about Rs 22,000,’’ said Rajesh Puri, CEO, Meru Cabs.
He added that the company is willing to listen to the demands of drivers and even ensure more business for drivers who are making less than Rs 10,000-12,000 per month. ‘‘We have financial records of all the drivers and we can increase business for those who are not getting much money. We expect a solution by Thursday,’’ said Puri.
megha.suri@timesgroup.com
‘‘I called the call centre for a cab from the airport to Defence Colony but couldn’t get one. Meru is one of the few efficient operators. How can such a strike be tolerated in a private setup,’’ asked Devyani Khanna, a chartered accountant.
The problem has arisen as over 500 cab drivers called a strike and put the fleet off the roads. On Tuesday, one of the cabs plying on the road was reportedly damaged after which the operator sent out an alert to the drivers to be careful and not to ply on the routes affected by the strike. Officials said that since commuter safety is paramount, the company took a decision to allow drivers to take a decision on whether they wanted to be out on the roads or not. With the result, a majority of the fleet remained off the roads on Wednesday.
‘‘We want the company to reduce the daily subscription amount from the present Rs 800 to Rs 600. We are not getting as many calls from the call centre and there are several days when drivers have to pay this amount from their own pockets,’’ said Daljit Singh (name changed on request), a driver. The striking drivers are sitting in protest in Dwarka Sector 11.
The operator, meanwhile, contend that only a handful of drivers are holding the entire service to ransom. ‘‘We have heard the grievances of the drivers and found that the two leaders who came to us have actually earned Rs 70,000 and Rs 50,000 last month as per our records. On an average too, a Meru driver earns about Rs 53,000 and after paying the subscription and CNG, their take home is about Rs 22,000,’’ said Rajesh Puri, CEO, Meru Cabs.
He added that the company is willing to listen to the demands of drivers and even ensure more business for drivers who are making less than Rs 10,000-12,000 per month. ‘‘We have financial records of all the drivers and we can increase business for those who are not getting much money. We expect a solution by Thursday,’’ said Puri.
megha.suri@timesgroup.com
SERVICES HIT: The drivers are seeking a reduction in daily subscription amount
16 to hang for killing 58 in Bihar village
Patna: More than 12 years after 58 dalits were massacred in a midnight attack on Laxmanpur Bathe village by Ranvir Sena, a Patna court on Wednesday sentenced 16 convicts to death while giving life term to 10 others. Nineteen accused were acquitted.
Laxmanpur Bathe is in Arwal district, 125km from Patna and along the banks of the Sone river. It was targeted because Ranvir Sena members believed the village’s dalits, mostly poor and landless, were sympathizers of Maoists who were behind the killing of 37 upper caste men in Bara in Gaya district in 1992. Ranvir Sena was created by Bhumihars to take on the Naxals, who had dalits as foot soldiers.
The private militiamen crossed the Sone on two large boats, stealthily walked into the village, broke open doors and fired at the sleeping men, women and children at midnight on December 1 . Prosecution wants Ranvir Sena chief tried separately
Patna: The law has finally caught up with the murderers responsible for the 1997 Jehanabad carnage. Patna’s additional judge V P Mishra said it was clear that the massacre was carried out to avenge the killing of 37 upper caste members at Bara in Gaya district by Maoist cadres in February 1992.
There was apparently no connection between the upper caste members who had died in 1992 and the poor Dalits who were slaughtered in cold blood in 1997.
Sixteen convicts were sentenced to death. ADJ Mishra handed out life term and a fine of Rs 50,000 each to 10 people.
The money collected will be given to families of the Luxmanpur Bathe village victims.
Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Mukhia was among the accused in the case, but his trial did not take place as the prosecution failed to produce him in court.
He is in Ara jail 50 km from Patna. The prosecution on Wednesday demanded that Mukhia be tried separately. After the case was transferred from Jehanabad to Patna by the high court in October 1999, more than 90 witnesses were examined or cross-examined. Thirty-eight of them turned hostile.
Charges were framed against 46 Ranvir Sena activists on December 23, 2008, and the trial concluded on April 1 this year.
While the prosecution demanded the severest punishment to the guilty, defence lawyers pleaded the accused had no criminal antecedent and that their crime could not be categorized as ‘‘rarest of rare’’.
The judge said he relied on Supreme Court rulings in similar cases.
The 1990s saw a series of massacres as a war of attrition raged between the Maoist Command Centre and Ranvir Sena.
In March 99, suspected Maoist Command Centre men killed 34 upper caste men at Senari village in Arwal to avenge Baathe, Shankarbigha and Narayanpur massacres.
While 23 Dalits were killed in Shankarbigha in January 1999, 11 of them were hacked to death at Narayanpur, Jehanabad, in February 1999.
Ranvir Sena activists also killed 35 Yadavs at Mianpur village in Aurangabad district on June 16, 2000, to avenge the Senari killings.
Bara case, seven Maoists were given death by two separate Tada courts in Gaya in June 2001 and February 2009. The judgment in other cases is awaited.While Ranvir Sena has since become defunct, caste-based killings by Naxalites in Bihar have also become few and far between.
13 Yrs To Justice Dec 1, 1997 | Ranvir Sena butchers 58 dalits at Laxmanpur-Bathe (then in Bihar’s Jehanabad, now in Arwal district) to avenge the massacre of 37 Bhumihars at Bara in Gaya in February 1992 by MCC (it has since merged into CPI(Maoist))
Oct, 1999 | Patna HC tranfers case to a Patna court from Jehanabad
Dec 23, 2008 | Charges framed against 46 Ranvir Sena men
Apr 1, 2010 | Trial ends after 90-odd witnesses depose; 38 of them later turn hostile
Apr 7 | Capital punishment awarded to 16 people, life to 10 convicts; 19 acquitted
Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Mukhia, also an accused, not on trial as prosecution fail to produce him in court; Now in Ara jail, he will face separate trial
Laxmanpur Bathe is in Arwal district, 125km from Patna and along the banks of the Sone river. It was targeted because Ranvir Sena members believed the village’s dalits, mostly poor and landless, were sympathizers of Maoists who were behind the killing of 37 upper caste men in Bara in Gaya district in 1992. Ranvir Sena was created by Bhumihars to take on the Naxals, who had dalits as foot soldiers.
The private militiamen crossed the Sone on two large boats, stealthily walked into the village, broke open doors and fired at the sleeping men, women and children at midnight on December 1 . Prosecution wants Ranvir Sena chief tried separately
Patna: The law has finally caught up with the murderers responsible for the 1997 Jehanabad carnage. Patna’s additional judge V P Mishra said it was clear that the massacre was carried out to avenge the killing of 37 upper caste members at Bara in Gaya district by Maoist cadres in February 1992.
There was apparently no connection between the upper caste members who had died in 1992 and the poor Dalits who were slaughtered in cold blood in 1997.
Sixteen convicts were sentenced to death. ADJ Mishra handed out life term and a fine of Rs 50,000 each to 10 people.
The money collected will be given to families of the Luxmanpur Bathe village victims.
Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Mukhia was among the accused in the case, but his trial did not take place as the prosecution failed to produce him in court.
He is in Ara jail 50 km from Patna. The prosecution on Wednesday demanded that Mukhia be tried separately. After the case was transferred from Jehanabad to Patna by the high court in October 1999, more than 90 witnesses were examined or cross-examined. Thirty-eight of them turned hostile.
Charges were framed against 46 Ranvir Sena activists on December 23, 2008, and the trial concluded on April 1 this year.
While the prosecution demanded the severest punishment to the guilty, defence lawyers pleaded the accused had no criminal antecedent and that their crime could not be categorized as ‘‘rarest of rare’’.
The judge said he relied on Supreme Court rulings in similar cases.
The 1990s saw a series of massacres as a war of attrition raged between the Maoist Command Centre and Ranvir Sena.
In March 99, suspected Maoist Command Centre men killed 34 upper caste men at Senari village in Arwal to avenge Baathe, Shankarbigha and Narayanpur massacres.
While 23 Dalits were killed in Shankarbigha in January 1999, 11 of them were hacked to death at Narayanpur, Jehanabad, in February 1999.
Ranvir Sena activists also killed 35 Yadavs at Mianpur village in Aurangabad district on June 16, 2000, to avenge the Senari killings.
Bara case, seven Maoists were given death by two separate Tada courts in Gaya in June 2001 and February 2009. The judgment in other cases is awaited.While Ranvir Sena has since become defunct, caste-based killings by Naxalites in Bihar have also become few and far between.
13 Yrs To Justice Dec 1, 1997 | Ranvir Sena butchers 58 dalits at Laxmanpur-Bathe (then in Bihar’s Jehanabad, now in Arwal district) to avenge the massacre of 37 Bhumihars at Bara in Gaya in February 1992 by MCC (it has since merged into CPI(Maoist))
Oct, 1999 | Patna HC tranfers case to a Patna court from Jehanabad
Dec 23, 2008 | Charges framed against 46 Ranvir Sena men
Apr 1, 2010 | Trial ends after 90-odd witnesses depose; 38 of them later turn hostile
Apr 7 | Capital punishment awarded to 16 people, life to 10 convicts; 19 acquitted
Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Mukhia, also an accused, not on trial as prosecution fail to produce him in court; Now in Ara jail, he will face separate trial
US 'approves killing' US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki's has said violence is a religious duty for Muslims
The US government has authorised operations to capture or kill the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, currently based in Yemen, reports say.
The cleric, who is a US citizen, is being targeted for his involvement in planning attacks on the US, officials told journalists.
Mr Awlaki was linked to the attempted bombing of an airliner bound for the US and a shooting on a US Army base.
The US has warned Yemen is becoming a safe haven for al-Qaeda.
The order was made by the Obama administration earlier this year, but it has just been revealed after a review of national security policy, the New York Times reported.
Further approval
"The danger Awlaki poses to this country is no longer confined to words, he's gotten involved in plots," unnamed officials told the newspaper.
Awlaki knows what he's done, and he knows he won't be met with handshakes and flowers
US official
Profile: Anwar al-Awlaki
Unnamed officials quoted by the Reuters news agency confirmed the story, saying that Mr Awlaki had been placed on a "US target list" of people it had authorised to kill or capture.
The list, maintained by the CIA, is thought to be of people the US government believes are planning terrorist attacks against the US.
Because Mr Awlaki is an American citizen, his addition had to be approved by the US National Security Council, the paper reported.
"Awlaki knows what he's done, and he knows he won't be met with handshakes and flowers. None of this should surprise anyone," the New York Times quoted the official as saying.
Failed state
Mr Awlaki was born in New Mexico, but is currently based in Yemen.
The Yemeni government, with support from the US and Saudi Arabia, has bombed suspected al-Qaeda hideouts in the last few months.
But some analysts have warned that Yemen may become a failed state because of the fragile hold the Yemeni government has on its own country.
Mr Awlaki was linked to an attack by a US Army major on the Fort Hood base last November, in which 13 people died.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane on its way into Detroit airport on Christmas Day 2009, allegedly met Mr Awlaki in Yemen weeks before boarding a US-bound plane in Lagos.
The cleric became popular among Islamic radicals for his firebrand preaching in English which endorsed the use of violence as a religious duty.
He lived and studied in the US where he was an imam in San Diego, where his sermons were attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers.
He fled the US in 2007 and went to Yemen.
Anwar al-Awlaki's has said violence is a religious duty for Muslims
The US government has authorised operations to capture or kill the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, currently based in Yemen, reports say.
The cleric, who is a US citizen, is being targeted for his involvement in planning attacks on the US, officials told journalists.
Mr Awlaki was linked to the attempted bombing of an airliner bound for the US and a shooting on a US Army base.
The US has warned Yemen is becoming a safe haven for al-Qaeda.
The order was made by the Obama administration earlier this year, but it has just been revealed after a review of national security policy, the New York Times reported.
Further approval
"The danger Awlaki poses to this country is no longer confined to words, he's gotten involved in plots," unnamed officials told the newspaper.
Awlaki knows what he's done, and he knows he won't be met with handshakes and flowers
US official
Profile: Anwar al-Awlaki
Unnamed officials quoted by the Reuters news agency confirmed the story, saying that Mr Awlaki had been placed on a "US target list" of people it had authorised to kill or capture.
The list, maintained by the CIA, is thought to be of people the US government believes are planning terrorist attacks against the US.
Because Mr Awlaki is an American citizen, his addition had to be approved by the US National Security Council, the paper reported.
"Awlaki knows what he's done, and he knows he won't be met with handshakes and flowers. None of this should surprise anyone," the New York Times quoted the official as saying.
Failed state
Mr Awlaki was born in New Mexico, but is currently based in Yemen.
The Yemeni government, with support from the US and Saudi Arabia, has bombed suspected al-Qaeda hideouts in the last few months.
But some analysts have warned that Yemen may become a failed state because of the fragile hold the Yemeni government has on its own country.
Mr Awlaki was linked to an attack by a US Army major on the Fort Hood base last November, in which 13 people died.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane on its way into Detroit airport on Christmas Day 2009, allegedly met Mr Awlaki in Yemen weeks before boarding a US-bound plane in Lagos.
The cleric became popular among Islamic radicals for his firebrand preaching in English which endorsed the use of violence as a religious duty.
He lived and studied in the US where he was an imam in San Diego, where his sermons were attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers.
He fled the US in 2007 and went to Yemen.
Clashes escalate in Kyrgyz crisis
Anti-government protests in Kyrgyzstan have escalated violently, with 17 people killed as police clashed with demonstrators in the capital, Bishkek.
Protesters attacked President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's offices and stormed the state TV and radio headquarters, taking them briefly off air.
There are reports police fired live rounds after failing to disperse people with tear gas and stun grenades.
President Bakiyev has declared a state of emergency in protest-hit areas.
The unrest broke out in the provincial town of Talas on Tuesday and spread to the capital, Bishkek, and another town, Naryn, on Wednesday.
In Bishkek, protesters attempted to storm the president's office but were held back by security forces, who reportedly fired live rounds into the crowd.
The health ministry and an opposition leader said 17 people had been killed in the clashes in Bishkek.
Dozens more people were reported to be injured, many with bullet wounds.
State media and television went off air briefly after protesters stormed their offices but resumed broadcasting under government control.
Protesters attacked President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's offices and stormed the state TV and radio headquarters, taking them briefly off air.
There are reports police fired live rounds after failing to disperse people with tear gas and stun grenades.
President Bakiyev has declared a state of emergency in protest-hit areas.
The unrest broke out in the provincial town of Talas on Tuesday and spread to the capital, Bishkek, and another town, Naryn, on Wednesday.
In Bishkek, protesters attempted to storm the president's office but were held back by security forces, who reportedly fired live rounds into the crowd.
The health ministry and an opposition leader said 17 people had been killed in the clashes in Bishkek.
Dozens more people were reported to be injured, many with bullet wounds.
State media and television went off air briefly after protesters stormed their offices but resumed broadcasting under government control.
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