Civil aviation ministry halts T3 in IGI till Sept 15

The domestic flight operations at the Terminal 3 (T3) of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi have been delayed at least till Sep 15 as basic infrastructure like power and water supply is still not in place, the government said Friday.


A team of officials led by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Thursday evening reviewed the preparedness of various stakeholders for effecting transition of domestic operations to IGI's T3.

It found a 220 KVA sub-station, which was to be commissioned by July 31, would be ready only by the middle of September.

No confusion in arresting Madani

Kerala police today denied there was any confusion with its Karnataka counterpart over the issue of arresting PDP leader Abdul Nasser Madani, an accused in the Bangalore serial blasts case.

A Karnataka police team has been camping at Kollam since August 10 amid reports that Madani's arrest was likely to be delayed for security reasons keeping in view the ongoing three-day visit of president Pratibha Patil and Independence Day celebrations.

"We are in close touch with Karnataka police. Madani will be arrested at the appropriate time. There is no confusion on his arrest between us," Kerala DGP Jacob Punnose told reporters at nearby Aluva.

Security arrangements for CWG still missing

Delhi might fail to handle any eventuality during the October 3-14 Commonwealth Games as the security arrangements at the venues are lacking co-ordination, fears an Australian security official.

Justin Bowden, whose company Beltin Group would provide advisory and protection services to Australian media during the Games, recently visited the CWG venues in Delhi but was far from satisfied with the security arrangements there.

"Everyone's into rhetoric mode, I'm afraid," said Bowden who delivered similar services during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and was working on 2012 London Games also.

During the trip to Delhi, Bowden had interacted with the security managers at different city hotels, former Deputy Commissioners of Police and some government officials, the Australian Associated Press reported on Thursday.

Rohan Murthy & Lakshmi venu engaged

He courted her for a nearly a year, but it took him less than a day to propose and solemnise a quick-fire engagement that is set to take corporate India by storm.

On Thursday, Rohan Murty, doctoral student at Harvard University and the only son of NR Narayana Murthy, the founder and chairman of Infosys Technologies, the country’s second largest software services firm, was engaged to be married to Lakshmi Venu, the only daughter of TVS Motor company’s CMD, Venu Srinivasan.

“They were introduced to each other by a common friend and they must have spent time time getting to know each other,” said a delighted Mr Murthy, Rohan’s father who says the families have known of the couple’s interest for the past several months. “Lakshmi has visited our home and we are very happy with this engagement,” he added.

Infy to find successor of Narayana Murthy

Infosys Technologies, India's second ranked software exporter, will commence the task of finding a replacement for its chairman and chief mentor NR Narayana Murthy from January next year, a national financial newspaper reported on Monday citing three sources.

Infosys' nominations committee, including ICICI Bank's non-executive chairman KV Kamath and Cornell University professor Jeffrey Sean Lehman, has already begun discussions on the process, the paper reported.

"It has to start at the right time. The normal time for discussing such replacements is around two quarters ahead of the departure of the person, which is what the plan is," the report said quoting a person close to the process.

The software firm has also begun internal discussions on the size and composition of the board to face new challenges, the report said, adding an Infosys spokeswoman declined to comment.

Aamir & Peepli live

Actor-producer Aamir Khan has received 'thank you' letters from over 500 villages named Peepli in the country for making their hamlet famous with his forthcoming production Peepli Live.

"Aamir was surprised when he started getting postcards from different Peeplis thanking him for making the movie. Even he wasn't aware that there were so many villages with the same name," a source close to the actor said.

"The hand-written letters have been pouring in and some people have invited Aamir to visit their village and meet them in person. Touched by the gesture, Aamir has asked his staff to keep all the letters in his archive. He is touched that the villagers made the effort to write to him personally," the source added.

There are over 1,000 Peeplis all over India. The movie is set in Peepli Bhadwai village of Madhya Pradesh.

Villagers of Mumbai Shore collecting items washed away from sinking vessels

Villagers at Uran have been having a field day, collecting items for their evening tea and snacks. Unfortunately, the items can prove to be very dangerous, as they have been plucked out of an oily sea.

Nine containers from the vessel MSC Chitra washed ashore at Uran yesterday, and villagers wasted no time in rummaging through them. They broke the containers and started taking the tea powder and biscuits from them, little realising that they could be contaminated.

The entire shoreline of Uran was flooded with open tea bags, medicines and biscuit packets swimming in oil. While some containers broke when the high tide lashed the containers against the rocks, others were broken by the villagers looking for some bounty.

India's judicial system to be reformed - Moily

India would take measures to improve the quality of the judiciary by reforming the legal education system and making the country the most preferred destination for investors by setting up international arbitration courts with a mandate to dispose off any litigation within a year.

"The Government of India would like to improve quality of the judiciary through reforming the legal education. We need to make India the most preferred destination of investment," Law and Justice Minister M Veerappa Moily said last night.

Moily, a former chief minister of Karnataka and Chairman of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, said: "any investment above Rs five crore will be decided in commercial courts within a year."

Sahara to face disciplinary actions for placing Queen's Baton replica.

Sahara is in trouble for displaying a replica of the Queen's Baton for the Commonwealth Games in Lucknow on Saturday. The authorities plan to take legal action against company officials for disrespecting the baton, an official said.

After the customary run of the baton, it was taken to Rai Bareli. But some officials of Sahara displayed a replica at Sahara Shahr, the residence of Sahara India chairman Subroto Roy, in Gomti Nagar.

"Legal action would be taken against the Sahara officials for showing disrespect to the Queen's Baton and displaying it without permission," said Lucknow's district magistrate Anil Sagar.

Draft for National Misson for green India to be finalised soon

The draft of the ambitious green mission to increase the forest cover and enhance eco-system services will be finalised by the month-end and then submitted to the Prime Minister, Union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Friday.

“The draft document for the mission will be finalised by this month end and submitted to the Prime Minister,” he told the NGOs at the sixth public consultation organised about the plan at Indian Forest Management Institute here.

‘National Mission for a Green India’ aims to increase the forest cover by 10 million hectares by 2020 and enhance eco-system services at an estimated cost of Rs 44,000 crore.

karnatka LokYukta to be powerful enough to question Govt officials

Days after he almost quit citing helplessness and lack of powers, Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde has been given more powers.  He can now take up cases without waiting for a complaint.

But there is an all-important rider. The Chief Minister, other ministers, MPs and MLAs have been left out of the purview of these powers.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa announced this on Friday, saying that rules would also be amended to allow the Lokayukta to proceed against the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary.

Flood in Punjab & Haryana worsens

Situation in flood ravaged districts of Punjab and Haryana further worsened today as fresh breaches in Hansi Butana canal in Kaithal and Ghaggar in Sangrur district left several villages marooned even as army and other authorities were trying to plug the breaches.

A 15 feet breach occurred in Hansi Butana canal, some four km from Kaithal town in Haryana, inundating around 40 villages badly, officials said.

Two breaches of about 50 to 60 feet have been created due to gushing waters in Ghaggar river at Rasoli and Naiwala villages in Sangrur district of Punjab, flooding some other 50 villages, they said.

RDX recoverd in J&K

At least 75 kg of RDX was recovered from Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, police said on Friday.

“This is one of the biggest recoveries of explosives in Jammu and Kashmir,” a Jammu and Kashmir Police spokesman said.

The spokesperson said the recovery was made on a tip that the militants had stocked a huge quantity of ammunition in the mountainous area of Chatroo, about 250 km from here.

About 250 g of RDX is sufficient to blow up a four-storey concrete building, a police source said.

Flood alert in 10 districts of western UP

A flood alert has been sounded in ten districts of western Uttar Pradesh with swelling of Yamuna while water level in Ganga was also rising at many places.

Deputy Secretary of the Revenue Department Raj Raten said that the flood alert has been issued in Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Baghpat, Meerut, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Hathras and Mathura districts.

According to Central Water Commission (CWC), Ganga is rising in Ballia, whereas Ramganga is rising in Moradabad and Bareilly.

River Yamuna is also rising in Etawah while river Sharda is rising in Paliakalan in Kheri, it said.

Ghagra is also rising in Elgin Bridge (Barabanki) Katarniyaghat in Bahraich and Ayodhya respectively.

Rapti was on the rise in Balrampur, it said.

Woman claims security restrictions caused her child's death

A woman, whose son died allegedly because he could not be taken to hospital in time due to security restrictions during the Prime Minister’s visit here, has written a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi asking her to ensure that such incidents do not recur.

Usha Sharma and her husband Tasdud Hussain allege that they were stopped from taking their only child, eight-year-old Aman, who sustained serious head injuries after falling from a height at their home, to hospital by security personnel who had barricaded all major roads for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to IIT here on July 3.

The couple, residents of Shyam Nagar locality, claim that though they requested security persons to allow them to commute through Coca-Cola crossing which had been barricaded to facilitate the Prime Minister’s security cover, they were asked to take a longer route to the nearest hospital.

Aman, a student of Class II, bled to death on his way to the hospital.

In her letter to Ms. Gandhi, written on July 6, Ms. Sharma has requested the UPA Chairperson to make sure that in future security forces do not stop the injured from being taken to hospitals. She has also sought a compensation of Rs 10 lakh.

Additional District Magistrate Shailendra Kumar Singh told that some roads had been closed on July 3 in view of the Prime Minister’s visit to IIT in the city.

An inquiry has been ordered into the incident, he said.

Naxals could Cities

Naxal leaders and bombmakers could develop a capability to strike at urban targets in India, a top US think tank warned, adding it will be important to watch for any indication that cadres are developing the “tradecraft” for urban terrorism.

Stratfor, a body which deals with strategic issues, however said that Naxalism is “fairly contained” in India.

It expressed these views in a report while taking a “closer Look” at the Naxal problem in India, calling it as one of the world¿s longest-running insurgencies.

Tension in Srinagar following death of Youth

Angry youths clashed with security forces here in Jammu and Kashmir Saturday following the death of a teenager they allege was killed in a street protest a day earlier.

The young men hurled stones at police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in several areas including Narwara, Rainawari, Nawa Kadal, Bimina, Batmaloo, Sonawar, Natipora, Abi Guzar and Hari Singh High Street.

Police used batons and tear gas to disperse the mobs, which would repeatedly run into the narrow streets and reappear to again attack the security personnel.

Blast in railway Track in TN

Passengers of Chennai-bound Rockfort Express had a miraculous escape on Saturday morning when the driver stopped the train immediately after receiving a warning about a blast on the track near Perani station, 160 km from here.

The blast damaged three feet of tracks and caused a four feet crater, Vellupuram police officials said.

The driver stopped the train 200 feet before the damaged spot, they said, adding that the railway officials at Trichy and Chennai were informed immediately.

Railway Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Pon Manickavel and other officials rushed to the spot. Repair work is on and the traffic is expected to be restored by 9am, the officials said.

Trains coming from southern districts to Chennai were delayed because of the blast.

Rockfort Express, Pearl City Express, Kanyakumari Express, Mumbai-Madurai Express and others were stopped midway. Trains departing from here to Guruvayoor, Puducherry and other places were also delayed.

India relieves Visa Norms for Pak nationals

In a move that would provide relief to many Pakistani nationals, the Home Ministry has relaxed norms for granting extension of long-term visa (LTV) to at least four categories staying in India.

Those who qualify for getting exemption from the provisions of Rule 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, are members of minority communities like Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan; Pakistani women married to Indian nationals and staying in India; Indian women married to Pakistani nationals and returning due to widowhood/divorce and having no male member to support them in Pakistan; and cases involving extreme compassion.

Indian authorities questioned Headly without any restraints

Indian investigators were given access to LeT operative David Headley aka Daood Gilani for seven days over the course of which they questioned him without any restrictions, the Obama administration disclosed on Thursday, pushing back at reports that Washington was being dodgy in cooperating with India on the Mumbai 26/11 terrorist attack.

However, "to protect the confidentiality of the investigations being conducted by both India and the United States, both countries have agreed not to disclose the contents of the interviews," the US Justice Department said in a statement. Various versions of what Headley told the investigators have appeared in the Indian media, none of which have been officially authenticated by authorities.