Narendra Modi proposes Sagar Mala project for coastal cities

PANAJI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday proposed an ambitious "Sagar Mala" project whereby all coastal cities in India would be interconnected through road, rail, ports and airports through a special development package. The project would enhance the unique identities of these coastal cities in consonance with sea-side life.

Modi announced the proposal while speaking at Goa's Kala Academy in Panaji. The Prime Minister arrived in Panaji to unveil the plaque commencing the construction of the third bridge over the river Mandovi.

Modi earlier dedicated India's largest warship INS Vikramaditya to the nation at Goa's INS Hansa naval base.

Unveiling the plaque for the third bridge over the river Mandovi, Modi said Goa needs modern infrastructure to cope up with its reputation as one of the country's foremost tourism destination. He said infrastructure fuels more investments and employment to the youth.

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Telangana assembly demands special state status

HYDERABAD: The Telangana legislative assembly on Saturday adopted a resolution seeking 'special category state' status for the newly formed state.

"Telangana has all the qualifications to be given the special state status. The Centre should treat both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on equal basis," Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said here, moving the resolution.

Leaders of other parties supported it. The Assembly also adopted a resolution opposing merger of seven mandals under Bhadrachalam revenue division, which would be affected by the Polavaram irrigation project, with Andhra Pradesh.

The House asked the Centre to withdraw its ordinance in this regard.

"Merger of these seven mandals with AP is unconstitutional," Chief minister Rao said, moving the resolution.

Telangana would suffer severe loss if the Polavaram project was built without changing its design, he said, adding that "Telangana assembly totally opposes this".

In another resolution, the House hailed teenagers M Purna and Anand who recently scaled Mount Everest. The government announced a reward of Rs 25 lakh each for the two students besides five acres of agricultural land. The House adopted a resolution to the effect.

Their coach, Sekhar Babu, would also be given a reward of Rs 25 lakh.

Another resolution adopted by the assembly sought immediate division of the state high court, following the bifurcation.

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Rail traffic on Ambala-Saharanpur section to remain suspended on Sunday

AMBALA: Rail traffic on Ambala-Saharanpur section will remain suspended on Sunday for the repair of a bridge near Kalanaur station close to Yamunanagar on the route.

Three trains — Jan Shatabdi Express, Ambala-Delhi Passenger and Ambala-Saharanpur Passenger — have been cancelled, a Railway official said here.

Besides, routes of seven super-fast trains have been diverted while eight trains have been short terminated, the official said.

Among trains which will be terminated at Saharnpur are Merut-Ambala Passenger, train between Nizamuddin and Ambala and Lucknow and Chandigarh and one train between Amritsar and Haridwar will be terminated at Ambala Cantt, the official added.

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FMSA hails PM's declaration of fair deal about Muslims

ALIGARH: The Forum For Muslim Studies And Analysis, a body of Muslim intellectuals, has in a resolution hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's declaration in the Parliament that the community would be "given a fair deal

In a resolution passed here on Friday the forum has said that the PM's assurance has given fresh hope to the Muslims that they would be treated with "justice and fair play" in the BJP-led NDA regime.

The FMSA said that the PM's announcement that his government would have "zero tolerance" for communal violence and terrorism was a very positive signal.

It would play a very major role in ensuring that his road map for economic recovery becomes a reality, the forum said.

The resolution also emphasized the importance of passing the long standing "Prevention of Communal Violence Bill" in the Parliament.

The FMSA has stressed that if Modi government was determined to confront the menace of communal violence then it should ensure that the crucial bill becomes a reality during the NDA regime.

Besides, the resolution said that while Madarsas should be modernized there should be no attempt on the part of the government to meddle in their administration.

It said that madarsas play a vital role in educating the poorest section of Muslims, who have no access to main stream education. If this arrangement was disturbed then it would disturb the process of social upliftment of Muslims.

The resolution was passed at a meeting presided by Professor Humayun Murad, an elected member of the AMU Court and former Dean Faculty of Science AMU.

The FMSA secretary Jasim Mohammad told newspersons today that the forum strongly disapproves Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi's recent attempt to rake up controversial issues.

"Any issue which further polarises society at this critical juncture is better avoided," Jasim told PTI.

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Court slams Delhi Police IO for 'sham' probe in murder case

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police Commissioner has been directed by a court here to take action against its official for conducting a "sham investigation" and not probing "hate crime" or "honour killing" angle in a murder case in which five men have been acquitted.

Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said there was no direct or last seen evidence against Delhi residents Rajesh, Priyavrat, Pawan Pandit and Sanjay Rathi nor any other proof to indicate and confirm any conspiracy or their involvement in the killing of 25-year-old Kuldeep.

While acquitting the fifth accused Ram Roop, the court said two views were possible, one of which heavily favoured him and demolished the entire prosecution case.

"The electronic evidence nails the lies of investigating agency and the investigating officer (IO) has not bothered to investigate this hate crime and the aspect of honour killing of the deceased and the involvement of the persons of the village with whom there was a dispute with the deceased in the morning when a call was made to the police," the court said.

"In view of the lapses and wrongs of the IO as highlighted ..., I hereby direct that a copy of this order be placed before the Commissioner of Police, Delhi and GNCT of Delhi (Home Department) through the Director of Prosecution, Delhi for information and appropriate action in accordance with law, in terms of the directions of the Supreme Court...," the judge said.

According to the prosecution, all the five accused had conspired and murdered Kuldeep on February 10, 2012 by firing at him near a field at Qutubgarh-Sohti Road here. The body of Kuldeep, a resident of village Auchandi here, was found near a poultry farm and nine empty cartridges were recovered.

The court noted that from other record and testimony of Kuldeep's mother,"it became clear that he was into an intimate affair with a girl of different community of the same village and a couple of days prior to the incident, the girl had stayed overnight with the victim due to which there was large- scale resentment and outrage in the village and even an altercation had taken place on the morning of the incident."

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More than 50 injured in Hong Kong ferry crash

HONG KONG: More than 50 people were injured when a Hong Kong ferry crashed into a seawall off the coast of the gambling enclave of Macau Friday, officials said, the latest accident to hit the cities' busy waterways.

The crash happened when the Macau-bound ferry — reported to be a jetfoil boat — was approaching the port at around 9.30am (0130 GMT) and hit a concrete breakwater, a spokesman for Macau's marine department said.

The authorities earlier said around 20 people were injured but later put the figure at 57.

"The vessel was carrying a total of 220 passengers and 13 crew members. Fifty-seven passengers have suffered minor injuries, including two Koreans and one Japanese," a spokeswoman for Shun Tak, which operates the ferry services, said in a statement.

Passenger ferries regularly cover the hour-long distance between Hong Kong and Macau.

Local broadcaster RTHK said the ferry involved was a jetfoil and the cause of accident was yet to be determined.

It is the third accident on the Hong Kong to Macau ferry route in the past eight months.

In November, a high-speed ferry travelling from Hong Kong to Macau hit"unidentified object" near one of Hong Kong's small outlying islands, injuring 87 people.

And last month a Hong Kong-bound Macau ferry collided with a mainland Chinese vessel, leaving 33 injured.

Fears over maritime safety in Hong Kong were sparked after a fatal collision between a passenger ferry and a pleasure boat carrying around 120 people claimed 39 lives in October 2012.

The accident was the city's worst boating disaster in decades and shocked the Asian financial hub, which prides itself on its good safety record.

An inquiry into the crash found a "litany of errors" and "systematic failings" in the marine department's safety standards.

Fatal boat accidents are rare in Hong Kong despite its crowded waters, which often see high-speed hydrofoils vying for space with tourist junks, luxury yachts and a century-old public ferry system.

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Immediately form Cauvery Management Board: Jayalalithaa to Modi

CHENNAI: Terming a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Karnataka as "full of distorted facts", Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa Friday urged him to order the immediate formation of a Cauvery Management Board and a Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.

In a letter to Modi Friday, text of which was released to the media here, Jayalalithaa said: "The memorandum submitted to you by the chief minister of Karnataka, I reiterate, is full of misleading statements and distorted facts."

She said Karnataka's memorandum was replete with prevarication and misleading statements and was aimed at making the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal itself nugatory.

Tracing the legal dispute between the two states over sharing the Cauvery waters, Jayalalithaa said Karnataka did not honour the interim award of the tribunal.

She said the tribunal's order was equivalent to the orders of the Supreme Court.

Referring to the notification of the tribunal's final order in the official gazette of the Indian government, Jayalalithaa said the centre cannot rest with that but has the constitutional duty and responsibility to constitute Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.

"I would also like to bring to your kind notice that the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board is not optional but an integral part of the final order itself, which has been notified.

"Therefore, as a natural corollary and as an extension of the notification, the Cauvery Management Board should have been formed by the erstwhile Congress-led UPA central government," she said.

"However, the erstwhile Congress-led central government dragged its feet for political considerations and did not form the Cauvery Management Board until it demitted office," Jayalalithaa added.

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Magisterial probe ordered into Bhilai steel plant gas leakage

BHILAI: A magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident of leakage of poisonous gas at SAIL's Bhilai plant in which six people, including two deputy general managers, were killed and about 30 others injured.

"A magisterial inquiry, headed by the Durg additional district magistrate, has been ordered into yesterday's incident," Durg Collector R Sangeetha said.

Soon after news of the incident at the SAIL plant in Chhattisgarh's Durg district, police was rushed to the spot, she said.

Initially, as many as 34 people were taken to Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital and Research Centre in Sector-9, Bhilai, after they fell ill upon inhaling the poisonous gas, she said.

Five of them, including two DGM-rank officials, died during treatment while the body of a worker, Vikas Verma, was found after de-watering the pump house where the mishap occurred, she said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has discussed the matter with state chief minister Raman Singh over the telephone today. He is learnt to have expressed his condolences for the families of the deceased and stressed on the need for proper treatment of and assistance to those who have been taken ill following the accident, said the state public relation department.
Meanwhile, SAIL chairman CS Verma reached the plant this morning to review the situation.

A high-level inquiry will be conducted into the incident and every assistance and support would be extended to the affected persons, Verma said.

Following a breakdown in a water pump, the gas leakage from the blast furnace-GCP occurred at around 6.10pm yesterday, affecting people working nearby on the premises, a statement issued by the plant said.

All the affected persons were rushed immediately to the Sector 9 hospital where 11 of them had to be admitted in the intensive care unit.

"Despite all efforts by doctors, the lives of five of the employees could not be saved. Besides the five employees, another person, a contract labourer, also died in the incident," the statement said.

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Veteran freedom fighter and ex-Mumbai mayor Shanti Patel passes away

MUMBAI: Veteran freedom fighter and former mayor of Mumbai Shanti Patel passed away here on Friday after a brief illness, family sources said.

He was 93. The Gandhian, who was also a leader of the dock workers union, passed away at his home in Mahim.

He is survived by a son and a daughter.

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I defended you on Cauvery issue, Jayalalithaa tells Modi

CHENNAI: In yet another letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, Tamil Nadu chief Minister J Jayalalithaa urged him to order the formation of a Cauvery management board and the Cauvery water regulation committee immediately.

In her 23-page letter, the chief minister countered each and every point of a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister by the Karnataka government.

Jayalalithaa said she had been defending the Centre despite pressure from other political parties in the state. "Even during our conversation, I had stressed the absolute necessity and urgency for the formation of the Cauvery management board and the Cauvery water regulation committee. I was given to understand that steps are being taken by the Government of India and matters were proceeding," she said.

Jayalalithaa mentioned the recent reported remarks of Union ministers Ananth Kumar and Venkaiah Naidu that there was no proposal by the Government of India to form the Cauvery management board. "I had chosen to ignore his (Ananth Kumar) statement and even defended you when there were protests from various political parties in Tamil Nadu. I had stated that since your government had been formed recently, some time had to be given to the Central Government to take action to form
the Cauvery management board," she point out.

However, within two days, there was another statement from Naidu that reiterated that there was no proposal to form the Cauvery management board, she said. "I also chose not to raise even this matter with you. In response to belligerent protests by political parties in Tamil Nadu, once again I defended you by saying that such a statement had not emanated from the Prime Minister or from the Union minister for water resources," Jayalalithaa said.

"However, I am now compelled to write this letter, which has been necessitated by the meeting you had with an all-party delegation from Karnataka led by the chief minister of Karnataka, who submitted a memorandum to you," she noted.

Jayalalithaa alleged that the memorandum (presented by Karnataka), replete with prevarications and misleading statements, was aimed at making the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal nugatory.

"This is something which I could not ignore and I am constrained to point out the trials and tribulations faced by Tamil Nadu to get its legitimate and due share of water from a recalcitrant, upper riparian state, which considers itself as having a natural superior right over all the waters of the inter-state river Cauvery," she said.

While recalling the legal fights with the Karnataka government from the beginning, Jayalalithaa allege that the Karnataka government did not at any time honour the interim order of the tribunal which is tantamount to an order of the SC by law and did not even once release water according to tribunal order. "Only the surplus flood waters, which its reservoirs could not hold flowed to Tamil Nadu," she said.

Jayalalithaa said the final order of the tribunal was notified on February 19, 2013 after her vigorous efforts. She said the
constitution of the Cauvery management board was not optional but an integral part of the final order itself, which has been notified. She said that the Congress-led UPA government dragged its feet for political considerations and had not formed the board until it demitted office.

"I would like to point out here that unless the Cauvery management board is formed, the notification will be only on a piece of paper as stated by the tribunal," she said.

She mentioned that the Tamil Nadu government was not able to open the Mettur dam for irrigation on the scheduled date of June 12.

She said any objection raised by the Karnataka government to the implementation of the decision would be an unconstitutional step and should not be encouraged. It is not open to the Karnataka to raise any objection to the implementation of the decision. The decision of the tribunal is sacrosanct and is on par with a decision of the Supreme Court. "If the Government of Karnataka cannot raise an objection to the decision of the Supreme Court, equally it cannot raise any objection to the decision of the tribunal," Jayalalithaa said.

Also read: Why the delay in opening Amma cinema theaters in Chennai?

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4 BJP leaders emerge front-runners for chief minister's post in Haryana

CHANDIGARH: Days after BJP emerged as the largest party in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Haryana, at least four chief ministerial aspirants have cropped up in the saffron party. Their supporters have prepared audio CDs in appreciation of their leaders, apart from raising slogans at party functions in an attempt to garner support for them.

BJP state president Ram Bilash Sharma, national spokesperson Captain Abhimanyu Singh, party's Kisan Morcha president Om Prakash Dhankhar and Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh are considered the front runners for the top job in Haryana.

Two days back, BJP workers organized a felicitation function at Hisar to welcome Captain Abhimanyu for helping BJP win 18 seats in western Uttar Pradesh in the parliamentary elections. He was the organizational in-charge of party affairs during the polls. On the occasion, an audio CD was being played in which Captain was urged to take charge of Haryana as its CM.

Similarly, on the inauguration of national executive meeting of BJP Kisan Morcha at Bahadurgarh on June 7, workers raised slogans in favour of Dhankhar, saying "Haryana ka mukhyamantri kaisa ho, Om Prakash Dhankhar jaisa ho."

On the same day, two functions were organized in southern Haryana where BJP state leaders expressed similar sentiments for Rao Inderjit, the newly-elected MP from Gurgaon. BJP MP from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, Dharmbir Singh, openly stated that Rao should be nominated as CM candidate, giving him credit for party's best performance in Lok Sabha polls in the state.

However, Dhankhar told TOI that his party has not yet decided whether a leader would be projected as CM candidate before the upcoming assembly elections. "Talks of engagement are obvious in a family which has marriageable children," he summed up the issue.

According to the leader of BJP legislative group in the state assembly, Anil Vij, the party would discuss the issue of alliance with its partner HJC before taking a decision on CM candidate.

As per a previous agreement, the CM for first two-and-a-half years would be from HJC. However, it is improbable at the moment that BJP would project Kuldeep Bishnoi as CM candidate in view of the changed circumstances, said a BJP leader. BJP won seven out of 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, securing about 35% of the total votes polled.

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Sri Lankan nationalists protest against India, burn Jayalalithaa effigy

COLOMBO: Hundreds of Sri Lankan nationalists on Tuesday staged a demonstration near the Indian High Commission here and burnt an effigy of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa to protest against the "undue influence" from India on Colombo to implement the thirteenth amendment.

Activists from the Nationalist Organisations gathered opposite the Indian mission carrying portraits of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jayalalithaa.

Protesters later burnt an effigy of Jayalalithaa. "We are here to protest against the undue influence exerted by Jayalalithaa on the Indian government to act against Sri Lanka", Dr Wasantha Bandara, a spokesman of the protesters said.

Bengamuve Nalaka, a Buddhist monk said Jayalalithaa was acting at the behest of the Western powers who are anti Sri Lanka.

The nationalist allies of President Rajapaksa have been irked by the new Indian government's insistence on implementing the thirteenth amendment.

Sri Lanka's thirteenth amendment was introduced in 1987 as a result of direct Indian intervention to try and resolve the ethnic impasse in the island.

"We want to tell India that all communities could leave in peaceful co-existence here. The thirteenth amendment could upset the hard earned peace after 30 years of war," Nalaka said.

Sri Lanka last week had said that despite a call by India for full implementation of the thirteenth amendment, no police powers could be granted to the provinces.

Colombo also said the granting of police and land control powers to the Tamil controlled northern province could be the stepping stone for the creation of a separate Tamil state.

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Severe heatwave in western UP, rains in eastern parts

LUCKNOW: Blistering heatwave conditions on Tuesday prevailed over western parts of Uttar Pradesh even as eastern part of the state saw light to moderate rains accompanied by thundershowers.

According to MeT office, Banda recorded the highest maximum day temperature at 47.6 degrees celsius.

Heat wave conditions continued to prevail over Jhansi, Agra and Meerut divisions while temperatures rose in Varanasi division and changed little in the remaining divisions of the state, it said.

They were markedly above normal in Jhansi, Meerut, Agra divisions, appreciably above normal in Allahabad, Bareilly, Moradabad divisions, above normal in Varanasi, Lucknow divisions and normal elsewhere.

Weather office recorded 3cms as chief amount of rainfall in Maharajganj.

MeT office, in a forecast, said that weather would mainly be dry over the state during next 24 hours.

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Govt to order CBI probe into Gopinath Munde's death

NEW DELHI: The Union home ministry has decided to recommend a CBI probe into the fatal accident of Union rural development minister Gopinath Munde here last week. This follows a demand by the Maharashtra unit of the BJP seeking a Central probe into allegations suggesting a possible conspiracy angle to the tragedy.

Munde was killed in a collision with a Tata Indica car while on the way to the Indira Gandhi International airport on the morning of June 3. Though the driver of the Indica car was arrested, he was later released on bail.

The indications of a CBI probe came on Tuesday morning after Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra BJP unit chief Devendra Fadnavis met Union home minister Rajnath Singh to press for a CBI investigation into Munde's car accident. In a statement issued in Mumbai, Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly Eknath Phadse confirmed: "This morning, Rajnath Singh telephoned me and discussed last week's accident which claimed Munde's life and said CBI would conduct a probe into it. The Union minister told me that official orders in this connection would be issued in three to four days".

According to government sources, the Union home ministry has already finalized the communication to the department of personnel, recommending that the probe into June 3 mishap be handed over to the CBI. The case is presently being investigated by the Delhi Police.

"The paperwork from the home ministry's side is almost done....the department of personnel and training (DoPT) will now take a final call on issuing a notification under Section 3 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, transferring the case to the CBI," a senior home ministry official told TOI.

Soon after Munde died, doubts were raised - mostly from the state BJP leaders - on how Munde was not accompanied by security personnel when he died and how he could not survive a collision that only affected one side of the car and left all others, including his driver and PA, unharmed. The different versions of the sequence of events cited by the driver of Munde's car and the Tata Indica car has only added to speculation of a sabotage angle.

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Kudankulam nuclear power plant's unit-2 to be ready in eight months

HYDERABAD: The unit-2 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu is likely to become operational in the next eight months. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc), Mumbai, director Sekhar Basu said, as planned the second reactor would be operational at the most in a year's time.

Two more reactors have also been planned at Kudankulam. Interacting with newsmen at the 41st annual day celebrations of the Nuclear Fuel Complex here, Sekhar Basu said the spent fuel at Kudankulam will have to be stored as the plant comes under safeguards.

The spent fuel will have to be stored for at least 10 years. He said reprocessing can be taken up but there would be a lot of procedures to go through, including getting permissions from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "We have the technology for reprocessing of spent fuel but since the plant is under safeguards, permissions are required," he said. Basu said more storages will have to be created away from the reactor for storing of spent fuel, if the reprocessing is not taken up.
Sekhar Basu said the 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) by BHAVINI, a government of India enterprise, at Kalpakkam will reach the 'critical' stage by the end year and will be ready to be commissioned.

While the new government at the centre is keen on completing the planned projects, Sekhar Basu said several bottlenecks would also have to be removed if India were to achieve 50,000 MW nuclear power generation by 2030. "The bottlenecks include finding land for projects. Secondly, we have seen that people resist the projects. Clearances also have to be got. And finally, the issue of funding, which is important arises," he said.

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NIA arrests two Indian Mujahideen operatives in Ranchi

RANCHI: National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested two more suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives from Ranchi in connection with blasts during Narendra Modi's rally at Patna in October 2013. A source in police said Eshtekhar Alam was picked up from Seethio village, Firoz Aslam alias Sonu from Lower Bazaar and Maulana Taufiq was detained from Seethio village.

Jharkhand police spokesperson Anurag Gupta confirmed the arrest of two persons.

Two of them — Eshtekhar Alam and Firoz Aslam alias Sonu — were taken for medial check-up at Sadar hospital here. It is likely that they would be produced at the residence of a local judge from where NIA would obtain their transit remand. Along with them NIA also took the two other IM operatives to Sadar hospital whom they had brought here with them on Friday to conduct raids at their instance.

A source said Firoz Aslam and Estekhar Alam were directly in touch with top operatives in Indian Mujahideen. During interrogation they disclosed to NIA that one of them had concealed 18 live timer bombs in a barren field in Seethio village. The bombs — similar to those used in Patna and Bodh Gaya blasts — were dug out from Seethio village by NIA on Saturday evening. The bombs were safely hidden under the earth in different spots in a suitcase, in a bag and in a bucket. The bombs were later diffused.

Seethio, 20km from city, is the same village from where a group of five IM operatives lived and had taken explosives in their backpacks and boarded a bus for Patna to carry out blasts.

"Abu Faisal, a hardcore SIMI cadre of Madhya Pradesh, who was recently arrested, has been arrested," NIA said in a press release issued at its website. During the ongoing investigation of the case, the role of a doctor practicing in a leading Hospital has also surfaced as an associate of Hyder. Investigation is continuing in the case, NIA said in its press note.

A police source said the two used to work as facilitator for IM's Ranchi Module. "Initially it has been found that they used to purchase materials used for making bombs. Their involvement in handling money has also come out," said a source.

Different teams of NIA had arrested four key Indian Mujahideen operatives on May 21. All of them featured in NIA's most wanted list. The leader of the four Hyder Ali alias 'Black Beauty' and Mojibullah were arrested from Khadgara bus stand in the heart of the state capital while Numan Ansari and Taufiq Ansari were arrested from a lodge in Palamu district the same night.

During investigation they disclosed some specific leads to the NIA after which the raids were conducted.

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Narendra Modi wishes Chandrababu Naidu, assures support

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday extended his best wishes to N Chandrababu Naidu as he will take oath as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and assured him of "all possible help".

Modi tweeted: "As Chandrababu Naidu takes oath as CM of Andhra Pradesh (Sunday) this evening, I convey my best wishes to him and his team in developing the state."

"The Centre is committed to extending all possible help to the people and government of Andhra Pradesh," he added.

He also said: "Chandrababu Garu's administrative experience and commitment to development will be a great asset in taking Andhra Pradesh to newer heights."

Telugu Desam Party chief Naidu will take oath as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh along with 18 ministers.

Governor ESL Narasimhan will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Naidu and ministers Sunday at 7.27pm at a public event at the Acharya Nagarjuna University near Guntur town in south coastal Andhra.

Naidu has earlier served as the chief minister of the undivided Andhra Pradesh. The bill to bifurcate the state was brought in parliament during the UPA's rule.

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BJP leader's killing: Party workers protest, call for bandh

GREATER NOIDA: Defying prohibitory orders, BJP workers today held protests in Noida and Greater Noida demanding arrest of the killers of party leader Vijay Pandit and called for 'Noida bandh' tomorrow.

The protests were organized by the Gautam Budh Nagar unit of the party.

In Noida, the workers protested outside the DM camp office. The agitation was led by BJP's Noida Mahanagar president Bijendra Nagar. The workers assembled at 'Sanatan Dharam Mandir' (temple) in Sector 19. From there, they formed a human chain till the DM camp office in Sector 27, Nagar said.

The party has called for a 'Noida Bandh' (shutdown) tomorrow, if the killers are not arrested.

"BJP leaders have decided that on Monday they will assemble at the temple in Sector at 10.30 am and proceed to implement the 'Noida bandh' by closing shops and blocking traffic. It will continue till the arrest of the killers," said spokesperson of the Gautam Buddha Nagar unit of BJP Vinod Sharma.

Gautam Budh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma has spoken to BJP chief Rajnath Singh and state president Lakshmi Kant Vajpayee and briefed them about the murder and demanded a high-level inquiry in the case by CBI, Sharma said.

At Greater Noida, BJP workers assembled at the collectorate DM office and staged protest. They also submitted a memorandum, demanding arrest of the killers, he said.

Some of the prominent local leaders who participated in the protest were Brij Pal Singh Chauhan, Sanjay Bali, Manoj Gupta, Vinod Sharma and Vimla Batham.

Pandit was shot dead by four assailants last night following which his supporters torched 16 vehicles near Dadri police station and pelted stones at a police team. Police had to resort to firing in the air to control the mob. The clashes between the two sides continued till late last night.

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IMD to predict progress of monsoon towards north and northeast tomorrow

NEW DELHI: With the monsoon gaining momentum in Kerala brining rains in most parts of the state, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) will on Monday forecast its progress towards further north and northeast in the next two month. The progress will decide the fate of Kharif (summer) crops which primarily depend on rains during June-August.

The announcement will set in motion the government's contingency plan for farmers if the forecast paints a grim scenario.

"Though the monsoon progresses well in Kerala in the past 48 hours, we are waiting for the IMD's second forecast for the progress of the monsoon before kicking off our action on the ground to protect the farmers from below average rainfall scenario", said an official.

The IMD's long range forecast for the southwest monsoon will be made public by the minister of state for earth science Jitendra Singh on Monday.

Apprehending the El Nino effect on progress of monsoon, the Centre has, meanwhile, directed states to be fully geared up to meet any eventuality due to erratic rains in June-July.

Amid indications of below average rainfall, a contingency plan has already been prepared for around 570 districts. Action at the local level will be fine-tuned after the forecast on Monday.

"Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra — having higher frequency of drought — have specifically been asked to be prepared with sufficient seed of short-duration varieties of kharif crops", said an official.

The agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh has, himself, been monitoring the day-to-day preparedness in his ministry. He will call meeting of state officials to review the contingency plan later this week.

The central plan includes close monitoring of the situation, keeping ready sufficient quantities of short-duration varieties of major Kharif crops, issuing location-specific advisories and involving research institutes, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and extension machinery of states for reaching out to farmers across the country on time.

Taking into account the monsoon-depressing El Nino conditions developing in the Pacific ocean, the IMD had in April end predicted a 'below normal' monsoon. It had predicted that the rains were likely to be 95% of the long term average.

The El Nino, which refers to the warming of the central and east Pacific and cooling of the West, occurs every four to 12 years. It had last hit India's monsoon in 2009, leading to worst drought in the country in nearly four decades.

As a result of 22% below normal rainfall, the food-grains production in 2009-10 had dropped to around 218.11 million tonnes, almost 7% less than the previous year.

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Haryana residents gave bogus addresses in Nagaland to avail retainership of weapons: SIT

CHANDIGARH: An investigation by Haryana police into the fake arms licences racket has revealed that residents had succeeded in getting retainership of weapons by furnishing bogus addresses in Nagaland. Pointing at connivance between certain officials in the hill state and touts, the investigators say that these arms licences were procured by paying money ranging from Rs 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh to the middlemen.

According to officials probing the case, the licences were originally issued to residents of Nagaland during days of terrorism in 1988; however, later many of these were transferred to Haryanvis on retainership basis. The cops said that many of the original arms licence holders in the hill state might have even passed away by now. Cops say that at least 1,000 such fake licences were issued to Haryana residents as they have come across 450 cases in the area falling under Rohtak police alone; 9 FIRs have been registered in Rohtak range alone.

Retainership of an arms licence is a legal exercise to authorize a known person to be custodian of a weapon, but doesn't confer the right to use it.

After returning from Nagaland on Thursday, the special investigation team (SIT) of Haryana police on Friday briefed Rohtak range inspector general (IG) A K Rao about the progress in the probe.

"Before the Lok Sabha elections, the police were verifying records of gun houses across the state and learnt that many arms licences in state belonged to residents of Nagaland. That led to suspicion in our minds," said deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Sumit Kumar, who is heading the SIT. Two persons, including Jhajjar resident Ramesh Kumar, an ex-serviceman, have been arrested in connection with the racket.

Maximum fake licences have used to retain.32 bore pistols and .12 bore guns. "We have come to know about 20 criminals who have arms on the basis of such fake licences. Such licenses have also been issued to people of other northern states by the authorities in Nagaland. Dimapur administration has admitted that the retainership of these licences was transferred wrongly. They have even cancelled 73 such licences. Now, we are probing whether it was a bonafide error on part of the administration or were officials party in the racket," IG Rao added.

Sources said that officials in Dimapur had not yet handed over all required records to the Haryana police.

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