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THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIA

Vol. 7 No. 72 CHENNAI TUESDAY 7 JUNE 2011 www.facebook.com/deccannews, www.twitter.com/deccannews, www.deccanchronicle.com 40 pages `2.00

NATION

CWG
KALMADI BAIL PLEA REJECTED

INTERNATIONAL

TERROR
GILANI: U.S. HAS CONFIRMED ILYAS DEATH

SPORTS

10
windows

11

15

FOOTBALL
ARGENTINA TO PLAY IN KOLKATA ON SEPTEMBER 2

ASTROGUIDE: Kara: Vaikasi (24) Tithi: Shasti Star: Ayiliyum Rahukalam: 3.00 pm to 4.30 pm Yamagandam: 9.00 am to 10.30 am FORECAST: Generally cloudly day. Max: 38.4 Min: 22.8 RH: 96% Rainfall: 70.2 mm PRAYERS (MASJIDUS-SALAM) Fajar: 4.55 am Zohar: 1 pm Asar: 4 pm Maghrib: 6.40 pm Isha: 8.15 pm SUNSET Today 6.34 pm SUNRISE Tomorrow 5.43 am MOONRISE Today 10.30 am MOONSET Tomorrow 11.10 pm

Bitter battle, Congress sees a saffron hand

The man seems to be an RSS activist. I have asked the police commissioner to thoroughly question the attacker and find out his antecedents.
Digvijay Singh Congress gen secy

AGENCIES WILL WORK SANS FEAR, FAVOUR: SINGH

Siva to CBI: Forced to sell Aircel stake

DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI

A man who passed himself off as a journalist tries to attack Congress leader Janardhan Dwivedi (centre) with a shoe during a press conference in New Delhi on Monday. PTI DIGVIJAY SINGHs house reportedly stoned in Bhopal. Police denies but increases security. B.K. HARIPRASAD, Congress MP incharge, calls Ramdev dhongi (fraud) and not a saint. SUSHMA SWARAJ draws Congress ire for dancing at Raj Ghat during the BJP protest.

It was very obvious that the same communal and divisive forces who were behind the (Ramdev) agitation have planned this attack.

Cabinet nod for $4.1bn deal with US

New Delhi: In what will be the biggest ever defence deal with the United States so far at US$4.1 billion, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by PM Manmohan Singh approved the proposal for acquisition of 10 Boeing C17 Globemaster III advanced airlifter aircraft for the IAF.
Full report on Page 10

SC ISSUES NOTICE TO CENTRE, DELHI ON RAMLILA CRACKDOWN

PM defends midnight action

DC CORRESPONDENT with agency inputs
NEW DELHI

counterpoint

June 6: Making it clear that the government is in no mood to buckle under pressure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday justified the midnight crackdown on Baba Ramdev at Delhis Ramlila Ground on Saturday night. Breaking his silence, the PM said, It is very unfortunate, but there was no alternative. The PMs observation came on a day that the Supreme Court and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices to the Delhi government and the Centre on the police action. The BJP described the Prime Ministers statement as bizarre and said it will hold nationwide peaceful protests. A team of BJP leaders met President Pratibha Patil to demand a special session of Parliament to discuss the issue. BJP presi-

Manmohan Singh

dent Nitin Gadkari, who spoke to Baba Ramdev Monday morning, said the party was with people who fight against corruption. Making it virtually evident that the operation against Baba Ramdev and his supporters had the clearance of the PM and the top Congress leadership, the party and its ministers continued to target the high-flying yoga guru. The enforcement and revenue intelligence agencies are

also getting ready to take a look at Ramdevs assets, which are believed to be worth nearly `1,000 crore. Speaking to the media, Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad lashed out: On Ramdevs part there was a betrayal. Mr Azad also put the onus of the timing of the midnight crackdown on Ramdevs supporters at the Ramlila Maidan on the law enforcement authorities. He pointed out that Ramdev had agreed to announce the time he would end his fast against black money and that the government had informed him of the deadline, which was extended several times, but he did not keep his promise. Somewhat cornered and confined to Hardwar where he resumed his fast after the UP administration refused him permission to go on hungerstrike in Noida, Baba threatened that the Centre will not be able to bear consequences of satyagraha.

June 6: With the controversial AircelMaxis deal involving Union textiles minist e r Dayanidhi Jayanti Natarajan Maran getCongress Sivasankaran ting curispokesperson ouser with each passing day, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday clarified that the matter was being probed by the law enforcement agencies and they should have the freedom to work without fear or favour. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function, the Prime Minister said, These matters are being looked into by law enforcement agencies. They should be allowed to work without fear or favour. Sources, however, disclosed that the PMO is also looking into the contentious deal. There are indications that Mr New Delhi, June 6: Trouble Maran could be dropped in the Lokpal Bill drafting during the cabinet reshuffle, committee escalated expected mid-June. Monday with civil society members boycotting its meeting citing suspicious JAYA WRITES TO PM intent of the government which hit back, saying the Anna Hazares team was raising extraneous issues. A tough-talking govern- DC CORRESPONDENT ment asserted that the comCHENNAI mittee would continue its work to draft a strong Lok- June 6: Expressing concern pal and finish it by June 30 over the prolonged delay in for introduction in monsoon expediting the Central session of Parliament whe- power projects in Tamil ther or not someone comes Nadu, and also the severe for the meetings. The two power shortage in the state, sides were engaged in war of chief minister J. Jayalalithaa words as a result of which urged Prime Minister Manfive civil society members in mohan Singh to take steps the committee boycotted the for the immediate allocation ministers meeting. PTI of additional 1,000 MW

Centre hits out at Anna over Lokpal

Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigations probing the alleged violations in the spectrum allocation between 2001 and 2007, on Monday heard former Aircel chief C. Sivasankaran on the AircelMaxim issue at the agency headquarters. According to sources, Mr Sivasankaran alleged that he was forced by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to sell his stake in Aircel to Maxis in 2006. He was at the CBI headquarters for nearly six hours. The agency officials also recorded his statement. Sources also said the CBI was looking into various aspects of takeover of Aircel by the Malaysiabased company. The agency is also taking the assistance of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in this regard. Sivasankaran alleged that his applications for licences were kept pending when Mr Maran was the telecom minister in 2006, forcing him to sell his stake to Maxis. Mr Sivasankaran may become a witness in the case, sources added.

Maran denies arm-twisting Sivasankaran

DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI

June 6: Union textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran on Monday denied allegations that he had forced NRI entrepreneur Sivasankaran to sell his stake in telecom firm Aircel to Malaysian company Maxis and sought to prove that Aircel was up for grabs even before he became the telecom minister. Facing charges that he had bent rules for granting 14 licences to Dishnet Wireless (now Aircel) when he was the telecom minister between 2004 and 2007, Maran held an impromptu media conference outside his Boat Club bungalow here. Siva is a multi-multi billionaire. No one can force him to sell a company like Aircel, he said.
More on Pages 4 &10

TN seeks 1,000 MW power

power to the state from the Central pool for about a year from this month. The additional generation of power in Tamil Nadu may take one or two years since many new projects are in various stages of construction. Even the Central power projects such as Kudankulam atomic power station (2 X 1,000 MW) and Neyveli Thermal power station stage II expansion (2 X 250 MW), which were expected to commence power generation by 2009, are yet to be completed and commissione. It has been causing serious concern to the government, she said in her letter. Owing to increasing demand and stagnant generation of power, the TNEB has been resorting to scheduled and frequent load sheddings.

ROAD ACCIDENTS

43% of victims are pedestrians

GEORGE ADIMATHRA
DC | CHENNAI

June 6: Pedestrians in Chennai continue to be at the mercy of motorists. The situation is alarming as a recent study has found that 43 per cent of people who died in road accidents in Chennai in 2010 were pedestrians. With motorists jumping signals even on busy arterial roads, pedestrians and cyclists are vulnerable. The research by urban planner Roshan Toshniwal found 43 per cent of those affected by accidents were pedestrians and cyclists, with 18 per cent of accidents happening on roads where metro rail is coming up. Besides reducing accessibility to metro rail, inadequate pedestrian and safety infrastructure has the possibility of increasing accidents in future, said Mr Toshniwal who works for NGO Transparent Chennai. His research, mostly based on RTIs, found that against the `15.5 crore collected as road safety tax in 20102011, only `2.31 crore

City planners seldom consider the pedestrians or ensure facilities while executing a development project
was released for road safety projects. According to Toshniwal, 32 per cent of trips are covered by walk but space allotted for pedestrians is only 3 per cent. The situation gets worse at the 151 one ways, which, with heavy traffic, totally ignore pedestrians. Even today our city planners seldom consider the section known as pedestrians or ensure facilities while executing a development project, said Mr Abdul Razak Mohamed, head, department of planning, Anna University. He says Chennai should adopt Punes access plan where there are no gaps or difference in height in pedestrian walkways, a boon for pedestrians.