Vijay Pratap Singh
Posted online: Saturday , August 09, 2008 at 03:00:20
Allahabad, August 8 The August 9 BSP rally brought woes for millions of commuters in the state on Friday, as over 2,000 buses of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) stayed off the roads.
The state party leaders had booked these buses to reach the venue of the national conference of the BSP at the Ramabai Ambedkar ground in Lucknow. Thousands of passengers remained stranded at bus stations across the state.
There are 17 regions of UPSRTC and each region has earmarked up to 200 buses for ferrying the BSP members to Lucknow. “Over 2,000 buses would remain off the road for two days,” said Chandra Shekhar Pandey, state President of Roadways Karmachari Sanyukt Parishad
The UPSRTC buses carry over 4 crore passengers daily, said a department official. The Allahabad, Varanasi, Faizabad, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Azamgarh, Hardoi, Aligarh and Jhansi regions of the UPSRTC have reportedly kept aside over 1,200 buses for the rally.
While the BSP leaders have booked only 145 UPSRTC buses from the Allahabad region, the department had reportedly sent 200 buses for the rally. Regional manager of UPSRTC, SK Banerjee said the party paid Rs 16 lakh in advance for the buses in Allahabad.
Regarding the inconvenience caused to the passengers, he said the department had increased the frequency of the remaining 230 buses in the region. The actual situation, however, belied his claim, as thousands of passengers remained stranded at several bus stations in the region.
BSP sources said each MLA was asked to manage 15 buses for the party workers. A leader’s ranking in the party would depend on his ability to manage vehicles and workers.
The BSP candidate for the Allahabad Lok Sabha constituency Ashok Kumar Bajpai booked 90 buses of UPSRTC and 110 private buses. “We paid money for the buses and did not misuse the state machinery,” said Kumar.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
11 school kids drown in swollen Silni in Azamgarh
2 Aug 2008, 0415 hrs IST
LUCKNOW/VARANASI: Eleven children drowned when the boat carrying around 21 school students capsized in Azamgarh on Friday.
Azamgarh district authorities handed out cheques of Rs 1 lakh each to the kin of deceased, whose bodies were fished out of river.
District Magistrate (DM), Azamgarh, Mayur Maheshwari said that the incident took place near Gyaspur village in Sandhara police circle. A boat ferrying 27 persons, including 21 school children, across Silni, capsized in the afternoon.
"While six managed to swim to safety, another 10 were fished out in an unconscious state by the rescue teams and admitted to the district hospital," Maheshwari said adding that 11 bodies of students had been recovered from the river when the rescue operation was called off due to bad light on Friday.
Most of the victims were students of class 4, 5 and 6 at Durga Inter College in Kandhrapur area and were returning home when the incident took place. Though the school had an approach road, students preferred to ferry across the river as it was a short-cut, Maheshwari said.
According to local villagers, the boat was overloaded and ferrying it across the swift current of the swelling river was a dangerous preposition. In utter disregard to safety, the boatman took 27 passengers in the boat that had a sitting capacity of 15.
"The rescued students are completely out of danger but we have kept them under observation as they are in a state of shock," SSP, Azamgarh, Vijay Garg said.
LUCKNOW/VARANASI: Eleven children drowned when the boat carrying around 21 school students capsized in Azamgarh on Friday.
Azamgarh district authorities handed out cheques of Rs 1 lakh each to the kin of deceased, whose bodies were fished out of river.
District Magistrate (DM), Azamgarh, Mayur Maheshwari said that the incident took place near Gyaspur village in Sandhara police circle. A boat ferrying 27 persons, including 21 school children, across Silni, capsized in the afternoon.
"While six managed to swim to safety, another 10 were fished out in an unconscious state by the rescue teams and admitted to the district hospital," Maheshwari said adding that 11 bodies of students had been recovered from the river when the rescue operation was called off due to bad light on Friday.
Most of the victims were students of class 4, 5 and 6 at Durga Inter College in Kandhrapur area and were returning home when the incident took place. Though the school had an approach road, students preferred to ferry across the river as it was a short-cut, Maheshwari said.
According to local villagers, the boat was overloaded and ferrying it across the swift current of the swelling river was a dangerous preposition. In utter disregard to safety, the boatman took 27 passengers in the boat that had a sitting capacity of 15.
"The rescued students are completely out of danger but we have kept them under observation as they are in a state of shock," SSP, Azamgarh, Vijay Garg said.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
No PWD inroads in mafia land
[ 13 Nov, 2006 0300hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
LUCKNOW: The shadow of the mafia over PWD contracts in east UP has severely hampered the infrastructural growth of eastern Uttar Pradesh.
A majority of contracts for development projects, including World Bank-aided works, simply don't see the light of the day in this crime-prone region because the quoted cost far exceeds the estimated cost. Reason: Contractors have to include the 'mafia tax' in each of the bids.
The cost quoted by contractors in this region is almost 40 to 50 per cent higher than the estimated cost.
Interestingly, same contractors keep their bids approximately equal to or less than the estimated cost for the same nature of work in the central or western parts of the state.
The mafia menace is so rampant that most of the districts in the region including Basti, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Deoria, Ballia, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Chandauli, Ghazipur, Mau and Varanasi witness mafia-turned politicians dictating terms in government contracts.
"Politicians like Hari Shankar Tewari, who is also a minister, Mukhtar Ansari, Dhananjay Singh, Chulbul Singh, Akhilesh Singh (all gangsters cum legislators) rule the roost in their respective areas. Each contract would need their blessings," confided a senior PWD official.
Talking to TOI, principal secretary, PWD, Satish Kumar Agarwal admitted," Such elements were not allowing contractors to work without fear of coercion." He however refused to identify the mafia-turned politicians realising 'mafia tax' from the contractors.
He said that the projects which are in the eastern UP areas, the department is not getting the right of kind of people to place a bid.
"In some cases the bids are exorbitant and as high as 40 to 50 per cent above the estimated cost," said Agarwal. Citing an example, he said that for Deoria-Ballia World Bank-aided state road project, the bid was as high as 44 per cent of the estimated cost
A majority of contracts for development projects, including World Bank-aided works, simply don't see the light of the day in this crime-prone region because the quoted cost far exceeds the estimated cost. Reason: Contractors have to include the 'mafia tax' in each of the bids.
The cost quoted by contractors in this region is almost 40 to 50 per cent higher than the estimated cost.
Interestingly, same contractors keep their bids approximately equal to or less than the estimated cost for the same nature of work in the central or western parts of the state.
The mafia menace is so rampant that most of the districts in the region including Basti, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Deoria, Ballia, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Chandauli, Ghazipur, Mau and Varanasi witness mafia-turned politicians dictating terms in government contracts.
"Politicians like Hari Shankar Tewari, who is also a minister, Mukhtar Ansari, Dhananjay Singh, Chulbul Singh, Akhilesh Singh (all gangsters cum legislators) rule the roost in their respective areas. Each contract would need their blessings," confided a senior PWD official.
Talking to TOI, principal secretary, PWD, Satish Kumar Agarwal admitted," Such elements were not allowing contractors to work without fear of coercion." He however refused to identify the mafia-turned politicians realising 'mafia tax' from the contractors.
He said that the projects which are in the eastern UP areas, the department is not getting the right of kind of people to place a bid.
"In some cases the bids are exorbitant and as high as 40 to 50 per cent above the estimated cost," said Agarwal. Citing an example, he said that for Deoria-Ballia World Bank-aided state road project, the bid was as high as 44 per cent of the estimated cost
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
DISCOVER YOUR ROOTS : Tracing century-old roots for NRIs’ family tree
UP Tourism Dept’s project helps descendants of immigrant workers trace surviving relatives; Ballia adopted as pilot project.
Surendra Pratap Singh
Lucknow, April 29: IT is a search for long lost roots — a journey which goes back to over a century. Between 1900-1911, thousands of people from various districts of Uttar Pradesh were shipped by the ruling British to serve as bonded labourers across the globe. Today, their descendants, most of whom are now well-to-do Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), are trying to trace their roots with the help of the UP Tourism Department.
The present generation of these NRIs are trying to track the whereabouts of their surviving relatives. In a recent breakthrough, two were successful in tracing their families in Jaunpur and Azamgarh.
Although the department initiated the project, ‘‘Discover your Roots’’, in 2000, it only received a boost last year. This year, the search has received a budgetary allocation of Rs 7 lakh from the State Government. Another proposal for Rs 30 lakh is lying with the Centre. All interested NRIs can register under scheme by paying a fee of US$ 100.
Nikhil Chandra, joint MD, UP Tourism Corporation, said it has been an uphill task so far. ‘‘As per the instructions of the Government of India, we have been searching for the families of 56 people who migrated from Ballia. Of these, eight families have been found so far,’’ he said.
‘‘Information on 38 districts has been collected so far. The names and addresses of 10,000 people who went as indentured labourers have been compiled,’’ said R R Saxena, project manager of Discover Your Roots.
The district of Ballia has been undertaken as the pilot project. ‘‘An office has been set up in Ballia with two field supervisors, who are engaged in visiting villages to collect the necessary information,’’ he said.
Five other districts — Varanasi, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Faizabad and Azamgarh — will also be taken up as part of the pilot project. The maximum number of immigrants was found to be from these six districts. The details of villagers who have been successfully traced will be put up on the department’s website.
Officers involved in the search revealed how their task was made more difficult by villagers’ unwillingness to divulge information. They feared that the NRIs would return to ask for their share of property.
On a district level, officials are scanning old land records, talking to old people belonging to the same caste as the immigrant, checking ration cards, and studying birth and death registration certificates. Even old folk songs are being studied to look for some names.
Seventy colonial immigration registers have been dug out from the Lucknow archives. The pothis (record books) on the ghats of Haridwar, Varanasi, Gaya, Badrinath, Dwarkadham and Pushkar are also being scanned. These pothis contain the names of people who perfomed pind daan (prayers for dead relatives) or other religious functions, along with their addresses too.
Efforts are also on to study the immigration lists (1917-1978) at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Mauritius.
The whole project has been divided into three phases. In the first phase, information on the immigrants will be collected. This preliminary information will then be sent to the related NRIs, along with an invitation to visit their ancestral place.
In the second phase, a packaged tour for the NRI will be organised to his village. This will include fooding, lodging and conveyance.
And in the third, the tourism department will facilitate any construction activity or other developmental work that the NRI may want to undertake at his village.
Girmitias to NRIs
FROM 1900-1911, the British got thousands of Indians to sign agreements undertaking to work in foreign countries under the then British empire. They were promised a good life, job opportunities and a chance to make more money.
These people, most of whom belonged to Ballia, Gonda, Basti, Azamgarh, Rae Bareli, Gorakhpur and Bahraich districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, were packed into three ships. Some men were alone, while others were accompanied by their families.
The living conditions on board the ships were bad. Even the rations were inadequate. Many died during the journey. Those who survived were dumped in Mauritius, Surinam, Fiji and other neighbouring areas to work as bonded labourers.
They came to be known as ‘‘Girmitias’’, a distortion of the word ‘‘agreement’’. Because, whenever they were questioned, these Indian immigrants used to answer that they were there ‘‘on agreement’’.
Over the years, the immigrants became affluent through sheer hard work. And most of their descendants are now well-off NRIs.
Surendra Pratap Singh
Lucknow, April 29: IT is a search for long lost roots — a journey which goes back to over a century. Between 1900-1911, thousands of people from various districts of Uttar Pradesh were shipped by the ruling British to serve as bonded labourers across the globe. Today, their descendants, most of whom are now well-to-do Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), are trying to trace their roots with the help of the UP Tourism Department.
The present generation of these NRIs are trying to track the whereabouts of their surviving relatives. In a recent breakthrough, two were successful in tracing their families in Jaunpur and Azamgarh.
Although the department initiated the project, ‘‘Discover your Roots’’, in 2000, it only received a boost last year. This year, the search has received a budgetary allocation of Rs 7 lakh from the State Government. Another proposal for Rs 30 lakh is lying with the Centre. All interested NRIs can register under scheme by paying a fee of US$ 100.
Nikhil Chandra, joint MD, UP Tourism Corporation, said it has been an uphill task so far. ‘‘As per the instructions of the Government of India, we have been searching for the families of 56 people who migrated from Ballia. Of these, eight families have been found so far,’’ he said.
‘‘Information on 38 districts has been collected so far. The names and addresses of 10,000 people who went as indentured labourers have been compiled,’’ said R R Saxena, project manager of Discover Your Roots.
The district of Ballia has been undertaken as the pilot project. ‘‘An office has been set up in Ballia with two field supervisors, who are engaged in visiting villages to collect the necessary information,’’ he said.
Five other districts — Varanasi, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Faizabad and Azamgarh — will also be taken up as part of the pilot project. The maximum number of immigrants was found to be from these six districts. The details of villagers who have been successfully traced will be put up on the department’s website.
Officers involved in the search revealed how their task was made more difficult by villagers’ unwillingness to divulge information. They feared that the NRIs would return to ask for their share of property.
On a district level, officials are scanning old land records, talking to old people belonging to the same caste as the immigrant, checking ration cards, and studying birth and death registration certificates. Even old folk songs are being studied to look for some names.
Seventy colonial immigration registers have been dug out from the Lucknow archives. The pothis (record books) on the ghats of Haridwar, Varanasi, Gaya, Badrinath, Dwarkadham and Pushkar are also being scanned. These pothis contain the names of people who perfomed pind daan (prayers for dead relatives) or other religious functions, along with their addresses too.
Efforts are also on to study the immigration lists (1917-1978) at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Mauritius.
The whole project has been divided into three phases. In the first phase, information on the immigrants will be collected. This preliminary information will then be sent to the related NRIs, along with an invitation to visit their ancestral place.
In the second phase, a packaged tour for the NRI will be organised to his village. This will include fooding, lodging and conveyance.
And in the third, the tourism department will facilitate any construction activity or other developmental work that the NRI may want to undertake at his village.
Girmitias to NRIs
FROM 1900-1911, the British got thousands of Indians to sign agreements undertaking to work in foreign countries under the then British empire. They were promised a good life, job opportunities and a chance to make more money.
These people, most of whom belonged to Ballia, Gonda, Basti, Azamgarh, Rae Bareli, Gorakhpur and Bahraich districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, were packed into three ships. Some men were alone, while others were accompanied by their families.
The living conditions on board the ships were bad. Even the rations were inadequate. Many died during the journey. Those who survived were dumped in Mauritius, Surinam, Fiji and other neighbouring areas to work as bonded labourers.
They came to be known as ‘‘Girmitias’’, a distortion of the word ‘‘agreement’’. Because, whenever they were questioned, these Indian immigrants used to answer that they were there ‘‘on agreement’’.
Over the years, the immigrants became affluent through sheer hard work. And most of their descendants are now well-off NRIs.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Capturing roots on frames
25-year-old unfolds her family's 19th Century flight from India and subsequent struggle in a 90-minute documentary film
Name: Shundell Prasad.
Age: 25 years.
Place of birth: British Guyana.
Profession: Documentary filmmaker.
This young woman fled Guyana, grew up in New York and studied at the Film School, New York University. Since childhood -- when she was told of her Indian origin -- she wanted to know where she was born and why she was not in India.
This search for her roots made her go about directing and producing a documentary film in the first-person narrative. It begins in Queens, New York, goes to the sweltering sugarcane fields of British Guyana where her family from India was taken as servants for the British Empire. From New York to British Guyana and Kolkata, the documentary unfolds.
"Uncovering the truth about one's lost history can be painful. This is my family's story of displacement, struggle and survival and my attempt at rediscovery. I managed to trace my forefather's 19th century ship records from Guyana's record room. They became my navigational map back to India," Shundell says.The filmmaker says she has shot 75 digital hours in Bihar and East Uttar Pradesh -- two areas that witnessed major scenes for Indian uprising, specifically the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. In Bihar, she found distant relatives of her mother in remote Muzaffarpur. In Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, she traced her father's relatives.
"It was stranger than fiction to come face to face with my relatives who live in dire poverty. It was here that I realised how removed I had become", she says. The documentary is in the post-production stages and in a few weeks, she will have a 90-minute product for the world to see. She is busy trying to show glimpses to people who matter and is also working to enter her film in film festivals.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
A land that breeds top-rated dons
(Source : TNN)
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2005, LUCKNOW:
Azamgarh, situated in the backwaters of Uttar Pradesh, has no industry. Half of its land mass stays barren. But still the district is highly fertile, at least for breeding top-rated criminals.
It is the native place of not only Abu Salem but at least half a dozen other top shots of the underworld. Talk of sharp-shooters with different gangs and the records list over two dozen local youth.
Abu Salem’s link to Sarai Meer in Azamgarh is well known by now but Abu Hashim’s connection is still under wraps. Hashim happens to be the first criminal arrested under the Anti Terrorists Activities and Disruptive Act (Tada). He landed in the dragnet of the investigative agencies probing the serial blasts in Mumbai. Hashim also hails from Sarai Meer.
Ever heard of Shahid Badra? He was the first ever president of banned Muslim outfit Simi (Student’s Islamic Movement of India) which was allegedly behind inciting young minds on communal and anti-national lines. During 1999 - 2000 the Central government finally banned Simi and its activities following intelligence reports highlighting Simi’s role in execution of terror acts in central India. Shahid Badra was from the main Azamgarh town.
A step down from these top ranker natives of Azamgarh are the supposedly "lesser mortals" like Irfan Goga and Salim Chikna.
The two dreaded contract killers and sharp-shooters have given quite a few sleepless nights to Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi police. They too are known to have their bases in Gulf and South East. Azamgarh happens to be their home town as well.
Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Anees Ibrahim found his life partner in a family from this suburban district which has seen a significant migration to the middle east in search of a living.
With such a comprehensive list of important names in the police files of Maharashtra and Delhi having their roots in Azamgarh, it was an obvious hunting ground for the intelligence sleuths to look for two Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) terrorists. They were supposedly operating from their temporary base in eastern UP. The two were intercepted at a Madarsa in the heart of Azamgarh recently.
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2005, LUCKNOW:
Azamgarh, situated in the backwaters of Uttar Pradesh, has no industry. Half of its land mass stays barren. But still the district is highly fertile, at least for breeding top-rated criminals.
It is the native place of not only Abu Salem but at least half a dozen other top shots of the underworld. Talk of sharp-shooters with different gangs and the records list over two dozen local youth.
Abu Salem’s link to Sarai Meer in Azamgarh is well known by now but Abu Hashim’s connection is still under wraps. Hashim happens to be the first criminal arrested under the Anti Terrorists Activities and Disruptive Act (Tada). He landed in the dragnet of the investigative agencies probing the serial blasts in Mumbai. Hashim also hails from Sarai Meer.
Ever heard of Shahid Badra? He was the first ever president of banned Muslim outfit Simi (Student’s Islamic Movement of India) which was allegedly behind inciting young minds on communal and anti-national lines. During 1999 - 2000 the Central government finally banned Simi and its activities following intelligence reports highlighting Simi’s role in execution of terror acts in central India. Shahid Badra was from the main Azamgarh town.
A step down from these top ranker natives of Azamgarh are the supposedly "lesser mortals" like Irfan Goga and Salim Chikna.
The two dreaded contract killers and sharp-shooters have given quite a few sleepless nights to Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi police. They too are known to have their bases in Gulf and South East. Azamgarh happens to be their home town as well.
Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Anees Ibrahim found his life partner in a family from this suburban district which has seen a significant migration to the middle east in search of a living.
With such a comprehensive list of important names in the police files of Maharashtra and Delhi having their roots in Azamgarh, it was an obvious hunting ground for the intelligence sleuths to look for two Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) terrorists. They were supposedly operating from their temporary base in eastern UP. The two were intercepted at a Madarsa in the heart of Azamgarh recently.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Eid prayer passes peacefully, night curfew continues in Mau
Saturday November 5 2005 00:00 IST
UNI
UNI
MAU (UTTAR PRADESH): After a violence- free Diwali, the festival of Eid-Ul-Fitr started off on a peaceful note on Friday in riot-torn Mau town, with the customary Namaz being offered amid tight security followed by exchange of pleasantries among all communities.
The town, however, was now free from day curfew following return of peace, DIG (range) Azamgarh Rajendra Pal Singh told UNI.
Adequate security arrangements were in place on the occasion of Eid Namaz, which passed off peacefully, he said.
The town of Mau had been under curfew since October 14 last following communal riots, which had seen seven persons killed and 37, injured.
About 450 people had been arrested so far in connection with the communal trouble in the town. Strict vigil was on, the DIG said.
Day curfew had already been lifted from this town from 0900 hrs to 1700 hrs, but the night curfew was still in place as a precautionary measure, the DIG said.
Following the peaceful passage of the Diwali and Eid, the administration was now reviewing lifting the night curfew as well, Mr Singh said.
Friday, October 14, 2005
SEC postpones polling date by a day
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2005 01:18:47 AM ]
LUCKNOW: State Election Commission (panchayat and local body) has deferred the poll schedule of more than two dozen places from October 14 to 15 on account of continuing festivities.
LUCKNOW: State Election Commission (panchayat and local body) has deferred the poll schedule of more than two dozen places from October 14 to 15 on account of continuing festivities.
According to additional commissioner, SEC, Vinay Priya Dubey the polling in Mirzapur, Azamgarh, Kushinagar, Siddharthnagar, Banda, Balrampur, Maharajganj, Kanpurnagar, Gonda, Bahraich, Shravasti, Sultanpur, Basti and Jaunpur would be held on Saturday instead of Friday to facilitate puja celebrations.
The first first of the kshetra and zila panchayat polls would be held on Friday. In this phase, 223 blocks would be covered. Around 41,775 polling stations have been established and 6,734 of them have been declared sensitive. The number of hyper-sensitive stations are 7,280. More than two crore voters would exercise their franchise in the first phase to elect 17,153 kshetra panchayat members and 695 zila panchayat members.
Meanwhile, the SEC has attached SDM Etah (Aliganj) to collector's office. The polling in Dhobi and Sondhi ward in Jaunpur has been annulled, said the SEC official.
First phase of UP District Panchayat polls tomorrow
Lucknow October 13, 2005 7:38:35 PM IST
All preparations have been made for the first phase of the four phase district and kshetra panchayat polls in 223 development blocks of Uttar Pradesh tomorrow.
State Election Commission (SEC) sources said here today that an estimated 1.5 lakh voters will cast their ballots for electing 17,153 kshetra panchayat and 695 district panchayat members.
The election will take place between from 0700 hrs to 1700 hrs at a total of 215 polling centres and 41,775 polling booths. Out of this as many as 6734 and 7280 booths have been classified as sensitive and hyper sensitive respectively, sources added.
A total of 75,914 and 11,492 candidates are in fray for the post of district and kshetra panchayat members respectively.
Meanwhile, owing to idol immersion, the polls have been rescheduled for October 15 instead of tomorrow in 38 blocks of Mirzapur, Azamgarh, Kushinagar, Siddharthnagar, Banda, Balrampur, Maharajganj, Kanpur, Gonda, Baharaich and Shravasti districts.
The second phase of the polls will be held on October 17, followed by the third and fourth phase on October 20 and 23 respectively, sources added.
All preparations have been made for the first phase of the four phase district and kshetra panchayat polls in 223 development blocks of Uttar Pradesh tomorrow.
State Election Commission (SEC) sources said here today that an estimated 1.5 lakh voters will cast their ballots for electing 17,153 kshetra panchayat and 695 district panchayat members.
The election will take place between from 0700 hrs to 1700 hrs at a total of 215 polling centres and 41,775 polling booths. Out of this as many as 6734 and 7280 booths have been classified as sensitive and hyper sensitive respectively, sources added.
A total of 75,914 and 11,492 candidates are in fray for the post of district and kshetra panchayat members respectively.
Meanwhile, owing to idol immersion, the polls have been rescheduled for October 15 instead of tomorrow in 38 blocks of Mirzapur, Azamgarh, Kushinagar, Siddharthnagar, Banda, Balrampur, Maharajganj, Kanpur, Gonda, Baharaich and Shravasti districts.
The second phase of the polls will be held on October 17, followed by the third and fourth phase on October 20 and 23 respectively, sources added.
STF nab one for blackmail
STF nab one for blackmail
Express News Service
Lucknow, October 10: THE Special Task Force today arrested Satya Prakash Shukla on charges of making threating calls and receiving ransom from doctors, businessmen and private coaching centres in Lucknow and Varanasi. Satya Prakash- resident of Azamgarh was arrested from Varanasi. The police recovered two mobile phones, three ATM cards, ICICI payment and inquiry slips, four fake driving licenses and three sim cards from his possession.
According to the police, Satya Prakash Shukla called using the name of mafia Munna Bajrangi and Brijesh Singh. Satya Prakash targetted businessmen, private coaching centre owners and doctors, they said. The police said, Shukla ask them to deposit the ransom in the account of one Sudhir Singh at an ICICI Bank branch.
Express News Service
Lucknow, October 10: THE Special Task Force today arrested Satya Prakash Shukla on charges of making threating calls and receiving ransom from doctors, businessmen and private coaching centres in Lucknow and Varanasi. Satya Prakash- resident of Azamgarh was arrested from Varanasi. The police recovered two mobile phones, three ATM cards, ICICI payment and inquiry slips, four fake driving licenses and three sim cards from his possession.
According to the police, Satya Prakash Shukla called using the name of mafia Munna Bajrangi and Brijesh Singh. Satya Prakash targetted businessmen, private coaching centre owners and doctors, they said. The police said, Shukla ask them to deposit the ransom in the account of one Sudhir Singh at an ICICI Bank branch.
Four held: The police nabbed four members of Mangali Kewat gang in district Jalaun. The arrested were identified as Raj Kumar alias Bunty, Kamal Kewat, Hari Lal Mishra and Shiv Mangal. The police recovered a factory-made .405 bore rifle, a factory-made hand granade, factory made DBBL gun, a country-made .315 bore rifle, a country-made pistol and catriges.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Bhojpuri: A language characterised by melody and frankness
BHOJPURI is one of the popular languages of India, spoken mainly in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, western part of Bihar, Jharkhand, Nepal, Mauritius (national language), Guyana, Surinam, Trinidad & Tobago, Fiji, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa. In fact, the Bhojpuri language is spoken on all the six continents. The total number of speakers of Bhojpuri all over the world is approximately 125 million.
There is a lot of variation because of the interaction with the neighbouring areas. The Bhojpuri of eastern UP areas (Balia, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Deoria, etc.) and western Bihar (Ara, Chapra, Motihari, etc.) may be assumed to be the standard form of the language. The Bhojpuri of Allahabad and the surrounding areas is mixed with Awadhi; similarly, the Bhojpuri of Vaishali is influenced by Maithili and Bajjika. The Bhojpuri in Mauritius is flavoured with French. Local influence may have affected the language in Fiji, Surinam and Trinidad. But these variations, however, are no impediment.
Bhojpuri is characterised by its melody and its people by their frankness and straight-forwardness. Poets and philosophers such as Amir Khusru, Tulsidas and Kabirdas used Bhojpuri to pass their messages to the world. Many great personalities were born in the Bhojpuri region. Sher Shah Suri, Mangal Pandey, Veer Kaur Singh, Maulana Mazharul Haque, Dr Rajendra Prasad (first president of India), Shaheed Abdul Hameed, Jayaprakash Narayan, Jagjivan Ram, Chandra Shekhar and Vishwanath Pratap Singh are among them.
The Bhojpuri language and its personalities have contributed much to Indian art and literature. Premchand, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Kaifi Azmi, Moti B.A., Shabana Azmi, Amitabh Bachchan, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Bismillah Khan, Anand Milind, Chitragupt, Rakesh Pande, Manoj Bajpai are a few among them. Also, the land of Bhopuri has given Thumri dance to the Indian people.
The contribution of Bhojpuri in Hindi films has been great. Lagaan, based on Bhojpuri dialect, had been nominated for Oscar. Other hits include Ganga Jamuna, Mangal Pandey, Milan and Teesri Kasam. Many Bhojpuris have achieved great honour outside India. They include Nobel prize winner for literature V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad), Bhagat Jagdev (former president of Ghana), Dr N. C. Ramghulam (former president of Mauritius), Pratap Narayan Radhakishun (former prime minister of Surinam) and Vasudev Pandey (former prime minister of Trinidad).
Bhojpuris started settling down in different parts of the world as early as the late 18th century as farm labourers in Oceania, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean Islands. These people took in their blood the great Indian Bhojpuri culture, the spirituality, the love for humanity and compassion, the religious tolerance and a longing for better and prosperous life
Amar Singh's brother calls him an 'autocrat'
Press Trust of India Lucknow, September 22, 2005
Arvind Singh, younger brother of Samajwadi party general secretary Amar Singh, has accused the elder sibling of "autocratic" style of functioning and said he plans to quit the party and join BSP.
"Discontentment against his (Amar Singh's) autocratic style of functioning is brewing in the party," Arvind Singh said over phone from Azamgarh, his home district.
Arvind claimed a sizeable number of old and dedicated SP workers from the district have evinced interest in quitting the party in protest against Amar Singh's "autocratic style of functioning".
"Amar Singh is calling the shots in the party simply because he has the financial resources at his command," according to Arvind.
Arvind alleged Amar Singh had conspired to have Azamgarh district SP general secretary Bijendra Singh expelled from the party after the latter opposed his style of functioning.
"Amar Singh was against my becoming active in politics and became jealous of my rising popularity graph in the district, especially after I helped SP win the prestigious Lalganj Lok Sabha seat in last parliamentary elections," Arvind charged.
Asked about his future strategy, Arvind said he had kept all his options open. "Politics is a game of possibilities," he said when asked whether he could join BSP.
"There is nothing wrong in joining the BSP as long as it accords me due respect and honour," he said, adding "We are in touch with the BSP".
Arvind also challenged his elder brother to contest elections from anywhere in the district.
"Discontentment against his (Amar Singh's) autocratic style of functioning is brewing in the party," Arvind Singh said over phone from Azamgarh, his home district.
Arvind claimed a sizeable number of old and dedicated SP workers from the district have evinced interest in quitting the party in protest against Amar Singh's "autocratic style of functioning".
"Amar Singh is calling the shots in the party simply because he has the financial resources at his command," according to Arvind.
Arvind alleged Amar Singh had conspired to have Azamgarh district SP general secretary Bijendra Singh expelled from the party after the latter opposed his style of functioning.
"Amar Singh was against my becoming active in politics and became jealous of my rising popularity graph in the district, especially after I helped SP win the prestigious Lalganj Lok Sabha seat in last parliamentary elections," Arvind charged.
Asked about his future strategy, Arvind said he had kept all his options open. "Politics is a game of possibilities," he said when asked whether he could join BSP.
"There is nothing wrong in joining the BSP as long as it accords me due respect and honour," he said, adding "We are in touch with the BSP".
Arvind also challenged his elder brother to contest elections from anywhere in the district.
Girl raped in AC coach of Toofan Express
September 14, 2005 06:28 IST
A girl travelling alone in an air conditioned coach of Delhi-Howrah Toofan Express train was on Tuesday found in a semi-conscious state at Madhupur in Jharkhand's Deogar district amidst suspicion that she was raped, a senior railway police official said.
Superintendent of Police (Railway) Dhanbad Division Sidho Hembram said the police suspect the girl, said to be from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, was allegedly sexually assaulted in the train.
The travelling ticket examiner and the coach attendant have been detained in connection with the incident, he said and added the police were looking for two other suspects.
"She (girl) claims she has been raped but she is still in a semi-conscious state. Only after she recovers we can get a clear picture," the SP said, adding FIR has not yet been filed as the girl was not clear in her statement.
He said prima facie it seemed the girl had fled from her home.
A girl travelling alone in an air conditioned coach of Delhi-Howrah Toofan Express train was on Tuesday found in a semi-conscious state at Madhupur in Jharkhand's Deogar district amidst suspicion that she was raped, a senior railway police official said.
Superintendent of Police (Railway) Dhanbad Division Sidho Hembram said the police suspect the girl, said to be from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, was allegedly sexually assaulted in the train.
The travelling ticket examiner and the coach attendant have been detained in connection with the incident, he said and added the police were looking for two other suspects.
"She (girl) claims she has been raped but she is still in a semi-conscious state. Only after she recovers we can get a clear picture," the SP said, adding FIR has not yet been filed as the girl was not clear in her statement.
He said prima facie it seemed the girl had fled from her home.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Azamgarh jailor succumbs to murderous attack
Express News Service
Lucknow, August 23: While the jailer of Azamgarh jail Deep Sagar Singh (42 yrs) breathed his last in a hospital at Varanasi on Monday, the police is still to find two alleged conspirators and accused in the case, Sheru alias Taiyab and Kamlesh.
Earlier, jailer Singh was shot at and injured by a group of criminals near the Azamgarh jail on August 4. Singh was targeted when he refused to grant special privileges to a group of jail inmates inside the Azamgarh jail.
‘‘We have already solved the case with the arrest of two persons Pappu Mian and Dinesh Tewari. Dinesh Tewari is the main conspirator. Both the arrested persons confessed their involvement in the murder. We also seized the countrymade pistol which was used in the crime. I have constituted special teams to ensure the arrest of the two other criminals Sheru and Kamlesh,’’ Azamgarh SP Subhendra Kumar Bhagat told the Indian Express over phone.
Bhagat disclosed Sheru, Dinesh and Kamlesh had met a notorious criminal Ramesh Singh in Gorkahpur jail.
Ramesh was unhappy with the jailer after being transferred from Azamgarh jail to Gorakhpur jail. ‘‘They hatched a conspiracy near the jail gate to eliminate the jailer. They planned the murder in advance and Pappu Mian played an important role in it,’’ he added.
When contacted, the president of UP Jailers’ Association Sanjeev Tripathi said his association has collected cash to the tune of Rs 38,000 for the bereaved family.
‘‘We also met Principal Secretary (jail administration) and requested him to reimburse the cost incurred in the treatment of Singh,’’ he informed.
Lucknow, August 23: While the jailer of Azamgarh jail Deep Sagar Singh (42 yrs) breathed his last in a hospital at Varanasi on Monday, the police is still to find two alleged conspirators and accused in the case, Sheru alias Taiyab and Kamlesh.
Earlier, jailer Singh was shot at and injured by a group of criminals near the Azamgarh jail on August 4. Singh was targeted when he refused to grant special privileges to a group of jail inmates inside the Azamgarh jail.
‘‘We have already solved the case with the arrest of two persons Pappu Mian and Dinesh Tewari. Dinesh Tewari is the main conspirator. Both the arrested persons confessed their involvement in the murder. We also seized the countrymade pistol which was used in the crime. I have constituted special teams to ensure the arrest of the two other criminals Sheru and Kamlesh,’’ Azamgarh SP Subhendra Kumar Bhagat told the Indian Express over phone.
Bhagat disclosed Sheru, Dinesh and Kamlesh had met a notorious criminal Ramesh Singh in Gorkahpur jail.
Ramesh was unhappy with the jailer after being transferred from Azamgarh jail to Gorakhpur jail. ‘‘They hatched a conspiracy near the jail gate to eliminate the jailer. They planned the murder in advance and Pappu Mian played an important role in it,’’ he added.
When contacted, the president of UP Jailers’ Association Sanjeev Tripathi said his association has collected cash to the tune of Rs 38,000 for the bereaved family.
‘‘We also met Principal Secretary (jail administration) and requested him to reimburse the cost incurred in the treatment of Singh,’’ he informed.
A Soothing & Healthy Tea for the Stressful Holiday Season
2005-08-04 - ORGANIC INDIA
ORGANIC INDIA has announced The Tulsi Tea Collection - a new assortment of their six savory blends: Original Tulsi; Tulsi Ginger; Tulsi Gotu Kola; Tulsi Chai; Tulsi Green Tea; and Tulsi Darjeeling. While Tulsi itself is caffeine-free, 3 of the tea blends contain caffeine: Green, Chai and Darjeeling. The Tulsi Tea Collection is a thoughtful gift item or is a perfect soothing non-alcoholic beverages to entertain guests with during the holidays.
In the charitable spirit of the holidays, it feels good that purchases of ORGANIC INDIA Tulsi Tea help support sustainable agriculture and fair trade for communities in India. To produce Tulsi Tea, ORGANIC INDIA works with hundreds of family farmers in the village of Azamgarh and pays them a Fair Trade premium.
ORGANIC INDIA is the largest grower of organic herbs in India. The company's products are marketed exclusively by OM Organics and are sold in hundreds of stores across the U.S. including Whole Foods Markets. In addition to Tulsi Tea, ORGANIC INDIA offers organic herbal supplements, bulk organic herbs, and an ever-expanding line of high quality organic spices, grains, seeds and herbs.
For more information, please visit www.omorganics.com or www.organicindia.com.
ORGANIC INDIA has announced The Tulsi Tea Collection - a new assortment of their six savory blends: Original Tulsi; Tulsi Ginger; Tulsi Gotu Kola; Tulsi Chai; Tulsi Green Tea; and Tulsi Darjeeling. While Tulsi itself is caffeine-free, 3 of the tea blends contain caffeine: Green, Chai and Darjeeling. The Tulsi Tea Collection is a thoughtful gift item or is a perfect soothing non-alcoholic beverages to entertain guests with during the holidays.
In the charitable spirit of the holidays, it feels good that purchases of ORGANIC INDIA Tulsi Tea help support sustainable agriculture and fair trade for communities in India. To produce Tulsi Tea, ORGANIC INDIA works with hundreds of family farmers in the village of Azamgarh and pays them a Fair Trade premium.
ORGANIC INDIA is the largest grower of organic herbs in India. The company's products are marketed exclusively by OM Organics and are sold in hundreds of stores across the U.S. including Whole Foods Markets. In addition to Tulsi Tea, ORGANIC INDIA offers organic herbal supplements, bulk organic herbs, and an ever-expanding line of high quality organic spices, grains, seeds and herbs.
For more information, please visit www.omorganics.com or www.organicindia.com.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Students step in to sort out traders’ feud, stabbed
Express News Service
New Delhi, July 5: Two Civil Services aspirants were stabbed on Tuesday when they tried to intervene in an argument in Model Town. One of them died, while the other is in critical condition.
Dhananjay Tiwari from Varanasi and his friend Shiv Sharma, were stabbed by two businessmen in Gurjranwala Town in Model Town II. The accused, 31-year-old Rajesh Chugh and his 35-year-old brother-in-law Vivek Sharma, have been arrested.
Tiwari, Sharma and two friends were on their way to visit Tiwari’s younger brother, Rajkumar, in Gujranwala Town. On their way to the house, they saw the accused fighting with a guard. The four friends got out of their car and tried to intervene, but the accused stabbed Tiwari and Sharma.
Tiwari, who was 25 years old, died on the spot, while Sharma is still in critical condition in the Pentament Hospital in Gujranwala Town. A case has been registered at the Model Town police station.
Their friends, Ajit Singh and Siddhartha Vaswani, were not injured in the incident. The 26-year-old Shiv Sharma is from Azamgarh. He and Tiwari shared a flat and planned to appear for the Civil Services examination.
New Delhi, July 5: Two Civil Services aspirants were stabbed on Tuesday when they tried to intervene in an argument in Model Town. One of them died, while the other is in critical condition.
Dhananjay Tiwari from Varanasi and his friend Shiv Sharma, were stabbed by two businessmen in Gurjranwala Town in Model Town II. The accused, 31-year-old Rajesh Chugh and his 35-year-old brother-in-law Vivek Sharma, have been arrested.
Tiwari, Sharma and two friends were on their way to visit Tiwari’s younger brother, Rajkumar, in Gujranwala Town. On their way to the house, they saw the accused fighting with a guard. The four friends got out of their car and tried to intervene, but the accused stabbed Tiwari and Sharma.
Tiwari, who was 25 years old, died on the spot, while Sharma is still in critical condition in the Pentament Hospital in Gujranwala Town. A case has been registered at the Model Town police station.
Their friends, Ajit Singh and Siddhartha Vaswani, were not injured in the incident. The 26-year-old Shiv Sharma is from Azamgarh. He and Tiwari shared a flat and planned to appear for the Civil Services examination.
Mental health units in 11 distts
Express News Service
Lucknow, July 5: MEDICAL help will soon be available at door-step to the mentally ill patients in 11 districts of the state. The mental health units planned under the National Mental Health Programme is finally taking shape and will be set up in 29 different districts in the country.
In Uttar Pradesh, the state government has given a go to the nodal agencies to start the units in the 11 districts and begin training the doctors for the same.
Under the programme, a ten-bed mental health unit will be set up in each of these districts with the objective of providing medical help to the mentally-ill and challanged. The districts in UP where the units are being set up include Muzaffarnagar, Etawah, Banda, Moradabd, Mirzapur, Azamgarh, Ghaziabad and Gazipur.
The King George’s Medical University (KGMU) has been made the nodal centre for execution of the plan in three other districts- Faizabad, Raebareli and Sitapur. The ground work had been completed some time back and the nodal centre here was waiting for an approval from the state government to start the work.
The head of department and professor of Psychiatry at KGMU, Prabhat Sithole informed Newsline, ‘‘the government officials passed the orders in this matter in a meeting on Friday.’’ He added that a training programme has also been started for doctors and as soon as the government hands over the units, the teams will shift base and get down to work.
Director General (Medical and Health) Ram Babu confirmed that orders have been passed in the meeting with the Principal Secretary. ‘‘The work for the Lucknow division has started and the training has begun,’’ stated Ram Babu.
Earlier, the nodal in-charge of one of the unit, Harjeet Singh had stated that all work was complete including the recruitment of doctors and para-medical staff for the centres and only the government’s approval was awaited.
According to annexure of the government order, the units in these districts have to provide the mentally-ill patients and their families with referral service, liasion and daily out patient service. Moreover, the idea is to remove the stigma of mental-illness by creating awareness in the families of such patients.
The scheme has to be implemented in two phases. The first phase will be taken up this year and the second phase will be taken up during the ninth five year plan.
Lucknow, July 5: MEDICAL help will soon be available at door-step to the mentally ill patients in 11 districts of the state. The mental health units planned under the National Mental Health Programme is finally taking shape and will be set up in 29 different districts in the country.
In Uttar Pradesh, the state government has given a go to the nodal agencies to start the units in the 11 districts and begin training the doctors for the same.
Under the programme, a ten-bed mental health unit will be set up in each of these districts with the objective of providing medical help to the mentally-ill and challanged. The districts in UP where the units are being set up include Muzaffarnagar, Etawah, Banda, Moradabd, Mirzapur, Azamgarh, Ghaziabad and Gazipur.
The King George’s Medical University (KGMU) has been made the nodal centre for execution of the plan in three other districts- Faizabad, Raebareli and Sitapur. The ground work had been completed some time back and the nodal centre here was waiting for an approval from the state government to start the work.
The head of department and professor of Psychiatry at KGMU, Prabhat Sithole informed Newsline, ‘‘the government officials passed the orders in this matter in a meeting on Friday.’’ He added that a training programme has also been started for doctors and as soon as the government hands over the units, the teams will shift base and get down to work.
Director General (Medical and Health) Ram Babu confirmed that orders have been passed in the meeting with the Principal Secretary. ‘‘The work for the Lucknow division has started and the training has begun,’’ stated Ram Babu.
Earlier, the nodal in-charge of one of the unit, Harjeet Singh had stated that all work was complete including the recruitment of doctors and para-medical staff for the centres and only the government’s approval was awaited.
According to annexure of the government order, the units in these districts have to provide the mentally-ill patients and their families with referral service, liasion and daily out patient service. Moreover, the idea is to remove the stigma of mental-illness by creating awareness in the families of such patients.
The scheme has to be implemented in two phases. The first phase will be taken up this year and the second phase will be taken up during the ninth five year plan.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
ENCOUNTER
LUCKNOW, JUNE 23 (PTI)
Notorious criminal Guddu alias Kashmira, carrying a cash reward of Rs 5000 on his head, was killed in an encounter with police at Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh today, police said.
On a tip off, a team of local police and special operation group challenged three criminals hiding near village Gaura and killed Kashmira while his accomplice managed to escape.
Two constables Arshad and Harnath Yadav were also injured in the exchange of fire and were admitted to a local hospital, they added.
Notorious criminal Guddu alias Kashmira, carrying a cash reward of Rs 5000 on his head, was killed in an encounter with police at Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh today, police said.
On a tip off, a team of local police and special operation group challenged three criminals hiding near village Gaura and killed Kashmira while his accomplice managed to escape.
Two constables Arshad and Harnath Yadav were also injured in the exchange of fire and were admitted to a local hospital, they added.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
UP MP gets protection in Mumbai
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2005 09:04:58 PM ]
MUMBAI: In a rare case, the state Samajwadi Party (SP) chief, Abu Asim Azmi, using his MP status has got protection from the Uttar Pradesh Police as his security was scaled down by the Mumbai police.
In the first term of the Democratic Front government, the Samajwadi Party was a part of the DF government. Azmi had been given protection and four armed constables accompanied him.
About two years ago, the Maharashtra government scaled down his security to just one guard, which upset him. After Mulayam SIngh of the SP took over as the UP chief minister, he gave protection to Azmi, who now has three stengun-weilding guards from Azamgarh in UP accompanying him all over Maharashtra.
The fact that he is a Rajya Sabha MP from UP helped even though he is in Mumbai most of the time. He stays in a penthouse in Colaba and has vast business interests in the city.
Additional commissioner of police (protection) Surinder Kumar said "it is illegal to use policemen from other states on a long-term basis." "I will find out how the UP government has given him security cover in Mumbai," he added. Deputy commissioner of police Naval Bajaj said law and order was state subject and other government's cannot interfere here. An inspector of Colaba police, in whose jurisdiction Azmi resides, "We have not permitted him to bring police police personnel from UP."
Azmi said he had to get protection from UP since the Mumbai had scaled down his security without any basis. He said he did not share with the city's police's threat perception.
"As recently as two months ago, someone had fired a bullet on my Mercedes car when I was passing through Nagpada. I have lodged a complaint with the Nagpada police.
The Mumbai police's response was to give me one more guard," he told this paper on Tuesday. Azmi is a former serial bomb blast accused who was acquitted by the supreme court.
Since the Mumbai police has not given him a escort vehicle, Azmi uses his personal vehicle, a Mahindra Bolero, to ferry his guards, including those from UP.
Does he really need so much the security? Some police officers feel that having sten gun toting guards has become a status symbol. Former police commissioner M.N. Singh said during his tenure a person close to the then chief minister of Haryana OP Chautala had brought guards from the northern state. "We objected to that and got the guards removed," he added.
MUMBAI: In a rare case, the state Samajwadi Party (SP) chief, Abu Asim Azmi, using his MP status has got protection from the Uttar Pradesh Police as his security was scaled down by the Mumbai police.
In the first term of the Democratic Front government, the Samajwadi Party was a part of the DF government. Azmi had been given protection and four armed constables accompanied him.
About two years ago, the Maharashtra government scaled down his security to just one guard, which upset him. After Mulayam SIngh of the SP took over as the UP chief minister, he gave protection to Azmi, who now has three stengun-weilding guards from Azamgarh in UP accompanying him all over Maharashtra.
The fact that he is a Rajya Sabha MP from UP helped even though he is in Mumbai most of the time. He stays in a penthouse in Colaba and has vast business interests in the city.
Additional commissioner of police (protection) Surinder Kumar said "it is illegal to use policemen from other states on a long-term basis." "I will find out how the UP government has given him security cover in Mumbai," he added. Deputy commissioner of police Naval Bajaj said law and order was state subject and other government's cannot interfere here. An inspector of Colaba police, in whose jurisdiction Azmi resides, "We have not permitted him to bring police police personnel from UP."
Azmi said he had to get protection from UP since the Mumbai had scaled down his security without any basis. He said he did not share with the city's police's threat perception.
"As recently as two months ago, someone had fired a bullet on my Mercedes car when I was passing through Nagpada. I have lodged a complaint with the Nagpada police.
The Mumbai police's response was to give me one more guard," he told this paper on Tuesday. Azmi is a former serial bomb blast accused who was acquitted by the supreme court.
Since the Mumbai police has not given him a escort vehicle, Azmi uses his personal vehicle, a Mahindra Bolero, to ferry his guards, including those from UP.
Does he really need so much the security? Some police officers feel that having sten gun toting guards has become a status symbol. Former police commissioner M.N. Singh said during his tenure a person close to the then chief minister of Haryana OP Chautala had brought guards from the northern state. "We objected to that and got the guards removed," he added.
Monday, June 20, 2005
'Dead' UP villagers plead for life
Monday, 20 June , 2005, 10:37
Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh): Can there be a greater travesty of life than being declared dead when alive and kicking?
A visit to the Uttar Pradesh town of Azamgarh can certainly serve as an eye-opener, for here there is a motley group of pensioners, widows and orphaned children who are fighting to convince the local authorities that they are in fact, alive.
A heady concoction of greed, corruption, melodrama, death and rebirth, their lives may inspire a perfect Hollywood thriller. This group are victims of a long-practised land swindle racket.
Greedy relatives often bribe officials into declaring them dead to grab what is many times less than an acre of land. Most of these people have been 'dead' for close to a decade and lost their entire life-savings in fighting legal battles to prove their mortal status.
Harassed and broken, they have courted arrest, tried to contest elections for Parliament, kidnapped children, issued threats of murder, insulted judiciary and even local legislators -- all to prove that they are alive, but without any luck.
Ram Lalak Yadav, is one such "dead man". He has been fighting to prove that he is alive for the last 12 years and claims that his brother declared him dead when he was working in another city. "My brother declared me dead and took away my land. They struck off my name from the register. I have been fighting the case since 1993. The commissioner's office had declared me alive but they (his brothers) filed a case in the lower court, where I was again declared dead. Now, my case has been shifted to the Allahabad High Court," he said.
Phool Chand, another petitioner, has a similar tale to tell. "I was declared dead by my brothers who wanted to take away my property. The matter is in the high court and so far no decision has been taken," he said.
Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh): Can there be a greater travesty of life than being declared dead when alive and kicking?
A visit to the Uttar Pradesh town of Azamgarh can certainly serve as an eye-opener, for here there is a motley group of pensioners, widows and orphaned children who are fighting to convince the local authorities that they are in fact, alive.
A heady concoction of greed, corruption, melodrama, death and rebirth, their lives may inspire a perfect Hollywood thriller. This group are victims of a long-practised land swindle racket.
Greedy relatives often bribe officials into declaring them dead to grab what is many times less than an acre of land. Most of these people have been 'dead' for close to a decade and lost their entire life-savings in fighting legal battles to prove their mortal status.
Harassed and broken, they have courted arrest, tried to contest elections for Parliament, kidnapped children, issued threats of murder, insulted judiciary and even local legislators -- all to prove that they are alive, but without any luck.
Ram Lalak Yadav, is one such "dead man". He has been fighting to prove that he is alive for the last 12 years and claims that his brother declared him dead when he was working in another city. "My brother declared me dead and took away my land. They struck off my name from the register. I have been fighting the case since 1993. The commissioner's office had declared me alive but they (his brothers) filed a case in the lower court, where I was again declared dead. Now, my case has been shifted to the Allahabad High Court," he said.
Phool Chand, another petitioner, has a similar tale to tell. "I was declared dead by my brothers who wanted to take away my property. The matter is in the high court and so far no decision has been taken," he said.
District authorities, however, deny any such case. "In my knowledge, there is no such case of anybody being declared dead. Nobody has come complained," said Raja Ram Upadhyay, Azamgarh's District Magistrate.
Estimates say at least 10,000 living people are declared dead in Uttar Pradesh government's official records.
ANI
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Express News Service Lucknow, August 23: While the jailer of Azamgarh jail Deep Sagar Singh (42 yrs) breathed his last in a hospital at Vara...
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2005-05-12 - Organic India Six Stress-Relieving, Energizing & Delicious Blends that are “Good for You – Good for the Planet” (Boulder, ...
