Nitish criticised for deteriorating law and order situation
Patna: Expressing concern with the spate in crime graph in Bihar, the BJP on Thursday slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for devoting more time to political activities than improving law and order situation. “At a time when the law and order situation appears to have gone out of hand due to spate in crime graph, the Chief Minister has no time to deal with the issue,” former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said in a statement. Kumar simply did not have time to tackle law and order situation as he was engrossed in political activities, he said. Modi also lashed out at the JD(U) government for failing to nab those politicians and policemen named in the abduction case of the Gujarati textile merchant Hanif Hingora’s son Sohail from Daman last month, who was subsequently released by the kidnappers after payment of a ransom of Rs 9 crore. (PTI)
Pipli gang rape case: Enquiry Comm seeks state govt’s views
Cuttack: Probing into the sensational Pipili gang rape and murder case, the Justice P K Mohanty Commission of Enquiry on Thursday sought the state government’s views within three weeks as to why the state Home Minister (Naveen Patnaik) shall not file an affidavit before the Commission. Thursday’s notice came after the Commission rejected an affidavit filed by a government counsel in which it was stated there was no need for the home minister to file any affidavit before the Commission. In its 49th sitting on the day, the Commission also recorded the statements of Dr Durgesh Saw, who as a PG student had first examined the victim in the SCB medical college and hospital here. The Commission further decided that the recording of statements of the remaining doctors was not needed. The Commission has fixed January 18 for the next hearing when the victim’s father has been summoned to record his statements, informed his counsel Nishikant Mishra. Mishra had earlier made the application before the Commission seeking an affidavit from the home minister, the department is held by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, to file an affidavit. The state government counsel, however, had filed the affidavit stating there was no necessity seeking an affidavit from the home minister when the home secretary and the DGP have filed affidavits. (PTI)
UMPP: Odisha sets target to complete disbursement by Dec
Bhubaneswar: Odisha government on Thursday said it aimed to complete disbursement of compensation for private land acquired for the first ultra mega power project (UMPP) by end of December-2013, official sources said. The state government has set up the Odisha Integrated Power Ltd (OIPL), a fully owned subsidiary of the Power Finance Corporation (PFC), to set up the maiden UMPP at Bhedabahal in Sundargarh district. OIPL is the special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed for implementing this UMPP. The project required acquisition of 2,733.54 acres of land to set up a 1,300 MW (600×2) thermal power plant. “Till December 19, compensation of Rs 125 crore has been disbursed,” an official said. The district administration of Sundergarh has been processing 36 cases of alienation of non-forest, government land measuring 512.43 acres, he said. A steering committee of the state government chaired by the chief secretary J K Mohapatra on Thursday took stock of the progress of different power projects including the UMPP. The committee also reviewed the status of 1,600 MW super thermal power project proposed by NTPC at Darlipalli (Sundargarh district) and 1320 MW (660×2) expansion plan of Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC). “Land acquisition for NTPC’s Darlipalli project is 95 per cent complete. Nearly 80 per cent of land has also been acquired for the Dulanga coal mine allocated to NTPC for the power project,” said energy secretary P K Jena. (PTI)
Corrupt should be shot dead: CIC
Thiruvananthapuram: The corrupt should be shot dead, as it happens in China, Kerala’s Chief Information Commissioner Siby Mathews said on Thursday. Mathews made the remark at a seminar here to mark the golden jubilee of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. A former director general of police who once headed the Bureau, Mathews became the chief information commissioner during the previous Left regime. “There is an indefinite delay in pursuing vigilance cases… This has to change,” he said. “Fast track courts should take up vigilance cases because there’s no point in getting justice after many years,” he said. (IANS)