TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012

40 Pages Rs. 2.50 City Edition Hyderabad

ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 135 No. 86 Regd. H/SD/319/12-14 RNI No. 1001/57

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PAC TO REVIEW JALA YAGNAM

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SPORTS PAGE

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23 convicted, 23 acquitted in post-Godhra riots case

Manas Dasgupta
ANAND: A special fast track

Yuvraj is back home

BRIEFLY
Peace talks with ULFA resume
NEW DELHI: The Centre, the

court here on Monday convicted 23 persons of murder, conspiracy and abetment to murder and acquitted 23 others in the 2002 Ode communal riot massacre in Gujarat. District and Sessions Court judge Poonam Singh said the quantum of punishment would be announced on April 12. The Ode riot in which 24 people were burnt alive in two incidents by a mob on March 1 and 2, 2002 was one of the nine cases investigated by the Supreme Courtappointed Special Investigation Team. There were 47 accused and one died during the trial. Section 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code (conspiracy) has

been applied to all 23 convicted, while 18 have also been convicted of the charge of murder, four of abetment of crime and one of unlawful activities. According to the prosecution, a 1,500-strong mob gathered in Ode village on March 1, 2002, and started throwing stones and damaging the property of the people in the minority communitydominated Suriewali Bhagol. A handful of policemen present lobbed teargas shells and then opened re to disperse the mob. The people dispersed, but the death of a boy, Nishith, in the police ring sparked tension. The rioters soon regrouped and turned their ire on the police. The police picket was virtually overrun by the mob; two

policemen were seriously injured and the remaining four or ve were chased out. The mob later gheraoed the Muslim residents at Pirawali Bhagol, where they took shelter in a three-storey building. The mob bolted the main door of the building from outside, threw in petrol and kerosene in water pouches and then torches, setting the entire building ablaze A few managed to jump out and escape and later became eyewitnesses, but 23 of them perished. The next day, as a mob conducted the funeral procession of Nishith, it set re to some shops and vehicles of the minority community. An 80-year-old Muslim unfortunately came in their way, trying to save his goats. The mob threw him into the

re, caused by burning vehicles. While the Mumbaibased Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), a voluntary organisation which helps the riot victims in the legal battle, welcomed the judgment and thanked the courage and sacrices of the witnesses for standing up despite heavy odds, the State government spokesman and Health Minister, Jaynarayan Vyas, said the judgment was a slap on the face of those who relentlessly tried to defame Gujarat, the State government the State police as well as SIT, raising questions about the impartiality in investigation of the riot cases. Photographs on Page 12

Assam government and the ULFA resumed peace talks here on Monday. Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh said the discussion was fruitful.

Strict invigilator murdered

CHANDIGARH: Angered at

their friend having been caught while cheating in an examination, two youths ran their car over a 37-year-old teacher in Haryanas Sonepat district.

Karat re-elected
KOZHIKODE: Prakash Karat

Parliamentary panel summons military chiefs

Praveen Swami
NEW DELHI: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has summoned the chiefs of the three armed services to testify before it, an unprecedented move made after top military ofcials told members India may not be able to meet a two-front war. The decision was made after closed-door hearings on Monday, when the committee heard testimony from the Vice-Chiefs of the Army and the Air Force, as well as Defence Ministry ofcials, the Defence Research and Development Organisation and defence public-sector organisations. The service chiefs were asked to testify on April 20, the rst time they will appear before Parliaments key oversight body on Indias military preparedness. Parliaments ongoing hearings come against the background of the leak of a letter from outgoing Chief of the Army Staff V.K. Singh to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, warning of hollowness in Indias military pre-

Members told India may not be able to meet its two-front war, involving China and Pakistan There are now 34 squadrons of combat aircraft, against the 45 needed to ght a two-front war
paredness. In 2008, Defence Minister A.K. Antony asked the armed forces to prepare themselves for a two-front war involving both Pakistan and China, but military commanders have been saying delays in procurement mean they are unprepared. Air Marshal Kishan Nowhar, sources in the committee told The Hindu, said the Air Force currently had 34 squadrons of combat aircraft, against the 45 squadrons needed to ght a two-front war. Its combat strength, he said, would fall further to 31 squadrons by 2017, as obsolete aircraft are retired. Though the Air Forces numbers would again begin to rise after that, Air Marshal Nowhar told the committee, Chinas Air Force would then have acquired a decisive lead. The Air Force Vice-Chief also argued, the sources said, that assumptions that the United States primacy in the Pacic would tie down the bulk of Chinese forces on the countrys eastern seaboard could no longer be taken for granted. Lt.-Gen. S.K. Singh, Armys Vice-Chief, focussed on shortages in war-ghting ordnance. India was down to four days of armour-penetrating shells for its tanks, he said, instead of the 40 battle-preparedness plans called for. The shortages, he said, had come about because the Israeli manufacturer on whom the Army relied had been blacklisted after corruption charges. Members of the standing committee say they intend to ask why the Army relied on a single manufacturer for critical munitions. The committee also heard from key players in the Tatra

truck scandal, which broke out after General V.K. Singh claimed to have been offered an Rs. 1.4 billion bribe to clear purchases of the vehicle. BEML chairman V.R.S. Natarajan sought to refute allegations, made by the Central Bureau of Investigation that his public-sector company had erred in importing truck components from Tatra Sipox, a rm owned by British-based Indian businessman Ravi Rishi. Mr. Natarajan said Tatra Sipox owned 100 per cent of Tatras manufacturing assets in the United Kingdom and Slovakia, as well as 40 per cent of its assets in the Czech Republic. Shekhar Agarwal, secretary in-charge of defence production at the Defence Ministry, refused to comment on the specics of the case, but said BEML did not appear to have violated rules mandating that the Army purchase equipment directly from manufacturers. Its routine drill, says Defence Secretary: Page 12

was re-elected general secretary of the CPI(M) at the 20th party congress here on Monday. Page 9

RECOVERING WELL: Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who underwent treatment in the United States for cancer, arrives at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Monday to a rousing reception from adoring fans and his mother Shabnam (seen with him). I am happy to be back home recovering well, said a moved Yuvraj. PHOTO: REUTERS (REPORT ON BACK PAGE)

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Five arrested for role in clashes

Staff Reporter
HYDERABAD: While the hunt

Rs.175-crore relief for power consumers

Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD: Extending some relief to lower middle class power consumers aggrieved over the recent tariff hike, the government has announced an additional subsidy of Rs.175 crore to insulate them from any extra burden. About 44.5 lakh out of 2.43 crore consumers in the State will benet from the decision, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy announced at a press conference here on Monday. According to this decision, those consuming 100 units a month and less will be charged at the rate of Rs.1.45 a unit for the rst 50 units, regardless of their connected load, instead of Rs.2.60 a unit as xed by the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) in its tariff order for 2012-13. The government will subsidise the difference. For the next 50 units, the rate however will be Rs. 2.60 per unit. The APERC had xed the tariff of Rs.1.45 a unit only for those consumers with a monthly consumption of up to 50 units with connected load below 500 kwh. This tariff is now being extended to those consumers with higher consumption and higher load. The Chief Minister said 74

for the persons responsible for sparking clashes by disturbing sanctity of a religious place in Madannapet was on, the Saidabad police arrested ve persons in connection with the violent incidents in their area on Sunday. Syed Javed, Imran Omar and Mohd. Abdullah were caught for alleged involvement in arson. Santosh and Raju were nabbed for indulging in stone-pelting, the Malakpet ACP, Iqbal Siddiqi, said. Three cases of stabbing, two in Madannapet and one in Saidabad, were reported. Police are relying on video footage evidence to catch persons involved in stone pelting and property damaging cases. All parts of old city were peaceful. But mild tension prevailed after miscreants hurled animal meat onto the premises of two prayer halls in Kachiguda police station area. The police announced late in the night that curfew would be relaxed for two hours but hurriedly cancelled the order . Meanwhile, the police banned pillion riding on two-wheelers in the city from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. However, children below 14 years, women are exempted.

per cent of the consumers would remain unaffected by the tariff hike after his announcement. Mr. Reddy, however, rejected the Opposition demand for a rollback of the enhanced rates and did not indicate any relief for other categories of consumers. He said that power tariff had been hiked after a gap of eight years as it became inevitable due to increase in coal prices, shortage of gas resulting in idling of 1,300 MW capacity and fall in hydel generation. With the fresh subsidy of Rs.175 crore, the total subsidy extended by the government to all categories of power consumers, including farmers, would now rise to Rs.5,533 crore in 2012-13. He said no other State in the country was subsidising power so heavily. He said the re-gasied liqueed natural gas (RLNG)

purchased at a high price from GAIL was being used to operate 220 MW capacity. Power generated by the gasbased units was being supplied only to small-scale industries. As a result, these industries were observing power holiday only for one day (Sunday) against three days earlier.

Overall demand
The Chief Minister expressed condence that the power supply situation would improve soon as the State was poised to get 730 MW from NTPCs plants 500 MW from Simhadri, Visakhapatnam, and 230 MW from Jhajjar, Haryana. The overall demand was expected to fall from the third week of April from the peak of 296 million units a day now against a supply of 254 mu.
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