AHMEDABAD: NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) on Thursday submitted before the Nanavati Commission that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 14 others should file affidavits before the panel explaining their roles during the 2002 riots.
The submissions were made before panel constituting of Retd Justices G T Nanavati and Akshay Mehta, by CJP's secretary Teesta Setalvad.
She submitted that number of accused like Jaydeep Patel, Maya Kodnani, were in contact with the Modi's office, which is established by phone call records.
Also, there were as many as 15 phone calls from CM's office to the then police commissioner P C Pande on February 28, 2002, Setalvad said.
"Therefore, Modi should, if not be called, be compelled to file an affidavit before Commission, explaining his role during the post-Godhra riots," she submitted.
Setalvad also submitted that the police control room records during the period of riots have been destroyed and an inquiry needs to be held in this matter.
She also requested affidavits from Pande, the then DGP K Chakravarti, JCP M K Tandon, DCP P B Pondia, Former Chief Secretary Subha Rao, Former Health Minister Ashok Bhatt, Former Urban Development Minister I K Jadeja, ex-MoS Home Govardhan Jhadafiya, and other BJP leaders.
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Vital evidence of 2002 Gujarat riots destroyed: Citizens for Justice and Peace
Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), the NGO which represents victims of the 2002 riots in the state, has filed a fresh list of documents before justice Nanavati and Mehta Commission which is probing the riot cases.
Teesta Setalwad of CJP claimed on Thursday before the commission that vital evidence of the massacre, perpetrated in the city on February 28, 2002, have been destroyed. Setalwad was arguing before the commission over an application seeking to summon chief minister Narendra Modi, the then ministers Ashok Bhatt, Gordhan Zadafia and top police officials as well as bureaucrats.
"Few vital evidence like telephone call records of the police control room and case diaries have been destroyed," submitted Setalwad before the commission on Thursday."It is a serious issue," she said, adding "Destruction of evidence happened even though the Supreme Court was monitoring the riot cases and the probe of Nanavati Commission was also going on."
Giving more details, Teesta said, "Office of the Ahmedabad police commissioner has been allocated a telephone exchange (other than that for common people) and its line is interconnected with the office of the top police officials of the city. However, there is no record available about the communications through this separate telephone exchange."
The CJP also moved a representation claiming roles of ministers, bureaucrats and police officials in the riots. According to the 'evidence' given by the CJP, on February 28, 2002, PC Pandey, the then police commissioner of the city, had received 15 calls from the chief minister's office (CMO) and he did not move out of his office after 11 in the morning on that day.
"MK Tandon and PB Gondia, top police officials of the city, had avoided areas like Naroda Patia and Meghaninagar and a few ministers were in touch with the accused of the Naroda Patia and Gulbarg massacre," the CJP claimed.
Meanwhile, Tempton Nanavati, government pleader in the commission, submitted that, 'the representation made by the CJP is without any principle evidence'. "The Nanavati Commission has already evaluated such facts during the hearing of an identical application made by Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM)," he said.
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Blow the whistle, stay safe
New Delhi, Aug. 26: Any public servant, individual or NGO will be able to report government corruption to officials in every central and state office and seek protection of identity if the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2010, becomes law.
The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha today, says an official specified by the Central Vigilance Commission would be present in each government office.
There are some riders, though.
The armed forces and intelligence agencies are out of the bill’s ambit, as is the private sector. A person can be jailed for two years and fined Rs 30,000 for a false complaint.
Complaints can be filed only on events that have taken place in the previous five years. The identities of the complainants would be protected unless they wish to waive the privilege.
Anyone revealing the identity of a whistle-blower faces a three-year jail term and a fine of up to Rs 50,000.
Once the competent authority in an office receives a complaint, the official will discreetly investigate the charges. If nothing is found, the case may be closed.
The official conducting the probe will have the powers of a civil court to summon and demand evidence from a department. Any department or official giving incomplete or wrong information would be fined Rs 250 a day till complete information is furnished. But the fine will not exceed Rs 50,000.
The authority’s decision can be challenged only in a high court within 60 days of the formal announcement of its decision.
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Tiger attack: FIR filed against NGO, villagers
JAIPUR: Having been at the receiving end for their alleged slack conservation work at the Ranthambore National Park, officials of the forest department on Monday lodged an FIR against villagers and activists working in the area.
In the FIR lodged at the Mangla Dungar police station, officials named Dharmendra Khandal of the NGO Tiger Watch, besides villagers Mahendra Kumar, Rupa, Kanhaiya, Lari, Ramkesh, Hanuman, Manoj, Hakiya, Mandraj, Siyaram and Haria.
The case has been lodged under Sections 353, 332, 816 of IPC and Section 3/51 of the Forest Act. Khandal had taken pictures of the tiger attacking the ranger Daulat Singh Shaktawat on the sanctaury's outskirts on Friday.
The FIR, lodged by the assistant conservator of forests, alleges the named people snatched away the tranquillizer gun from the official and pelted stones at the tiger. Most Sections cited are for disrupting public servants' work and contain sentences of two or three-year terms.
"What happened on that day is the result of a total militancy by villagers and NGOs who, instead of being sensitive towards the limitation of the department, not only obstructed them from working but also provoked the tiger by constantly pelting stones at it," said R N Mehrotra, PCCF and Head of Forest Forces, Rajasthan.
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Elderly seek NGO help to draft will, keep kin in the dark
NEW DELHI: Kul Bhushan Khanna (name changed) is 85 years old and he faces a dilemma. He wants to make a will. But fearing that his will might disappoint some of his family members and cause bitterness amongst them, Khanna has put his plans on hold.
Anticipating a similar situation in their homes, many elderly are seeking help to write their will and deposit it in safe hands without disclosing to their family members except those who they choose to tell about the existence of the will and its contents.
About 200 elderly persons have registered with Dharohar an initiative of NGO Agewell Foundation that provides help not just for drafting a will but also takes the responsibility of keeping it secret and in safe custody. The will document, the NGO assures, would be handed over to those named in the will after the death of the elderly person.
Speaking to Times City about the need for Dharohar, Himanshu Rath from Agewell said the NGO's helpline for old people receives a few calls almost everyday from elderly asking for help to draft their will. "Subsequently, many people call back to find out where they could keep the will. They say if their family members get to read its contents, it will cause discontentment and they might have to put up with extreme circumstances. In fact, many old people do not write a will just because they do not have a safe place to keep it. This is the reason Dharohar was formed,'' Rath pointed.
After his interactions with the elderly both through the helpline and in person, Rath feels that often people find it difficult to satisfy all their legal heirs. "In such a situation it becomes impractical to disclose the will details to family members. Fearing that the will might end up in wrong hands, many elderly take the services of bank lockers or advocates. But for these, they have to pay high charges, monthly or on annual basis, which discourages them,'' said Rath.
The Dharohar facility offers an affordable solution to this problem. An elderly person can deposit the will document with Agewell Foundation for safe custody in a sealed envelope. "The document can be delivered in person in the presence of two witnesses. It can also be handed over in a sealed envelope to an Agewell representative at the elderly person's residence in the presence of two witnesses,'' Rath explained.
Under the scheme, a formal receipt for will deposit is issued at a one-time charge of Rs 1,500. "And if the person wants to make any change, he or she can ask for the envelope in the presence of two witnesses. We just need the names and contact details of two persons who are to be handed over the will later,'' added Rath.
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NGO embarks on projects to rescue children from Volta Lake
Winneba, Aug. 26, GNA - Rescue Foundation Ghana, a child advocacy non-governmental organisation, has embarked on projects to rescue, rehabilitate and reintegrate trafficked children from the Volta Lake to their families and communities.
Mrs Sylvia Hinson-Ekong, the Director of the NGO, said this at separate workshops for communities in the Effutu Municipality and the Awutu-Senya District to mainstream their community development plans into the two assemblies' Medium Term Development plans.
She said the NGO was working to prevent trafficking and also ensure that children are properly cared for and educated.
Mrs Hinson-Ekong said the NGO was using several interventions to achieve its goals and these include training community volunteers, community leaders, training of peer educators, sensitization and awareness raising, identification of children who have been trafficked before and those who are at risk of being trafficked for support and enrolment in school and other trades.
She said the NGO had established a library at Gyahadze and equipped it with some computers but due to lack of electricity the computers were not being used.
Mrs Hinson-Ekong said since poverty was the most critical factor in the trafficking of children they had linked the trafficking project with poverty alleviation, food security and gender project.
She said the NGO has established a cassava processing factory at Gyahadze which serves four communities to process their cassava into gari.
In Effutu Nsuekyir the NGO has also established a equipment that helps the women to process their farm produce into tomato puree, pepper puree and groundnut paste.
She said the NGO has formed the women into cooperative groups called "Yen Sorm" with branches in eight communities skills training and entrepreneurial skill are given them free of charge.
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Now you can compete for a better Bangalore
BANGALORE: Now no more cribbing about civic problems. It's time to act and help build a better city. Civic dialogue Bengaluru, by Urban Vision, is a competition looking for new ideas to spur citizens to rise up and revive their city.
Urban Vision has come up with a novel idea of a competition in which participants can report about civic problems and strategize to solve and implement ideas that can help build a better Bangalore.
For reporting a civic problem, one can win the latest Windows 7 and for giving a strategy to solve it, the prize is a beach holiday. "We want to be remembered as a generation which did something to bring about a change in the society and help make it a better place to live in," said Prathima Manohar, founder of the group.
"We want people to come forward, report the issue and also help in fixing them up. Every time blaming the municipality and the government makes no difference, neither does it solve the problem. So, instead of sitting back and complaining we want the citizens to help us solve the problems", she added.
On Wednesday, people from different NGO's were present to address the key issues that Bangalore is facing today and suggested ways of how these can be solved. The programme was organized at a place made by `Jaaga', opposite to the Shantinagar hockey stadium. Jaaga is a group that explores new ways of using pallet-rack shelving to create community space in a dense, urban landscape to foster innovation.
"If anyone wants to report about any civic problem, they can log in to website www.theurbanvision.com/cd and participate in the competition", said Prathima.
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Ambitious project thrown off track
KOLKATA: It was an ambitious urban reclamation project, that was to turn the filth-ridden Curzon Park into a swanky car park and promenade. The proposal even made considerable progress, with a leading architect drafting the designs and a Singapore-based company preparing a detailed project report. But the government's lack of will to see the project through to its logical conclusion, coupled with objections from an influential NGO, ensured that the proposal remained stillborn.
"At present, we have no proposal to modernise Curzon Park. The project that had been mooted earlier has been dumped," said PWD minister Kshiti Goswami. The ostensible reasons for which the project was dropped range from concerns about rodents that inhabited a section of Curzon Park, encroaching on Raj Bhavan across the road, to Calcutta Tramways Co's refusal to realign the tram tracks and quit the ground.
The project, mooted by NGO Concern for Calcutta and taken forward by architect Dulal Mukherjee, comprised an underground car park for 1,200 vehicles, a retail area for ethnic goods, an open-air theatre, a jogging track, a pedestrian plaza and food courts. This was in 2004. "The present unkempt look of the park was to be replaced with a landscape, which would combine entertainment and contemplation," said Mukherjee.
The project was to be executed by Bengal Pragati Infrastructure, with Singapore-based companies Surbana International and Sembcorp Engineers and Constructors providing expertise. The state government even signed an MoU with Surbana and Sembcorp. But just as the project was to take off, NGO Public raised objections. It argued that the unkempt park was better than the manicured lawns that were proposed in the project, as people would lose the freedom to roam in the grounds once the park became a hub of commercial activity.
Since then, Curzon Park has become more filthy.
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Love sees elderly couple through
MADHYAMGRAM: Hand in hand, Bijoy Bose and his wife Kalpana survived immense hardship, deprivation and social indifference. They acted as pillars of strength for each other as they saw their world come crumbling down leaving them to fend for themselves under the open sky. Then came a ray of hope and promise of a shelter. However, as the couple later realised, even that came at a price they were not allowed to stay under the same roof. But, through their strong resolve, the couple showed once again that love could indeed work wonders. Bijoy and Kalpana are back together, looking after each other.
The septuagenarian couple, who were driven out of their rented room in Barasat's Netaji Pally tenement by their landlord, were later rehabilitated in Nijoloy a residential institution for destitute women run by Women's Interlink Foundation, an NGO, in North 24-Parganas' Madhyamgram. Being a home for women, men are not allowed to stay in Nijoloy. But the authorities made an exception and put up Kalpana and Bijoy in a ground-floor room. But that was only for a few hours. It soon became clear to Kalpana that her husband would be moved to a room on the first floor as the home rules wouldn't allow them to stay together.
What followed was an emotional outburst from the feeble-looking Kalpana, who, unable to come to terms with this "separation" from her husband, protested against the home authorities' decision to make them stay apart.
Taken aback, Krishna Bose, the ever-smiling in-charge of Nijoloy, said: "We never expected the soft-spoken and elderly woman to lodge such a strong protest. When she heard that we were planning to shift her husband, she started insisting that we allow her to accompany him to the first-floor room."
The woman's efforts have paid off, at least for now Kalpana and Bijoy are sharing the same room. Kalpana said she was really glad that she could apply vermilion on her forehead, something she could not do for the past few days after being driven out of home.
Bijoy, helping his wife wash her hands after finishing a meal, said: "Or kache shob somoy na thakle chole na, ekta haat okejo, thik hoy darateo pare na. O shushtho thakle ki aar ekhane thaki? Amra Kedar-e chole jetam (I have to stay by her side all the time. There is a problem with one of her hands and she cannot stand on her own as well. If she had been all right, we would have been in Kedarnath by now."
Concerned that Kalpana's husband is staying in the home, Aloka Mitra, chairperson of the NGO, said: "This place is strictly for women. We have to find a suitable solution to the issue."
The couple are, however, aware that the present arrangement is temporary. Kalpana, interacting with some of the younger inmates, said: "Kothao jabo na, amra dujonei ekhane thakbo. Swami stree ke alada thakte nei, kemon lekhapora shikhecho tomra? Gachtalateo tomader dadu shara raat jege kaashto, ami pithe haat bulie ditam (both of us will stay here. A man and his wife are meant to stay together. Don't you know this? When we were living under the tree, I would constantly comfort my husband, who would cough through the night."
Mitra believes a solution needs to be found to address such sensitive cases. "Whatever the law might say, we must find a solution so that the couple could stay together. In Germany and some other western countries, there is a concept by which senior citizens are kept in homes for destitute women and a relationship is developed between them and the younger inmates, which is akin to the one shared by grandfather/grandmother with his or her grandchildren. I want to conduct a similar experiment here."
And the concept seems to be working. Some of the inhabitants of the home have started cosying up to the affable dadu-dida, which is also bringing a smile to the faces of the elderly couple.
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