India - Thirty seven killed in A.P bus mishap

[G.Narotham Reddy]

Source : The CGI quoting PTI
Date : Aug 3, 1993
Country : India

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* 37 persons feared killed in a bus mishap in Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad, Aug 3 - All thirty seven passengers including the driver and
conductor of state road transport corporation deluxe bus
were feared drowned when it fell into the Krishna river late Monday night
near Beechpally, 150 kms from the state capital Hyderabad.
According to official reports, the ill-fated bus was proceeding from
Hyderabad to Cuddapah in fell in to the river from an overbridge. The bus had
35 reserved passengers when it left Hyderabad monday night and another ten
passengers boarded en-route.

* Top guerilla leader killed in Kashmir valley, DD official abducted

New Delhi - 67 persons were killed in various incidents of violence and
three persons were washed away in flash floods in river Ravi over last
four days in Jammu and Kashmir.
Security forces claimed a major success Thursday with the killing
of a chief commander of a militant outfit, in Kashmir valley where six
persons were killed and 13 others injured.
Sajad Ahmed Mir, alias Salim, chief commander of the
Tehreek-Ul-Mujahideen outfit was killed in an encounter at Shahid Gunj
locality in Srinager. Thirteen infiltrators and a police officer were
among 34 people killed in Kashmir valley.
Militants abducted a producer of Doordarshan Kendra, hijacked four
busses and torched a vital communication link in the valley during the
period.

* Seven M.Ps of Janata Dal joins Congress(I)

Seven Indian parliamentarians of the opposition Janata Dal breakaway
Ajit group were on Monday admitted to the Cong(I) but their laders
Ajit Singh questioned the legal validity of the induction. Reacting sharply
to the announcement of the Parliamentary affairs minister, V.C Shukla that
Prime Minister, P.V.Narasimha Rao had admitted seven rebel JD(A) members
of the lower house of parliament in to Cong(I), Ajit Singh said it appears
that the decision was taken in unseemly haste.
With the joining of the rebel JD(A) members, the strength of Cong(I) in the
lower house has gone up from 248 to 255. The Congress still needs ten more
members to secure an absolute majority in the house.
Speaker Shivraj Patil has so far not recognized the breakaway faction.
Meanwhile the senior Congress(I) leader Arjun Singh said he supports those
rejoining the Cong(I) but warned that if an attempt was made to marginalise
loyal and discplined partymen, it was bound to be strongly resented. His
request for a CWC meeting to discuss their admission was motivated by a logic,
Singh said adding it must be remmebered that it is the Congress party which
brought anti-defection law on the statute book.

* Election Commission postpones all bye-elections

New Delhi - The EC on Monday indefinitely postponed all biennial and
by-elections to parliament and state legislatures and charged the union
government with trying to subjugate the commission on the issue of
deployment of government staff and para-military forces for poll duty.
Rejecting the centre's view that the commission was not the final
arbiter on the deployment of staff, the Chief Election Commissioner
T.N.Seshan charged the government of deliberately preventing and
incapacitating the commission from discharging its constitutional duties.
He accused the center of open definace of the provisions of the
constituition and criticised the manner in which the center and the Tamilnadu
state government reported the deployment of central forces in Palani
Parliamentary and Ranipet Assembly constituencies where bye-elections
were scheduled on Aug 19.
Among the victims of Monday's order is Mahararashra Chief Minister
Sharad Pawar who is a candidate in a bye-election to the state assembly
which was scheduled for Tuesday.
Pawar has to get elected to the state legislature by September 6
or will have to resign his post.

* Election Commission decision to postpone polls raises dust in parliament

The controversial decision of election commission to postpone all
bye-elections Monday came in for severe criticism in the lower house Tuesday.
Raising the issue at the start of the day's proceedings in Lok Sabha,
CPI(M) leader Somnath Chatterjee, "the question was whether parliamentary
democracy would remain as a system in the country". He also questioned
"whether one person can hold the country to ransom", rasing his voice as
Shivaraj Patil(House Speaker) suggested the members that the issue
could be raised after the question hour.

* Seven pilgrims injured in grenade explosion in Kashmir

Seven pilgrims were injured when a grenade exploded inside a bus at
Malpora in South Kashmir. It was not immediately known whether the grenade
exploded when it was thrown out from the vehicle or was hurled on it from
outside.

* Exchange Rates: (Aug 3, 1993 )

U.S Dollar Buying Rs. 31.37
U.S Dollar Selling Rs. 31.53

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