Express News Pool

HYDERABADUnion Home Minister Indrajit Gupta assured those who participated in the Telangana armed struggle that their pensions would be rele...

HYDERABAD

Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta assured those who participated in the Telangana armed struggle that their pensions would be released before Lok Sabha elections. Speaking at a function organised by the Telangana Freedom Fighters’ Association to felicitate him, Gupta said the screening committee had shortlisted 12,000 applications

A high-level monitoring committee has been set up to review the problems of farmers and take necessary action, in view of drought and heavy rains in several parts of the State

PUNE

Lamenting that growing commercialisation had spoiled the one-time noble medical profession, noted Marathi actress Smita Talwalkar on Sunday stressed the need to expose practitioners who had brought disrepute to this most essential service sector. “Hospitals in Mumbai have no longer remained hospitals. They are all abattoirs,” said the actress while presenting cheques to heart patients at a function organised by the Hriday Mitra Pratishthan. The city-based organisation, which has been providing monetary assistance to heart patients for the past four years, presented cheques of Rs 1,000 each to 28 patients. President of the city Congress unit Mohan Joshi presided over the function.

“THAT the Pune Mayor Vandana Chavan went to New Delhi to meet the party high command (in her case this happens to be Sharad Pawar), is a fact. But she accompanied me on the return journey,” Pune Vikas Aghadi leader Suresh Kalmadi disclosed to the crowds soon after his arrival here on Sunday. Addressing a welcome rally organised by his supporters at the Pune railway station, Kalmadi was apparently referring to speculations about Chavan emerging as the Congress official nominee for the Pune Lok Sabha constituency. The Mayor, who also spoke at the rally, showered praises on Kalmadi. “It is tragic. The party needed a dynamic leader like Kalmadi. It has lost a good soldier,” she said.

CHENNAI

Sandalwood worth Rs 17 lakh was seized by Assistant Conservator of Forests S V Manishankar and his party recently. Raids were conducted at a property on East Main Road, near Tambaram, and 3,313 kg of sandalwood was seized. The sandalwood, packed in gunny bags and cardboard boxes, was to be sent to Delhi in lorries. No one was in the house when the raids took place.

AHMEDABAD

The Gujarat Internet Users Group has been set up in Ahmedabad to provide a common platform for all Internet users. The British Library has allowed the group to use its facilities. The first meeting of the newly-constituted group will take place in the second week of January.

A delegation of the Japanese government went on a two-day visit to the Dangs area of Surat to study the feasibility of development work in the forests, and to inspect the functioning of the Dangs Forest Co-operative Workers Union. The Japanese government has agreed to give a loan of Rs 608 crore to Gujarat for realising it’s “Development with Forests” objective.

NAGPUR

The State Revenue Department has decided to remove the villages which exist only on the department maps for Wardha district. Taking cognisance of the news items published in the press about the nonexistent’ villages, the Revenue Department, Jamabandi Commissioner and the Dirctor of Land Records decided to give priority to this task. Because of these Rith villages, the revenue map has become so crowded and complicated that even the employees concerned find it difficult to spot the villages they want to. About 150 to 200 years ago, these villages of five to ten houses each existed in these areas. But the families later moved to nearby larger villages.