PM Goes To Lahore, Makes A Christmas Date With History: Cong. Slams Unpredictable' Policy, Hints at Private Deal

WEEKEND EDITION Hyderabad, saturday, december 26, 2015
www.thehindu.in Regd. H/SD/319/15-17 RNI No. TNENG/1976/49963 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 40 No. 307 CITY EDITION 24 Pages Rs. 4.00
Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubballi, Mohali, Allahabad, Malappuram and Mumbai
Veteran Bollywood
actor Sadhana dies
at the age of 74
Illegal immigration will

be a prominent issue in
Assam polls: Sonowal
Many feared dead in

Christmas-eve blast
in Nigerian gas plant
Kusal Perera tests

positive for prohibited
substance, faces ban
Page 8
Page 13
Page 14
Page 17
Narendra Modi has become the first Indian

Prime Minister to visit Pakistan in 11 years
PM called up Sharif from Kabul and made

plans to go to Lahore, wish him on birthday
The Foreign Secretaries briefed the leaders

on talks between NSAs in Bangkok
PMs called for innovative diplomacy of the

kind they conducted in Paris during CoP 21
PM goes to Lahore, makes a Christmas date with history

Modi surprises officials, has
hour-long meeting with Sharif
SUHASINI HAIDAR &
KALLOL BHATTACHERJEE
travel to Lahore to wish him

personally a few hours later.
In a tweet, Mr. Modi wrote:
NEW DELHI: With two unan- Looking forward to meeting
nounced stops, in Kabul and PM Nawaz Sharif in Lahore toLahore on Christmas day, day afternoon, where I will
Prime Minister Narendra Mo- drop by on my way back to
di rewrote the recent history Delhi.
of geopolitics in the region on
After he landed, Mr. Modi
Friday.
and Mr. Sharif, who embraced
While his travel to Kabul on each other warmly on the tarthe way back from Moscow mac, proceeded to board a Pawas widely anticipated and kistani helicopter together to
had been reported by The reach Raiwind, where celebraHindu earlier this week, his tions for Mr. Sharifs grandstopover in Pakistan, the first daughters wedding were unby an Indian Prime Minister der way. It is learnt that offiin 11 years, caught everyone, cials were taken by surprise by
including senior officials, by Mr. Modis decsion, including
surprise. Officials in Delhi Indias High Commissioner to
and Islamabad told The Hin- Pakistan T.C.A. Raghavan,
du that Mr. Modi had tele- who drove to Mr. Sharifs resiphoned Prime Minister Na- dence in Raiwind, just outside
waz Sharif from Kabul to wish Lahore, directly from Islamahim on his birthday, and dur- bad, making it just in time for
ing the call, made plans to Mr. Modis landing.
After talks that lasted more

than an hour, Mr. Sharif escorted Mr. Modi, without any
officials on either side, to meet
his family. Mr. Modi met Mr
Sharifs mother, who hails from
the Indian side of Punjab, and
took part in wedding rituals,
before flying back to Lahore
airport and then to Delhi. On
his return, Mr. Modi tweeted
that he was personally touched by Mr. Sharifs gesture
of coming to the airport to welcome and see him off.
Sources said at the beginning of their talks at Mr. Sharifs Raiwind mansion, the
Foreign Secretaries briefed
the leaders on the talks between the NSAs in Bangkok,
which gave a full view of the
discourse on terror, as they
agreed that the Foreign Secretaries should meet at the earliest. The two premiers agreed
that the process could face
challenges from groups
wishing to derail the ties, but
said they must keep the proc-
ess on track. They also called

for innovative diplomacy of
the kind they conducted in Paris, hinting there would be
more such meetings in future.
Both Mr. Modi and Mr. Sharif
are expected to attend the nuclear security summit in
Washington at the end of
March 2016. Interestingly, Mr.
Modi reportedly spoke of improving ties through economic links, citing progress in Indias bilateral trade with China
as an example.
The Prime Ministers then
discussed bilateral relations,
particularly on how to improve people-to-people ties
and also the upcoming talks
between the Foreign Secretaries for more than an hour.
AN EXAMPLE OF 'SUMMIT
DIPLOMACY'; IT WILL BENEFIT

ENTIRE REGION: U.S. | PAGE 12
THREE MINUTES THAT
CHANGED TIES | PAGE 12
A BOLD & LAUDABLE
INITIATIVE | EDITORIAL
BIHAR MINISTERS TAKE

Ride horses to
cut pollution
Cong. slams unpredictable

policy, hints at private deal
U.P. Minister
sacked for remarks
on Ram temple
PATNA: Days after Bihar Chief
NATIONAL BUREAU
OMAR RASHID
VIKAS PATHAK &

MARIA AKRAM
LUCKNOW: Amid renewed focus

on the Ram Mandir issue, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Akhilesh Yadav sacked a senior Minister who appealed
to Muslims to give up their
claims to the mosque and join
Hindus in karseva to build a
temple in Ayodhya.
Ompal Nehra, a Minister of
State, made the remarks at a
function at Bijnore on
Wednesday.
A Ram Mandir should be
made in Ayodhya and a Krishna Mandir in Mathura. If not
in Ayodhya, where else can a
Ram Mandir be constructed?
he asked.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi and District Cricket Association

(DDCA) controversy continued to generate heat on Friday with Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung writing to
the Centre that the Delhi governments Commission of Inquiry into the scam was legally invalid. The Arvind
Kejriwal government was
quick to call it unjustified
interference.
Parliamentary
Affairs
Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu
said the Congress and AAPs
bid to malign Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would boomerang on them.
BRIEFLY
Minister Nitish Kumar expressed

concern over rising pollution,
Health Minister and RJD chief
Lalu Prasads elder son Tej
Pratap Yadav prescribed horseriding to curb pollution. Hitting
the Patna streets on a horse, the
Minister said: There is so much
pollution and traffic jams
because of so many vehicles
its better to ride a horse.
NATION | PAGE 9
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modis Pakistan visit

on Friday came in for sharp
criticism from the Congress,
with senior party leader
Anand Sharma labelling the
governments engagement
with Pakistan frivolous, unpredictable and full of abrupt
U-turns.
Asking what assurances
Mr. Modi got on bringing
back or punishing perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, especially Zakiur Rehman
Lakhvi,
and
on
dismantling terror syndicates in Pakistan, Mr. Sharma
alleged that the unsched-
Youth Congress workers

stage a protest in New Delhi.
PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
uled visit was to promote not

Indias national interest but
private business interests.
We are very clear that the
Prime Minister is there to
promote only private busi-
ness interests and not Indias

national interest, which
should be supreme, Mr.
Sharma said. Diplomacy is
serious, it must have gravitas
and predictability. It cannot
be frivolous, otherwise it will
implode on Shri Narendra
Modis face. He added that
his party had definitive information that the meeting was
pre-arranged.
The BJP rubbished the
Congress charges and hailed
Mr. Modi for bringing about a
paradigm-shift in Indias
relations with other nations.
External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj hailed Mr.
Modis visit as statesmanlike.
Jung, AAP on warpath over DDCA

probe; Kirti questions party move
Najeeb Jung has said the

probe ordered by Arvind
Kejriwal into the DDCA
scam is legally invalid.
Within the BJP, the day

saw Kirti Azad pose three
questions to party chief Amit
Shah in reply to his suspension notice.
Sources said Mr. Jung had
written to the Home Minis-
try, saying the Commission

of Inquiry Act, 1952, empowers only the Centre and the
State governments to appoint a commission. Delhi
still being a union territory
doesnt have such powers
and only the Centre can set
up such a commission and,
that too, through the L-G,
said sources in the Raj Niwas.
This action...amounts to
unjustified interference in
the functioning of a democratically elected government; it is unconstitutional
and violates the Transaction
of Business Rules, 1993, said
an official statement from the
Delhi government.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
Metro rail: Sultan Bazaar traders fall in line TSGENCO ignores NGT orders;
METROPLUS-MELANGE
4 Pages
PROPERTYPLUS
On Page 7
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD: In a major breakthrough for the contentious
issue of Sultan Bazaar alignment for the Metro Rail project, an agreement on a special package for the traders,
owners and hawkers was reached here on Friday.
At a meeting with the Traders Joint Action Committee,
Sultan Bazaar, Managing Director of the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) N.V.S.Reddy
said Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao had directed
the officials to arrive at a mu-
tually agreeable special package to Badi Chowdi-Sultan

Bazaar-Koti and the old
charm of the area be revived
by the HMR.
In view of the narrow roads
and pedestrian nature of Sultan Bazaar stretch of Corridor-II, the road widening
would be minimal as a special
case and restricted to 80 feet
between Kachiguda X roads
and Bata Junction, 65 feet between Bata Junction and Andhra Bank Junction (Sultan Bazaar stretch) and 80 feet from
Andhra Bank to Putlibowli
Junction (Koti stretch). No re-
ligious or other sensitive

structures would be touched
by the widening.
Mr.Reddy told the association representatives that the
stretch of about 250 m would
be developed with facilities
designed below the Metro
viaduct and include pedestrian and hawker facility at an
estimated cost of Rs.2 crore,
according to a press release.
These features in future
would be converted into
Night Bazaar.
At the meeting, HMR Chief
Engineer Md. Ziauddin made
a presentation on the features
of R&R complex constructed

at Putlibowli at a cost of Rs.13
crore and said the design of
this complex admeasuring
about 70,000 sft in an area of
2,000 sq. yards was chosen
from an all India Architectural Design competition.
The complex reflects the
streetscape of Sultan Bazaar
vertically with 80 shops on
one side and 100 hawkers
places on the other side of the
ramp.
Mr. Reddy indicated that
the tenants whose livelihood
was affected would be suitably compensated.
Crocs not barricaded in zoo pond!

T. LALITH SINGH
HYDERABAD: Next time at the
Nehru Zoological Park, skirt
the unbarricaded ponds from
a distance. A closer stroll
could lead to a close encounter with crocodiles lurking in
the water there.
A family on a visit to the
zoo last week had the shock of
their lives when they neared
the pond and a crocodile leapt
out of the water pond to sun
itself just outside the safari.
My wifes bracelet fell into
the water when we were close
to the pond. As I bent down to
retrieve it, a crocodile came
charging out of the water, recalls the visitor. There was no
barricade or demarcation of
the small pond to deter visitors from venturing close.
The zoo spread over 380
acres has five water bodies
Pelican pond, Deer Moat
pond, dingy pond, Singoji
pond and Flamingo pond
which are openly accessible.
According to the zoo staff,
crocodiles were found to inhabit at least two of these
CM
YK
A crocodile appears to be taking a sunbath in the pond at Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad on
Friday. -PHOTO K.V.S. GIRI
Singoji pond and Flamingo

pond. The zoo has a separate
moat for crocodiles and, incidentally, these two water bodies are not part of these. In
fact, there is no clarity on how
the crocodiles have managed
to get into spaces that are not
earmarked for them.
It is presumed that during
heavy rains, a few years ago,
when the water in the moats
rose, these four crocodiles

could have crawled out, says
a staff member.
Senior officials of the zoo
said the presence of the crocodiles in the open ponds had
come to their notice and they
had earmarked budget for setting up barricades. A plan was
drawn up to shift these four
crocodiles from the two
ponds to the sanctuary at
Manjeera river in Medak but

it was shelved as the reservoir
area is now dry.
We have already approached the Achampet forest officials seeking identification of ideal location for
release of these crocodiles in
Krishna river and once thats
done, we will shift them,
adds the zoo curator, Gopi Ravi.
goes ahead with thermal plant work

SWATHI V.
The Telangana
State Power Generation Corporation (TSGENCO) is likely to be slapped with contempt-of-court notices for
going ahead with the construction of the 4X270 MW
Bhadradri Thermal Power
Project in Manuguru of
Khammam district, in violation of the stay issued by the
National Green Tribunal.
Latest photos and video
clippings obtained from project site by the petitioner, Human Rights Forum (HRF), on
December 24, clearly show
that the work was still on.
Earthmovers and batching
plants could be seen, with the
former actively being engaged
in
excavation
operations.
The HRF had filed a petition at the beginning of this
month, seeking intervention
from the tribunal to stop the
work at the project location,
citing lack of Environmental
Clearance (EC) issued by the
Ministry of Environment and
Forests (MoEF).
The construction work
could change the landscape
and alter the results of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) studies yet to be
taken up as per the norms of
the Environment (Protection) Act, the petitioner said.
The project had encountered technology-related hurdles, when the expert appraisal committee under
MoEF referred the proposal
back to the Ministry of Power
(MoP), for approval of the
sub-critical technology being
used.
The four 270-MW units are
being diverted here by the
contracting agency BHEL af-
HYDERABAD:
Construction works for the Bhadradri Thermal Power Project at

Manuguru in Khammam district in full swing despite the stay
issued by National Green Tribunal. -PHOTO BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The construction
will change the
landscape and alter
the results of the
Environment Impact
Assessment studies
yet to be taken up,
says Human Rights
Forum
ter its agreement with another private generator fell
through owing to the Supreme Court order cancelling
the coal block allocations.
However, use of sub-critical technology for thermal
plants is not being encouraged by the MoP for reasons
related to fuel efficiency and
the environment.
The HRF, in its petition, referred to violation of three
laws, namely Environment
(Protection) Act, Water Act
and Air Act, which attracted
penalties and prison term extending up to six years.
The zonal bench of the Tribunal, on December 12
passed an interim order directing status quo, and made
it clear that the respondent

could not proceed further if
not equipped with an EC for
the project.
On December 15, another
order directed the petitioner
to issue private notice to
TSGENCO, besides reiterating the earlier order. HRF
sources informed, private notices had already been sent to
the TSGENCO.
This is blatant violation of
not only the law, but also the
court order. It should be kept
in mind that, the Environment Act did not emerge out
of vacuum. Legislated after
the Bhopal gas tragedy, it has
a history which can be neglected only at peoples peril, said general secretary of
HRF, V.S.Krishna, who was
part of the team that visited
and took visuals of the project
site.
Satellite images of the site
before and after the order
would be obtained, and another petition would be filed
after January 4, when the
bench would be back from vacation, sources from HRF
said. Attempts to contact the
CMD of TSGENCO D.Prabhakar Rao remained unsuccessful.
HY-HY

PM Goes To Lahore, Makes A Christmas Date With History: Cong. Slams Unpredictable' Policy, Hints at Private Deal

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

PM Goes To Lahore, Makes A Christmas Date With History: Cong. Slams Unpredictable' Policy, Hints at Private Deal

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

PM Goes To Lahore, Makes A Christmas Date With History: Cong. Slams Unpredictable' Policy, Hints at Private Deal

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

WEEKEND EDITION Hyderabad, saturday, december 26, 2015

Illegal immigration will

Many feared dead in

Kusal Perera tests

Narendra Modi has become the first Indian

PM called up Sharif from Kabul and made

The Foreign Secretaries briefed the leaders

PMs called for innovative diplomacy of the

PM goes to Lahore, makes a Christmas date with history

travel to Lahore to wish him

After talks that lasted more

ess on track. They also called

DIPLOMACY'; IT WILL BENEFIT

BIHAR MINISTERS TAKE

Cong. slams unpredictable

PATNA: Days after Bihar Chief

VIKAS PATHAK &

LUCKNOW: Amid renewed focus

NEW DELHI: The Delhi and District Cricket Association

Minister Nitish Kumar expressed

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modis Pakistan visit

Youth Congress workers

uled visit was to promote not

ness interests and not Indias

Jung, AAP on warpath over DDCA

Najeeb Jung has said the

Within the BJP, the day

try, saying the Commission

tually agreeable special package to Badi Chowdi-Sultan

ligious or other sensitive

of R&R complex constructed

Crocs not barricaded in zoo pond!

Singoji pond and Flamingo

rose, these four crocodiles

Manjeera river in Medak but

goes ahead with thermal plant work

Construction works for the Bhadradri Thermal Power Project at

it clear that the respondent

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.