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and Nagpur, relocated to cities outside Maharashtra following a severe drought. IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla on Tuesday had ruled out shift- ing the matches out of Maha- rashtra. However, he had said that the organisers were ready to help the people in distress. A total of 19 matches will be ing ninth season of the IPL T20 tournament. “Only if water sup- ply to the BCCI is cut, you will understand,”Justice Kanade ob- served. The bench also asked acting Advocate General Rohit Deo to appear for the Maharashtra government on Thursday. DH News Service conducted by a team of scien- tists and so far it has been found that ground water in most parts of Bengaluru is contaminated with nitrates. The permissible limit for nitrates is 40 mil- ligrams a litre, but in most areas, the presence of nitrates ranges between 45 and 100 mg/ litre. “Unsegregated waste being dumped around the city and leaking sewer lines are the cause. Since earth is not levelled, percolation happens and this leads to increased presence of nitrates,” the official said. Nitrate contamination has been found near industries, ar- eas surrounding ill-maintained sewer lines, around polluted lakes and market areas where waste decays, the official added. According to CGWB offi- cials, ground water in areas like Varthur, Bellandur, Ul- soor, Mandur, Mavallipura, Konanakunte, Doddakallasan- dra, Peenya, CMC and TMC areas, slums like Eijipura and areas around Shivajinagar, Majestic and City Market is contaminated. »Ground water Page 8 Bosky Khanna BENGALURU: Ground water in many parts of Bengaluru urban and rural may be contaminated with carcinogenic nitrates, warns the Central Ground Wa- ter Board (CGWB). A senior official of CGWB, who did not want to be named, said a detailed study was being City ground water high in carcinogens
Transcript

Bengaluru, Thursday April 7, 2016Pages 26 Vol 69 No 98 ~ 5.00 B www.deccanherald.com

HRD team in talkswith NIT studentsA day after several studentswere injured in the police ac-tion at National Institute ofTechnology Srinagar, a threemember team from UnionHRD ministry on Wednesdayheld talks with the officialsand protesting students of thecollege, reports DHNS.Details on Page 9

PF withdrawalnorms deferredThe Centre has deferred itsdecision to implement restric-tion on complete withdrawalfrom Employees’ProvidentFund accounts to April 30, fol-lowing which the schemewould come into effect fromMay 1.Details on Page 8

In brief

Suarez rescues Barca

Cruz about evenwith Trump

Full encryptionby WhatsApp

Sports Page 17

World Page 13

Cutting Edge Page 6

Kalyan Ray

NEW DELHI: A software to pre-dict the probability of a personturningdiabeticlaterinlifemaybearoundthecorner, thankstoIndianscientistswhohavetakenup the challenge.

When ready, the softwarewouldaidthedoctorsto informtheirpatients ifmedicationandlife-style modifications areworking on them or morechanges are required in thetreatment regimen.

After figuring out the funda-mentals needed to create thesoftware, Translational HealthScience and Technology Insti-tute (THSTI) on Wednesdaysigned an agreement with Hy-derabad-based RevelationsBiotech Pvt Ltd that would dothecomputationalanalysis andundertake product develop-ment. “The first softwareshouldbereadywithinthenexttwo years. But it would requireimprovement and refinementwith more patient data, beforetheproductisreadyforthemar-ket,”KanuryVSRaowhoheadsthe drug discovery researchcentre at the THSTI said.

Going by the World HealthOrganisation estimates, Indiahouses more than 60 milliondiabetic patients, whose num-bers are likely to shoot up tomore than 100 million in thenext 15 years.

The artificial intelligence-based software that the scien-tists seek to develop would notonly identify the individualswho are prediabetic, but alsopredict the future course of thedisease in those, who are al-ready afflicted.DH News Service

Asoftwaretodetectdiabetes

MUMBAI: With droughtlooming large over Maha-rashtra, the Bombay HighCourt on Wednesday rappedthe Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) andsaid ideally the Indian Pre-mier League (IPL) matchesshould be shifted out tostates where there is waterin abundance.

wantedtheIPLmatches,sched-uledtobeheldinMumbai,Puneand Nagpur, relocated to citiesoutside Maharashtra followinga severe drought.

IPL chairman Rajiv Shuklaon Tuesday had ruled out shift-ing the matches out of Maha-rashtra. However, he had saidthat the organisers were readyto help the people in distress.

A total of 19 matches will be

played in the Maharashtra inMumbai,PuneandNagpurdur-ingninthseasonoftheIPLT20tournament.“Onlyifwatersup-ply to the BCCI is cut, you willunderstand,”JusticeKanadeob-served.

The bench also asked actingAdvocateGeneralRohitDeotoappear for the Maharashtragovernment on Thursday.DH News Service

Whywastewater on IPLduringdrought, asksHC‘Arepeoplemore importantormatches?’ SCblasts govt

fornotaidingaffectedstatesNEW DELHI, DHNS: TheSupreme Court on Wednesdayquestioned the Centre for fail-ing to implement MNREGAand Food Security Act and notreleasing adequate funds ontime to help the people in thedrought-hit states.

Hearing a PIL by Swaraj Ab-hiyan, a bench of JusticesMadan B Lokur and Justice NV Ramana told Additional So-licitor General Pinky Anandthat the Centre cannot turnblind eye as nine states are suf-fering from drought.

Groundsmen water the pitch at the Wankhede stadiumahead of IPL matches in Mumbai on Wednesday. PTI

conducted by a team of scien-tistsandsofarithasbeenfoundthatgroundwaterinmostpartsof Bengaluru is contaminatedwith nitrates. The permissiblelimit for nitrates is 40 mil-ligramsalitre,butinmostareas,the presence of nitrates rangesbetween 45 and 100 mg/ litre.

“Unsegregated waste beingdumped around the city and

leaking sewer lines are thecause.Sinceearthisnotlevelled,percolation happens and thisleads to increased presence ofnitrates,”the official said.

Nitrate contamination hasbeen found near industries, ar-eas surrounding ill-maintainedsewer lines, around pollutedlakes and market areas wherewastedecays,theofficialadded.

According to CGWB offi-cials, ground water in areaslike Varthur, Bellandur, Ul-soor, Mandur, Mavallipura,Konanakunte, Doddakallasan-dra, Peenya, CMC and TMCareas, slums like Eijipura andareas around Shivajinagar,Majestic and City Market iscontaminated.»Ground water Page 8

Bosky Khanna

BENGALURU: Ground water inmanypartsofBengaluruurbanandruralmaybecontaminatedwith carcinogenic nitrates,warns the Central Ground Wa-ter Board (CGWB).

A senior official of CGWB,who did not want to be named,said a detailed study was being

City ground water high in carcinogens P M Raghunandan

BENGALURU: With the needleof suspicion pointing at staffof Treasury department in PUquestion paper leak, it has nowemerged that the governmenthad recently granted discre-tionary powers to the Directorof Treasury to release questionpapers of public examinationsfrom strongrooms.

The government in an orderdated December 12, 2015 re-

laxed article 18(a) of the Kar-nataka Treasury Code and em-powered the Treasury depart-ment director to exercise thediscretion in handing overquestion papers kept at stron-grooms to the examination-conducting authorities. K P Jy-oti is the Director of Treasurydepartment, which comes un-der the Finance department.Chief Minister Siddaramaiahholds the finance portfolio.

As per the Karnataka Treas-

ury Code, the question paperskept at strongrooms have tobe handed over to the exami-nation-conducting authorityonly one hour before thescheduled time of the exami-nation.

Prior to the recent order, itwas mandatory for the Direc-tor to obtain special, case-by-case permission from the gov-ernment to hand over thequestion papers in advance.» PU, Page 8

Govt allowed treasury directorto release exam question papers

One more from Statefigures in Panama listNEW DELHI: A Karnataka-based iron ore exporter,who was mentioned in theJustice M B Shah report onillegal mining, is among thenew names that emerged inthe controversial PanamaPapers.

Prasanna V Ghotage of PVGGroup, who was in jail oncheating charges, and his asso-ciate Vaman Kumar are linkedto an offshore company floatedin British Virgin Islands (BVI),according to the documents.The PVG Group had operatedover 3,000 trucks to transportiron ore from Bellary district.

Ghotage,whohails fromBel-gaum, and Kumar could not bereached for their comments.

The ICIJ and its partners, in-cluding Indian Express, haspublished the Panama Papersclaiming that around 11.5 mil-lion documents sourced fromPanamalawfirmMossackFon-seca showed that it helped peo-ple across the globe, includingaround 500 Indians, open off-

shore companies to protecttheir wealth.

Ghotage, his wife and Ku-mar were shareholders inNordbell Commercial Ltd, anoffshorecompanyinBVIsetupin 2007, Indian Express saidquoting documents. Ghotage'slate mother was also once ashareholder in the company.

According to documents,Ghotage and his mother hadsold 12,000 shares to Kumar,who is said to be an expert ininternational trade and globalcommodity.

Ghotage (49) was named byJustice Shah in his report on il-legal mining in 2013. The re-port said Ghotage exportediron ore mined in Goa to Chinabut under invoiced iron it.

He was arrested andchargesheeted by Goa Policelast yearonchargesofcheatingafter he failed to supply ironore to a Raipur firm. He wasearlier arrested in Chhattis-garh. According to sources, hehad cases against him in Kar-

nataka, Uttar Pradesh, Maha-rashtra and Goa.

Other new names in thePanama Papers include NiiraRadia, businessmen S K Modiand M S Prasad.

Radia, the lobbyist who hadshot to limelight after leakageofhercallswithprominentper-sonalities known as Radiatapes,managedanoffshoreac-count, the Panama Papersclaimed.TheoffshorecompanylinkedtoRadiawasCrownmartInternational Group Ltd regis-tered in BVI. There are resolu-tionsuntilJune2004whicharesigned by her, it said. The com-pany’snamewastakenoffMos-sack Fonseca list in 2009.

Modi, chairman of ModiGlobal Enterprises, is said tohave two offshore companiesin BVI. Modi's spokespersonhas said all laws were compliedwith. ICIJsaidalloffshorecom-panies in the list may not be il-legal and there are legitimateones also.DH News Service

8 DECCAN HERALD B Thursday, April 7, 2016

NationNo more tipsy: Many in Bihar feel tourism industry will be affected

Abhay Kumar

PATNA: The sudden decisionof Chief Minister Nitish Ku-mar to ban liquor even in ur-ban areas has caught manypersons in the hospitalitysector unawares. Take for in-stance the premier HotelMaurya which, a couple ofdays back, procured its freshlicence for the financial year2016-17 after paying a li-cence fee of Rs 20 lakh.

“Our business will be ad-versely affected as we earned arevenue of around Rs 2 croreperannumfromourcustomersdrinking liquor at the bar,”saidthe general manager of theMaurya, BD Singh.

Singh’s sentiments wereechoed by an office-bearer of aprominentcityclub–BankiporeClub. “On April 2, we paid Rs 6lakh for the renewal of bar li-cence.Nowwithintwodays,wehave been informed that notone drop of liquor could beserved anywhere in Bihar. Atleastweshouldhavebeengivensomedeadlinebeforeimposinga complete ban on liquor, sincewe still have stocks worth Rs 10lakhs,”saidthecluboffice-bear-er,whoisaservinggovernmentemployee.

Since Bihar attracts lots offoreigntouriststhroughoutthe

year, the tourism industry feelsthat a complete ban on liquorwould dissuade such touristsfrom visiting Bihar. “Thetourism and hotel industry willbe hit hard. Many foreigntourists come here to relax.These people are used to con-suming alcohol. A total prohi-bition will make them feel un-comfortableandtheymayaltertheir Bihar visit plan. I person-ally feel that the government,instead of being hasty, shouldhave allowed drinks in three orfive star hotels,” opined presi-dentofBiharChamberofCom-merce and Industry, OP Shah.

But not everyone is so disap-pointed.“IstronglysupportNi-tish Kumar’s decision to banliquor. This will not only helpcheck growing incidents of do-mestic violence, but also makecrime graph fall,” argued

SumanKumar,abusinessman,who owns the food-joint JiHuzur. “Initially, there may besome reservations, but markmy words, in the long run, theprohibition will make peoplementally, physically and finan-cially stronger,”Suman said.

Another prominent busi-nessman Ashwani Kumar Ras-togi agreed with Suman. “Ni-tishjihasdonewell inimposingprohibitioneveninurbanareas.Or else, it would have led tochaos, confusion and smug-gling of liquor from one area toanother,” Rastogi told DeccanHerald, adding that the prohi-bition order will also see a de-cline in road accidents sincewell-off people, particularlyyouths, have, of late, been in-volved in drunk driving here inthe state capital.DH News Service

Liquorbanevokesmixed response PF withdrawalsnorms deferred

»The Centre has deferredits decision to implement

restriction on complete with-drawal from Employees’Prov-ident Fund accounts to April30, following which thescheme would come into ef-fect from May 1, reportsDHNS from New Delhi.

A circular from Employees’Provident Fund Organisationon April 1 notified the deci-sion. The amended rules donot allow employees to com-pletely withdraw funds fromthe PF account until he reach-es the retirement age of 58.

According to the existingrules, an employee can with-draw from the PF accountcompletely 60 days after hebecomes unemployed.

Govt keeps caneFRP unchanged

»The government onWednesday learnt to have

approved the sugarcane priceto be paid by millers un-changed at Rs 230 per quintalfor the next season starting inOctober, DHNS reports fromNew Delhi.

The Food Ministry’s pro-posal on the Fair and Remu-nerative Price (FRP) of sugar-cane was discussed at lengthand there was in-principleagreement on maintaining therate at Rs 230 per quintal asrecommended by the Com-mission for Agricultural Costsand Price.

Heat claims 66 livesin Telangana

»Hot weather conditionsprevailing across Telan-

gana have claimed the lives of66 people so far this summer,reports DHNS from Hyder-abad.

According to a governmentrelease, 28 people mostly fromrural Mahbubnagar districtdied due to sun stroke followedby Medak (11), Nizamabad (7),Khammam (5), Karimnagar(5), Adilabad (4), Warangal (4)and Nalgonda (2).

Nalgonda recorded 43 de-grees centigrade on Wednes-day, Medak (42), Adilabad(41), Bhadrachalam (41), Han-makonda (41), Hyderabad(41), Mahbubnagar (41) andHakimpet (39) were the otherhottest places in the state.

Rakesh Asthana isAddl Director in CBI

»Gujarat’s IPS officerRakesh Asthana has been

appointed as Additional Di-rector in the CBI, reports PTIfrom New Delhi.

The government clearedappointments of over a dozensenior level officers in the pre-mier probe agency facingacute shortage of staff onWednesday.

The Appointments Com-mittee of Cabinet (ACC) led byPrime Minister NarendraModi has cleared the appoint-ment of Asthana, a 1984 batchIPS officer of Gujarat cadre, asAdditional Director in the cen-tral probe agency, an order is-sued by the Department ofPersonnel and Training said.

In brief

PATNA: Thephase-wisebanonliquor, which included prohibi-tion in rural areas, was intro-duced from April 1 in Bihar.But, what actually happened inthe next four days that led to acomplete ban on liquor even inurban/town/municipalareas inBihar?

After all, many of the hotelsand restaurants in urban areashad procured bar licence afterpaying hefty fees. The fresh li-cences were procured as thegovernment had earlier madeit clear that liquor would bebanned in town areas in thesecond phase, possibly fromthe next financial year.

So what made Nitish Kumarsuddenly change the tack?Sources familiar with the de-velopmentssaid that around 15hours before convening a Cab-inet meeting on Tuesday, ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar sum-moned his trusted bureaucratKK Pathak, the Principal Sec-retary of Excise Department,to his chamber.

Though what exactly tran-spired between the two onMonday late evening was notknown, but sources did argue

that Pathak, soon after comingout of CM’s room, asked hisjunior colleagues to draft twoproposals.

One of the proposals was toallow private liquorretailersanextension of six months. Thiswas being done as the Govern-ment-run Bihar State Bever-ages Corporation Limited (BS-BCL), entrusted with the taskto sell Indian made foreignliquor (IMFL) in town areas,had failed in its job. Besides,Nitish was already apprised ofthenews that local peoplewerevehemently opposing openingnew shops of BSBCL.

Nitish was reportedly happyas well as worried. Happy that

his decision to ban liquor wasbeing hailed by thepeopleevenin the urban areas. But at thesame time, he was worriedabout the problems beingfaced by BSBCL in openingnew outlets.

Againstsuchabackdrop, thesecond proposal, whichPathakreportedly asked his men toprepare, was a complete banon liquor. These officials, whoworked till Monday midnight,were again summoned byPathak on Tuesday morning ataround 7 am.

In the Cabinet meeting thattook place on Tuesday, the twodraftproposalswereplacedbe-fore Nitish Kumar. The ChiefMinister isbelievedtohavetoldhis close aides that there was“a silent revolution in favour ofprohibition…. in rural areas aswell as urban areas. The timehas come to read the pulse ofthe people and enforce a com-plete ban on liquor throughoutthe State.”

AssoonastheCabinetmeet-ing was over, Nitish made thehistoric announcement of Bi-har becoming a dry State.DH News Service

What led to sudden changeof tack by Nitish Kumar?

ISLAMABAD, PTI: Pakistan onWednesday said India had notproduced witnesses belongingto the security forces before itsJoint Investigation Team (JIT)on the Pathankot terror attack.

Inits firststatementaftertheJIT returned here following itsvisit toPathankotandNewDel-hi, the Pakistan Foreign Min-istry made no reference to me-dia reports in this country thatclaimed that the Pathankot at-tack was “stage-managed” byIndia.

The report had been sharplycondemned in India as double-speak by ISI and Pakistaniarmed forces.

“The JIT visited the crimescene and also recorded thestatements of some witnesses.However,thewitnessesbelong-ingtotheIndiansecurityforceswere not produced before it,”saidthePakistanForeignOfficestatement.

NotingthattheJITvisitedIn-diafromMarch27toApril 1 forinvestigating the “allegations”regarding the attack onPathankot Airbase, it said thevisitstartedwithapresentationgivenbytheIndianNationalIn-vestigation Agency (NIA) re-gardingits investigationssofar.

“The JIT briefed the NIA onprogress of investigations inPakistan. Further investiga-tions are underway,” it said.

The statement said the visittookplace“inthecontextofthecooperative approach beingpursued by the Government ofPakistan as part of its commit-ment to effectively fight terror-ism in all its forms.”

AccordingtotheIndianside,the JIT was provided all evi-dence pertaining to the attack,including the DNA of four ter-rorists, their identity as well ascall records showing involve-ment of Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) terroristsbehindtheter-ror strike on the Pathankot air-base on the intervening nightofJanuary1and2.Thegunbat-tle which lasted for more than80 hours left seven Indian se-curity personnel dead.

Nowitnessesproducedfromsecurityforces:Pak

Ashwani Kumar Rastogi,Businessman

Suman Kumar, owner of afood-joint

PU, from Page 1

And the government used tograntthepermissiononlyifanyexamination-conducting au-thority had given a requisition,citing difficulty in distributingthe paper to colleges located infar-off places from taluk head-quarters.

The Criminal InvestigationDepartment (CID) probing theleak, suspects the question pa-per was leaked from a stron-groom of the treasury depart-ment. The CID sleuths havearrested Oblaraju, Officer onSpecialDutytoMedicalEduca-tion Minister Sharan PrakashPatil, Rudrappa, office super-intendent, PWD, and Manju-nath, a physical educationteacher in a private college inVijayanagar, Bengaluru.

“Pending amendment to ar-ticle 18(a) of Karnataka Treas-uryCode,theTreasuryDirectorhasbeenempoweredtousedis-cretion to hand over the ques-tion papers as per the requestbytheexamination-conductingauthorities of SSCL, PU, UnionPublicServiceCommissionandother government depart-ments,”the order stated.

Misusing powerSourcesinthegovernmentsaidthere is a possibility of officialsat the taluk and district levelsmisusingthediscretionarypow-ers. Director Jyoti said the de-partment receives requestsfrom examination-conductingauthorities for early handingoverofquestionpapersinsomeplaces every year. The requestsused to come a day prior to theexaminationand,insomecases,thereusedtobedelayinthegov-ernment granting permission.Hence,thegovernment recent-ly vested discretionary powersintheDirectorforhandingoverthequestionpapers,sheadded.

“TheTreasuryisonlythecus-todian of the materials kept byany authority. We are not con-cerned about the contents ofsealed covers kept in the stron-grooms. The sealed covers arehanded over to the authorityconcernedonrequest.Thisyeartoo I had received some requi-sitions for early release of ques-tion papers in some places andthey were granted,”she stated.DH News Service

Govtallowedtreasurydirectortoreleaseexamquestionpapers

Anirban Bhaumik

NEW DELHI: Beijing has linkedits decision to support or op-pose New Delhi’s bid to getUnited Nations’ sanctions onterrorist leader Moulana Ma-sood Azhar with the outcomeof the probe by Pakistan intohisroleinthePathankotairbaseattack.

Disappointed by China’sstand at a United Nations Se-curity Council panel to blockIndia’s latest move to get inter-national sanctions on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief, New Delhiraised its concern with Beijingat “a very high level”.

“My sense is that the partic-ular issue that you referred tois something we have taken up

with the Chinese. We have tak-en it up at a sort of very highlevel and we will continue topursuethis,”ForeignSecretaryS Jaishankar said at an event tomarkthelaunchofIndiaChap-

terofCarnegieEndowmentforInternational Peace onWednesday.

Hewasreplyingtoaquestionon India’s reaction to China’srecent move to block the bid toget Azhar designated by theUNSC panel as an individuallinked to international terrornetworks and put him undersanctions.

The foreign secretary’s re-mark came on a day a seniorofficialofastate-runthink-tankof China said here that Beijinghad not “vetoed”, but had justsought some clarifications onNew Delhi’s plea to get UNSCdesignate Azhar as a terrorist.

A report in a newspaperpublished in Islamabad onTuesdayclaimedthattheinves-

tigatorshadconcludedthattheattack was stage-managed byNew Delhi to malign Pakistan.

Beijing, an “all-weatherfriend” of Islamabad, earlierblocked several attempts byNew Delhi to get UN sanctionsimposed on Azhar and otherterrorist leaders based in Pak-istan.

“This is an issue to be pur-sued with the Chinese in a UNcontext. I would not like to givethe impression that somehowthis is going to overflow intoother areas (of India-China re-lations). We have had a backand forth discussion with themon this issue. We have to waitand see where this goes,” saidthe foreign secretary.DH News Service

India ‘disappointed’ with China’s stand on JeM chief

Foreign Secretary SJaishankar: This is anissue to be pursuedwith the Chinese in aUN context. I would notlike to give the impres-sion that somehow thisis going to overflowinto other areas (ofIndia-China relations).

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Ramzan, 16, a Pakistani boy stuck in Bhopal for more than two years, leaves for Bangladesh fromAmarkantak Express in Bhopal on Wednesday. PTI

New journey

NEW DELHI, PTI: Nine judges,including two from the DelhiHigh Court, and an additionaljudge were on Wednesdaytransferred to different highcourts.

A Law Ministry statementsaid that Justice Suresh KumarKait has been transferred tothe High Court of Telanganaand Andhra Pradesh. Similar-ly, Justice Rajiv Shakdher hasbeen posted to the MadrasHigh Court. Both the judgeswere with Delhi High Court.

The statement said JusticeArun Bhaurao Chaudhari,Judge of the Bombay HighCourt, has been shifted to thePunjab and Haryana High

Court and Justice Pradip Ku-mar Mohanty, Judge of theOrissa High Court, is beingsent to the Jharkhand HighCourt.

Justice Sabina of the Punjaband Haryana High Court is be-ing sent to the Rajasthan HighCourt and Justice RamalingamSudhakar, Judge of the MadrasHigh Court, to the Jammu andKashmir High Court.

Similarly, Justice ShantanuSharadchandra Kemkar,Judge of the Madhya PradeshHigh Court is being moved tothe Bombay High Court andJustice Vineet Kothari of theRajasthan High Court to theKarnataka High Court.

10 judges, including 2 fromDelhi High Court, transferred

Shemin Joy

NEW DELHI, DHNS: The Cen-tre is planning to allow Pak-istani Hindus and Sikhs stayingin India to buy houses herewithout RBI’s prior approvaland issue them documents likePAN and Aadhaar card.

There are also plans to allowpeople belonging to minoritycommunities in Pakistan toopen bank accounts and per-mit them to take up self- em-ployment or do business,which is considered safe fromsecurity point of view.

The Ministry of Home Af-fairs has issued the draft pro-posals keeping in mind hard-ships being faced by theminority communities in Pak-istan and who are staying in In-dia on Long Term Visa. Stake-holders have been asked tosubmit their views by April 18.

A senior ministry officialsaid the government has beenconstantly reviewing the prob-lems faced by such people andthe new proposals have beenframed to ease some of their

difficulties. He said the securityaspects would be weighed inwhile finalising the proposals.

The government now plansto permit them to purchasehouses for “self occupation”aswell as suitable accommoda-tion for carrying out self-em-ployment. The self-employ-ment or business opportunitywill be allowed only after con-sidering security point of view.

Such people could also getdriving license, PAN and Aad-haar card.

The government is planningto allow free movement withinthe state UT where they arestaying instead of restrictingtheir movement within the

place of stay. "In the case ofsuch persons living in the Na-tional Capital Region (NCR), itis proposed to allow free move-ment within NCR. It is also pro-posed to simplify the proce-dure for visit to a place in anyother state," the draft said.

Authorities are also mullingthe possibility of simplifyingthe procedure for grant of Indi-an citizenship to such peopleby empowering the collector,deputy commissioner or dis-trict magistrate to authorise, inhis absence, in writing an offi-cer not below the rank of subdivisional magistrate for ad-ministering the oath of alle-giance to the applicant.

Pakminorities in Indiacanownhouse

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■ Opening of bank accountswithout prior RBI approval■ Self-employment or busi-ness■ Buying houses and officespace for business

■ Issue driving licence, PANcard, Aaadhar■ Free movement in statewhere they are staying■ Waive penalty on non-ex-tension of visa on time

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Proposals for Hindus, SikhsNEW DELHI: The Central In-formation Commission (CIC)has asked the Union Environ-ment Ministry to release thebiosafety data on the trials ofgenetically modified mustardin the public domain afterscreening out the confidentialinformation.

In addition, the CIC directedthe ministry that all biosafetydata pertaining to other genet-icallymodifiedorganismsinthepipeline also be published be-fore April 30, 2016, as this ispartofvoluntarydisclosureun-der the RTI Act.

“TheCommissiondirectsthepublic authority to verify andprovidethebiosafetydossierassubmitted by the crop develop-er in 2014 and 2015 and anyothermaterialunderreviewaf-ter separating the confidentialinformation,” CIC said in itsApril 1 order.

The information was soughtby the activists opposing entryof GM crops after they raisedquestions on the yield of GM

mustard and the secretive na-tureof fieldtrials.Thedevelop-ers from Delhi Universitybrushedasidethoseallegations.

“The people should knowhow and why GM mustard isbeing permitted or denied be-cause they have to consumethat food or feed and face con-sequences.It isapolicydecisionby the public authority, whichneedstoberevealedtothepub-lic in general as mandated bySection 4 (of the RTI Act) be-cause they are going to be af-fected if GM mustard ismarked,”said the order.

The genetically engineeredmustard was under the consid-eration of the biotechnologyregulator,GeneticEngineeringAppraisal Committee (GEAC)for commercial cultivation,when environment ministerPrakash Javadekar held it backpresumably for wider publicconsultation.AGEACmeetingscheduled on April 11 has nowbeen postponed.DH News Service

Release biosafety dataon GM mustard, says CIC

NEW DELHI, DHNS: BJP veter-anleaderLKAdvani’swifeKam-la died of heart attack onWednesdayeveningatAll IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS).

Family sources said thew h e e l c h a i r -bound Kamla,83, was rushedto AIIMS as shecomplained ofuneasiness andbreathlessnessbut the doctorscould not revive her.

“Kamla Advani, was broughtto the main casualty, AIIMS at5.10 PM in a very serious, un-conscious and unresponsivecondition. Immediate evalua-tion revealed the patient to bein cardiopulmonary arrest,” anAIIMS statement said.

AIIMS Director M C Mishrasaid: “She was pulseless, herblood pressure was not record-ableandshewas unresponsive.Resuscitative measures wereput in place and after about anhour she was declared dead.”

Advani’swifeKamladiesat83

CHANDIGARH: Border statePunjab and other parts of thecountry have been put on highalert after intelligence inputson Wednesday said at least 3heavily armed terrorists haveenteredIndiatotargetcities in-cluding Delhi, Mumbai andGoa.

The input said the terroristsare heavily armed with ammu-nition and are travelling in agrey Maruti Dzire car bearinga Jammu and Kaskmir regis-trationnumber.Oneofthemil-itant may possibly be carryingasuicidebelt, thealertsaid.ThePunjab Police have beefed-upthe security apparatus in wakeofthethreatperception.Punjabhas faced two terror strikes inthe last 10-months from acrossthe border by armed militants.

The alert said the terroristsaretravellingfromJammuandKashmir in a grey Swift Dzire

car along with a local residentand are expected to cross theBanihal tunnel later onWednesdaynight.Thealerthasbeen sounded in Punjab afterinputofaterrorattackwerere-ceived from the special cell ofthe Delhi Police. The alert is-sued by the Punjab DirectorGeneral of Police (Law and Or-der) to all the concerned wingsin the state said the car bearingregistration number “JK-01AB-2654”iscarryingthreePak-istani militants and a local.

EversincethePathankotter-ror strike on the interveningnight of January 1 and 2, therehave been several alerts issuedby the Punjab Police on the ba-sis of inputs and informationreceived from locals who claimto have spotted suspiciousmovement of persons, someeven in military fatigues.DH News Service

Punjab put on highalert after terror input

Ground water from Page 1

OfficialsfromBengaluruWaterSupply and Sewerage Board(BWSSB)admittedthattheyre-ceived complaints of leakingsewersfrommanyareaswherethe load is high on the old linesduetodensepopulation.“Mostcomplaints are from old andcentralBengalurulikeMajestic,Shivajinagar, Gandhinagar, MG Road, Church Street, Kora-mangalaanddenselypopulatedareas,”aBWSSBengineersaid.

A recent study by the Centrefor Ecological Sciences, IISc,endorses these findings. Thestudy, titled, ‘GroundwaterQualityImpairmentduetoMis-managementofBiodegradableWaste' explains this situation,said Prof T V Ramachandra,from CES, IISc.

Ramachandranotednitratesare carcinogenic. Around 40%of Bengalureans consumeground water, 10-12% of whichis contaminated. The city gen-erates around 3,000-4,000tonnes of waste every day, ofwhich around 70% contain or-ganic components. The degra-dationoforganicwastereleasesgas and leachate, which is a se-rious environmental hazard.DH News Service

Citygroundwaterhighincarcinogens


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