5 jawans killed in J&K One Hizbul Mujahideen Milit

M Saleem Pandit TNN 

Srinagar: Five soldiers and a Hizbul Mujahideen militant were killed in an encounter at Tral in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Friday.
    A police spokesperson said that the encounter started after security forces raided a militant hideout on a tip-off.
    “As soon as soldiers of the Rashtriya Rifles and the policemen launched a search operation, militants present in the area resorted to indiscriminate firing, killing three soldiers on the spot,” the spokesman said.
    Hizbul Mujahideen militant Saifullah and another solider were killed in the exchange of fire that followed.
    The fifth soldier succumbed to his injuries later on Friday. A defence spokesman identified four of the deceased soldiers as Ashwani Kumar, Ajit kumar, Balbir Singh and Kawaljeet. Sources said at least four militants, also hiding in the area, escaped.

An eco disaster called Amma Hastam

Hyderabad: Chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy’s pet scheme ‘Amma Hastam’ for the poor in the state has turned out to be a major environmental hazard. The scheme may aim at providing essential food items to the poor in the state at affordable rates, but at the same time, is also choking the environment with non-biodegradable plastic bags. And environmentalist say it is indeed a big irony when the state government, instead of checking environmental pollution by other agencies, is itself fanning it in a big way.
    Under the scheme, the state government is supplying 9 essential commodities in equal number of polythene bags to 2.15 crore people. And the items, wheat, whole meal atta, red gram, palmolein oil, sugar, salt, chilli powder, tamarind and turmeric powder, are packaged in individual plastic bags.TTD told to switch over to cloth bags 
Hyderabad: Thus at the rate of 9 plastic bags supplied to 2.15 crore people, nearly 20 crore plastic bags are being dumped into the environment every month.
    “Unlike other plastic items which can be recycled, polythene bags cannot be recycled easily as they contain additive chemicals and release poisonous gases if burned and do not decompose when left in garbage form,” said Dr Kalpala Babu Rao, environmental activist and former scientist at Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT).
    According to environmental experts, one possible safe method of disposing of the plastic bags is by burning them in incinerators at temperatures ranging from 1,200 to 1,300 degrees Celsius. “But these incinerators cost about Rs 7 crore each and there are hardly any in the city. So what one sees is the city garbage disposal workers burning the plastic bags and causing major environmental hazard,” said S Surya, an environmental activist. But even if there is a safe method of disposing the plastic bags, there is no proper system of segregation of solid waste, said Dr K Palanivelu, professor at the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (CIPET), Chennai. “Plastic bags constitute only 2% of the total plastic usage but due to lack of proper segregation of the solid waste, end up as the most destructive environmental hazard,” he said.
    Officials said the plastic bags used in scheme are of 70 microns, much higher than the prescribed 40 microns of thickness. But that in no way minimizes the environmental hazard, say the experts. In fact, the AP Pollution Control Board has expressed concern over the distribution of plastic bags in such large numbers.
    “Plastic bags used in Amma Hastam may be above the prescribed 40 microns but their distribution in crores every month is definitely a matter of concern,” said I Raghunatha Swami, senior environmental engineer, state pollution board. The PCB is currently trying to convince the Tirumala Tirupati Devesthanams (TTD) to switch over to cloth bags in supplying laddus at Tirumala. Presently, the laddus are supplied in plastic bags. But the question is whether the PCB will take on chief minister’s pet scheme and take steps to check environmental pollution

Guru Arrested, Srinivasan May Lose Crown

Mumbai & Madurai: Two days after The Times of Indiareported his links with the betting syndicate and barely three hours after he reached the Mumbai city police crime branch, Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested. The dramatic development threatened the status of Chennai Super Kings as an IPL franchise as well as his father-inlaw N Srinivasan’s continuation as BCCI president.
    As Meiyappan is known to be the CSK principal (even though in a last-minute desperate bid it claimed that he was just an honorary member of the management team), there is high risk of the franchise attracting a termination clause which can be invoked against a team that brings disrepute to the IPL.
    Equally, the rising clamour for Srinivasan’s resignation as BCCI chief is now expected to reach a crescendo. Already, powerful groups were closing in to scalp Srinivasan, who has been running Indian cricket as a personal fiefdom, often bending rules to suit his interests while disregarding all dissent.
    Soon after Meiyappan’s arrest, JCP (crime) Himanshu Roy told reporters, “We interrogated him for three hours and have come to the conclusion that there is evidence of his involvement in the offence we are investigating. We will produce him in court tomorrow (Saturday).”
    According to police sources, during the questioning Meiyappan acknowledged knowing Vindu Dara Singh. He allegedly told police that he had known Vindu — arrested for his alleged role as a middleman between teams, bookies and celebrities — for 10 years. Police sources claimed that Meiyappan said Vindu had insisted that he bet on matches, and he finally did so on a game held in Kolkata. The Chennai players apparently used to entertain Vindu as he was known to be Meiyappan’s friend.
    After three days of lying low, a grim-faced Meiyappan finally showed up before the Mumbai police crime branch on Friday evening, after his request to be allowed to appear on Monday was turned down. He was questioned lateinto the night by a team headed by JCP Roy on whether he was linked to IPL betting and spot-fixing.
    Meiyappan was summoned for questioning after Vindu told the cops about his association with him. Vindu claimed he had placed bets on IPL-6 matches on behalf of Meiyappan, who apparently lost Rs 1 crore in the process. Meiyappan had proved elusive for the police and media alike for the last few days. It turned up that he had been staying at the holiday home of his father-in-law, N Srinivasan, in the picturesque Coaker’s Walk area of Kodaikanal

Probe at doorstep of BCCI chief’s family

Probe at doorstep of BCCI chief’s family

Police Summon Srinivasan’s Son-In-Law, He Seeks Time

TIMESNEWSNETWORK 

Chennai/Mumbai: The IPL fixing scandal has reached the doorstep of Indian cricket’s powerful boss and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) owner N Srinivasan's family -- quite literally.
    Aday after The Times of India broke the story about the police investigating Srinivasan's son-in-law and CSK CEO Gurunath Meiyappan's phone conversations with Dara Singh's son Vindu for possible links with a betting syndicate, a five-member crime branch team from Mumbai arrived in Chennai Thursday morning to serve summons on Meiyappan.
    They first went to the headquarters of Srinivasan-controlled India Cements, and on finding no one there, stuck a copy of the summons on the door before going to Meiyappan's home around 2pm to instruct him to present himself before the CB between 11am and 5pm within 24 hours.
    But with no member of the family available to meet the team, they were initially not let in by the guard; after several phone calls, they were allowed into the compound. Rama Subbu, the chief security officer of 
India Cements, arrived soon thereafter and was seen signing a paper which the officers handed him. Strangely though, on his way out, he denied having received any summons on behalf of Meiyappan.
    Later in the evening, the crime branch is reported to have received a one-page fax from Meiyappan saying he out of town and seeking time till Monday, with the assurance that he would appear in person. A top police officer told TOI onThursday night that no decision had been taken on whether to allow him the extra time. If the police were to reject such a request, which seems unlikely, Meiyappan could be arrested. To avoid such a situation, he could move the courts on Friday seeking anticipatory bail. “This may give him a few days, but eventually he will have to 
appear,” an officer said.
    The whereabouts of the 35-year-old continued to be shrouded in mystery with speculation placing him variously in Kodaikanal (where he has a holiday home), Kolkata (where CSK plays the IPL finals on Sunday against the winners of the Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals match) and Delhi (to prepare his legal defence with top-flight lawyers).

Soldier beheaded in middle of London road

Soldier beheaded in middle of London road Kounteya Sinha TNN  London: In a suspected terror attack, a soldier aged around 20 years was beheaded in the middle of a road in Woolwich, south London, on Wednesday.     Reports said the victim was hacked to death with knives and meat cleavers by two men shouting Islamic slogans after they first hit him with their car. The soldier was wearing a T-shirt that read ‘Help for Heroes’.     Later, the police confronted the two attackers and shot them. An air ambulance arrived on the scene and took the two injured attackers to hospital.     British Prime Minister David Cameron, who called the attack “shocking”, asked home secretary Theresa May to convene a meeting of the government’s emergency cabinet committee, Cobra. Cameron, who had left for France to meet French President Francois Hollande, decided to return to London.     The government was reported to be treating the attack as a suspected terror incident.     “They were hacking at him, chopping him, cutting him,” a witness said. “These two guys were crazy. They were just animals. They dragged him from the pavement and dumped his body in the middle of the road and left his body there. They were oblivious to anything, they were more worried about having their photo taken, running up and down the road.”     Commander Simon Letchford from the Metropolitan police said: “At approx 2.20 pm, we were called to reports of an assault in John Wilson Street, Woolwich where one man was being assaulted by two other men. A number of weapons were reportedly being used in the attack, and this included reports of a firearm.”     Letchford said firearms officers reached the scene soon. “On their arrival they found a man, who was later pronounced dead,” he said. “Two men, who we believe from early reports to have been carrying weapons, were shot by police. They were taken to separate London hospitals and are receiving treatment for their injuries.”     May confirmed she had been briefed by the Director General of MI5 on the “sickening and barbaric” attack.