Upper House hope revives in Andhra

Hyderabad: Barely a month in office, Congress chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on Thursday set about fulfilling another pre-poll promise.

The cabinet has endorsed a proposal to move a bill in the ensuing budget session of the Assembly to revive the Legislative Council to give representation to sections that do not find place in the Assembly.

The House of Elders, with a strength of one-third that of the Assembly, was disbanded by the Telugu Desam Party government led by .T. Rama Rao in 1985 as a “waste of funds and a politically redundant institution”. Desam had opposed a move to revive the Legislative Council in 1989 when the Congress returned to power and passed a bill. It was struck down by the National Front government at the Centre.

According to sources close to Reddy, he believes the Legislative Council could accommodate veterans who lost in the elections and afford representation to sections that could not be included in the ministry.

The last session of the Legislative Council in 1985, with present finance minister K. Rosaiah as the leader of Opposition, had set a milestone by passing privilege motion against a local press baron, Ramoji Rao.

Amarnath yatra stays one month

Srinagar: The row between the Jammu and Kashmir governor and the chief minister over the Amarnath yatra has finally ended with the state government announcing that it will take place this year between July 29 and August 31.

Lt Gen. (Retd) S.K. Sinha, as head of the Amarnath shrine board, had earlier said this year’s pilgrimage was being extended to two months from the traditional one month.

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had, however, opposed the move citing security reasons. The yatra cannot be extended as thousands of army, paramilitary and police personnel need to be deployed for the protection of the pilgrims, said the chief minister.

The first batch of pilgrims will arrive at Pahalgam on July 29 and will start the journey to the shrine the next day.

The first darshan will be on August 1 and the last on August 31. Only 3,500 yatris would be allowed to proceed every day for darshan, an official spokesman here said.

The registration of pilgrims would be done through various branches of the Jammu and Kashmir bank. “While 80 per cent registration would be done in the conventional manner, 20 per cent would be done through the Internet on an experimental basis,” said the spokesman.

Army power push in Valley

Jammu: The Indian Army has started work on a project to reach electricity to farflung areas of Jammu and Kashmir and generate self-employment.

The army will instal watermills along the fast flowing rivulets in remote parts of the Kashmir Valley to generate electricity and also trigger a self-employment revolution under Operation Dashbhavana (goodwill).

MP’s son kills self

Gonda (PTI): The son of BJP MP Brij Bhushan Saran Singh allegedly committed suicide at his residence here, police said. Shakti Singh, elder son of the MP from Balrampur, shot himself with his father’s pistol at his Nawabganj residence on Thursday, the police said. Shakti was his father’s poll manager in the Lok Sabha elections. The cause is not yet known.

Child electrocuted

Ahmednagar (PTI): A four-year-old died and three persons were injured when they came in contact with a live wire on a road at Pandhare Vasti, 20 km from here. The mishap occurred when the child, Akshay, and his father stepped on the wire on Thursday, police said.

Kanishka trial

Vancouver (PTI): A prosecutor in the Air-India bombing trial has suggested that one of the witnesses testifying in support of the alleged mastermind of the plot had once sheltered him, a charge not denied by the witness. Sandhu testified that he had built a garage for Talwinder Singh Parmar, accused of blowing up the Boeing 747 in 1985, and had taken his help to purchase a plane ticket to India.

Bhatt slur on cops

Mumbai: (PTI): Film producer and director Mahesh Bhatt on Thursday accused police of harassing a South African model here to act in a Pooja Bhatt film even though she had valid papers. However, the immigration office denied the charge.

Safety take

Mumbai (PTI): Close on heels of the death of assistant director Nadia Khan on the sets of Mumbai Central, a 35-minute documentary examining safety aspects involved in film shooting is being made.

Nineteen students have been selected by the Indian Science Olympiad Programme to participate in the international olympiad, 2004, in biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics to be held at different venues abroad in July.