The Centre today told the Supreme Court that the city of Agra in Uttar Pradesh ds not qualify to be declared a world heritage city.

Solicitor General G E Vahanvati today told the court that in view of its unplanned growth, Agra did not qualify for the status of world heritage city and it also did not fulfill the conditions laid down by the world heritage Committee.

Bench comprising Justices S B Sinha, S H Kapadia and D K Jain directed the authorities including the Commissioner of Agra division, Vice Chairman of Agra Development Authority and senior officials of Archeological Survey of India (ASI) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to hold a meeting on September 2 to discuss the issue of allotment of land for barricading the area around Taj Mahal and also to shift the facilitation centre and the ticketing counter beyond 500 m of the monument.

The court also directed the authorities to place the details of discussion before this court so that appropriate directions may be issued for regulating the entry of visitors as well as to set a time frame for visiting the historical monument. There are about 225 heritage structures in Agra.

NEW DELHI: The 16th century city of Agra may have three world heritage sites, Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, besides numerous other monuments, but it is not a fit case for being declared a world heritage city, the government informed the Supreme Court on Monday.

Responding to a query from a Bench comprising Justices S B Sinha, S H Kapadia and D K Jain, Solicitor General G E Vahanvati said the Centre as well as the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) had examined the matter threadbare following the December 20, 1996, directive from the court in this regard.

Referring to an affidavit filed by the ASI on April 4, 1997, Vahanvati said what comes in the way of the Indian government recommending the 16th century city to the World Heritage Committee for declaring it as a world heritage city is its haphazard growth, teeming population and presence of polluting industries.

NEW DELHI : The Centre has told the Supreme Court that the haphazard and unplanned growth in Agra coupled with polluting industries makes the city of the Taj Mahal unfit to be declared as a heritage city.

Despite historical monuments like Fatehpuri Sikri, Agra Fort, Taj Mahal and numerous historical sites, the city cannot be brought under the scope of a heritage city, Solicitor General G E Vahanvati told a bench comprising Justice S B Sinha, Justice S H Kapadia and Justice D K Jain.

Apprising the court of the centres view on the issue, the solicitor general said that apart from these mediaeval sites there was nothing outstanding in the city to declare it a heritage city.

Vahanvati said the Centre and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had examined the courts concern following its December 20, 1996 order of developing Agra as heritage city.

The Uttar Pradesh government had also taken the stand that Agra lacks the criteria. The court wanted to know whether it was not possible to cover part of the city to declare it as a heritage city.

Agra : American Express will help set up tourist centres with a 24x7 helpline for thousands of visitors who throng Agra.

The project is a joint venture between the Uttar Pradesh Tourism and Agra Tourism Guild and will be supported by American Express. Debashish Bhaumick, president of the guild, told a press conference Saturday that the centre was likely to come up in two months.

The guild, which completes 25 years in September, will also bring out a special publication called Agra Calling which will contain all the relevant information about Agra.

Joint director of Uttar Pradesh Tourism D.K. Burman told IANS, The new facilities centre will help tourists get correct information about the city and its various monuments.

Agra - American Express will help set up tourist centres with a 24×7 helpline for thousands of visitors who throng Agra.

The project is a joint venture between the Uttar Pradesh Tourism and Agra Tourism Guild and will be supported by American Express. Debashish Bhaumick, president of the guild, told a press conference Saturday that the centre was likely to come up in two months.

The guild, which completes 25 years in September, will also bring out a special publication called Agra Calling which will contain all the relevant information about Agra.

Joint director of Uttar Pradesh Tourism D.K. Burman told IANS, The new facilities centre will help tourists get correct information about the city and its various monuments.

It is the most urgent and desirable project that will give a big boost to tourism and if successful the Agra model may be replicated in other parts of the country, Burman added.

New Delhi : The central government Monday informed the Supreme Court that the World Heritage Committee could not declare the Taj Mahal city of Agra as a heritage city as it did not qualify for it, thanks to its unplanned growth.

Solicitor General G.E. Vahanvati made this submission before a bench comprising judges S.B. Sinha, S.H. Kapadia and D.K. Jain.

On Aug 7, the bench had asked the solicitor general whether the government could comply with an order passed by the apex court in December 1996 directing it to declare Agra as a heritage city in two months.

The bench had also asked him to find out whether the government could comply with the parameters laid down by the UNESCO for declaring Agra as a heritage city.

The judges were of the view that once Agra was declared a heritage city, international funds would be available for the protection of not only the monument but also for the overall development of the city.

The unabashed and blatant use of unfair means, both during examinations and in marking, is a shocking reminder of the fact that our educational and examination system has decayed. Recently, the police found an evaluation centre in a house in Agra, where minors and some youth were checking answer sheets of professional courses, including BBA, BCA, BPT, law from various institutes affiliated to the Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut.

While some of those checking the answer sheets were class V and VI students, some others were graduates. None were either qualified or competent to check the answer sheets. The bogus evaluators were being paid up to Rs 4 for each answer sheet.

According to the investigation reports, the criterion for allotting scores was the length of the answers, as well as the quality and dimension of the diagrams. Marks were also awarded as per the negotiations or the considerations paid for.

It appears the Registrar of the Chaudhary Charan Singh University was involved in the racket along with his son, who has since been arrested. The investigators recovered about 10,000 answer sheets from the house, while more were found dumped elsewhere in Agra. About 2,000 answer sheets of professional courses were discovered from a field near Agra.

Agra : More and more girls, some still infants, are being groomed to become prostitutes in the Taj Mahal city of Agra. But the police are determined to end it all.

The innocent girls, brought here from other parts of northern India, are being allegedly injected hormones to induce puberty. Some are being registered in schools with names of strangers as their mothers.

Agra Police freed about 20 girls, aged between 2 and 15, following half a dozen raids this month at the Basai red light zone, barely a stones throw from the majestic Taj, one of the worlds leading tourist attractions.

Only recently three girls were rescued from the house of a middleman engaged in women trafficking. Police say they were to be sold to contacts in Mumbai.

In another raid, three girls, including a two-year-old, were freed. Five women and nine men were held on charges of trapping them in the flesh trade.

The police also rescued several girls from areas such as Mal ka Bazar, Kashmiri Bazar, Seo ka Bazar, Sir ki Mandi and Sikandra.

Agra: More and more girls, some still infants, are being forced to become prostitutes in Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal.

The innocent girls, brought from other parts of northern India, are being allegedly injected with hormones to precipitate puberty. Hormone injections can lead to many health problems including cervical cancer, said Netra Pal Singh, counsellor at the All India Womens Conference.

The Agra police are determined to end it all and the senior superintendent of police, Dinesh Juneja, has launched an all-out war against prostitution in the city.

The police have been conducting raids and have rescued about 20 girls between 2 and 15 years of age this month from the Basai red light zone.

Another three were rescued from the house of a middleman engaged in women trafficking recently. Police say the girls were to be sold to some clients in Mumbai.

In another raid, three girls, including a two-year-old, were rescued and five women and nine men were held on charges of trapping them in the flesh trade.

In a recent interview to the Indian media, General Pervez Musharraf says all the right things, in the right vein, with sincerity but ensures that the skeletons of the 2001 Agra Summit tumble out.

In one of his most candid and forthright confessions, the Pakistan President blames Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President LK Advani for the failure of the July 14-16 summit.

I personally suspect it was Advani (then Home Minister) Sahib. That is my guess because he was quite hawkish in those days, the General tells jurist AG Noorani.

Mr Prime Minister, today both you and I have been humiliated. Because I feel that what we agreed on, somebody above us, who had the veto power, rejects it. I dont know who it is… Musharraf had told Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001.

NEW DELHI : Unlisted Bharat Hotels Ltd. will spend 1.5 billion rupees ($32.3 million) to set up a luxury hotel in the tourist hot-spot desert state of Rajasthan, a top company official said on Tuesday.

The proposed 200-room hotel will be situated on 12,000 square metres of land in the state capital Jaipur, and is expected to be up and running in 18 months, Lalit Suri, chairman of Bharat Hotels, said on the sidelines of a tourism industry conference.

Everyone who comes to Rajasthan goes through Jaipur, and there just arent enough hotels, he said. Rajasthan has not been fully exploited.

The 1.5-billion-rupee investment includes the acquisition price of the land.

Bharat Hotels bought the plot for the hotel on Friday from the Rajasthan government at the reserve price of 260 million rupees – which under a new government policy to attract hoteliers in the room-starved state was pegged at half the current commercial land rate.

Agra: A Muslim youth ended his eight-day fast to protest a fatwa (religious ruling) against the singing of Indias national song Vande Mataram in schools.

The fatwa was issued by Sunni Ulema Board president Maulana Syed Shah Badruddin Qadri in Hyderabad.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) had issued a directive to states for recitation of Vande Mataram during a celebration on September 7 to mark the national songs centenary.

HRD Minister Arjun Singh later clarified that the singing of the national song was voluntary in nature.

Gulchaman Sherwani went on fast under the Bharat Mata statue in front of the Agra Civil Court.

Lucknow, India – Soldiers with automatic weapons were on 24-hour guard at the Taj Mahal after officials received a letter threatening to blow up the monument, officials said Friday.

Authorities were investigating a letter received Thursday – purportedly sent by an al-Qaida backer – that said the terrorist group planned blasts at the 17th century monument, which drew nearly 2.5 million tourists last year.

The state government has asked the federal civil aviation authorities and Indias air force to declare a no-fly zone within a 2.5-mile radius of the Taj Mahal, said N.C. Bajpei, Uttar Pradeshs highest official.

The majestic domed monument was built by Emperor Shah Jehan in the mid-1600s for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It houses their graves and a mosque.

Taj Mahal Threat Update - A possible al-Qaeda threat to the Taj Majal may not be credible, authorities are now declaring. The Press Trust of India reported over the weekend that a letter written in Hindi warned that the 17th century monument in Agra would be blown up.

Officials are suspect of the validity of the threat was as it is the letter was the third such message about the Taj Mahal received this year and appeared to have been written by the same person who penned the others, PTI said.

Fingerprints on all three letters matched, police said.

Jim Roberts reported earlier that the threat against the Taj Mahal forced police in northern India to heighten security around the Taj Mahal.

Agra said this week that 7200 weaners were sold in the first week of its annual weaner auctions breaking a record ever set by a public livestock sale in the country. The auction, which reveals significant price increase over last years, obtained a total of N$21.3 million in one week, the auctioneer said in a statement.

Brahman and Brahman cross breeds of exceptional quality were part of the weaners that came under the hammer during the current series of weaner auctions presented by Agra.

It is anticipated that a total of 12000 weaners will be sold during this years series of weaner auctions, which is slightly more than the 11229 weaners sold last year. The weaners auctions started during mid July and will end on 24 August. During last Fridays auction in Gobabis, where 1800 calves were sold, prices jumped to up to N$16.35 per kg for tollies. At preceding auctions held in Outjo, Otjiwarongo, Rehoboth and Grootfontein, weaner calves came under the hammer for up to N$15.50 per kg.

New Delhi : Authorities tightened security at the Taj Mahal, Indias famous monument to love, after top officials decided current arrangements were inadequate to thwart a terror strike, a report said.

More bunkers have been set up in Agra on the roads leading to the Taj after a security review Thursday and police units have been deployed on the side of the monument next to the Yamuna river, a news agency reported on Friday.

Officials also want a no fly zone to be declared around the monument but so far defence authorities in New Delhi have not acted on the recommendation, the report said.

The preparations appear not to be related to the terror warning issued by the United States embassy to its citizens in the run up to Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

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Mathura (Uttar Pradesh) - Thousands of people, including foreign tourists, were Wednesday celebrating Janmashtami, the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna, in his home ground where Hinduisms most popular god was said to have been born.

Temples in Mathura, Vrindavan and Agra, known as the brajbhoomi, were decked up with flowers and devotees flocked to them from across the country.

Mathura, which is known as Krishnas Janmbhoomi (birthplace), had the most number of people queuing up to seek a glimpse of the idol of Krishna, also known as the blue-god who is part of the Hindu Trinity. Pilgrims started arriving in huge numbers Monday itself, taking advantage of the extended weekend owing to Indias Independence Day Tuesday.

The river Yamuna looked pristine, flowing right up to the brim of the vast banks.

New Delhi : Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has blamed then home minister L K Advani for the failure of his summit with then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in July 2001.

I personally suspect it was Advani sahib. That is my guess because he was quite hawkish in those days, he said in an interview to A G Norrani in Frontline magazine.

The Pakistani leader said he had told Vajpayee that he would only enhance his popularity if the proposed joint declaration was signed between India and Pakistan.

General Musharraf said Agra was a great opportunity for the two countries. I would say it was a pity that we lost so much time. Agra was a great opportunity: it was the greatest opportunity. We could have made wonderful breakthroughs. I really dont know why we failed.

He said he still could not make out what was the pressure on Vajpayee for backing out on what had been decided by the two leaders.

Six persons arrested in Agra in connection with illegally evaluating answer sheets of professional courses of Choudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU), Meerut, have been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

They were produced before a local court on Sunday and sent to jail after 9,931 answer sheets were seized during a raid on a house.

The suspected kingpin of the racket RP Singh, who is the son of CCSU Registrar BL Arya, told the police during interrogation that CCSU had allotted the exam papers to Rajanikant Upadhyaya, vice-principal of Krishna Degree College in Agra, for evaluation.

Singh claimed he got the papers from Upadhyaya, the nodal officer for evaluating the papers, who however denied the charge.

Lucknow : The Taj Mahal has been placed under unprecedented security, including deploying more armed policemen, preventing people from carrying water bottles or any kind of liquids inside and getting a dossier on everyone living adjacent to the 17th century monument, ahead of Independence Day Tuesday.

As many as 100 additional personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been deployed at various strategic points on the outer periphery of the Taj Mahal, which is visited by thousands of tourists every day.

Sand-bag bunkers have been put up beside the outer entry gates for a round-the clock vigil by police personnel equipped with automatic weapons.

Dipesh Juneja, Agra senior superintendent of police, told IANS: We were already in the process of enhancing security in and around the Taj, but the terrorist threats for Independence Day prompted us to speed up these arrangements.

We have also undertaken an exercise to prepare a complete dossier of each and every resident living within 500 metres radius of the monument. This would enable us to promptly spot any new entrants or visitors in the area.

NEW DELHI: This team did not even make it to the second round of Microsofts world premier student technology competition Imagine Cup-2006 which ended here on Friday. But they are winners nevertheless.

For a team that calls itself AG-107 from Lebanon, just having made it to Agra (where they took part in Microsofts weeklong competition) despite the Israeli aggression is nothing short of sweet victory against the circumstances that the people are finding themselves in at present.

The team from Lebanon that took part in the Software Design category was among the over 60 teams selected from across the world to participate in the Imagine Cup under the theme, Imagine a world where technology enables us to live healthier lives.

Agra : Police today unearthed a racket in evaluation of answer sheets of professional courses here and arrested a college professor and four students in this connection.

Police said they raided a house in a lawyers colony in the city following specific information that a racket in evaluation of answer sheets was going on there.

The students who allotted marks were paid as low as Rs two per sheet, they said.

The arrested students belonged to a Technical Management Institute in Agra, police said adding they were caught evaluating answer sheets of professional courses.

Police said the leader of the group, Baijnath alias Ravi, told his interrogators that he used to receive bundles of answer sheets through a Ghaziabad professor.

The Minister of Tourism & Culture, Smt. Ambika Soni told the Rajya Sabha today that Central Industrial Security Force personnel are deployed at Taj Mahal for the purpose of maintenance of security, in addition to regular watch and ward staff. Modern security gadgets are also installed at Taj Mahal to make the security more effective. At Agra Fort private security personnel have been engaged along with the regular watch and ward staff.

The Minister further added that UP Jal Nigam had submitted a proposal to lay a pipeline for supply of drinking water to Agra city. After due examination of the proposal, permission has been granted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for laying an underground pipeline, as it will not cause any damage to Agra Fort or Taj Mahal. The work would be executed under the supervision of the ASI. The UP Jal Nigam has also been asked to take necessary clearance from concerned Court/other agencies, if found necessary.

New Delhi - The major monuments of Agra, which draw thousands of tourists every day, have been interlinked through radio communication networks by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for better security.

Minister for Culture and Tourism Ambika Soni said the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Itimad-ud-Daulah, Ram Bagh, Mehtab Bagh, Akbars tomb, Sikandra, Mariams tomb and Fatehpur Sikri have been connected through centralised wireless radio communication network system at a cost of Rs.538,520.

This network has helped the Circle headquarters to be in regular touch with the monuments, thus augmenting the security system in a cost effective manner, the minister has informed the Rajya Sabha in a written answer.

She also said that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and modern security gadgets have also been deployed at the Taj Mahal for security reasons.

AGRA : Recently Abishek Kumarasubramanian, a student of IIT-Madras, became an instant star amongst fellow techies– he was selected for a one-year internship with Bill Gates and will work directly with his technical assistants team at Microsofts Redmond headquarters after winning the Microsoft Code4Bill contest.

Now, four Indian students from the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology are inches away from reaching similar heights.

They are the finalists for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2006 with an innovation called Sonique that promises to literally let the blind see.

Sonique enables the blind/visually impaired to use ultrasonic sensor technology to sense the environment around them and calculate the distance to objects present.

New Delhi : The major monuments of Agra, which draw thousands of tourists every day, have been interlinked through radio communication networks by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for better security.

Minister for Culture and Tourism Ambika Soni said the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Itimad-ud-Daulah, Ram Bagh, Mehtab Bagh, Akbars tomb, Sikandra, Mariams tomb and Fatehpur Sikri have been connected through centralised wireless radio communication network system at a cost of Rs.538,520.

This network has helped the Circle headquarters to be in regular touch with the monuments, thus augmenting the security system in a cost effective manner, the minister has informed the Rajya Sabha in a written answer.

She also said that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and modern security gadgets have also been deployed at the Taj Mahal for security reasons.

Trouble is brewing for the Mulayam Singh Yadavs Government in Uttar Pradesh.

The rift between the left and the right wing parties running the Government in the State is coming to the fore.

Not even a month has passed when Ch Babulal the RLD Minister from Agra had declared a Halla Bol against the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government, another Minister Ganga Prasad Pushkar forced the Government to adopt face-saving measures by taking out a demonstration against the Samajwadi Partys oppressive policies.

Pushkar challenged the Chief Minister to expel him from the Cabinet if he could.

On Monday, Ganga Prasad Pushkar, the Minister of State for Agriculture (RLD quota) took out a demonstration march, blaming the UP Government for destroying the States natural resources by snatching the cultivable land from farmers and handing it over to industrialists.

ABOUT 30 years ago, when Thailand was going through the same sort of rapid growth into middle modernity that India is passing through today, I noted an almost wild phenomenon of normally placid Thais chasing each other on the road and then begging a fight at the first red light or convenient stopping point.

Our driver would leave us gasping as he sought to pass an offending neighbouring car as a huge truck charged down the opposite lane. We often gave thanks for being alive.

This past month driving deep into Uttar Pradesh, I felt frightened for the first time in a car since those days a generation ago in the Thai kingdom.

Large trucks cut us off at 100km/h, sending us screeching into the gravelled roadside, our small car having no chance of survival if the drivers cleverness didnt exceed his risk-willingness.

The problem is that the infrastructure hasnt kept pace with the economic growth; there are millions of new drivers with fast cars on old roads.

LUCKNOW: Twelve people, including four policemen, were injured when a mob fought a pitched battle with the police outside the Dauki police station in Agra city on Sunday.

The people were protesting against police excesses and the cops fired in the air to disperse the crowd. The situation was brought under control after senior police officials reached the spot. Additional force was also deployed in the area.

On Sunday, mob gathered outside the police station to protest against police excesses on a local residents family, allegedly at the behest of sitting BJP MLA Chote Lal Vermas brother, over a land dispute.

London - A hairdresser based in Lancashire has announced her plans to cycle across Rajasthan in November to raise funds for research in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Hazel Bullough, 39, will cycle almost 265 miles in 10 days to raise money for the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Trusts Women for Women appeal. She intends to cycle 50 miles every day.

Bullough, who owns a mobile hairdressing business, said: I enjoy cycling and I jumped at the chance. I love travelling and have been to India before, but not to many of the places Ill be visiting, so it will be a fantastic experience.

The women-only cycling challenge covers 425 km, starting from Agra in Uttar Pradesh to Jaipur in Rajasthan.

London : A hairdresser based in Lancashire has announced her plans to cycle across Rajasthan in November to raise funds for research in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Hazel Bullough, 39, will cycle almost 265 miles in 10 days to raise money for the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Trusts Women for Women appeal. She intends to cycle 50 miles every day.

Bullough, who owns a mobile hairdressing business, said: I enjoy cycling and I jumped at the chance. I love travelling and have been to India before, but not to many of the places Ill be visiting, so it will be a fantastic experience.

THERE is no need to enact a new law to empower the people to propose changes in the Constitution through a peoples initiative, a lawyer and professor has said.

Alberto C. Agra of the Ateneo de Manila University said a 1997 Supreme Court decision did not declare the Initiative and Referendum Act of 1989 unconstitutional.

Agra said there was no need for a law other than Republic Act No. 6734, clarifying that the Supreme Court in the 1997 case of Defensor vs Santiago did not declare it void.

It would be Comelec [Commission on Elections], not the Supreme Court, that will determine in the first instance whether the petition that will be filed by 9 million Filipinos must be given due course, Agra said in a statement.

A bear rescue centre is likely to come up here soon, the third such centre in India after Arunachal Pradesh and Agra, an official said.

The Rajasthan government is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Wildlife Trust of India in this regard.

Named Life Time Captive Sloth Bear Rescue Centre, it would be developed at Nahargarh in the city at an estimated cost of around Rs.15 million.

Initially about 25 bears would be kept in the centre. Later about 75 more would be accommodated. It would act as a natural habitat for bears.

The footwear industry of Agra, comprising largely cottage units, is feeling ignored.

The president of the Agra Footwear Cottage Units Federation, Virendra Son, said both the central and the state governments were providing numerous economic and developmental packages for industries in the country, including the leather industry, but the cottage footwear units, consisting of the bulk of footwear manufactures in Agra, had been left out.

The footwear industry of Agra, which represents 60-70 per cent of the total domestic production of footwear in the country, is largely dependent on family-run cottage footwear units functioning in the narrow streets and alleys of the old city.

These cottage units, which feed the entire local shoe industry, are constantly facing a financial crunch due to a credit-based system of payment.

Agra - Over 200 student innovators from over 45 countries are all set to showcase their software development skills and compete for a grand prize of $125,000 at the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2006 being held here Aug 6-9.

The annual competition enables students to apply their creativity, knowledge and technical abilities to making the world a better place through technology, and to encourage young innovators to develop applications that are relevant in todays context.

Joe Wilson, Microsofts director of academic initiatives, will be present at the three-day competition in the Taj Mahal city.

The theme for the event this year, based on healthcare, is Imagine a world where technology enables us to live healthier lives, said Shiela Gulati, director, developer and platform evangelism, Microsoft India.

By Brij Khandelwal, Agra, July 29 (IANS) Faced with increasing threats from kidnappers, doctors in Agra will undergo training of a different kind - learning the use of firearms for self-defence.

The doctors will spend more time at the shooting range than in their clinics when a programme drawn up by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) is implemented early next month.

After a spate of abductions by criminal gangs, the doctors have been holding emergency sessions for the past week and meeting politicians and district authorities to work out a foolproof security arrangement.

Over 60 doctors have applied for licences for firearms. They would start practising at the firing range near Dayalbagh, developed at the initiative of Municipal Commissioner Shyam Singh Yadav.

The doctors this week met Yadav, who is also the coach of the Indian shooting team, and requested him to allow them to use the shooting range.

While Yadav gave the go-ahead, the IMA has mounted pressure on the district officials to promptly clear arms licences for the threatened medical community, said IMA president Sharad Gupta.

Agra - Car lifters beware! A researcher in Agra has developed a new satellite-based automatic vehicle location device that once installed can keep track of the vehicle in any part of India.

Shailendra Bansal, an IIT graduate, said his device can also be used to track the vehicle on previous days too, using a software.

This AVL (Automatic Vehicle Location) device receives location coordinates from the GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites and transmits them to a web server through the GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network, Bansal told IANS.

This is the first time such a mechanism has been developed in India though similar security arrangements are already in vogue in Western countries.

Anyone having web access and information of the vehicles ID can see the location of the vehicle in real time from one of the many different map options available, he added.

A 15-year-old boy who had run away from his home in Agra was reunited with his family on Friday, courtesy the Childline authorities and the police.

Pravin Kumar Baghel ran away from home because he failed the Class IX examinations and knew that his family had high expectations from him. They wanted their eldest son to go in for higher studies.

Pravin did not have a clear idea where he was going when he boarded a train from Agra. After spending a night alone at Thiruvananthapuram railway station, he decided that he would go back to Delhi.

Pravin was noticed by one of the Railway employees manning the ticket counter when he went to buy a ticket to Delhi. When asked about his whereabouts, the boy claimed that he had come to the city in search of work.

Following the recent directions of the central excise department to the Agra shoe manufacturers to indicate maximum retail price (MRP) mandatory on shoe packets, before they were made available to retailers, small-scale footwear manufacturers have decided to oppose this, even if that means shutting down their business.

On Thursday, the Agra Shoe Factors Federation was on a strike, comprising footwear manufacturers and retailers of the town, against the directives and later held a meeting where it was indicated that the footwear manufacturers may take legal action.

Later, talking to media persons, Raj Kumar Sama, president, Agra Shoe Factors Federation, said the MRP issue would have negligible effect on the large footwear manufactures of the town as most of them manufactured footwear for export, and the order was applicable only for footwear meant for domestic sales, either through retail shops or bulk sales.

Agra is to host worldwide finals of Microsoft Imagine Cup, a global student competition that served as a platform for students from across the world to showcase their software development skills, this August.

The competition is aimed at empowering students to apply their creativity, knowledge and technical abilities towards making the world a better place through technology, and to encourage students to develop applications, which are relevant in todays context.

Sheila Gulati, director, developer and platform evangelism, Microsoft India, said the competition would be held at from August 6 to 11, 2006 and contestants would have the opportunity to win cash prizes totaling up to USD 125,000.

The theme for the event this year, based on healthcare, is imagine a world where technology enables us to live healthier lives.

India will be represented by team Sonique from Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information & Communication Technology (DA-IICT).

Agra - The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has confirmed that the 3,000 coins found in a field in Mathura district were indeed of antique value.

The ASI chief here, Dayalan, said this was the biggest such find in the Agra circle and that the coins found in two copper vessels were of different periods between the 7th and 10th centuries.

The coins need to be cleaned to decipher the script. We have decided to carry out further excavations in the area hoping to find some more valuable pieces of history, Dayalan told IANS.

He said the coins would be kept in the Mathura museum, according to an arrangement discussed with the Mathura district magistrate.

ASI sources said coin experts in Lucknow would soon examine the coins, which seem to be made of silver and alloy.

Agra is about to witness a major change in its industrial profile with major software manufacturers like Microsoft beginning to pay more attention to it.

This August, Microsoft is going to host the worldwide finals of the prestigious Imagine Cup in Agra for the first time in the four years of the beginning of this competition.

According to Sheila Gulati, director, developer and platform evangelism, Microsoft India, Imagine Cup was a global student competition that served as a platform for students from across the world to showcase their software development skills, empowering them to apply their creativity, knowledge and technical abilities towards making the world a better place through technology, and to encourage students to develop applications which are relevant in todays context.

Gulati said the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals would be held at Agra from August6 to 11, 2006 and contestants would have the opportunity to win cash prizes totaling up to $125,000.

A letter was on Monday found in a Jain temple, which threatened that the Taj Mahal would be blown up by August 15, sending the police into a tizzy.

The letter writer has claimed links with terror network Al-Qaeda and given his name as Mohd Mirza and the names of company commander M S Saiyan and former pradhan Kailashi.

It was among a dozen of letters found in three envelopes in the Chandraprabhu temple behind the Rakabganj police station by devotees when they reached the shrine this morning, Senior Superintendent of Police Deepesh Juneja said.

KOLKATA: A group of 16 school educators and library and museum managers from the US is visiting this eastern metropolis July 25-28 to learn more about the Indian society and the education system.

One of the major programmes during their stay will be a visit to the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy to participate in a panel discussion on The Contemporary Knowledge Situation in Eastern India with special reference to Special Education.

They will also visit the St Johns Diocesan Girls High School, meet the principal and teachers, and interact with students.

The US educators itinerary also includes visiting heritage sites, and attending cultural programmes, especially a presentation on musical narration, and an exhibition of Bengal scroll paintings by folk artists, a release by the American Center here said on Monday.

New Delhi : History still remembers the skill of the 28,000-odd craftsmen who shaped the Taj. Now the craftsmen from Dhaulpur who are restoring the Taj as well as other monuments in Agra and Delhi, can receive some appreciation as well.

In the pigeon-crowded corridors of the Red Fort and in the cheesy-white heaven of Agra, craftsmen from Dhaulpur are hammering their chisel on all kinds of stone. Helping the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) in its restoration drive, these men are at work in monuments like the Safdarjung Tomb, Hauz Khas, Purana Quila, and Humayuns Tomb in Delhi.

Lucknow : It seems there is no end to power woes in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow and Agra are the only two cities to get 24-hour power supply, at least on paper. The scenario is getting bad to worse across the state. In the last five days, the generation from the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) has dropped drastically. There is a caution that the situation might get even worse, thanks to the curbs on power import.

The situation was slightly better today due to the 300-MW drop in demand, but in weekdays the demand and supply gap is as high as 2,500 MW. Usually, the demand goes down and generation goes up after rains, but it has not been so this month. The delay in rains and supply of wet coal to thermal power stations has added to the woes.

BANGALORE: The crowd went berserk on seeing their basketball star Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Wolves.

Garnett, who has big fan following here, arrived in Bangalore on Monday to participate in a programme. KG, KG, KG… the fans shouted.

He came out with his typical gesture - pumping his fists while saying, hi guys. From one of his arms screamed the tattoo Blood, Sweat and Tears, while the other spelt his initials KG.

A woman in her early 20s was floored by KG. Her joy knew no bounds when the 6 11 star hugged her. She was found gasping for breath for sometime after that.

The visit was part of his India tour aimed at encouraging the growth of the sport.

Garnett started his NBA stint when he was only 20. He was a member of the Olympic gold medal winning U.S. mens team in 2000.

New Delhi : Did India and Pakistan have an agreed draft statement before the 2001 Agra summit collapsed as has repeatedly been claimed in Pakistan?

Jaswant Singh, who was External Affairs Minister during the summit, throws some light on this abiding argument in his memoirs A Call to Honour which hit the stands on Friday.

Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Abdul Sattar had been told at the summit in July 2001 to attempt a draft and together we tried our hand at writing something on a piece of paper.

I attempted something in pencil on a piece of paper, he corrected/amended it, I did likewise and so it went on for sometime, to and fro. Finally, he said he would have to consult his President (Gen Pervez Musharraf) before he could assent or disagree, Singh says.

Agra : A man, who finds a mention in the Limca Book of Records for lifting objects with his eyelashes, is now claiming he can lift a stone weighing up to six kg using only his eyelashes.

Ashok Verma, 54, told reporters here he would perform the feat live in front of a television audience on August 1.

Verma had made it to the 2001 edition of the Limca Book of Records after lifting three 1.5 litre bottles of Coca Cola with a string attached to his eyelashes.

The Agra man is aiming even higher after the stone stunt and hopes to get into the Guinness Book of World Records by using his eyelashes to pull a Maruti car.

Agra : NBA player Kevin Garnett of the USA, currently touring India as part of an Asian promotional tour, visited the Taj Mahal in Agra Monday (July 17).

The white marble Taj, built by Shah Jahan for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, draws more than 20,000 Indian and foreign visitors a day. The tomb took about 20,000 artists 22 years to build.

Garnett, accompanied by his wife Brandi Padilla, had earlier said that India could establish itself as a basketball power if the nations youth adopt a similar passion for the game that has paid dividends in neighbouring China.

The Minnesota Timberwolves forward said that a lack of facilities should not discourage children from taking up basketball in the cricket-mad country.

BANGALORE : The NBA All Star player, Kevin Garnett wound up his promotional tour for adidas in India, with a final stop over at Bangalore.

During the visit, the six foot 11 inches Minnesota Timber Wolves player, inaugurated the KG Corner at the main adidias outlet here on Monday night and on Tuesday, he visited the SOS Village on the outskirts of the city and brought some cheer to the under privileged children.

Garnett, hoped that like in the US, basketball would bring about a social change. I see a larger picture for the game and changing the life of young and under privileged kids like those here. The sport offers an immense opportunity for their growth as better human beings, said Garnett.

Agra- The launch of a new newspaper, Dainik Hindustan, is set to intensify the war in Agras Hindi print media where Amar Ujala and Dainik Jagran are the major players and Dainik Aaj fights for mind space.

For journalists who switched loyalty, its a quantum jump in salaries and perks, but the mainstay of any daily newspaper - the tribe of vendors - are in a fix as rival groups are offering all kinds of lollipops, including insurance cover.

Over the years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of newspaper readers in the area, who are indeed a pampered lot.

Whichever newspaper offers us better and more attractive gifts and schemes, in addition to routine contents, will be bought by us, advocate Sudhir Gupta told IANS.

NEW DELHI: An average Indian might feel like a demoralising dwarf in the world of giants called basketball but one of the brightest shining NBA stars, Kevin Garnett, assured the game is not all about height and India should not lose heart.

Himself a strapping 611 towering figure, the power forward from Minnesota Timberwolves who was adjudged NBAs Most Valuable Player 2003-04, was here in the capital on a promotional campaign and he admitted he had no idea about basketball in India.

NEW DELHI: Nine-time NBA All-Star Kevin Garnett has said Frenchman Zinedine Zidanes head-butting episode in the final of the FIFA World Cup in Berlin was an unfortunate incident.

Zidane was provoked with verbal attack on his family. And let me tell you family is everything. Family comes first, said Garnett. The American star was in the capital on a three-day India tour for the launch of his signature basketball shoes by adidas.

He said though verbal abuse was part of basketball, what happened with Zidane was incomprehensible under such high-pressure situations.

Muzaffarnagar (UP) : A mobile simcard and Rs 14,000 were recovered from an undertrial while he was being taken from a court here to Bareilly jail, police said today.

According to police, Sunil Rathi, an undertrial allegedly involved in several cases in different districts of western UP was brought to court in connection with an extortion case.

Rathi had demanded Rs 4 lakh from Pankaj Jindal, police said.

While he was being taken from Muzaffarnagar to Bareilly jail after a hearing yesterday, police recovered Rs 14,000 and a simcard from his possession, SSP Abhinav Kumar said.

Sunil was earlier transferred from the jail in Agra to Bareilly following complaints of extortion, he added. (Agencies)

India has gotten so much closer. Direct flights to Delhi now make all the difference. The trip from New York seems about the same length as one to London or Paris.

My Continental flight was literally the first out of the gate. It leaves late at night, with time for some supper and sleep. Arrival is nighttime in India, thus theres a second chance at a good nights sleep. Bingo. Next morning, no jet lag, even after flying halfway around the world. To repeat, no jet lag.

The prize: exploring India, starting with Delhi. There is Old Delhi, with signs and storefronts crowded together, and New Delhi, with broad boulevards and wide lawns.

Traveling around the capital was the ultimate destination for me. Why? The streets. Literally. Theyre an endless colorful collage: oxen pulling carts, cars, trucks, bicycles and rickshaws. Some of the rickshaws are motorized and have windshields, often decorated with strands of glittery foil (like we use on Christmas trees).

Agra nowadays is not only about Taj Mahal and quaint cottage industry products. It is getting rapidly transformed with modern housing projects, malls and markets with an emphasis on good living in all its dimensions. Nikhil Homes Limited is one organization, which has been active in this direction. It has completed Nikhil Garden and Nikhil Enclave while Nikhil Estate and Nikhil Udhayan are under construction.

And now Nikhil Paradise, another residential scheme with ample touch of green, is to be built. This will be a magnificent lifestyle colony just two minutes away from all important locations. The area is to have 10 acres of gardens alone, besides trees and plantations. Eco-friendly practices such as solar heating, solar lighting and hygienic garbage disposal will further preserve the environment.

Lucknow : CHAOS and confusion prevailed on the second day of counselling for the combined Pre-Medical Test (PMT) at the King Georges Medical University (KGMU) here today.

Yesterday, the Director General for Medical Education had ordered that the seat allotment would be deferred. This led to much confusion, not only among students but among officials as well.

Moreover, many students from districts other than Lucknow and Bareilly were denied counselling. These students had come to KGMU due to lack of information about their counselling centres.

One such student was Priyanka Singh, who did not know that she was supposed to go to Agra for counselling. We have been here for the last two days and have been doing the rounds of KGMU to get some information. Today, at the last minute, they informed us that we were in the wrong place and should have been in Agra today, said Priyanka, who secured 5152 rank in the CPMT-2006.

After a three-month slump, the computer trade in Agra and nearby towns is finally showing signs of revival, with sales picking up. Branded personal computer (PC) companies like Intel, HCL, Compaq, Lenovo. have launched promotional packages to cash in on this boost in the PC market in Agra region.

According to the estimates, the PC market was expected to grow by more than 50 per cent in the Agra region during the current month and it can maintain a steady growth rate in the coming 6-8 months, peaking at over 150 per cent of the total PC sales in the months of May and June.

City Computers Pvt Ltd Director Parvinder Basu said the PC market grew at 70-100 per cent each year and this year too it was expected that in the next six months the Agra market alone would place a demand for at least 3,000 PCs and laptops.

Lucknow : Security has been beefed up in all sensitive places of Uttar Pradesh, including Ayodhya, Varanasi and Agra, following the deadly serial blasts in the financial capital Mumbai.

In the wake of the blasts last night, a meeting of senior officials was held and instructions issued to district police and civil officials to step up vigil, Principal Secretary (Home) S K Agarwal and state police chief Bua Singh told reporters here.

Though there was no specific information or threat, necessary security measures were being taken as a precaution, Agarwal said.

Special vigil was being maintained in Ayodhya, Kashi, Mathura and Agra where security had been further tightened around important religious and historical places, he said.

A high-alert has been sounded in Ayodhya and additional security personnel deployed at all religious places in the town.

Lucknow : AGRA teams emerged winners both in the boys sub-junior section and the senior girls section in the State Powerlifting Championship held at Ghaziabad. Ghaziabad and Lucknow occupied the second and third spots, respectively, in the sub-junior boys section. Lucknow and Kanpur stood second and third, respectively, in the senior girls section.

In the boys senior group, Gautam Budh Nagar, Agra and Ghaziabad occupied the top three positions, respectively, while in the sub-junior girls section, Lucknow and Agra stood first and second, respectively.

The top brass of State Bank of India (SBI), the countrys largest bank, will converge at Agra tomorrow for a two-day brain-storming on strategies to win back the market share lost in the last few years.

This will be for the first time that the top SBI management will have an off-site meeting, the brainchild of the banks new chairman O P Bhatt. SBIs top officials meet twice every year to review business performance and plan for the future.

Apart from Managing Director T S Bhattacharya and the eight deputy managing directors, chief general managers heading the 14 circles of the bank will attend the meeting.

Private banks aggressive tactics had resulted in a decline in SBIs market share to 17 per cent over the last few years. Bhatt had earlier said the bank would strive to increase its market share to 19 per cent in two years.

The ugly brouhaha of the unceremonious sacking of AIIMS director, Dr P Venugopal, took me back a couple of years when Yanni performed in Agra with a moonlit Taj as a backdrop. The American team was meticulous in its attention to the smallest detail, leaving nothing to the Indian autho-rities.

The setting was picture perfect. But one thing which appalled them was the abysmal condition of the city of Agra, with its squalor and filth. India does not deserve the Taj Mahal! they exclaimed, a remark that nettled greatly. I thought it was typical of the arrogant, dollar-happy American.

In the export of woollen and cotton rugs and carpets, Mirzapur and Agra, stand out as the largest exporters in the country.
But lately, the carpet export of these towns, especially Mirzapur, has suffered significantly due to the strong measures taken by the European Union and the United States against buying products manufactured in factories employing child labourers.

This has given the state a negative reputation of employing maximum number of child labourers in the country.

Taking strong measures against the employment of child labourers in the carpet, shoe and glass industries and other small scale industrial units, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to start a state-wide rescue and rehabilitate programme and impose heavy penalties on such industrial units to dissuade them from re-employing children.

Uttar Pradesh Labour Commissioner Sharda Prasad said so far the state had rescued about 150,000 child labourers from industrial units, including a large number of carpet factories.

TRAVEL: The lack of super-luxury hotels limits the well-heeled traveller to the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur circuit.

They come into India with wads of currency (or plastic). They can afford the most exotic destinations. Yet the deep-pocketed tourists religiously stick to the golden triangle of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur.

While the attraction of this circuit is definitely a draw, the lack of super-luxury hotels in other cities, except for a few in south India, is one of the main factors limiting the itinerary of the well-heeled traveller to India.

Where do these high-end tourists prefer to stay? Their choice is usually the Imperial in Delhi, the Vilas properties of the Oberoi in Jaipur or Udaipur or the Aman Resorts property in Ranthambore, says Homa Mistry of Travel Corporation (India).

USA and Germany are the source markets for the high-end tourists for this company, who stay for an average of 8-10 nights, notching up impressive $ 800-1200 average spends per day.

The Delhi High Court has restrained Uttar Pradesh-based Triveni Infrastructure Development Company (Tidco) from advertising or promoting its proposed residential flats on the Delhi-Agra road allegedly for infringement of copyright of architecture and artistic work of The Oberoi Rajvilas Hotel & Resort, Jaipur.

It also directed Tidco to maintain status quo with regards the title of the property.

While issuing notice to Tidco, judge Gita Mittal in its ex parte order said that the defendant shall not issue further advertisement or promotional activities, which would be in breach of the undertaking.

Mittal also asked the defendant to respond to the allegations on July 21, the next date of hearing.

EIH (formerly The East India Hotels) and Oberoi Hotels moved the court against Tidco, alleging infringement of the copyright in respect of their architectural, artistic workmanship, painting, etc, in their hotel - The Oberoi Rajvilas Hotel & Resort, Jaipur.

Railway officials are in talks with a hotel chain to run a Luxury on Wheels train linking tourist sites in north-western India. PK Goel, a senior railway official, said yesterday that a proposal by the Oberoi hotel group was under consideration.

The train would have eight coaches with 24 cabins and a kitchen serving Indian and western cuisine. Starting in New Delhi, its stops would include Jaipur, Jodhpur and Agra.

The Rajasthan government already runs a train called the Palace on Wheels, which recreates the atmosphere of Indias royal palaces and is booked up more than a year in advance.

Lucknow : WEDNESDAY’S attack on a leading telephone company dealer, Gaurav Shukla, is leading the police a fine dance over what could be the motive for the crime. It may be mentioned here that though the dealer was carrying cash well upto the tune of Rs 1 lakh, his attackers were not aware of it and first shot at him and then, as an afterthought, took away the money, but not before shooting at him a second time.

The police said they could have worked out a straight rivalry story but for the statement made by the dealer, who vehemently stressed that he had no rival- business or personal.

Shukla, who is undergoing treatment for multiple bullet injuries at KGMU’s Trauma Centre, said in his statement made to the police, that four motorcycle-borne miscreants intercepted him near the Globe Park in Wazirganj.

Agra : Officials of the Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) inspected the Taj Mahal following reports that the basement of the 17th century monument has been seriously damaged.

A team of ASI officials led by D Dayalan, superintending archaeologist, Agra zone, inspected the basement of the building yesterday and said conservation of the underground vaults was being done on a periodic basis.

The conservation of the underground chamber is in progress and Rs 10 lakh has been received for the purpose, Senior Conservation Assistant R K Dikshit, who was part of the team, said.

The officials visit came after a local newspaper reported that the basement of the Taj Mahal was in a poor state and might crumble in the near future if immediate steps are not taken to undo the damage.

Conservation work of the monument is being carried out periodically and all parts of the building including the underground vaults are covered under it, Dayalan said.

Agra : Officials of the Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) inspected the Taj Mahal following reports that the basement of the 17th century monument has been seriously damaged.

A team of ASI officials led by D Dayalan, Superintending Archaeologist, Agra Zone, inspected the basement of the building yesterday and said conservation of the underground vaults was being done on a periodic basis.

The conservation of the underground chamber is in progress and Rs 10 lakh has been received for the purpose, senior conservation assistant R K Dikshit, who was part of the team, said.

The officials visit came after a local newspaper reported that the basement of the Taj Mahal was in a poor state and might crumble in the near future if immediate steps are not taken to undo the damage.

Conservation work of the monument is being carried out periodically and all parts of the building including the underground vaults are covered under it, Dayalan said.

Lucknow : UTTAR Pradesh housing and urban planning minister, Shailendra Yadav has directed the housing board officials to ensure disposing of the old properties of the board and various developmental authorities which have not got any takers till date..

For disposing of the properties a sustained campaign should be launched, said Yadav directing the officials to submit a report, for the same to him at the earliest. The campaign should be conducted in phases and must be time-bound, said the minsiter.

Yadav highlighted that the housing board possesses properties worth crores of rupees which have not been disposed of till date. At present, we have over 25,000 properties worth more than Rs 1,400 crore, which are yet to be disposed of. This in turn, will help the housing authority to generate more revenue, stressed Yadav.

While the Uttar Pradesh governments plans to develop a software technology park in Agra are still awaiting final approval, Narsi Value Creations Ltd has fielded its own project for developing a separate software technology park in the town to develop which, company sources claim, discussions are underway with a Bangalore-based internationally acclaimed IT group.

The software technology park (STP) will be located in the 1,500-acre Narsi Hitech City that will be developed in Agra over the coming three years.

According to company sources, the detailed project report for the integrated township has been submitted to the Agra Development Authority (ADA) and the development of the project shall be done in three stages, with 600 acres being developed in the first stage.

The Uttar Pradesh government will unveil a new hotel policy, under which hotels being set up in the state will get a 100 per cent rebate on luxury tax for a period of five years.

Apart from the tax holiday, the state has also made an offer to provide prime land for constructing the hotels at a rate applicable for industries. The land will be made available by the UP State Industrial Development Corporation.

The new policy also empowers various development authorities to take over the possession of rural land if required for the development of new hotels.

According to sources in the Agra development authority, development authorities will have to mention the land reserved for hotels in the forthcoming city master plans that will be reserved for five years, after which, if no proposals are received for the construction of a hotel, the land can be used for commercial purposes.

France or India, a palace is a palace for its uniqueness. Even its other-worldliness. Is it replicable? Now that depends on what exactly you mean.

Palace On Wheels, the luxury train that runs a seven-night circular tour from Delhi to Delhi via Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Sawaimadhpur, Chittor, Udaipur, Bharatpur and Agra, may soon get a replica. And it will be none the worse for it.

Pin it down to demand. The train is booked for the next three years, and Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) and Indian Railways think it best to double capacity by running a second train on the same route.

The Taj and Palace On Wheels are the two most famous tourist attractions for foreigners, says an official of Indian Railways, And so it has become difficult to run the luxury service with just one train. In-principle approval has been obtained, he adds, and the service could start in April 2007.
It is not as simple as starting any other train, though, the palatial aspects of the journey being the actual draw (apart from the route).

New Delhi : In a major drug haul, four-and-a-half kg of heroin worth Rs 4.5 crore in the international market was seized and two persons were arrested in this connection in a South Delhi area, Narcotics Control Bureau officials said today.

The duo, identified as Padamvir Singh and Sarfaroz Khan, were arrested near Millennium Park on the busy Ring Road when they were waiting to deliver the contraband to someone, they said.

Both of them came from Agra and were part of a drug racket. A Maruti Zen car used by them was also seized, they added. (Agencies)

NEW DELHI: In a major drug haul, four-and-a-half kgs of heroin worth Rs 4.5 crore in the international market was seized and two persons were arrested in this conection in a South Delhi area, Narcotics Control Bureau officials said on Sunday.

The duo, identified as Padamvir Singh and Sarfaroz Khan, were arrested near Millennium Park on the busy Ring road when they were waiting to deliver the contraband to someone, they said.

Both of them came from Agra and were part of a drug racket. A Maruti Zen car used by them was also seized, they added.

The Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) will take action against as many as 17 private builders for constructing new residential colonies without proper approval, a top authority official said.

These builders were inviting bookings for the new colonies through advertisements in Delhi-based newspapers, but they had not obtained no objection certificates from the authority and nor had they fulfilled other requirements as per the law, JDA commissioner D.B. Gupta said here Tuesday.

The new colonies were being constructed on Delhi, Agra, Ajmer and Tonk roads. Constructions on several of these sites have been demolished.

To curb the massive use of pirated software in the country, especially in Agra, Microsoft Corporation held a roadshow of its Windows XP Starter Edition in the city last week, with company representatives enumerating the benefits of genuine software and the disadvantages of using pirated software.

Over 80 per cent of Microsoft software products being used by corporate and domestic users in Agra are pirated.

Recently-launched localised versions of Microsoft Office and Windows XP Starter Edition, too, have failed to elicit response from the users of Windows-based PCs.

According to a recent survey by a local PC reseller, the market share of genuine Microsoft software being installed in the near 600 laptops sold by the towns resellers each month was negligible.

Ludhiana : In an attempt to spread his wings beyond the confines of Uttar Pradesh, ousted Samajwadi leader and Agra MP Raj Babbar today came to the industrial city and said the alternative force is ready for an electoral tussle in the state.

After hitting out at Mulayam Singh Yadavs government in Uttar Pradesh, asking for Presidents rule in view of deteriorating law and order, the actor-turned MP said the Morcha would contest the next Assembly elections in Punjab.

CHIEF MINISTER Mulayam Singh Yadav today focused on speedy development of Etawah, Mainpuri, Auraiya and Agra and announced several schemes for development involving an expenditure of over Rs 94 crore. He also dedicated to people a number of completed works including the Kachaura Ghat bridge over the Yamuna.

Addressing a series of public meetings in western UP, the chief minister asserted that there would be no paucity of funds for development of Kanpur division. He lambasted those who were trying to defame him by raising the bogey of step-motherly treatment to Rae Bareli. He said that a package of over Rs 1100 crore had been given to Rae Bareli for development, which was much more than that of the amount sanctioned for Etawah, Mainpuri, Badaun and Agra.

Agra : The Taj Mahal, Indias famous ode to love, faces renewed threats from terrorists, prompting police here to beef up security arrangements around Indias most important tourist destination.

The recent security review necessitated enhancement of security all around the Taj Mahal, Agra Senior Superintendent of Police Dipesh Juneja said.

The security review of the monument was a routine affair and this time intelligence inputs indicated a renewed militant threat to the monument.

We have already deployed additional cops at various strategic points around the monument this week, and we are drawing up a fresh plan for laying a beefed-up security net around the periphery of the monument, Juneja told IANS.

FORMER PRIME Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh and cine star-cum-MP from Agra Raj Babbar gave a clarion call to the masses to teach a lesson to the governments at the Centre and State for their anti-poor and pro-capitalist policies.

The two leaders were addressing a rally as part of the mukti sangram campaign at Hingosar village in district Chandauli against the ruling Samajwadi Party government.

Singh alleged the State government had forgotten the samajawadi principles and was promoting a captalist culture.

AGRA: Security around the Taj Mahal is to be beefed up in the wake of a renewed terrorist threat to the worlds most famous monument to love.

The recent security review necessitated enhancement of security all around Taj Mahal, Agra Senior Superintendent of Police Dipesh Juneja said.

The security review of the monument was a routine affair and this time intelligence inputs indicated a renewed militant threat to the monument.

We have already deployed additional cops at various strategic points around the monument, and we were drawing up a fresh plan for laying a beefed-up security net around the periphery of the monument, he said.

FILMSTAR-TURNED-POLITICIAN and MP from Agra Raj Babbar apprehends violence in the State before the SP-led governments term ends next year.

Addressing a Press conference here on Wednesday, Babbar, who launched a new political outfit, the Jan Morcha, after his expulsion from the SP, predicted there would be a big law and order problem in the State.

Criticising the SP leaders, including Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for promoting capitalist culture, he said these leaders had deviated from the principles of socialism propagated by the late Dr Ram Manohar Lohia.

Launching a scathing attack on the government, he said there was no law and order in the State.

Lucknow : The recent hike in fuel prices provoked statewide protests in several parts of Uttar Pradesh Tuesday with the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) criticising the central governments move.

The SP demonstrators detained trains and put up roadblocks in several towns.

Except for Meerut and a few other places, the demonstrations remained peaceful and symbolic. The only common factor was frontal attack on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

The protesters raised slogans against UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

While Left parties had given a call for a nationwide strike against the price rise, the ruling party chose to stage protest demonstrations independently in several parts of the state.

Agra, home to the worlds most famous monument to love, is to be given a facelift to attract tourists to the ancient Indian citys other two World Heritage sites, the Tourism Ministry said.

Most visitors come to the city of Agra, just 200 kilometres from the capital New Delhi, to visit the Taj Mahal, without even knowing of the 17th-century Red Fort and nearby Fatehpur Sikri, a ghost town that was the capital of the Mogul empire in the 1500s.

Agra is the only city in the world that has three World Heritage sites, but most people visit the Taj Mahal and leave, said N.C. Joshi, a Tourism Ministry spokesman.

Jan Morcha, a newly constituted front of various political outfits with the patronage of former prime minister V P Singh, has given a new lease of life to Raj Babbars political career.

Predictably, Babbar, who was Samajwadi Party MP from Agra until his expulsion, is targeting Mulayam government. He spoke to Rajesh N Singh after Jan Morchas successful rally in Lucknow:

It is generally being perceived that Jan Morcha is nothing but an anti-Mulayam front. What do you have to say?

This is not the general perception. This view is being propagated by Mulayam Singh and his cohorts to get peoples sympathy. We are not opposed to an individual. We are opposing a government which is known for its bad governance.

Under Mulayam, no one is feeling secure as there is a total anarchy with mafia ruling the roost. In our rally on June 30 in Lucknow, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan and RSP leader Abani Roy were present.

BSNLs prepaid mobile users in Agra are going through a bad patch these days. Barely a few months after it launched the Excel Anant lifelong prepaid scheme in Agra, the company has gone short of mobile recharge and top-up coupons causing trouble to a large number of prepaid subscribers who are unable to recharge their phones due to unavailability of prepaid recharge coupons.

Understanding the gravity of the situation, Sudeep Kumar, deputy general manager, mobile operations, BSNL, said the problem arose due to a sudden break in the supply of recharge coupons from the headquarters in Meerut.

In Agra alone, he said, there is a shortage of 20,000 recharge coupons and top-up coupons of small denominations.

He said, at present, the company only had recharge and top-up coupons of Rs 560 and above.

In view of the tough competition being faced by the company from other private operators in the prepaid mobile segment, he said, it was imperative that the coupons arrived soon otherwise the company could lose its prepaid customers to other private operators.

Imitation Jewellery Manufacturers Associations has decided on relocating more than 300 jewellery-manufacturing units from present location in the centre of Agra to its outskirts, said Alok Arya, General Secretary of Association.

The decision was taken in the wake of repeated notices issued by Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB).

UPPCB expressed concerns over the atmospheric hazards caused by these units, which are spread across the city.

The units occupy denser areas, where poisonous chemicals used in metal cleaning, polishing and electroplating create serious health problems for city dwellers.

According to Arya, Agra was a centre of imitation jewellery in UP, with over 300 units linked with jewellery manufacturing inside the old city, within small, congested areas.

Lucknow : The final selection trials in cricket for admission to Guru Govind Singh Sports College, Lucknow commenced at the college grounds here on Wednesday.

Over 550 boys of the under-15 age category who had been selected at various regional centres reported for the trials.

Boys selected from the trials at Faizabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Agra, Azamgarh, Bareilly, Moradabad, Meerut and Lucknow etc are participating in the three-day trials.

The trials are being held under the watchful eyes of Sports College coaches Deepak Sharma, SP Krishan, besides reputed cricketers of yesteryears Gopal Sharma, Neeru Kapoor and N Sanyal.

With the rise in petroleum prices throwing household budgets out of gear, Agra industrialists, utilising CNG for operating their units, too have got worried at the imminent rise in gas prices.

According to local industrialists, CNG was being delivered to their units by Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) at a price of Rs. 6 per cubic metre while any consumption over the prescribed gas limit was charged at about Rs 10.50 per cubic metre.

Recently, the industrialists in the nearby town of Firozabad received a letter from GAIL which stated the prices of the over-limit consumption of gas at Rs 23 per cubic metre, which has created panic among the local industrialists who are shocked at the more than two times hike in gas prices by the company.

Devicharan Agarwal, a local industrialist, said this letter could have only one meaning that GAIL was planning to sneak in the new, higher rates of CNG without taking the industrialists into confidence.

NEW DELHI - Agra, home to the worlds most famous monument to love, is to be given a facelift to attract tourists to the ancient Indian citys other two World Heritage sites, the Tourism Ministry said.

Most visitors come to the city of Agra, just 130 miles from the capital New Delhi, to visit the Taj Mahal, without even knowing of the 17th century Red Fort and nearby Fatehpur Sikri, a ghost town that was the capital of the Mogul empire in the 1500s.

Agra is the only city in the world that has three World Heritage sites, but most people visit the Taj Mahal and leave, said N.C. Joshi, a Tourism Ministry spokesman.

HAJI MUSHTAQ Solanki was not only a big politician but a great human being also, said cine star and MP from Agra and one of the protagonists of Jan Morcha, Raj Babbar, here today. Babbar visited Haji Mushtaq Solankis residence to pay tribute to the departed soul.

Babbar reached Solankis residence at around 9 am from the State Capital and met Solankis sons Irfaan and Rizwan, and consoled them. After a meeting with them, he also met the wife and mother of the MLA and consoled them.

After staying at the MLAs residence for about an hour, he left for State Capital.

However, before leaving, Babbar while talking to mediapersons, said that no wonder the political vacuum created by the sad demise of Haji Mushtaq Solanki could never be filled but said that family members of the MLA should follow in the footsteps of Solanki.

Agra : A major fire broke out at a shoe factory in Agra in the wee hours of Tuesday destroying property worth twenty-five crore rupees. However, no one was injured as labourers were not present in the factory.

According to sources, the fire broke out at 2:40 am and could be controlled only after six hours by the fire department.

The source of fire has not been located, however, short circuit is believed to have caused the fire breakout in the factory.

The fire could have turned into a major tragedy had it reached a nearby matchbox factory.

Having successfully achieved 46 per cent of the electrification target in the Agra zone, Reliance Energy Ltd has accomplished a major feat.

At a time when the entire state of Uttar Pradesh is having to cope up with the worst power crisis in the recent years, Reliance Energy Ltd, one of the flagship companies of the Anil Ambani-controlled share in the Reliance dynasty, has taken up the gigantic task of electrifying 7,220 UP villages as a part of the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Project.

The company has already achieved 100 per cent electrification target in 2,200 villages and hopes to complete the remaining work much ahead of the schedule.

According to sources in the Reliance industry, the company is participating in rural electrification of the state as a part of its commitment to improve the quality of life of the people of Uttar Pradesh.

The sources said Reliance is committed to carry out rural electrification of 18 districts in the state. The company has been working since August 2005 on the project, which targeted the electrification of 7,220 villages of the state and covered about 97,000 below poverty line (BPL) families of these villages.

A new bank, Shreyas Gramin Bank with headquarters in Aligarh, has been formed by amalgamating three UP-based regional rural banks (RRBs) sponsored by Canara Bank. The amalgamated banks are Aligarh Gramin Bank, Etah Gramin Bank and Jamuna Gramin Bank.

The new bank will cover the five districts of Aligarh, Hathras, Etah, Agra and Firozabad that the RRBs covered, according to a release from the bank.

The consolidated RRB will have a total net worth of Rs 174 crore and 183 branches. They together posted a net profit of Rs 14.57 crore in 2005-06. The management of Shreyas Gramin Bank will continue to be vested with Canara Bank.

NEW YORK : New York master chef Vikas Khanna who has cooked in the same kitchen with US homemaking icon Martha Stewart does not believe that too many cooks spoil the broth. Khanna who has written several cookbooks including the bestselling The Spice Story of India is going to fly into the Taj Mahal town of Agra with a plane-load of celebrity chefs to create a feast fit for kings.

Star chefs from the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia will prepare their trademark specialties at the two-day culinary arts festival in Agra in June next year. There will be 500 dishes for visitors to sample in booths set up at the food fair for tickets starting at Rs 500. The foreign chefs will shop for fresh ingredients, meat and fish at the bustling Agra bazaar.

LUCKNOW: Two new software technology parks would soon be set up in Agra and Varanasi.

Besides the software technology parks already functioning with the help of Union government in Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow and Allahabad, Agra and Varanasi would also have such parks, a release quoting the Managing Director of UP Electronics Corporation Limited, Omkar Nath said.

While the place for setting up the park in Agra has been identified, clearance for the same in Varanasi was still awaited, Nath said, adding the decision to set up these new parks has been taken in view of the growing scope and needs.

Agra University Vice Chancellor A S Kukla has been removed from his post and Bhumitra Dev, the former vice chancellor of Rohilkhand University of Bareilly, has been asked to take charge of the post.

A communication issued by the Raj Bhawan in Lucknow today said Kukla had been removed from the post with immediate effect.

Kuklas removal came in the wake of a baton charge by police on students from Jammu and Kashmir and a series of protests against the vice chancellor by students, teachers and employees of the Agra University.

Officials said Dev had taken charge and held a meeting with the registrar, finance officer and other officials of the university at the circuit house here.

The Taj Mahals home town, Agra, is to be given a facelift to attract tourists to its other two World Heritage sites.

Most visitors to the Taj Mahal leave the ancient city without seeing the 17th century Red Fort or Fatehpur Sikri, a ghost town that was the capital of the Mogul empire in the 1500s.

We are planning a sound and light show at Fatehpur Sikri, which will bring alive the sights and sounds of the city as it looked in the 16th century, said N C Joshi, a tourism ministry spokesman. The ministry plans to develop other monuments in Agra and add more attractions for tourists, Mr Joshi said.

Allahabad High Court has refused to quash the FIR lodged against a lady doctor and stay her arrest after she was caught in-camera while agreeing to conduct abortion of a woman carrying a female foetus.

The FIR was lodged against Dr Varsha Gautam on April 11, by the Chief Medical Officer, Agra. The sting operation was carried out by a Hindi news channel.

The petitioners counsel argued that agreeing to perform an abortion was an expression of intention and it related to the stage of preparation only. It did not amount to an attempt to commit an offence, punishable under Section 312/511 IPC.

LUCKNOW: Sixth vice-chancellor in a row to be guillotined since TV Rajeswar took over as governor of the state, the case of AS Kukla, former V-C of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Agra, is somewhat unique.

Kukla happens to the only V-C among the discredited lot, who was appointed by Rajeswar himself. And while others had to quit on charges of corruption and misappropriation primarily, Kukla was shown the door for being a non-performer.

Out of a long list of 32 complaints received against Kukla since the time he took over in September 2004, not more than six make direct allegations of corruption.

Allahabad High Court is the fourth oldest and the biggest High Court in Asia. Originally the High Court, then known as the High Court for the North Western Provinces, functioned at Agra from 1866 to 1868. In 1869, it moved to Allahabad.

Apart from these, numerous others facts are available at the musuem located in Allahabad High Court which is eagerly awaiting the inquisitive visitors.

Quite unknown to the citizens, this museum displays articles associated with historical truths attached with High Court. It provides an exclusive opportunity to peep into the glorious past of the exalted building.

NEW DELHI: It is an attempt to encase old world charm with a modern touch. The centrepiece of the plot- the Taj Mahal - in its pristine beauty will be surrounded by pedestrian walkways, landscaped lawns, fairy lights along with battery run eco-friendly buses and informative signages.

The ministry of tourism and culture has chalked out an ambitious Rs 40-crore plan to refurbish the Taj Mahals surrounding areas and Agra city. There are good reasons to do so.

With 10,000 tourists visiting the world heritage site daily, a number that increases to 25,000-30,000 during weekends and holidays, the Taj Mahal is indisputably Indias biggest draw.

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Governor T V Rajeswar today ordered a probe into charges of irregularities against Agra University Vice Chancellor A S Kukla and appointed Bhumitra Dev the acting vice chancellor of the institution.

The inquiry was ordered following several complaints in respect of the functioning of Agra University, Rajeswar, who is also chancellor of the university, said in a release issued here.

NEW DELHI : From Handloom to knitwear and leather footwear to sports goods and auto components, The small scale industry in north India has been flourishing in qlusters

NORTH India is home to a large number of prominent industrial clusters that have come to dominate the entire sectors production and exports.

Handloom in Panipat, woollen knitwear in Ludhiana, engineering and auto parts in the national capital region, leather footwear in Agra and sports goods in Jalandhar and Meerut are just some of the important clusters in the Northern region. In recent months, a booming economy has not only brought an increased focus on exports in most of these clusters, but many SME and SSI units have invested heavily and come out of the small scale ambit.

Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh government has decided to put in place emergency security plan and deploy quick response teams (QRTs) at airports in the state.

A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting here chaired by Principal Secretary (Home) S K Agarwal And Attended By Director General Of Police (DGP) Bua Singh, senior police officers and civil aviation authorities.

The officials discussed at length the security arrangements at airports in Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Agra, an official spokesman told newsmen.

It was decided to approach the Centre for deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Qrts at Kanpur Airport, while the district administrations of Varanasi, Agra and Lucknow had been asked to implement emergency security plans immediately.

LONDON (Reuters) - The scare over poultry meat sparked by bird flu has been overdone, particularly in low-risk areas such as Europe, and farmers have paid a very heavy price, analysts and industry officials said on Wednesday.

The shock we are seeing is way out of proportion to the risk. Consumers are not very much at risk from this disease, said Anni McLeod of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

The people least at risk are causing a large proportion of the problem, she told World Poultry 2006, a conference organized by Agra Informa, an agricultural publishing group.

McLeod, a senior officer in livestock policy, cited Europe as one area where the reaction of consumers had been out of proportion, noting how demand fell by 70 percent in Italy after one outbreak.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 120 people since late 2003, the vast majority in Southeast Asia. Human cases have been linked to direct or indirect contact with diseased birds rather than consumption of poultry.

Before the revised pollution control directives put the Agra diesel generator manufacturing industry off its track, the foundry industry of this town ranked among the countrys largest assemblies of metal casting industrial units, generating business of over Rs 6,000 crores.

According to the Agra District Industrial Centre officials, there were 226 iron foundries and about 340 metal casting units functioning in Agra in the decade of 1990-2000.

However, after the use of coking coal in the blast furnaces, utilised by these units, was banned by the Central Pollution Control Board, the foundry and metal-casting industry faced a serious setback and the number of industrial units reduced drastically.

Amar Mittal, Chairman, Agra Iron Founders Association, said, Despite being more than 100 years old, the Agra metal-casting and foundry industry had not yet received exposure in the global market.

New Delhi : From her rented accommodation, one can clearly see Humayuns Tomb. After Delhi: Thousands of Years of Monuments British writer Lucy Pecks second book also deals with monuments but this time its about Agra.

A qualified architect and town planner from Bristol University, Peck came to India a decade ago with her husband Donald, a businessman. Since then, she has travelled extensively across the country. When I came to India, I would marvel at its beauty. Its a wonderful country, rich in monuments, landscape. These things interested me but I also realised that there should be much more awareness among people about their heritage. Thats why I took to exploring. I read a lot and traveled far and wide.

Agra : Heavy showers early Tuesday gave a pleasant surprise to residents in the Taj Mahal city who had been dreading a return of the heat wave conditions as forecast by the weather office.

The showers started around 4 a.m. and continued till 7.45 a.m.

With dark clouds still hovering over Agra, few more spells of rain cannot be ruled out.

The rains also settled dust on the dry Yamuna riverbed behind the Taj Mahal, which stood majestically shining after a thorough rain-wash.

The unexpected rains were also welcome by harried civic officials. The water problem will ease temporarily, but there will be other problems to address, said an official.

Agra - Heavy showers early Tuesday gave a pleasant surprise to residents in the Taj Mahal city who had been dreading a return of the heat wave conditions as forecast by the weather office.

The showers started around 4 a.m. and continued till 7.45 a.m.

With dark clouds still hovering over Agra, few more spells of rain cannot be ruled out.

The rains also settled dust on the dry Yamuna riverbed behind the Taj Mahal, which stood majestically shining after a thorough rain-wash.

The unexpected rains were also welcome by harried civic officials. The water problem will ease temporarily, but there will be other problems to address, said an official.

London - Munich, Germany-based Infineon Technologies (nyse: IFX - news - people ), which produces semiconductors for industrial, automotive, computing, and communications applications, probably prides itself on its diverse portfolio. And its reportedly been eyeing two U.S. rivals that would also claim to have their chips in all the pies: Pennsylvanias Agere Systems (nyse: AGRA - news - people ) and Irvine, Calif.-based Broadcom (nasdaq: BRCM - news - people ).

Agra: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has found a cache of arms believed to be 280-years-old while carrying out an excavation work in the 16th century monument of Agra Fort here.

Located in the wall of the Agra fort, most of the ammunition consist of shells. Archaeologists believe that the discovery of these shells will provide an insight and opportunity to revisit the citys glorious past.

While we were repairing, we found these shells. The area of the wall where it hit has developed a depression. This sugget that this fort had come under under attack at some stage. Now we will be sending it to the science branch to find out their exact age, said Amar Nath Gupta, Conservation Assistant, Agra Fort.

Agra: Leaders from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit who went to Agra today to visit the Taj Mahal have strongly condemned the attack on a Congress rally by militants in Srinagar.

The rally was organized to observe the 15th death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was killed by Dhanu, an LTTE suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur.

Leaders said that the violence perpetrated by the militants could not be condoned. Terrorism in all its manifestations had to be condemned whether it was in Srinagar or elsewhere.

A Fast Track Court today allowed the defence counsel in the Japanese tourists rape case to appoint its own translator to record the statement of the woman allegedly raped in a hotel in Pushkar last month.

Judge Mahavir Prasad asked the defence counsel to bring its own translator on May 23 when the evidence of the victim is to be recorded.

Meanwhile, the cross examination of S Parimala, an IAS trainee, who brought the victim from Agra to Ajmer and was actively associated with the case, was today completed.

Constable N Ram tendered evidence that he had taken Japanese tourists fax to Pushkar for lodging report in the police station.

With warmth in their hearts and hopes in their eyes, 35 Maulvis from cooler and hilly parts of J&K descended on the Capital. Coming from the remote areas of Udhampur and Rajauri Districts, they carry with them the warmth of their people for their brethren in plains. The National capital being their first halt, they are on a 15 days tour of Delhi, Agra, Ajmer and Jaipur. They are thankful to the Army for having given them this opportunity under Op Sadhbhavana.

Interacting with Lt Gen AS Jamwal, Adjutant General, here today, they narrated tales of their short exposure so far. Speaking on the occasion, the Adjutant General, who himself hails from the state, told the Maulvis that he was fully aware of their problems manifested by militancy. He complimented them for leading the people in braving the militancy and talked of the positive changes that have taken place over the last few years.

Stock farmers at Spitzkoppe and Okombahe recently held a successful livestock auction where they sold quality cattle and goats. These communities have been unable to hold auctions in 30 years.

Operating under the Omkaibasen Community Farmers Cooperative and with cooperation from Agra, the communal farmers were delighted at the positive outcome of the first ever auction held by the community itself.

The auction was held at Samatab Noord No 115, some 30 km northwest of Usakos in the Erongo Region.

The event is seen as empowerment for local communal farmers in the Spitzkoppe area who at the end of the auction had made over N$360 000.

A fast track court today recorded the statements of two persons, including a chief medical jurist P Saraswat, who had conducted the medical examination on a Japanese tourist allegedly raped at a hotel in Agra last month.

The statement of S Parimola, an IPS trainer, who is said to have brought the victim from Agra and recorded her statement during the initial period of investigation, was also recorded by judge Mahavir Prasad.

The recording of the womans statement was deferred as it ahs to be done by a translator.

The prosecution counsel Ashok Tejwani told the court that one Harish Bhatt will translate the statements of the woman and claimed that Japanese embassy too had recommended for Bhatt to be translator on behalf of the victim.

Srinagar: In a bid to enhance market competitiveness and quality of products, Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to train artisans in leather industry and cricket bats manufacturing units in multi-disciplinary centres at Madras, Kanpur and Agra.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting chaired by Secretary, Khadi and Village Industries Board here to identify small scale industries in the state and upgrade the skills of artisans in such sectors, an official spokesman said.

Artisans would be trained at multi-disciplinary centres of khadi and village industries at Madras, Kanpur and Agra, he said.

A common facility centre was also coming up in Anantnag district of south Kashmir to provide necessary aids including finishing, marketing and other facilities to bat industry.

New Delhi : Thirteen companies including infrastructure major Jaiprakash Associates hotels in Delhi, Agra and Greater Noida figure in the list of firms that have misused norms for importing foreign cars in the country.

JP Hotels in New Delhi, JP Greens Hotels, Greater Noida and JP Hotels and Convention Centre in Agra are among the 13 companies which misused Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme for import of cars between April 01, 2004 to March 31, 2006, Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

Lucknow : At least six labourers were killed and three others injured when an oil tanker hit a stationary truck in Etmadpur area of Agra district today.

Police said the labourers were alighting the truck when the mishap occurred.

While, five of them died on the spot, another succumbed on the way to hospital. However, the bodies were yet to be identified.

The tanker driver had been taken into custody and the injured admitted to hospital.

Agra : This city of the Taj is breaking new ground in the production of musical CDs, not just pirated stuff but also original scores that have given a new lease of life to local folk music.

A number of studios have been regularly producing CDs with traditional scores that are popular in the rural areas of Braj Mandal, the cultural belt including places like Agra, Mathura and Vrindavan that are associated with Lord Krishna.

While Mathura has been churning out mostly bhajans in the local dialect, Braj Bhasha, the flavour of the contents in Agra is mythological, historical with some nautanki items thrown in as well.

The latest such CD to hit the market is called Sudama ka shaap, produced by Dilip and Kumkum Raghvanshi. Popular folk singer Komal Singh has lent his voice to the score by Dilip.

The 350-year-old Taj Mahal, which has weathered many a storm over the centuries, could not bear a bit of jostling by a monkey.

A monkey brought down a flower vase carved atop the sandstone turret on the main entrance gate of the monument.

The incident occurred on Sunday morning when a leap by a monkey literally severed the flower vase from the steep turret and brought it down. It is said that the three-and-a-half century-old mortar used to fix the flower vase on the turret easily gave way under the monkeys weight.

Fortunately, it did not hurt anyone. The passage below is the routine entrance for thousands of tourists visiting the Taj every day, Archaeological Survey of India official B Vikram told rediff.com over telephone from Agra.

Lucknow : Former national champion S Nasir Ali of Kanpur surged into lead when he defeated Shailendra Bajpai, a rated player of Allahabad, in the sixth round encounter with black pieces on the third board in the 43rd UP State Chess Championship being held at PRD Compound, Lucknow. Nasir has scored 5.5 points to his credit.

In the earlier round, under-13 age category state player Deepak Katiyar of Kanpur joined the leaders when he defeated Gajendra Singh Chauhan of LIC, Mainpuri. He played safe with his citymate Vivek Shukla in the subsequent round to smash another half a point to reach reach the tally of five points on the 2nd board.

THE latest confidence-building measure (CBM) in the growing amity between India and Pakistan is the welcoming embrace of Taj Mahal by the latter. Well, not the monument of love in Agra but a symbolic gesture of how the greatest of all emotions needs no boundaries.

It was indeed a moving picture!

The screening of two Indian films in Pakistani movie houses after a 40-year ban is also attaining political significance with many convinced that cultural bonding remains the best way to bring the two neighbours close.

Taj Mahal, a mega budget movie, was premiered in Lahore, the cultural hub of Pakistan last month. Based on the true story of Emperor Shah Jehans love for his wife Mumtaz Mahal in whose honour he built the fantastic Taj Mahal, the film has been released with much fanfare in Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Multan, Hyderabad and Rawalpindi. This came after one of Bollywoods greatest love epics, Mughal-e-Azam – redone in colour – became the first Indian movie in decades to be officially released in a Pakistani cinema.

Lucknow : AFTER facing a 25-16, 25-19 defeat at the hands of Varanasi region in their first match on Sunday, Lucknow girls displayed a keen sense of alertness to defeat Kanpur 25-19, 23-25, 25-10 during their second match of the day and also their last league encounter, to secure a berth in the final of the Under-16 State Level Girls Volleyball Tournament in progress at the KD Singh Babu Stadium, Lucknow. The match between Lucknow and Kanpur was a real thriller in which both the teams resorted to an attacking game from the word go.

Allahabad emerged winner in both its encounters with good ease to also secure a place in the all-important encounter in style. Allahabad defeated Agra 25-3, 25-9 in its first match. Though it faced some initial resistance from Varanasi in its second match, however, Allahabad exercised an upperhand throughout in the second set to win the set and the match 28-26, 25-17.

THE RASHTRIYA Lok Dal (RLD) has decided to keep away from the Jan Morcha recently launched by former prime minister VP Singh. The RLD had earlier tied up with Singhs Kisan Morcha and shared platform with him at several rallies but the party is opposed to have any alliance with suspended SP MP from Agra, Raj Babbar, who is Jan Morcha president. The RLD has made it clear that it would not attend May 30 rally of the Morcha in Lucknow.

AGRA: An archaeologist is praying for a respite from a heatwave engulfing the Taj Mahal town of Agra, warning that heavy dust in the dry air could permanently scar the marble monument to love.

Temperatures hovered this week at 45 Celsius in the city, 200km south of New Delhi, as a heatwave that has killed 60 people nationwide in the past week dragged on.

The Yamuna River, which runs behind the 17th-century white Mughal tomb, was dry and Agras chief archaeologist Doraiswamy Dayalan said he was worried that dust from the nearby desert and factories would turn the marble yellow.

Apart from a few large footwear manufacturers, the Agra footwear industry mainly comprises 800-1,000 small-scale units engaged in the manufacture of low-cost leather and non-leather shoes and accessories.

But while the footwear manufacturers in the upper price segment are reaping the maximum profits by exporting footwear to European countries, the low-priced segment is entirely dependent on domestic consumption.

These small scale units have been the worst hit lately by the Uttar Pradesh governments decision to levy 8 per cent trade tax on leather and 4 per cent trade tax on non-leather shoes, irrespective of their price.

LUCKNOW, Varanasi and Agra have made it to the semi-finals of the Under-16 State Level Boys Hockey Tournament by virtue of emerging as pool leaders from pools A, B and C, respectively, in the Under-16 State Level Boys Hockey Tournament in progress at the KD Singh Babu Stadium, here.

Agra defeated Basti 1-0 to collect full points in its last league encounter. The all-important goal was netted by Amit in the 19th minute of the play.

The match between Faizabad and Bareilly also proved to be a thriller in which the former emerged winner by a 1-0 difference. Due to a strong defence line-up on both the sides, no goals could be scored in first-half. However, dodging defenders skilfully, Shailendra Singh scored a field goal in the 36th minute of the play to impart a 1-0 lead to Faizabad which was maintained till the final whistle.

By Brajesh Kr. Singh, Agra: Though Agra is situated on the banks of river Yamuna, enduring water woes has become a routine feature of life for the residents here, especially, the ones living in the rural parts. This year the villagers are facing an acute water shortage as ground water level has gone below normal.

With temperatures soaring, power crisis and its cascading effects, villagers say hours are spent fetching water from tankers. It costs around four rupees for a bucket of water.

Agra : Major repairs are being carried out at the world heritage site of Fatehpur Sikri, the 16th century fort built by Mughal emperor Akbar near the city of the Taj.

The mausoleum of Akbars spiritual guru Sheikh Salim Chisti is getting a face-lift for the first time. The ceiling, which had developed cracks and was in danger of collapsing, is being replaced with new stones. The supervisor at the site said the Archaeological Survey of India had initiated work on the site six months ago.

While hosts Lucknow maintained their winning streak in the Under-16 Boys Hockey State Level Tournament, Varanasi, Allahabad, Agra, Meerut and Azamgarh too maintained their good form to emerge victors in their days matches of the tourney at the KD Singh Babu Stadium here on Wednesday.

Lucknow defeated Mirzapur 4-0 in its second consecutive encounter. For Lucknow, Abhishek Kumar broke the ice in the twelfth minute of the play. Two minutes later Pradeep Maurya consolidated the lead further. Pradeep struct two more goals in the second-half to pave the way for a 4-0 win for the team.

Agra : The 17th century Taj Mahal appears to be losing its shine as it battles pollution, dust-laden winds from the western desert and sand from the dry Yamuna river bed. Whats more, the heat is affecting tourism.

The rising suspended particulate matter (SPM) level in the city and effluents released by industries have made the Agra environment unfit as much for stone monuments as for humans.

Firoz Khan and Aftab, photographers at the Taj, said the sun was too bright and the Taj looked pale yellow in the afternoons, particularly with clouds of dust rising in the background from the Yamuna.

Lucknow : The current heat wave sweeping across Uttar Pradesh has already claimed 16 victims this summer.

The highest number of deaths was reported from Allahabad and Faizabad, where five people each had succumbed to the scorching heat. Three people had died in Rae Bareli, two in Lakhimpur-Kheri and one in Kaushambi district.

Surprisingly, no heat wave deaths were reported from Agra, Jhansi and other neigh bouring areas, where mercury had shot up to 45 degrees Celsius - one to three degrees above normal.

An angry group of villagers yesterday torched a police post and blocked traffic for over six hours on the Mumbai-Agra Highway passing through Shahapur in Thane district after four persons were killed in an accident, police said.

Eight persons were also injured in the mishap as a tanker lorry rammed into an autorickshaw, carrying 11 people. The autorickshaw was comming from Atgaon railway station when the tanker hit the vehicle from behind. Immediately after the accident, villagers blocked the traffic for over six hours. Additional police force was sent to Shahapur to avoid any flare up.

The accident took place when the traffic police stopped a truck reportedly to collect hafta, the villagers alleged. The autorickshaw was just behind the truck when it was hit from behind by the speeding tanker whose drive lost control.

THANE: An angry group of villagers on Sunday torched a police post and blocked traffic for over six hours on Mumbai-Agra highway passing through Shahapur in Thane district after four persons were killed in an accident, police said.

Eight persons were also injured in the mishap as a tanker rammed into an autorickshaw, carrying 11 people, police said.

The autorickshaw was coming from Atgaon railway station when the tanker hit the vehicle from behind, police said. Immediately after the accident, villagers blocked the traffic for over six hours, police said, adding that traffic has been restored on the highway.

NEW DELHI: The mercury soared to an abysmal high — touching 47 degrees in some parts — on Sunday, leaving almost 50 people dead across the country. Though authorities did not have exact figures of casualties, reports coming in from different states pointed to the harshest summer in a long time.

Moreover, the weatherman predicted no respite — the afternoon would continue to scorch in the next two days while the night temperatures are also expected to be unbearably high.

In western districts of Orissa, there were reports of 39 people killed by the intense heat as day temperatures hovered around 43 degrees Celsius. The government, however, confirmed only 10 deaths due to sunstroke in hotspot Titlagarh among other places. Apart from Titlagarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Talcher and Sundargarh too have been experiencing temperatures over-40 degree Celsius.

New Delhi : Former Prime Minister V P Singh today inaugurated a painting exhibition by noted painter Indira Punia here.

The paintings are among one of the best I have seen so far, Singh, himself an acclaimed painter, said after visiting the exhibition Strokes of life which portrayed common place subjects and contemporary rural life.

Praising Punia for exemplifying life on canvas, Singh observed that the deft strokes of the brush reflected life and environment with an abstract pattern quality.

At a time when the entire state of UP is facing the worst power crisis in recent times, the power transformer manufacturing industry of Agra was hoping for good business this year, expecting a rise in demand of power correcting equipment like voltage stabilisers, CVTs and inverters but the more than two-fold rise in copper and aluminum prices over the past four months has destroyed all hopes of good business of the local transformer manufactures.

As the prices of both these metals began rising since February, the small-scale power transformer manufacturing units of Agra have been facing a tough competition from the branded manufacturers whose prices have now come almost at par with the locally manufactured brands after the huge rise in metal prices.

A number of such small-scale units affected by the price rise have either cut-down on their production or temporarily shut down till the metals ease down to a lower level.

Albanys City Manager names three finalists for the Civic Center Director position.
John Mazzola is the Facilities Director for the Okeechobee County Agra-Civic Center in Okeechobee County, Florida.

Jack Walker is the President of Big River Events in Jackson Tennessee.
Robert Stewart is a researcher and editor for the International Association of Assembly Managers in Reno, Nevada.

City Manager Alfred Lott plans to hire a civic center director by the end of the month.

Roger Burnett has served as interim director of the venue since Mattie Goddard was fired earlier this year. Goddard is suing the city and claims Lott discriminated against her.

Mamata Banerjee came but could not conquer.

Hundreds of people had assembled here, 22 km from Raiganj town, not so much for the Trinamul chief but for Raj Babbar, Agra MP and a Bollywood hero once upon a time, who had been brought along by Priya Ranjan Das Munshi to campaign for the Congress.

The grand alliance might not have happened but both Mamata and Das Munshi today held their election meetings at venues located almost a stones throw away from each other.

The two meetings were held on the Itahar High School premises and Saraidighi Math, grounds adjoining each other. Though Mamata was visibly upset with the Congresss choice of venue, it was good news for security personnel.

Food company Unilever-Leioas 2006 investment plan is designed to optimize its production resources. The company has assigned 3 million euros just to maintaining its current technological level. The money will be spent mostly on new machinery and all-round improvements on its production installations.

This is the latest in a series of investments made in recent years. In 2005, investments focused on the product section. A new Whopper-style sauce was introduced, together with a new margarine-packing system.

Formerly known as Agra, the factory, in Leioa just outside Bilbao, was acquired outright by Unilever and now has production lines capable of turning out 400 units a minute. Around 55,000 tons of oils and refined fats are processed at the factory, which also makes around 100,000 tons of margarine, mayonnaise and ketchup.

Over three years have passed since the UP State Industrial Development Corporation set up the Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP), at the Sikandra industrial area in Agra, to facilitate the setting up of export oriented industrial units in the state, but industrialists have so far refrained from setting up there units in the EPIP for the lack of infrastructural facilities.

Out of over 160 industrial plots being allotted to various units of the city, barely a dozen had begun operating from the EPIP so far while another twenty have built up their infrastructure but have not yet moved in to begin operations from the EPIP.

Worried by the lack-luster response of the industrialists on this ambitious project, the UPSIDC has decided to first complete the pending infrastructural work at the EPIP before asking the industrialists to move into the park.

According to Mr. B.P. Kureel, Regional Manager UPSIDC, the EPIP had been constructed in 100 acres of land and all 160 plots in the park had been allotted to the industrialists of the town but only 15 industrial units had begun functioning in the park so far.

Tourists at the Taj Mahal may not have to stand in long queues to gain entry, from August this year.

Worried about the negative response among tourists, especially the foreign ones, by the delay in ticket buying at the Taj Mahal, the Archaeological Survey of India has decided to introduce e-ticketing facility at the monument by the end of July or the first week of August.

Talking to Business Standard, S K Sharma, assistant superintending archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, Agra, said 12,000-15,000 tourists visited the Taj each day and a tourist had to stand in the queue for 10-15 minutes outside the monument gate.

To provide a quick solution to this problem, he said the ASI had decided to introduce the Metro railway-style e-ticketing system at the Taj Mahal, apart from some other important monuments in Delhi, where a tourist could buy a ticket from an automated ticket-vending machine and enter the monument by inserting the ticket in a slot built in a turnstile gate.

He said once used, the ticket would be marked as unusable and it would have kept by the visitor as long as he was inside because it would be needed to activate the exit gate also.

Allahabad : The Allahabad High Court today stayed the arrest of suspended Samajwadi Party MP Raj Babbar for alleged cheating and forgery in purchasing of land in Agra, his Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

The court has asked the state of U P and other respondents to file their counter affidavits in the matter.

The order was passed by a two-judge bench of Justice Imtiyaj Murtaza and Justice Amar Saran on a writ petition of Babbar challenging an impugned FIR and seeking stay of his arrest.

An FIR was lodged on April 5, 2006 at police station Sikandara in Agra district by Dhirendra Pal Singh, administrator of officers housing co-operative society ltd, alleging that Babbar and his family members had fraudulently got five plots allotted in their name.

The court has also issued notices to Singh, the complainant.

Hill stations are said to host them in large numbers. At every blind turn, behind each hint of a mist, the hill ghosts wait patiently. Delhis weather perhaps is not so conducive to haunted spirits. At any rate they seem to prefer colder heights. But still Delhi has its resident ghosts. Just look over your shoulder.

If you still cant find them and are the sort who haunts ghosts, R V Smiths The Veiled Shadow can give you some clues. Released in February, it tracks down the ghosts of Delhi and beyond—Agra, Saharanpur, Bareily, Lucknow.

Smith, who wrote The Delhi that No-One Knows last year, says The occult has always fascinated me. These stories were taking shape in my mind. They are connected to many places. Not all are fiction. They are based on some incidents.

New Delhi :A security personnel at Taj Mahal, Agra, recently gave me an insight into one of the reasons for security lapses in our country.

A couple with two daughters were made to pass through a metal detector, were frisked and their carry bags were checked separately by women and men security personnel.

The elder daughter was carrying a handbag in which she had her mobile phone in a pouch. The woman who checked the bag just made a cursory check and let her through the barricade. The girl, new to the procedure, walked upto the monument and happily started clicking the Taj with the phone. Suddenly, a Policeman appeared and began shouting at her in Hindi-Kaise mobile andar aya, ise kaise layi, etc.

When the father of the girl came to the scene, the cop started threatening him with fine, jail etc. He said a fine of Rs. 5,000 could be imposed.

The father, who knew a little Hindi, told the cop that the bag was checked before his daughter passed through the barricade and the girl thought it was okay to carry the cell phone inside. When the cop saw that he could not badger the tourists and when the daughter who could speak good Hindi started arguing, he said, hum compromise karenge. Kaisa compromise? the father asked. Rs.5,000 fine hoga, tum batao, the cop said. The tourist then knew the cop was planning to swindle him and refused to compromise and asked to see his chief.

Pushkar (Rajasthan): Following the arrest of four people for allegedly raping and duping a Japanese woman in Pushkar, the Ajmer police conducted an identification parade on Saturday.

The purpose of the parade was so the Japanese woman could help the police identify the accused.

The parade was conducted at Ajmer Central Jail in the presence of a judicial magistrate, Kailash Chandra.

The accused Babloo, manager of hotel Quiet Palace, where the Japanese lady was staying, his mother Roshni and two others were brought before the woman in the presence of Judge Chandra in the jail premises, Ajmer Superintendent of Police Srinivas Janga Rao said.

The Japanese woman, who is currently staying in the Ajmer police guest house,

Those who are yet to visit Agra to get a glimpse of one of the worlds most famous mausoleums, have a chance to catch up with a giant replica of the Taj Mahal put up in the city by an Ahmedabad-based group. The 30-ft replica of Taj has been erected on the sprawling grounds of Islam Yatimkhana in Nanpura by Ahmedabads Dholka-based Wonder Creation Charitable Trust.

The original Taj Mahal took 22 years to build and around 20,000 craftsmen and labourers had worked on it. Ours took 18 months to put up, chuckled Shabbirali Momin, president of Wonder Creation Charitable Trust. We used 63 artisans and carpenters to build the replica.

The Uttar Pradesh government would appoint sports marshalls in all villages with one acre land to encourage youngsters in the state to take up various disciplines.

Also, 18 gymnasiums would be set up for development of rural sports like wrestling, kabaddi and kho-kho, the States Minister of Sports, R K Chaudhary said here today.

There is also a plan to set up six sports complexes at par with international standards, Chaudhary said, adding land for the purpose was being identified in Varanasi, Agra, Faizabad, Saifai and some Western UP districts.

Every child is conversant and uses the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch - all physical senses. There are many other senses of non-physical type playing important role in our day today life. These are as follows:

Sense of humour

It is a live exhilarating sense that prevents us from going mad. It is a saving grace in every odd situation of pressing awkward demands. It dampens dullness. No wonder, when we open the morning newspaper we first see cartoon in the corner of the first page.

It is well said Laugh and the world laughs with you; and when you are sad and crying, there is hardly anybody around you. Laughter always draws people to one another. Every public speaker starts introduction of his talk with a joke and then comes to the seriousness of the subject. It is the gift of the gab to make listeners burst into laughter time and again in the talk. The greatest gift however is sharing our own weak points and ourselves laughing at them. Sense of humour is to be cultivated and be gifted with it.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has agreed to bear the cost of land acquisition for compensatory forestry alongside the highways in Uttar Pradesh.

As per the agreement reached between the NHAI and the UP government and ratified by the cabinet here today, the authority would pay the cost of land acquisition to the state government for the compensatory forestation.

The NHAI, in the process of executing several road projects in UP under the National Highways Development Programme, has urged the UP government to exempt it from the provisions of the Forest Act, 1980, for preventing the time and cost overrun on the road-widening projects in UP.

The NHAI is executing several projects in the state as part of the Golden Quadrilateral and the East-West Corridor project. The state government has taken the decision following the intervention of the Centre.

With biscuit manufacturers indicating a 15 per cent hike in the prices of the Glucose and Marie brands from May this year, due to heavy taxes in UP as well as the rest of the country, both the brands are fast disappearing from the local market, with retailers blaming distributors for holding up stocks.

Over 60,000 tonnes of biscuits are consumed in Uttar Pradesh annually.

In the Agra market, large family packs of both Marie and Glucose have become hard to find, an indicator of the impending crisis. Market sources say the distributors had reduced the supply after the Biscuit Manufacturers Association indicated that the biscuits might see a huge price hike in the coming month.

This was so because the prices of inputs like wheat, sugar and edible oil had risen over the past decade. Besides, high tax rates were also forcing this price hike.

SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ: Various agencies and farmers organizations have expressed fears about the failure of the government to finish land distribution before the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program expires in 2008.

Representatives from the government, business sector and farmers groups meeting for the Provincial Consultation on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development at Central Luzon State University called for an extension of the CARP to have its mission realized.

The appeal was made des-pite assurances from Ileona B. Pangilinan, provincial agra-rian reform officer for Nueva Ecija-North, that her agency has tried to speed up the implementation of the program through improvements to its legal and operations divisions.

Macario Bueno, chairman of the organization of agrarian reform beneficiaries in the province, said that partners, such as the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Cooperative Bank of Nueva Ecija, also face problems should the CARP expires in 2008.

There are also a lot of agra-rian cases pending because government lawyers have to attend to before leaving them to the farmers, he said.

We should understand that CARP is far beyond mere land distribution, it is tied with a lot of assistance to us such as production, infrastructure and marketing. It also covers corn and sugar-cane not only rice, Bueno said in the vernacular.

Pushkar : Five persons arrested in connection with the alleged rape of a Japanese woman were today remanded in judicial custody by a local court here.

Four of them were arrested last night and produced in the court of Magistrate Kishen Lal Choudhary, while the fifth was arrested this afternoon and brought before the judge.

The court remanded all of them in judicial custody till April 24. The identification parade was yet not held and is likely to be decided by the Magistrate tomorrow.

The arrest of the five followed the questioning of the Japanese woman in Ajmer yesterday after she alleged that she had been raped and robbed of Rs 54,000 after being drugged by Babloo on April 2.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tele-communication Company Limited (PTCL) in a statement on Wednesday said the fiber optical cable, which was damaged during road construction has been repaired by the PTCL engineers.

The PTCL said the appropriate action has been initiated in this regard and regrets the inconvenience caused to its valued customers on Tuesday. The fiber optical cable cut between Sakhakot and Dargai, affected the customers of Thana, Dargai, Batkhela, Alpuri, Agra and to Sone extent Saidu Sharif and Mingora also. staff report

Four persons, including the son and wife of a hotel owner, were arrested tonight in connection with the alleged rape of a Japanese tourist in Pushkar.

The arrested included Babloo, whose father owns Hotel Quiet Palace, Roshani, the wife of the owner, Raju and Sanjay, Ajmer superintendent of police Sriniwas Janga Rao said.

The arrest of the four followed 10 hours of questioning of the Japanese woman in Ajmer, where she was taken from Agra, by a team of officers.

The foreigner had alleged that she was raped and then robbed of Rs 54,000 after being drugged by the son of the hotel owner in Pushkar on April 2.

Police are looking into a claim by the accused that Babloo had wanted to marry the woman. But the police in Agra, who traced the 24-year-old woman to a guesthouse-cum-restaurant near the Taj complex area, think this might be a ploy to dilute the rape allegations.

Large areas of Uttar Pradesh remained in darkness for hours altogether as a 500 Mw unit of the singarauli thermal power plant was shut down for maintenance work.

Although the demand for power was less yesterday in view of light rains and thunderstorms, it registered steady increase in the late hours forcing authorities to resort to large scale load shedding, National Thermal Power Corporation sources said adding the demand hovered around 6800 Mw while supply was pegged at only 4400 Mw resulting in a huge gap of 2400 Mw.

The demand, according to corporation sources, is likely to increase further in the evening hours as the grid frequency still hovered around the minimum of 49 Hz. Another 500 Mw unit of the Rihand Super Thermal Power plant had already been closed for maintenance work earlier making situations worse, they said.

PUSHKAR: Another rape story is swirling out of the deserts of Rajasthan and this time the victim is a Japanese woman who has complained that she was duped by a group of men in Pushkar, drugged at a hotel and raped.

The rape, committed on April 2, went unreported until this week when the tourist sent a fax to the Ajmer police from Agra.

She alleged that three youths befriended her when she reached Pushkar in late March and took her to a guest house.

Telling her that Pushkar was not safe for tourists, the guest house owner, Babloo, advised her to give him all her valuables and cash.

Raisen could become a unique district with three world heritage sites. The Bhopal circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has proposed Bhojpur temple complex in Raisen and Mandu Hill-Fort complex in Dhar as world heritage sites. Bhimbetka and Sanchi, both in Raisen district, are already on the world heritage map.

Till now Agra is Indias only district which have three world heritage sites — Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri and Agra Fort.

They all belong to the Mughal period whereas the sites in Raisen represent three different eras — Bhimbetka (pre-historic), Sanchi (Buddhist) and Bhojpur temple (ancient).

After beginning its CNG for Automobiles project last week in Agra, the joint venture company of Indian Oil and GAIL, Green Gas Ltd, is preparing to provide piped CNG to households in Agra and Lucknow from October this year.

According to the director (commercial), Green Gas Ltd, R K Sharma, six localities of Agra had been selected for providing piped CNG, in which the company would provide 1,000 connections in the first phase. Later, more areas will get connections, according to the feasibility situation in a particular locality.

Sharma said booking for the connections would begin in May and the pipelines would be laid later, with the company installing its gas meters inside the houses at its own cost.

He said the piped CNG was similar to LPG in every aspect and only a slight modification would be needed in the gas-stoves to adapt them for using CNG as a fuel instead of LPG.

Airtel launched Airtel broadband and telephone services in Agra last week. The city will now form part of the Airtel network of fixed-line services present in Ghaziabad, Noida, Meerut and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, besides 10 other states.

Announcing the launch of these services, in Agra, Rohtash Mal, CEO, Airtel Broadband and Telephone Services (North Circle), said Airtel was Indias first private fixed line operator and it had made a commitment to its subscribers to bring about the best in network services to its clients.

On the occasion of the formal launch of the services, he said that the company had established its presence in 17 localities of Agra and in the coming few months, it shall be spread over the entire city.

NEW DELHI: Despite the travel boom, the airports at Jaipur, Srinagar, Khajuraho, Agra, Port Blair, Jaisalmer, Varanasi and Agatti are in the red.

Varanasi airport located at the city of Taj, Agra, lost Rs 4.6 crore during the year. Jaipur, the other point linking the tourist triangle anchored by Delhi, fared far worse with losses of Rs 12.7 crore. The airports at Kullu, Dehradun and Kangra are also in the red.

Apart from tourist destinations, a number of airports located at state capitals are also in red. The Patna airport lost nearly Rs 11.9 crore in 04-05, while the Bhopal airport lost Rs 8.8 crore. In any case, 116 of the 126 airports managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) make losses.

The Guwahati airport, the gateway to the North-East, is among the list of non-profitable airports with losses of Rs 51 crore, followed by Bhubaneshwar with Rs 14.7 crore, Lucknow (Rs 10.8 crore), Thiruvananthapuram (Rs 4.3 crore), Chandigarh (Rs 2.7 crore) Shimla (Rs 2.6 crore) and Ahmedabad (Rs 1.9 crore).

Power crisis deepened in Uttar Pradesh with large parts of the state having to go without electricity in the searing heat as 500 Mw Rihand thermal power plant was shut down owing to a technical snag.

Barring the state capital and districts of Etawah, Agra, Mainpuri, Rampur, Sambhal and Meerut, the situation in other parts of the state was alarming, they said.

Many parts of state, especially the rural areas and smaller towns, have been without any electricity since last evening as authorities resorted to prolonged load shedding, power corporation sources said here said today.

The authorities were faced with the arduous task of maintaining the northern grid as the frequency continued to hover around the minimum level of 48 Hz owing to soaring demand, they said.

The situation worsened in the evening as the demand touched around 7000 Mw and prolonged large-scale load shedding had to be resorted to save the grid, sources said.

Following the exceptional prices paid for karakul skins during the Copenhagen Fur auctions on 2 April, local Swakara producers now see the higher demand also translate into higher prices for good breeding stock. At a recent Agra auction, farmers obtained from buyers looking at improving their own karakul breeding material.

Glimpses from the catwalk. The marketing campaign on international catwalks included participation at fashion shows in Hong Kong, Milan and Frankfurt. The product is special in many ways - it offers something new and different in the non-traditional way it can be used.

An average price of N$6515 per ram on offer was paid during the Elite ram auction in Keetmanshoop on 6 April. The highest price recorded was N$17000 for a black karakul ram sold by Lovedale Farming CC and purchased by Hartebeesloop Farming from Stampriet. The highest bid for a white karakul ram was N$12000, which was offered by local breeder, Hartebeesloop Farming. The prices for rams are amongst the highest ever paid for breeding material in the karakul industry, and follow the exceptional prices obtained at the pelt auctions in Kopenhagen. According to Pieter Hugo of Agra, at this auction breeders were prepared to pay the equivalent of 15 pelts per breeding ram, expressed on prices obtained at the latest pelt auction.

50-year old Abhijeet Kashyap, a Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and the owner of a gas agency in Patna, on Wednesday, managed to escape from the clutches from his kidnappers who abducted him on Tuesday while on his way from Agra to Tundla in Uttar Pradesh in a tempo, the Railway police in Patna informed.

According to the police report, Kashyap somehow managed to free himself and went to the nearest police station and told them who he was. The police then informed his family members in Patna who naturally were ecstatic about the good news.

Kashyap had gone to Agra to attend a 3-day workshop organized by the Sanskar Bharti. At the conclusion of the workshop, he took a tempo and was going to Tundla where he was kidnapped by some identified criminals. He was kept hostage in Eta district from where somehow he escaped and informed the police.

Following the exceptional prices paid for karakul skins during the Copenhagen fur auctions recently, local farmers last week paid record prices to supplement their karakul herds.

An average price of N$6 515 per ram on offer was paid during the Elite ram auction in Keetmanshoop last week.

The highest price recorded was N$17 000 for a black karakul ram sold by Lovedale Farming cc and purchased by Hartebeesloop Farming from Stampriet.

The highest bid for a white karakul ram was N$12 000, again offered by local breeder Hartebeesloop Farming.

The prices for rams are amongst the highest ever paid for breeding material in the karakul industry, and follow the exceptional prices obtained at the pelt auctions in Copenhagen.

Pieter Hugo of Agra says breeders at the auction were prepared to pay the equivalent of 15 pelts per breeding ram, expressed in prices obtained at the latest pelt auction. In the past, an acceptable norm was to calculate the price per ram at 20 pelts, when prices per pelt obtained at the auction were markedly lower.

Three months after it formally launched CNG for automobile project in Agra, the GAIL–IOCL joint venture, Green Gas Ltd, has completed the construction of the first CNG mother station in the town that began dispensing CNG to automobiles on Monday.

According to J K Singh Tevatia, managing director, Green Gas Ltd, the pump, that had been established with the cost of Rs 5.5 crore had remained in pipeline for long due to the unavailability of land for the pump construction, before it could be finally setup.

He said the company had fixed the CNG prices in Agra at Rs 26 per Kg which, though much more expensive than what the gas costs in Delhi, was still a cheaper alternative to petrol as a fuel as was evident from the increase in the fuel economy of the auto rickshaws that were making 39 km per Kg of CNG against the 19 km average on petrol.

On the first day, he said, the pump that had been setup at the Inter State Bus Terminal in Agra, served gas to only seven auto rickshaws as there were almost negligible number of CNG vehicles in the town. But it has a filling capacity of 12,000 Kg per day that was capable of filling at least 100 buses and 1,000 auto rickshaws or cars in a day.

Immediate expansion in South Africa, West Asia, Seychelles and South East Asia.

East India Hotels (EIH), which runs the Oberoi chain of hotels, will open new hotels in South Africa, West Asia and Seychelles in the next three to four years.

The hospitality major will focus on expansion through management contracts in these countries, said Arjun Oberoi, deputy managing director, East India Hotels.

Like the Taj group, EIH too planned to venture into managing luxury apartments, he said.

“South Africa and West Asia are markets of immediate interest for us. We would like to manage hotels in adventure tourism destinations like the game reserves of South Africa. Tourism was given less importance in the West Asia till a few years ago. However, now the situation has reversed and we see the region as a lucrative market for expansion,” said Oberoi.

Seychelles, South Asia and South East Asia are the other focus markets for the group, he said.

Globally, EIH manages properties in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia, Australia, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. In India, the group manages hotels in more than 10 locations.

“We are more interested in managing properties, a faster and safer route for expansion than ownership,” he said.

EIH is equally keen to expand in domestic metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad with 250-300 room hotels by 2010.

Of late, Agra has been witnessing a major change in its landscape, with dozens of multi-storied shopping malls and complexes coming up all over the town in the past one year.

This indicates a possible change in the shopping behaviour of the fast-growing urban population. The city was recently declared the 27th metropolitan city of the country.

Market analysts, however, believe that as most of the malls are coming up at a distance of 4-5 km outside the main township area, they could not experience much foot traffic, unless a major part of the citys population decided to move into the residential colonies being developed in the vicinity of these malls.

Sensing the need among the builders for prime land inside the city and the inability of the Agra Development Authority to provide this land, the Agra Cantonment Board, which holds almost 30 per cent of the total land available in Agra, with most of the land lying largely underutilised in the form of disused bunglows and open grounds located deep within the posh areas of the city, has decided to lease out this open land to builders who are interested in setting up malls or complexes.

The capital and third-largest city in India, Delhis worth visiting to see the old and new cities (Muslim and Raj respectively), as well as to witness the collision between the 21st century and the traditional ways of life embedded in the city.

There are beautiful buildings, fascinating lanes, interesting museums, colourful markets, excellent restaurants and luxury hotels.

Delhi is also a major travel gateway to the northern regions of the subcontinent so makes a great starting point for further Indian travels.
When should I go?
Delhi starts to warm up in February and can be in the high 40s (over 110F) and bone-dry by May. Then comes monsoon, which is still hot but also wet and humid.

Finally, around October, comes the cool, with temperatures from 20-30C (68-86F), dropping to as low as 8C in December and January. From October to March is the best time to visit.

VIOLENCE CONTINUED in trouble-torn areas of Aligarh, with the toll going up to seven.

The State Government suspended district magistrate Rajesh Kumar Singh and senior superintendent of police Ajay Anand.

Efforts to restore peace suffered a setback on Saturday when a boy belonging to a particular community sustained a gunshot injury in Hatipul area under Delhi Gate police station.

The boy was on way to receiving relief material being distributed in a curfew-bound area when the incident occurred.

Till this incident, it had seemed the city was well on its way to normalcy.

With the onset of summer, the dreariest part of the year has begun in northern India. In Lutyens Delhi, home to the woolly-headed bunch currently plotting Indias imminent superpowerdom, the warm weather also signals the arrival of the silly season.

Once again, the focus is on that abiding Indian obsession: Pakistan. Once again, there is talk of peace with Pakistan, “breakthroughs", “changing mindsets", “tectonic shifts in mentality", “seizing opportunities", ignoring the “conservatives” and “hawks".

Once again, there is talk of “sacrifice": In this case of Siachen.

There is a pattern to this. It begins with a creeping collusion between notionally representative sections of the Government and the completely non-representative media. On television chat shows, Indians talk emptily of how the world is being transformed and Pakistani strategic termagants insist India should move its troops to the “barracks” and negotiate with the “freedom fighters".

Lucknow, A clash over decorating a makeshift temple near a mosque claimed four lives, prompting authorities to clamp indefinite curfew in Aligarh since morning.

The violence erupted last night in the communally sensitive western Uttar Pradesh town and worsened today when members of rival communities opened fire and hurled stones at each other.

Thirteen people were hospitalised with gunshot wounds, six of them in a critical state, Agra divisional commissioner Ashok Kumar said.

Two persons were brought dead to the Agra medical college, while the other two succumbed to their injuries later.

The quarrel broke out in the Dahiwali Gali area when a group of people removed the decorative lighting around the temple, where Ram Navami was being observed, alleging that the electrical connections cut through the mosques premises.

Three persons were killed and nine injured, six of them seriously, when members of two communities indulged in firing and pelting stones, prompting the authorities to impose indefinite curfew in three police station areas in this communally sensitive city on Thursday.

State paramilitary forces along with a large number of police personnel have been deployed and patrolling intensified to maintain law and order, District Magistrate R K Singh said.

Indefinite curfew has been imposed in Kotwali, Delhi Gate and Sasni Gate police station areas in the old city following the clash during which the two sides hurled stones at each other and fired from rooftops following a dispute over a place of worship on Wednesday night, Singh said.

Agra: A case has been registered against actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar in Agra for allegedly acquiring five plots of land by deceitful means.

The complaint was filed by one Dhirendrapal Singh, the administrator of Nikunj Officers Co-operative Housing Society Ltd, at Sikandra police station on Wednesday. It names the former Samajwadi Party leader, his wife Nadira Babbar, daughter Juhi, son Arya, brother Krishna Babbar and mother Shobha Rani.

The complaint alleges the actor breached terms and conditions of membership of the society when he submitted incomplete information for the five plots of land — measuring a total of 2230 square yards — he bought from them.

The timing of the case is interesting, coming as it does a month after Babbar was suspended from Samajwadi Party following his outburst against party leader Amar Singh.

Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos will arrive in India April 11 for a weeklong visit that will focus on intensifying economic and technological cooperation between the two countries.

Accompanied by senior ministers and a business delegation, Papadopoulos will visit Agra, Mumbai and Bangalore.

In Bangalore, Papadopoulos - the fifth president of Cyprus to visit India - will get to see a technology-powered city and visit Infosys, India’s Silicon Valley.

As Cyprus is a member of the European Union, the visit will provide an occasion to discuss the growing relationship between India and the EU. Bilateral trade between India and Cyprus stands at $42 million.

A name better known for Skoda, Honda and JCB dealerships, besides its real estate projects, Agra-based Triveni group is going to be the newest player in the booming satellite television industry.

After trying its hand in automobiles, infrastructure development, real estate and finance, the Rs 2,000 crore Triveni group is planning to enter the entertainment industry through the launch of its own satellite television channel, which is expected to be launched in mid-October this year.

Talking to Business Standard, Madhur Mittal, managing director, Triveni group, said the group was entering a phase of expansion and at a time when television channels were making good business in the country, it was almost natural for the group to take a step into this field.

He said the Triveni group’s television channel shall be based completely on entertainment that included daily soaps and in-house programming and it had not been designed for any specific genre of viewers, targeting the general public. So far, he said, a name had not been finalized for the channel but it would be revealed soon as the group planned to launch this channel by October this year.