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V O I C E O F T H E P E O P L E

Chandigarh New Delhi Jalandhar Bathinda Srinagar Friday, October 26, 2012Vol. 132 No. 297 Late City Edition 32 pages  `  2.50

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 25

The management of belea-guered Kingfisher Airlinestoday managed to broker adeal with disgruntledemployees ahead of the F1Grand Prix in which airlinepromoter Vijay Mallya holdsa major interest. The 26-daydeadlock was resolved withthe management agreeing topay four months’ dues by

December-end to the strikingemployees, who have notreceived salaries since thepast seven months.

Though the employeesdecided to resume work withimmediate effect, thegrounded carrier will have toconvince aviation regulatorDGCA to reinstate its sus-pended licence with a viableplan on safety, financial andoperational issues — all of which may take time.

Airline’s chief executiveofficer Sanjay Aggarwalsaid: “Employees are onduty as we speak... We areall in this together andlooking forward to get thisairline going in the nextfew weeks.”

The development was con-firmed by engineers' repre-

sentative Subhash ChandraMishra, who said they hadaccepted the management's

proposal for a staggeredpayment of dues by Decem-ber. A representative of thestriking pilots also said theywould be resuming work immediately.

As per the plan, the Marchsalary would be paid within24 hours, the April salary byOctober 31, May duesbefore Diwali in mid-November and June salaryby December-end.

Dues from July to Septem-ber would be paid by March

next year after recapitalisa-tion of the airline, the staff members said. The manage-

ment also withdrew its cir-cular asking staffers to givea written undertaking beforeresuming duty.

It is clear that the manage-ment, which was earlier offer-ing only a three-month salary,agreed to accept the workers'demand for payment of at leastfour months’dues by Decem-ber-end to save Mallya fromembarrassment at the interna-tional racing event slated thisweekend. Mallya, who co-owns the Sahara Force India

team, wanted to avoid employ-ees’agitation at the event.Continued on page 11

Kingfisher deadlock over staff wages endsEmployees to get four months’ salary by Dec-end

Satirist Jaspal Bhatti dies in car crashTRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

JALANDHAR , OCTOBER 25

Ace comedian, satirist andfilm producer Jaspal Bhattidied in a road accident nearShahkot today.

The accident took placearound 1.30 am when Bhatti,his son Jasraj, actor SuriliGautam and Navnit Joshi, aChandigarh-based advertise-ment professional, were trav-elling from Bathinda toJalandhar via Moga for thepromotion of their upcomingfilm ‘Power Cut’.

Their white Honda Accord(HNC 1), which was beingdriven by Jasraj, crashed

into a tree. Bhatti (57), whowas in the rear seat, sufferedgrievous head injuries, includ-ing multiple fractures of theskull. All occupants of the carsuffered injuries.

Bhatti and his team were ona 40-day tour to promote‘Power Cut’in Punjab, which

was to culminate at a pressconference here on Thursday.The film, directed and pro-duced by Bhatti, was sched-uled for a Friday release. It isJasraj’s debut film.

“The accident took placearound 1.30 am. Some localresidents informed the police,

which shifted the occupants of the car to a hospital in Jaland-har. While Bhatti was declaredbrought dead, the others wereshifted to DMCH, Ludhiana,after first aid,” said Jalandhar(Rural) SP Rajinder Singh.

The police is investigating thereasons behind the accident. It

is believed that the vehicleswerved near the kerb on theMoga-Jalandhar highway nearthe Shahkot Truck Union office.

The airbags of the car werefound inflated and appar-ently saved the lives of Jas-raj and Surili, who were inthe front seat.

The speedometer of the carsuggested that the car wastravelling at 60 kmph. “Thespeed dial needle often dips assoon as a vehicle involved ina crash comes to a halt,” saidRajinder Singh.

“We heard a loud thud andran towards the scene. Theoccupants were shrieking inpain. The middle-aged man(Jaspal Bhatti) was alive. Weimmediately called up the‘108’ ambulance service,”said Surjit Singh, a truck driv-er who was at the ShahkotTruck Union office when themishap took place.

The four were taken to thelocal Orthonova Hospital on

Nakodar road around 2 am.Bhatti was declared dead bya team of four doctors, ledby Dr Harpreet Singharound 3 am. Four doctorsbesides the hospital staff treated the casualties.Continued on page 11

❙ See also Chandigarh Tribune

R SEDHURAMAN

LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 25

The Supreme Court hasissued notice to the Centre,seeking its response withinsix weeks on a plea for a“separate and distinct” iden-tity for Sikhs in laws relatingto succession, adoption,divorce and maintenance.

A three-member Benchheaded by Chief JusticeAltamas Kabir has asked theLaw Ministry, AttorneyGeneral GE Vahanvati andthe Minority Affairs Min-istry to give their views onwhether Sikhs, Jains andBuddhists could be includ-ed in laws meant exclusive-ly for Hindus.

According to petitionersBirendra Kaur and RohitGarg, the Anand Marriage(Amendment) Act 2012,notified in June had solvedonly the problem of registra-tion of marriages by Sikhs,Jains and Buddhists. Earlier,they had to register their mar-riages under the Hindu Mar-riage Act 1955.

For other matters relating to

succession, adoption, divorceand maintenance, people pro-

fessing these three faiths stillhad to resort to the Hindu Suc-cession Act, 1956, the HinduAdoptions and MaintenanceAct, 1956 and the HinduMinority and GuardianshipAct 1956, they contended.

The petitioners ques-tioned the wisdom of including Sikhs, Jains andBuddhists under the lawswere meant only for theHindus, if one were to goby the titles. “When all thefour religions stand admit-tedly on an equal footingand are independent of eachother, is it right for the leg-islature” to mention justone religion in the title,

they wanted to know.Continued on page 11

RAKESH LOHUMI /TNS

SHIMLA, OCTOBER 25

The average Himachali maybe poor and surviving ongovernment subsidies, but theassets of their elected repre-sentatives have increased bya whopping 172 per cent.

While the assets of 20 re-contesting Congress MLAshave shot up by 184 per cent,

the increase in respect of 30BJP MLAs stands at 157 per

cent during 2007-12.The assets of three Inde-

pendents have gone up by133 per cent, but those of the lone HLPMLA, KhushiRam Balnatah, declined by15 per cent.

The average assets of 112 re-contesting candidates haveincreased by 122 per cent,with average assets of 41 Con-gress re-contesting candidates

growing by 109 per cent, 37BJP candidates by 153 per

cent, 13 Independents by 250

per cent and seven BSP can-didates by 413 per cent.

An analysis carried out by

National Election Watch(NEW) on the basis of details

furnished by 445 of the 459candidates in the fray for theNovember 4 elections hasrevealed that there were 146“crorepatis” (16 per cent),while 58 candidates haveassets less than Rs 5 lakh and55 candidates have liabilitiesof Rs 25 lakh or more.

All top five re-contestingMLAs with highest increasein assets are of the Congress

(see box).Continued on page 11

NEW YORK, OCTOBER 25

Disgraced Wall Street titanRajat Gupta was today given alighter sentence of two years inprison and slapped with a fineof $5 million by a US judge

who termed the Indian-Amer-ican’s insider trading crimes as“disgusting” and a “terriblebreach of trust”.

Gupta, 63, was also orderedby US District Judge JedRakoff to serve a year of super-vised release after the end of hisprison term.

The IITand Harvard-educat-ed former Goldman Sachsdirector and philanthropistwould have to surrender to adesignated prison on January 8,2013. Rakoff denied Gupta’srequest to remain on bail whilehe appeals his case.

After the verdict, Gupta’slawyer Gary Naftalis said: “Webelieve the facts of this casedemonstrate that Gupta isinnocent. We will vigorouslyappeal against the verdict.”

A court could have taken

about two years to rule onGupta’s appeal in America’sbiggest insider trading case.

While the judge agreed to arequest from Gupta’s lawyersthat he be assigned to NewYork’s prison in Otisville, thefinal decision rests with theFederal Bureau of Prisons.

Gupta sat expressionless asRakoff read the 15-page sen-tence at the end of the two-and-

a-half-hour hearing. Rakoff,who on multiple occasions gaveGupta credit for his philan-thropic works, said at the heartof his offences is his “egregiousbreach of trust.” “He is a good

man,” Rakoff said. — PTI Edit: A modern tragic hero

Fall from grace P15

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

PATIALA, OCTOBER 25

The police today claimed tohave foiled a major terrorbid ahead of the festive sea-son by arresting four personsarmed with sophisticatedweapons and ammunition atAmritsar, Ludhiana andBathinda railway stations.

While three persons werearrested in Bathinda, one washeld in Amritsar. Two of theaccused were recently deport-ed from the Philippines and

Thailand and are suspected tohave entered the countrythrough the Nepal border near

Uttar Pradesh. The police isnow trying to find outwhether the accused have anylinks to other terror modules.

Senior Government Rail-way Police (GRP) officialssaid during a special operationpassengers, who had alightedfrom the Moori Express, werechecked at the LudhianaRailway Station and two 9mm pistols and 10 live roundswere seized from the bag of ayouth. The youth, however,managed to escape takingadvantage of the heavy rush at

the exit gate,” they said.GRP IG, Rohit Choudhary,said preliminary investiga-

tions indicate that the escapedyouth may have crossed overinto India with weapons fromthe Nepal border adjoiningRudrapur district in Uttarak-hand. “Recovery of a bookletpertaining to Nanakmatha

gurdwara (in Rudrapur) fromthe youth’s bag indicates thathe had visited the place before

coming to Punjab”, he said.In a similar operation, GRP

officials at the Amritsar Rail-way Station arrested AmardeepSingh alias Bobby of districtBhind in Madhya Pradeshfrom Dadar Express. “We have

seized two 9 mm pistols he hadconcealed inside his pillow. Adriving licence of Manila was

also recovered from his pos-session”, said the IG.

Drawing a link between thetwo seizures, the officer saidall pistols have a made-in-USAmark on them and theseappear to be tampered with.“We are interrogating theaccused and trying to identi-fy their local links. Somepersons are under the scannerand there could be morearrests in the case,” he said.

Three persons were arrestedat the Bathinda Railway stationwith four country-made pistols.

They have been identified asSuresh Kumar, Rakesh Kumarand Avadh Naresh.

Cabinet clears ` 1,200-croreanti-tank missiles for Army

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 25

A Rs 1,200-crore proposal forprocuring 10,000 anti-tank guided missiles for the Armyfrom Russia was cleared todayby the Cabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS).

The CCS cleared the pro-

posal to acquire Russian-origin10,000 Konkurs-M anti-tank guided missiles for the Mech-

anised Infantry and Infantrybattalions of the Army, sourcessaid. The Konkurs-M are partof the weapon systems beingprocured by the force to aug-ment the anti-tank arsenal inthe Army, they said. The CCShad last week cleared the pur-

chase of 25,000 Invar missilesfor the T-90 tank fleet under a Rs2,000 crore proposal. — PTI

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

SOLAN /KEYLONG / PANCHRUKHI,

OCTOBER 25

All-India Congress Committeegeneral secretary Rahul Gand-hi today alleged the BJP gov-ernment in Himachal hadexploited the poor by sellingtheir land to the rich.

He said the Congress gov-ernment’s attempts at theCentre to save the poor fromsuch exploitation had beenthwarted as the BJP hadbeen objecting to the LandAcquisition Bill.

Addressing a rally in Solanthis evening, Rahul dwelt onissues such as objectionsraised by the BJP to intro-

duction of the Food SecurityBill and retail FDI in his 15-minute speech. The decisionon FDI would benefit horti-culturists and mushroomgrowers, he said.

Rahul said the UPAgovernment hadintroduced the RTIAct, which was apotent weapon tofight corruption.“Our commitment tofight corruption is clearfrom the fact that we havesent our own corrupt minis-ters to jail,” he said.

He said the Food SecurityBill would benefit the poor,but the BJPwas opposed to it.Continued on page 11

❙ Son, two others hurt ❙ Were on their way to Jalandhar for promotion of his film

❚ Rajat Gupta, the IIT andHarvard-educated formerGoldman Sachs directorand philanthropist, willhave to surrender to a

designated prison onJanuary 8, 2013

❚ Gupta shared informationabout Warren Buffet’s$5billion investment inGoldman Sachs withRajaratnam

<<Rajat Gupta and his

lawyer outside the federal

court in New York. — PTI

The last 18 months have been the mostchallenging period of my life since I lost myparents as a teenager. I have lost my reputationthat I have built over a lifetime.— Rajat Gupta, Goldman Sachs former director

      ““

Identity is an innateand powerful emotionalfeeling and is part of the

right to life— Supreme Court

      ““

The country has lost a person who pioneered a unique perspective onprobity in public life… not only did he contribute in his own way to reformsociety, he did it with a light and humorous touch — Manmohan Singh, PM

      ““

 Average assets of Himachal MLAs grew by 172%

SC notice to Centreon plea for distinctidentity for Sikhs

Rajat Gupta gets 2-year jail for insider trading

Rahul in HP, says BJP soldoff land belonging to poor

Rahul Gandhi is presentedtraditional attire at a rally inKeylong on Thursday. — PTI

THE FALLEN TITAN

Terror bid foiled in Punjab, four held with armsA NEW MODULE?

❚ Ludhiana railway station: Two 9 mm pistols, cartridges recoveredfrom a youth’s bag. The suspect had alighted from Moori Expressand managed to flee

❚ Amritsar railway station: One suspect on board Dadar Expressheld; had concealed pistols inside pillow

❚ Bathinda railway station: 3 youth held with country-made weapons

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SOLAN, OCTOBER 25

Senior BJP leader and Leaderof the Opposition in Lok SabhaSushma Swaraj today said thedays of the Congress-led UPA

government at the Centrewere numbered and thepeople would vote outthe corrupt regimewhich was embroiledin numerous scams in

the next General Election.Lauding the Prem Kumar

Dhumal-led government in thestate, she said the BJP hadworked for an overall devel-opment of the hill state.

Sushma said the coal scamhad tarnished the image of 

the Manmohan Singh-ledUPA government before theinternational community. Shesaid the spiralling prices of essential items have hit thecommon man hard.Continued on page 11

Sushma Swaraj sports atraditional cap at a rallyin Sundernagar. — PTI

UPA govt’s days arenumbered: Sushma

TOPFIVE GAINERS*

Legislator 2007 2012

Anil Sharma (Cong) ` 3.11 cr ` 29.70 cr

GS Bali (Cong) ` 3.81 cr ` 24.85 cr

Vidya Stokes (Cong) ` 97.67 lakh ` 8.05 cr

Subhash Manglait (Cong) ` 19.42 lakh ` 7.22 cr

Rakesh Kalia (Cong) ` 2.75 cr ` 7.99 cr

(* All re-contesting MLAs; Source: National Election Watch)

INSIDENATION

Curfew in Faizabad

Indefinite curfew wasimposed in parts ofFaizabad where at least

two persons were killed andmany others injured duringcommunal violence onWednesday night. P2

PUNJAB

Shruti refuses to meet parentsShruti’s parents visitedher at the Pushpa GujralNari Niketan in Jalandhar,but she refused to talkto them. P5

BACK PAGE

Petrol, diesel price hikePetrol price will go up by 30paise per litre and dieselrate by 18 paise a litre afterthe government decided toincrease the commissionpaid to petrol pump dealers.

Winning heart of Queen ofHills a tough challenge

Rebels worry Cong, BJP P6

Today’s issue is of 32 pages, includingsix-page Chandigarh Tribune and 

six-page Life+Style.

 A free four-page pull-out of  Haryana Plus only in Haryana.

Jaspal Bhatti’s car that was involved in the mishap near ShahkotJaspal Bhatti

1955-2012

THE NEXT HURDLE

❚ The cash-strapped groundedcarrier still has to convinceaviation regulator DGCA toreinstate its suspended licencewith a viable plan on safety,financial and operational issues

❚ The airline still has to pay dues tothe Airports Authority of India, oilcompanies and lessors

All our employees will resume work today,including the pilots and engineers. From now on,we will continue to work together— Sanjay Aggarwal, KFA chief executive officer

      ““

HIMACHAL

VOTES 2012

‘FACE-SAVER’FOR MALLYA

The management is said to have agreed to accept the employees’demands to save Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya from

embarrassment at the F1 racing event this weekend. Employeeswere preparing to gherao the F1 track to protest against Mallya,who co-owns the Sahara Force India team

❙ OBITUARY: HE WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR HIS WRY ONE-LINERS ❙ HUNDREDS PAY TRIBUTE ❙ AMRITSAR MOURNS ITS SONP4