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THEPOLITICALTHEATRETHE ECONOMIC TIMESWEDNESDAY 16 MAY 2007SERIOUS, SOLID POLITICS: GOING BEHIND THE SCENES & DECODING THE POWER MATRIX FOR YOU2

Our Political Bureau

NEW DELHI

EVEN as the Left on Tuesday appearedto be getting reconciled to the prospect

of backing a UPA nominee, the NDAhas authorised former prime minister A B Va-

jpayee to take a final call on the Oppositionsstrategy in the presidential election.

Although there was little progress on theissue, there were significant strands availableon Tuesday. The decision of the Lucknow RajBhawan not to grant sanction for prosecutionof Ms Mayawati in the Taj corridor case is be-ing interpreted as part of a larger strategy toensure the BSPs support for the UPA nomi-nee. Ms Mayawati commands the support of

56,000 votes in the electoral college.On her part, Ms Mayawati is yet to respond

to the attempts of the UPA to cosy up to her.But it is certain that she will not back a Con-gress-sponsored Dalit candidate. The expec-

tation in the Congress is that Ms Mayawatiwill not be averse to the idea of supporting aBrahmin candidate as it is in line with her cur-rent upper caste outreach.

Ms Mayawatis emergence as a major playerappears to be prompting the Left to abandon itsplans to foist its nominee to the top post. TheCPM, which refrained from naming its candi-date, was banking on a good performance byMr Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh.

Ms Mayawatis support for the UPAs can-didate could push the SP to the rival side. The

SP and its friends TDP, AIADMK, AGP andINLD command the support of over one lakhvotes. But there are clear signs of the UPA stillenjoying an edge in the July polls.

The NDA, which kicked off the exercise

to select its nominee, did not zero in on anyname. Although it has decided to field itscandidate, it would rather wait for the UPAto unveil its plans.

At the meeting of the NDA leaders, Sush-ma Swaraj opposed suggestion to back thecurrent incumbent. Bihar chief minister Ni-tish Kumar has been supporting MrKalams case. Suggestions at the meetingranged from fielding A B Vajpayee thiswas made by Trinamool Congress chief Ma-mata Banerjee to backing a woman can-

didate. At the end, NDA leaders agreed toentrust the responsibility of finalising the al-liances strategy on Mr Vajpayee.

Earlier in the day, Mr L K Advani, while ad-dressing the BJP parliamentary party meet-

ing, said the NDA will have its candidate inthe July polls. He told the participants at themeeting that all of them should work for thecandidates victory.

A section is pitching for vice-presidentBhairon Singh Shekhawat. While there isagreement that he could be a formidable con-tender, not many are enthused by his cam-paign managers. As of now, the politicalpointsmen is a light weight JD(U) MP Digvi-

jay Singh and a Delhi-based former associateof the late Pramod Mahajan.

US agrees to get uraniumfor India from NSGOur Political Bureau

NEW DELHI

THE US will tackle the job of convincing theother 44 nations in the Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG) to amend laws giving exemptions to In-dia, while India will concentrate on negotiating asafeguards agreement with the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency.

Even as the two countries get ready to contin-ue the 123 negotiations in the Indo US civiliannuclear deal next week, when Under Secretaryfor Political Affairs Nicholas Burns comes to In-dia, both sides agree that the three set of negoti-ations should continue side by side. `All threeare tied to each other. We have to do all three to-gether, said a source.

India is now talking to the IAEA and it is un-derstood that on the NSG front, the US will con-vince the nuclear group countries. ``A lot de-pends on what the US does with the NSG, said asource who added that it is up to the US to deliv-er the NSG which has to amend laws to allow in-ternational civilian nuclear trade with India.

Sources in the establishment said that the dealis doable. But both sides are yet to resolve themain issues. The problem with the 123 agree-ment is that it has to be finalised as a legal textand India is clear that it will not accept a ban on

testing as a legally binding commitment and re-strictions on access to reprocessing technology .In next weeks round of negotiations on the

123 agreement, Mr Burns will negotiate withforeign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon andspecial envoy on the nuclear deal Shyam Saranto work out a legal text that is acceptable to

both sides.India has also reiterated in talks that it cannot

accept anything that constricts Indias strategicprogramme and its indigenous three-stage nu-

clear programme. And the US has made it clearthat it has obligations to the US Congress andthat it cannot change its domestic laws to accom-modate Indian requirements.

Sources said that at this stage in the negotia-tions both sides have clearly understood each

others limitations and that the only way now isto work around the limitations. `We have to findsomething that works for the both of us, said asource. The talks have also acquired a sense ofurgency with both sides acknowledging that thedeal has to be completed as soon as possible.

The US, after Mr Menons meeting with MrBurns in Washington last month, had said thata final settlement on the 123 agreement is like-ly to be ready by the end of this month whenMr Burns visits India.

New buildings must be quake-resistantBharti Jain

NEW DELHI

NOT ONLY would a new set of building

bye-laws make it mandatory for all newconstructions to be earth-quake resistantin cities located in the seismic zones, buteven existing structures of national andpublic value including stock exchanges,RBI offices in Mumbai and Delhi and pow-er projects will have to be retrofitted ona priority basis to withstand quakes, ac-cording to the earthquake managementguidelines drawn up by the National Disas-ter Management Authority (NDMA).

The earthquake guidelines, preparedpainstakingly by the NDMA after ex-haustive consultations with more than300 experts drawn from various fields,are to be unveiled by home ministerShivraj Patil at an event organised by theNDMA here on Wednesday.

The guidelines, which go into all aspectsof earthquake management, stand on sixpillars: earthquake-resistant constructionof new structures, selective seismicstrengthening & retrofitting of existing pri-ority and lifeline structures, regulation andenforcement, awareness and prepared-

ness, capacity development through up-dating of educational curriculum, trainingand R&D; and emergency response.

The NDMA has set June 30, 2007, as

the benchmark for compliance with freshearthquake-resistant building codes,modified techno-legal regime and revisedtown planning that will make it mandato-ry for all builders and developers to incor-porate earthquake-resistant features intheir construction plans.

As many as 24 states have already en-dorsed the model building bye-laws thatrequire all new constructions to be earth-quake resistant in Zone I to Zone V, moreso in the more vulnerable Zone III, IV andV, where the new building and town-planning bye-laws would have to be fol-lowed with immediate affect.

Zone V is seismically most vulnerableand covers states in the north-east aswell as Andamans and Nicobar Islands;Zone IV comes next and runs throughDelhi, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kash-mir; and Zone III, though comparativelyless quake-prone, houses Mumbai aswell as Gujarat that witnessed a devas-tating quake in 2001.

As for the structures that are already up

and running, the NDMA guidelines callfor a structural safety audit, preferably bya third party, and accordingly prioritisethe buildings that are to be retrofitted so

as to withstand quakes. While prioritisingof buildings to be retrofitted will be a pre-rogative of the state governments, theNDMA has drawn up an illustrative pri-ority list that includes important govern-ment offices like Rashtrapati Bhavan,central and state secretariats, RBI, stockexchanges, historical monuments, air-ports, power and hydel projects, dams, aswell as lifelines structures like hospitals,schools and key educational institutionslike IITs and IIMs, besides multi-storeyresidential and commercial complexes.

Aware that construction of earth-quake-resistant structures and retro-fitting of existing buildings will requirespecial expertise, the NDMA guidelinesrecommend updating of the existingcurriculum at engineering and architec-ture colleges, ITIs, etc to incorporatestudies on earthquake design and con-struction technology.

For enforcement of earthquake-resist-ant laws, the state government and statedisaster management authorities would

be required to adopt model techno-legalframework and model town planning byelaws that are technically rigorous and con-form to globally accepted norms.

The NDMA guidelines suggest licens-ing and certification of professionalssuch as engineers, architects,masons/artisans in the construction in-dustry by the state governments, facili-tated by MoES and the professional bod-ies such as Institute of Engineers, Indiaand Institute of Architects, India.

Besides structural safety, the NDMAguidelines for earthquake managementcall for awareness and preparedness in-volving multi-media public campaigns atthe district, state and national level inhigh-risk cities and towns on how to miti-gate and manage earthquakes.

The last pillar would involve institu-tionalisation of emergency response in theevent of earthquakes. This would clearlyspell out the role of each arm centralgovernment and ministries, state depart-ments, district administration, police anddedicated National Disaster ResponseForce battalions and how to ensure co-ordination among these arms.

bharti.jain@timesgroup.com

Our Political Bureau

NEW DELHI

IN A reprieve to actress Shilpa Shetty, the Supreme Court on Tues-day stayed the proceedings by a Rajasthan court against her on thekissing controversy involving Hollywood star Richard Gere. The apexcourt also issued notices on her petition seeking transfer of all casesrelated to the controversy to Mumbai. While staying the proceed-ings, a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan also stayedthe order of the court in Rajasthan that restrained Shetty from goingoverseas. Shetty on Monday had moved the apex court seeking thetransfer to a court in Mumbai all criminal proceedings initiatedagainst her in connection with the row created after Gere kissed her.

While seeking the quashing of criminal cases registered against herin the judicial magistrates courts in Jodhpur, Ghaziabad andMundawar (Alwar), Shetty had also sought a stay on proceedingsuntil the transfer plea was decided. In her petition, Shetty claimedthat the April 15 incident was wrongly projected by the media re-sulting in the filing of private complaints before the magistrates inJodhpur, Mundawar and Ghaziabad by some local lawyers.

Shetty apprehended that she might be served with summons orwarrants by the magistrates and hence sought the transfer of the cas-es to the court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Mumbai,where she lives. The kissing incident during an AIDS awareness pro-gramme at the Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar in the national capitallast month had sparked strong protests in several cities.

Gujarat probemoving in

right direction

Our Political Bureau

NEW DELHI

HOLDING that investigations being conducted bythe Gujarat government were proceeding in theright direction, the Supreme Court on Tuesday

reserved for May 17 its order on the plea for a CBI probeinto the fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikhand his wife Kausar Bi.A bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and P KBalasubramanyan said it would pass appropriate orderson Thursday, but asked the Centre whether it wasadvisable to order a CBI probe at this juncture.It appears the investigation has been set afoot and isgoing in an apparently correct direction. Is it advisable totake it out and entrust to the CBI, the bench askedattorney-general Milon K Banerjee.The bench further said the investigation is going onreasonably and vigorously. We will like to have your views.The apex court made the observation while dealing withthe arguments of Banerjee who submitted that theinvestigations should be entrusted to an independentinvestigating agency or the CBI as police personnel fromAndhra Pradesh and Rajasthan were also allegedly

involved in the fake encounter.Quoting newspaper reports, Banerjee said that theGujarat police was not being extended proper co-operation by one of the state government concerned andas such the probe should be entrusted to the CBI or someother independent investigating agency.The attorney-general contended that the Gujaratgovernment cannot be expected to deal with theinvestigations in a fair manner as several importantevidence relating to the killings had been destroyed andone of the key eyewitness (Tulsiram Prajapati) had beeneliminated.So you want both? But we cant have both, the apexcourt remarked, when Hafeez Ahmed, counsel forRubabuddin Sheikh, brother of the deceased, argued thatthe CBI should take up the investigation and DIG RajnishRai who has been removed from the investigation should

be re-inducted.The court also clarified that it did not in any manner directthe Gujarat government to re-induct Geeta Johri to headthe investigation. Ms Johri was present in the court.We only asked why she has been removed. Because it wassuggested by Mr Gopal Subramaniam (Additional SolicitorGeneral),the bench said after Ahmed complained that theapex courts poser on Geeta Johris transfer was used by theGujarat government to remove Rai from the investigation

and bring back the former. Arguing that the CBI should stepin, Ahmed pleaded that Rai should be brought back into theinvestigation under the supervision of Geeta Johri.It was then the bench remarked that the plea for a CBIinquiry and re-induction of Rai cannot go together.The bench appeared to be disinclined to the suggestion ofthe attorney-general who wanted the apex court to monitorthe entire investigations. Is this our business? we haveother work to do, the bench said.

Vajpayee asked to decide on NDA prez nomineeUPA HAS UPPER HAND, SUSHMA OPPOSES KALAMS CANDIDATURE

DISASTER MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES WANT EXISTING STRUCTURES RETROFITTED TOO

CHINTANBAITHAK

Suggestions atthe meetingranged fromfielding A BVajpayee thiswas made byMamataBanerjee tobacking awomancandidate

Shilpa gets apex courtrelief from moral police

HAPPY: Shetty

FORWARD MOVEMENT: Burns & Menon

THE AUTHORITY:Vajpayee

_________ Cost ofSI. Tender Opening EMDTender No. Brief description of materials Qty. Date Rs.o, ________ _________________________________ Re.61 40/200614200 (i) Cable PVC insulated , flexible Copper conductor As per 150/- 18.06.07 6900!-PVC sheathed etc. ( ii) PVC insulated multi stranded T.S.copper cable etc. ( iii) PVC insulated multi stranded

__________copper cable single core etc. as per 1.8

62 50/2005/8099 Dual Bank Battery Chargerwith twin bank low maintenance As per 500/- 20.06.07 23440l-set lead acid cells etc. details as parTS.N.B. (I) SI. No. 61 Railway reserves the right to procure from the firms having credentials of supplyingsame/similar items. (ii) SI. No. 62 Railway reserves the right to procure full/bulk quantity from the ROSOapproved sources .The last date of issue of Tender form : One day before opening date.The last date and time of receipt of tenders : Up to 15:00 hrs . of opening date.Date and time of opening of tenders : At 15:30 hrs. of opening date . -1. (a) Tender documents can be obtained from OS (General) of COS/E.Co.R Off ice , Western Annexe Building.Rail Vihar, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar-23 against money receipt issued by the Asstt. Chief Cashier/E.Co.R/BBS after realization of money personally. By post sending a money order for Rs.501- for each tender towardspostal charges , in addition to cost of tender documents & drawings , duly furnishing full mailing address. Outstat ion f irm may send the money order to the O.S.(G) Office of the Controller of Stores/E.Co.R!C.S.Pur/Bhubaneswar-23 clearly mentioning the tender No., description & Allocation. Money order should reach to thisoffice 15 days before schedule date of opening of tender, Railway administration shall not be responsible forany delay anywhere of any type. (b) NSIC registered f irms can obtain tender documents free of cost exceptdrawings and postal charges on submission of latest NSIC certificate. NSIC registered f irm should ensure thatnecessary postal charges are accompanied with the requisit ions Rs. 50/- extra for sending tender by post.(C) Cost of tender documents and drawing to be paid by cash/money order only. Cash to be remitted before12.30 Hrs. on working days except on Saturday. The same is not refundable. (d) Regarding Offers through fa xRefer special conditions at annexure-G of the above tender notice , (e) Tender and drawing are not t ransferable,(1) For detailed description refer tender schedule. (g) The offers of the firms received without TENDERDOCUMENTS whether purchase directly from the office of the Controller of Stores or downloaded f rom theWebsite along with cost of tender documents as applicable will not be entertained and will be rejected summarily.(h) Tender document can be downloaded from the website www.eastcoastra i lway.gov. in. The cost of thetender document is to be attached with the offer in the form of DD/Railway money receipt, (DO to be drawn inavour of FA & CAO/ECoR/Bhubaneswar or Railway money receipt issued by Asstt!Chief Cashier/ECoR/C.S.Pur ,Bhubaneswar) in case of tender document downloaded from website. I) Railway Administration shall not beresponsible for any delay/difficulties/inaccessibility of the downloading facility for any reason whatsoever. Tenderswill also be accepted by post. However Railway shall not be responsible for any postal delay. In case of anydiscrepancy between the tender documents downloaded from Internet and the master copy available in theoffice, the later shall prevail and will be binding on the Tender(s). No claim on this account will be entertained.For cost of tender document Allocation No :Z-652. j) Wherever all or most of the approved firms quote equalrates and CARTEL formation is suspected . Railway reserves the right to place order on one or more firms withexclusion of the rest without assigning any reasons thereof. (k) Firms are expected to quote for a quantity notless than 50% of tendered quantity. Offers for quantity less than 50% of tendered quantity will be consideredunresponsive and liable to be rejected in case CARTEL formation is suspected. Railways , however reserve theright to order on one or more firms any quantity. (I) Names of those firms who quote in CARTEL are l ikely lo bedeleted from list of approved sources. (m) Wherever CARTEL formation is suspected among approved sources the purchaser reserves the right to place orders on part-Il sources and new sources beyond limits of 15% and5%. (n) Tenderers/firms who are found to be indulging in changing/adding or deleting the contents of the tenderdocuments will be liable to face necessary action as per extant rules, which could be removed from the approvallist, banning, suspens ion of business dealing etc. (o) (i) Tenderer to give consent in a mandate form for receiptof payment through ECS/EFT. (ii) Tenderer to provide the details of Bank A/c in line with RBI guidelines for thesame. These details will include Bank Name , Branch Name & address , Account type . Bank A/c No. and Bank &Branch Code as appearing on MICR cheque issued by Bank . (iii) Tenderer to attach certificate from their bankcertifying the correctness of all above mentioned information (as mentioned in para (ii) above). (iv) In case ofnon-payment through ECS/EFT or where ECS/EFT facility is not available , payment will be released throughcheque. All communications other than the offer such as Telegram/Telex/Fax should be clearly addressed toController of Stores , East Coast Railway, Bhubaneswar - 751023 duly mentioning tender No. and due date ofopening.2. The sealed tender wi th tender No., Opening date written on the envelope to be deposited in the tenderbox placed in the OFFICE OF THE CONTROLLER OF STORES, E.Co. RLV. WESTERN ANNEXE BUILDING,RAIL VIHAR, CHANDRASEKHARPUR, BHUBANESWAR -23.3. If the date of opening happens to be a BANDH OR HOLIDAY the tender w ill be opened at the same timeon the following working day .SPECIAL CONDITION: Annexure-GRegarding offer through FAX:i) Offer received through FAX may be considered in case of procurement of items through proprietary article certificate& single tender only subject to the firm submitting post confirmation copy on their letter head duly signed by theauthorized person as per the tender conditions within ten working days from fromhe date of opening.i i) However , for other type of tenders i.e. for Bulletin,Limited and Advertised/Open Tenders etc., offers received through

FAX and found in the tender box at the time of opening of Tenders and complete in all respects and duly signed bythe authorized signatory should be treated as in ime offer subject to the firm/firms submitting post confirmation copyduly signed by the authorized person as per the tender conditions conditionsithin ten working days from the date of opening.iii) All other offers received by FAX not covered in Pars (i) & (i i ) above shall be treated as invalid, The offers received byFAX as covered in Para (ii) above shall be deemed as unresponsive in case the confirmation copy is not receivedwithin the lime stipulated in Para (i) above,iv) No purchase order shall be issued against the FAX offers without receipt of the confirmation copy of the same.v) It shall be the sole responsibility of tenderers to ensure that the offers submitted by FAX are dropped in appropriatetender box in seated cover/covers and within the prescribed time and date. The Railways shall not be responsible inany way for any delay in dropping the FAX offers in the appropriate tender box.

. lT11SERVING CUSTOMERS WITH A A MILE

NL1 r uTender Notice No. COSIOTIO7-08108 Dt. 11.05.2007Sealed tenders are invited for and on behalf of the President of India by the Controller of Stores , BBS for supplyof the following materials.

Tender NotIce Name of the work Quantity Approximate EMD Cost of TenderNo cash Value (Rs.) (Rs.) DocumentCAOJCON/BBSI Manufacture andsupplyof 52 Kg. i) T-090 (M) 12 884 Nos. 6286,000- 10,000. 20001-TP/2007-OWOT03 Fish Plates,60 Kg. 1 mtr. Long Sixly wo lakhs (Ten (TwoDtd.27.04.2007 FishPlates and 1 mtr. Long ii)T-5916 410 Nos. eighty six thousand thousandGrooved Fish Plates to ROSO thousand only) only) only)Org. NO.: T-090 (M), T-5916, Il) T-5851 328 Nos T-5851 respectively.

_______________ __________ ______ _________CAO/CON/BBS/ Manuacture andsupply of i)T.696 to699 25710 10,000/- 1,00WTP/2007.0 T/04 Combination Fish Plates, 580Sets (Twenty Ave (Ten (OneDtd.27.04.2007 (52/60) Kg. and (52KgJ9OR)to Lakhs thousand thousandRDSO Org. No.:T-696 to 699 ii) CSO 1900 1901 seventy one only) only)artdCSO- 1900 & 1901 l74Sets thousand only)_______ __________

EAST COAST RAILWAY CON)

CAO/CON/BBS/TP 2007-08/OT/03 I Tenderers whose names are appearing n he ish Platescategory (for the specific tern) in heOtd. 27.04.2007 latest Master ist of vendors ssued by Quality Assurance (Civil), Directorate of RDSO and alsoCAO/GON/BBS/TP/2007-08/OT/04 I orthe specificdrawlngthereinare onlyeUble o quote. The status of the irm shallbe reckonedI ason he dateof tenderopening arid noithereafter unless there a case of downgradinhemovaVDId.27.04.2007 suspensionanning.

The prescribed Non-Transferable Tender orms are obtainable on any working day between 10.00 His, and 18.15 Hrs. troui he officeof the Dy Chief Englneer/CorGonoral, C-52/G, Rail Vihar,Chandrasekharpur , Bhubaneswar -751023 on remittance of cost of TenderForms (non-refundable) either byCrossed DD drawn in avourof FA & CAO/Cor/East Coast RalwayiBBSon any naticnaVscheduled

If the date of opening happens o be a BANDHor Holiday, he ender will beopenedat the same time on the ollowing working day.Tender document is also available n he Website www.eastcoastrallway.gov.ln ill the closing ime of tender selling and can bedownloaded and used as tender documents or submitting he offer. SeparatDemand Draft towards he cost of tender documents asmentionedat Cot. No.6 shall have o be enclosed n addition o earnest moneywhile submitting he tender,otherwise, he enderwill besummarily rejected. RailwayAdministration shall not be responsible or any dalay/difflcultles/inaccessibdity of the downloading acil tyfor any reason whatsoever.Tenders willalsobe accepted by Post, However, Railway shallnotbe responsible for any Postal delay.In case of any discrepancy between he anderdocuments downloaded rom Internet and he mastercopy available n he office, he atershall prevali and will be binding on the Tenderer(s). No claim on his account will be entertained.Notes:1. Cost of Tenderdocument should be deposited underAllocation No.P-1443104a Postal Order or Cheque owards cost of TenderForms will not be accepted.a Sale of Tender orms will commence one monthprior to the dateof openingof tender.4. The sealed enderwillonlbe deposited n he ender box placed n he office of the Dy. Chief Engineer/Con/General,C-52/G,RailVihar,Chandraseldiarpur, Bhubaneswar -751023 .S Tendersshould be submitted In sealed covers ,super scribing he Tender Notce number,descriptionof materialsand due dateofopeningon he cover without ail. The Tenderors should submit their offers in proper tender documents. The offers without tender documentswill not be consideredand summarilrejected.For the above works the Tenderers shouldsatisfy the ollowIng eligibility criteria:-Tender NotIce No . Eligibility Criteria

ExecutIve Englneer/Con/TP BhubaneswarR-245/C

NOTICE INVITING TENDERTender NoUce No .: CAO/CON/BB S/TP/2007-08/OT/03-04 , Dt .: 27.04i007For andon behalf of the President of India,Chief Engineer/Con-Il East Coast Railway, nvites sealedTenders n prescribed ender formsfor the under mentionedworks:-