TAMIL NADU: 'Set up Lok Ayukta to curb corruption'

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on June 9, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/set-up-lok-ayukta-to-curb-corruption/282394.html

CHENNAI: In the wake of the raging 2G spectrum scam and several other high-profile scams that have projected the country in a bad light, the city-based Right to Information Movement (RIM) has appealed to the Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to establish Lok Ayukta in the state to eradicate corruption.

In a two-page memorandum presented to the Chief Minister on Tuesday, the movement appealed that the institution of Lok Ayukta is intended to eradicate the vice of corruption, favouritism, nepotism, abuse/misuse of power and to maintain probity, transparency and improve efficiency in public administration.

Speaking to City Express, John Lopez, President and Chief Executive of the movement, who is spearheading the campaign for setting up Lok Ayukta in the state, said, “It will address the inadequacies of the current anti-corruption systems and have the power and independence to investigate and prosecute cases of corruption.”
Many states in our country — Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh — have set up Lok Ayukta to deal with corruption in the respective states.

In states like Orissa and the Punjab, it’s called Lokpal while the Chattisgarh government has enacted an ordinance called Lok Aayog Adhyadesh. “Chief Minister Jayalalithaa should study this issue and pass an order to establish an institution of Lok Ayukta in the state,” Lopez said.

Tamil Nadu, which is among the most developed states in the country in many developmental aspects lags behind in respect of the institution of Lok Ayukta, he added. To builtd up their case for such a setup in the state, RIM will be meeting the Karnataka Lok Ayukta Justice Santhosh Hegde in Bangalore on June 13. They are expected to seek a draft for Tamil Nadu Lok Ayukta from Hegde and the same would be presented to the state government.

திணறுகிறது சென்னைத் துறைமுகம்: அமைச்சர் ஜி.கே.வாசன் தீர்வு காண்பாரா?

முகவை. க. சிவகுமார்
Source:www.dinamani.com


திருவொற்றியூர், ஜூன் 7: நிர்வாக சீர்கேடு, திட்டப்பணிகளில் தொடரும் தேக்க நிலையால் சென்னைத் துறைமுகம் திணறி வருகிறது; இச் சூழ்நிலையில் கப்பல் துறை அமைச்சர் ஜி.கே.வாசன் நீண்ட நாள்களுக்குப் பிறகு புதன்கிழமை துறைமுகத்திற்கு வருகை தர உள்ளார்.



துறைமுக இணைப்பு சாலை திட்டம், திருவொற்றியூர் வாகன நிறுத்துமிடம், நுழைவு வாயில்களில் நிலவும் நெருக்கடி, கூடுதல் நுழைவு வாயில்கள் அமைப்பது, நிலக்கரி, இரும்புத் தாது உள்ளிட்டவைகளை வேறு துறைமுகங்களுக்கு மாற்றும் நீதிமன்ற உத்தரவுகள் உள்ளிட்டவை குறித்து அதிகாரிகளிடம் விளக்கம் கேட்பார் எனத் தெரிகிறது.

இந்தியாவின் கிழக்கு நுழைவு வாயிலாகக் கருதப்படும் சென்னைத் துறைமுகத்தில் ஆண்டுக்கு சுமார் 15 லட்சம் சரக்குப் பெட்டகங்கள் (கன்டெய்னர்கள்) கையாளப்படுகின்றன. நிலக்கரி, உணவு எண்ணெய், உரம் போன்றவை கப்பல்கள் மூலம் இறக்குமதி செய்யப்படுகின்றன. இதனால் துறைமுகத்திற்கு சுமார் 10 ஆயிரம் கனரக வாகனங்கள் வந்து செல்கின்றன.
ஆனால் இவற்றைக் கையாளத் தேவையான கட்டமைப்பு வசதிகள் துறைமுகத்தின் உள்ளேயும் வெளியேயும் ஏற்படுத்தப்படவில்லை. இதனால் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள நெருக்கடியைத் தீர்க்க பல்வேறு திட்டங்களையும் கப்பல்துறை அறிவித்திருந்தது. குறிப்பாக இத்துறையின் அமைச்சராக வாசன் பொறுப்பேற்ற பிறகு திட்டப்பணிகளில் ஏற்பட்டிருந்த பல்வேறு பிரச்னைகளைத் தீர்க்க முனைப்பு காட்டினார். இருப்பினும் இதற்குத் துறைமுக நிர்வாகம் போதிய முயற்சிகளை விரைவாக எடுக்காததால் ஐந்து ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பு என்ன பிரச்னை இருந்ததோ அவை அப்படியே இப்போதும் தொடரும் அவலநிலை ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது.
முதல் நுழைவு வாயில்: துறைமுகத்துக்கு வரும் லாரிகள் அனைத்தும் காசிமேடு மீன்பிடித் துறைமுகம் அருகே உள்ள முதல் வாயில் வழியாகத்தான் உள்ளே செல்கின்றன. இங்கு சரக்குப்பெட்டகங்கள் குறித்த சர்வே, பாதுகாப்பு சோதனை, சுங்கத்துறை தணிக்கை ஆகிய பணிகளுக்காக சுமார் 5 முதல் 15 நிமிடங்கள் லாரிகள் நிறுத்தப்படுகின்றன.
ஆனால் தொழில் பாதுகாப்புப் படையினர், சுங்கத்துறை அதிகாரிகள் சுறுசுறுப்பாக பணியாற்றினால் ஒரு லாரியை அனுப்ப இரண்டு நிமிடமே போதுமானது. பல கிலோ மீட்டர் தூரத்திற்கு வரிசையில் லாரிகள் காத்திருந்தாலும் விரைவாக உள்ளே அனுப்ப கூடுதல் அலுவலர்களை நியமிக்க துறைமுக நிர்வாகம் நடவடிக்கை எடுக்காததால் நெரிசல் ஏற்பட்டு தினமும் 15 கி.மீ. தூரத்திற்கு லாரிகள் வரிசையில் காத்திருக்கின்றன. இங்கு கூடுதல் வாயில்கள் அமைக்கப்படும் என அமைச்சர் அளித்த உறுதி மொழி என்னாயிற்று?
பணிகள் துவங்காத ரூ. 600 கோடி இணைப்பு சாலை திட்டம்: சென்னைத் துறைமுக வளர்ச்சியின் முக்கிய மைல்கல்லாக விளங்கப்போகும் ரூ.600 கோடி துறைமுக இணைப்புச் சாலை திட்டம் நீண்ட காலமாக நிலுவையில் இருந்து வந்தது. பல்வேறு பிரச்னைகளையும் கடந்து கடந்த பிப்ரவரி மாதம் ரூ. 267 கோடி மதிப்பீட்டிலான சாலைப்பணிகள் அடிக்கல் நாட்டுவிழா திருவொற்றியூரில் நடைபெற்றது. ஆனால் 4 மாதங்களைக் கடந்தும் இதுவரை குறிப்பிடும்படியாக எவ்விதப் பணிகளும் நடைபெறவில்லை. இப்போது காசிமேடு பகுதியில் மீனவர்கள் எதிர்க்கிறார்கள் என்ற காரணத்தை தேசிய நெடுஞ்சாலை ஆணைய அதிகாரிகள் தெரிவித்து வருகின்றனர். நீண்ட எதிர்பார்ப்பிற்கிடையே துவக்கப்பட்ட இத்திட்டம் 24 மாதங்களில் திட்டமிட்டபடி நிறைவேறுமா என்ற சந்தேகம் எழுந்துள்ளது.
மூடிக் கிடக்கும் நுழைவு வாயில்கள்:சென்னைத் துறைமுகத்தில் முன்பு 14 நுழைவு வாயில்கள் இருந்தன. பின்னர் 4 வாயில்கள் நிரந்தரமாக மூடப்பட்டன. தற்போது 10 வாயில்கள் உள்ளன. சுங்க அலுவலகம் ஏதிரில் உள்ள பிரதான நுழைவு வாயிலில் போக்குவரத்து நிறுத்தப்பட்டு சுமார் 10 ஆண்டுகளுக்கும் மேலாகிவிட்டது. போர் நினைவுச் சின்னம் அருகே உள்ள வாயில் எண் 10-ல் உரம், நிலக்கரி, கிரானைட் கற்கள், கார்கள் ஏற்றிச் செல்லும் வாகனங்கள் கடந்த ஜூலை 2009-ல் முதல் காலை 5 மணி முதல் இரவு 10 மணிவரை இவ்வாயிலில் செல்ல அனுமதி இல்லை. இதனால் இவ்வழியே சென்ற வாகனங்கள் அனைத்தும் ராயபுரம், காசிமேடு சாலைகளில் வரிசை கட்டி நிற்கின்றன.
ரூ. 6 கோடியை விரயமாக்கியும் செயல்படாத வாகன நிறுத்த முனையம்: நெரிசல் காரணமாக எண்ணூர் விரைவு சாலையில் சுமார் 15 கி.மீ தூரத்திற்கு வரிசையில் வாகனங்கள் தொடர்ந்து காத்திருக்கின்றன. இதற்குத் தீர்வாக வரிசையில் நிற்கும் வாகனங்களை தனியாக ஓரிடத்தில் நிற்க வைப்பது என முடிவு செய்யப்பட்டு இதற்காக திருவொற்றியூர் நகராட்சி நிலம் 11 ஏக்கர் குத்தகை அடிப்படையில் துறைமுக நிர்வாகம் கையகப்படுத்தியது.
கடந்த ஜூன் 2007-ல் இத்திட்டத்திற்கென ரூ.30 லட்சம் வைப்புத் தொகையையும் துறைமுக நிர்வாகம் செலுத்தியது. கடந்த 4 வருடங்களில் சுமார் ரூ.6 கோடியை துறைமுக நிர்வாகம் வாடகையாக திருவொற்றியூர் நகராட்சிக்குச் செலுத்தியுள்ளது. போர்க்கால அடிப்படையில் செயல்பட்டால் மூன்று மாதங்களில் கான்கிரீட் தளம் அமைத்து வாகன நிறுத்த மையம் செயல்பாட்டிற்கு வந்திருக்கும். ஆனால் மாத வாடகை ரூ. 12 லட்சம் செலுத்துகிறோமே என்ற கவலை துறைமுக நிர்வாகத்திற்கு துளியும் இல்லாததால் இன்னும் பொட்டல் காடாகவே காட்சியளிக்கிறது 11 ஏக்கர் நகராட்சி நிலம்.
நிலக்கரி, இரும்புத் தாது: சென்னை மாநகரத்தின் கடற்கரைப் பகுதி மக்களுக்கு சுற்றுச் சூழல் சவாலாக இருந்து வந்த நிலக்கரி, இரும்புத் தாது மாசு பிரச்னைக்கு தீர்வு காணும் வகையில் சென்னை உயர்நீதிமன்றம் சமீபத்தில் உத்தரவு பிறப்பித்தது.
இதன்படி நிலக்கரி, இரும்புத்தாது கையாளுவதை விரைவில் வேறு துறைமுகங்களுக்கு மாற்ற வேண்டும் என கூறியிருந்தது. இதன் மூலம் பொதுமக்களுக்கு நிம்மதி கிடைக்கும் என்றாலும் துறைமுகத்திற்கு இது ஒரு பலத்த அடியாகவே இருக்கும்.
இவ்வாறு மாற்றுவதன் மூலம் ஏற்படும் சுமார் ரூ.200 கோடி வருமான இழப்பீட்டை ஈடுசெய்யத் தயாராகும் வகையில் எவ்வித உடனடித் திட்டமும் துறைமுக நிர்வாகத் தரப்பில் இல்லை என்றே கூறப்படுகிறது.
சி.பி.ஐ. பிடியில் சென்னைத் துறைமுகம்: சென்னைத் துறைமுகத்தில் கடந்த பல வருடங்களாக நிலவிவந்த ஊழல்களைக் களையும் வகையில் மத்திய புலனாய்வுத் துறை தீவிர நடவடிக்கைகளை எடுத்து வருகிறது. முன்னாள் துறைமுகத் தலைவராக இருந்த கே.சுரேஷ் மீது விரைவில் குற்றப்பத்திரிகை தாக்கல் செய்யப்பட உள்ளது. இந்நிலையில் துறைத் தலைவர்களாக இருந்த சிலர் சி.பி.ஐ. வசம் இப்போது சிக்கியுள்ளனர். 125 ஆண்டு விழா கொண்டாட்டம், தங்க நாணையங்கள் வாங்கியது, ரூ.47 கோடியில் அமைக்கப்பட்ட கன்வேயர், கப்பல் தள ஒதுக்கீடுகளில் தொடரும் அத்துமீறல்கள் குறித்து கடந்த ஒரு மாதமாக சி.பி.ஐ. ரகசிய விசாரணை மேற்கொண்டு வருகிறது. இதில் முக்கிய அதிகாரிகள் விரைவில் சிக்குவார்கள் என சி.பி.ஐ வட்டாரத்தில் கூறப்படுகிறது.
ஜி.கே.வாசன் நடவடிக்கை எடுப்பாரா? நாட்டின் பழமையான துறைமுகங்களில் ஒன்றான சென்னைத் துறைமுகம் பல்வேறு பிரச்னைகளால் தொடர்ந்து இறங்குமுகத்தில் இருந்து வருகிறது. துறையின் அமைச்சர்களாக தமிழ்நாட்டைச் சேர்ந்தோர் தொடர்ந்து இருந்து வருவதும் குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.
இந்நிலையில் நீண்ட நாள்களுக்குப் பிறகு தனியார் கடல்சார் கல்லூரி விழா ஒன்றுக்காக புதன்கிழமை ஜி.கே.வாசன் கலந்து கொள்ள உள்ளார். அப்போது மேற்கண்ட பிரச்னைகள் குறித்து துறைமுகத் தலைவர் மற்றும் உயர் அதிகாரிகளுடன் கலந்து ஆலோசிப்பாரா, மேலும் திட்டப் பணிகளில் தொடர்ந்து மெத்தனமாகச் செயல்படும் அதிகாரிகள்மீது நடவடிக்கை எடுப்பாரா என்பதே கேள்விகளாக உள்ளன.
பணியாளர்கள் விஷயத்தில் போதிய அளவு நடவடிக்கைகளை எடுத்த ஜி.கே. வாசன் நிர்வாகரீதியாக தன்னுடைய திறமையை வெளிப்படுத்த வேண்டிய கட்டாயம் இப்போது உருவாகியுள்ளது என்றார் துறைமுக அதிகாரி ஒருவர்.

‘Lanka’s false propaganda on war crimes flayed'

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on June 7, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/%E2%80%98lanka%E2%80%99s-false-propaganda-on-war-crimes-flayed/281811.html

CHENNAI: Reacting strongly to the Lankan daily The Island’s portrayal of Tamil Nadu as a key centre for LTTE propaganda operations, Chennai-based human rights NGO Manitham on Monday condemned the report as a pre-planned psychological attack on Tamils in the State to divert attention away from Sri Lanka’s war crimes.

“The daily’s brazen act to tarnish the State’s image internationally has to be condemned using the strongest words by all Tamils and even by the newly elected AIADMK government,” said Agni Subramaniam, executive director of Manitham.

While Tamil Nadu had maintained, for years now, that no LTTE activities took place on its soil, The Island’s claim was not only baffling but also projected the State in a bad light among European countries and the USA, said Subramaniam.

It may be noted that about three weeks ago, Sri Lankan authorities confiscated 45 cartons of Tamil books about Sri Lankan war crimes, that were sent from Chennai to Canada via transit cargo on a ship called M V Hansa Stavanger by Manitham International, on grounds that the books were ‘LTTE propaganda material’.

Subramaniam said the Lankans were illegally holding these books though they were not banned in any country. He claimed the Sri Lankan government had published this “false propaganda” because of international pressure over alleged war crimes, as noted by a recent UN report. Earlier, Lankan newspapers portrayed certain Tamil leaders as LTTE men, but the new claim was alarming, he said.

Chennai city expansion proposal hangs in balance

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on June 7, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/chennai-city-expansion-proposal-hangs-in-balance/281736.html

CHENNAI: With the Governor’s customary address in the state Assembly after change of guard failed to mention anything about the much-awaited city expansion, the proposed extension of the Chennai Corporation by annexing 42 adjacent local bodies now hangs in balance.

Though the official sources in the Ripon Building maintaining that the process ‘is progressing on a positive track,’ suspicion has been raised over its implementation, if at all, due to the availability of lesser time (about three months only) as local body election is slated for October this year and notification has to be announced by August-end.

In December 2009, the state government had issued a notification to annex 42 local bodies including nine municipalities, eight town panchayats and 25 village panchayats to expand the city limit from the existing 174sq km to 426sq km.

The notification also gave six months time to a team of officials in the Chennai Corporation to submit its report on expansion to the government. Under the proposal, Chennai Corporation will be expanded to 426 Sqkm, from Idayanchavadi village panchayat in the north to Uthandi village panchayat in the southern side to make it a real metro city. Subsequently, the existing 155 wards in the city Corporation have been changed to 200 wards to accommodate to-be annexed parts.

As per the government order, a village panchayat namely Idayanchavadi in Minjur limit would be the city Corporation’s entry point in northern side, Uthandi village panchayat on East Coast Road would be its boundary on southern side.
Municipalities like Kathivakkam, Thiruvottiyur and Manali (in north) Madhavaram, Ambattur, Maduravoyal and Valsaravakkam (in west), and Alandur and Ullagaram-Puzhuthivakkam in south were included in city limit.

Town panchayats such as Chinna Sekkadu, Puzhal, Porur, Nandambakkam, Meenambakkam, Perungudi, Pallikaranai and Chozhinganallur, and 25 village panchayats such as Idayanchavadi, Sadayankuppam, Kadapakkam, Theeyambakkam, Mathur, Vadaperumbakkam, Surapet, Kadirvedu, Puthagaram, Nolambur, Kaarambakkam, Nerkundram, Ramapuram, Mugalivakkam, among others were included in the Chennai Corporation.

In April 2010, a team of officials from the Corporation mandated to complete the task of expansion had submitted their preliminary report with the state government and assured the final report by July that year. However, the proposal has hit a roadblock then due to the impending state Assembly elections as many ruling party councillors across the to-be merged local bodies ‘expressed unhappiness’ over losing their landmark wards (seats) to the delimitation exercise.

Top political circles that time apprehended that if the names of those wards were revealed (announced) to complete the expansion process, it could impact the morale of the sitting councillors (of those seats) and it could reflect in the Assembly elections. However, official sources said that the process could be completed if the new state government goes ahead with the proposal and said that ‘we are not running out of time to implement it.’

It may be noted that the blue print for each wards had been already completed and even the proposal was presented in the Council meet during December last. However, the resolution had been postponed after meeting stiff resistance from councillors citing ‘lack of clarity over size of each wards’.

'Will find my Lankan Tamil dream girl' --- Seeman

Pic Courtesy:http://tamilcinemanews.hosuronline.com

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on June 5, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/will-find-my-lankan-tamil-dream-girl/281252.html

CHENNAI: Even as he battles a raging allegation of rape by a woman actor, Tamil film director and leader of Naam Thamilar Katchi, Seeman, seems to be busy searching for his Lankan Tamil dream girl that he had met in Vanni area of northern Sri Lanka almost about six years ago.

Speaking to Express after a news article was published in some sections of the international media on his impending marriage with a former LTTE cadre, Seeman said, "During my visit to the Vanni region in northern Lanka around six years ago, I saw Yarlmathy and wanted to marry her to fulfil my Tamil national consciousness."

"However, after the final phase of Eelam War, nobody is aware of her whereabouts, whether she is living in any of the internally displaced camps or she died during the raging war," Seeman said.

"Though it has been several years since I saw her, the search is on and I will be marrying her once she is located," affirmed Seeman.

A news article published from Canada by DBS Jeyaraj elaborated that Seeman had rescued her from one of the Lankan camps after the war and 'shifted' her to India.

Rubbishing the article published by Jeyaraj, TADA Chandrasekar, a long time friend of Seeman and a senior lawyer, said, "We also read the news and there is no truth in it and as usual, Jeyaraj published wrong and unsubstantiated news."

Another close friend of Seeman, who wished to remain anonymous, said that there was a concerted campaign taking place to tarnish Seeman's image both locally and internationally.

According to available information, Yarlmathy had worked with the LTTE Peace Secretariat and headed the English section there. She got married to one Alex, a deputy to senior LTTE leader S P Thamilselvan, in mid2007. Both Thamilselvan and Alex died in Lankan Air Force's aerial attack in November 2007.

After the allout war between Lankan forces and the LTTE ended, there were conflicting versions emerging about Yarlmathi's whereabouts.

Some unconfirmed reports indicated that the girl was last seen in one of the camps for internally displaced people set up by the Lankan government to accommodate people living in the LTTE-controlled areas.

Reuters Exclusive: On the run, Mladic's world slowly shrank

Source:http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/02/us-mladic-trail-idUSTRE7513LS20110602

By Adam Tanner

BELGRADE | Thu Jun 2, 2011 10:16am EDT

(Reuters) - Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general who once barked out orders that could kill thousands, could not stand the pain and decided he no longer wanted to live.

By 2006, the man charged with genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia had been on the run for 11 years. Suffering from kidney stones -- solid salts or minerals in the ureter which cause sharp pain -- he ordered one of his aides to end his misery.

"We could not take him for treatment," the former aide, who refused to be named because he still faces legal proceedings related to his role, told Reuters. "We found him some painkillers, but he was in such a pain that he begged us to kill him."

That refusal by Mladic's supporters to end his life was to prove one of many secret episodes in a long life on the run that ended with his arrest last week.

There are many gaps in the trail of Ratko Mladic. But interviews with the former aide, a Serbian operative working on his arrest, a top government official overseeing the operation and others, as well as information contained in U.S. diplomatic cables, show a man whose power and influence dwindled over the years until he was found alone last week in a farmhouse, surrounded by disorder and medications.

FRAGMENTS OF A LIFE ON THE RUN

At first he had lived quite openly at his home in the Serb capital Belgrade. As a commander overseeing the siege of Sarajevo and other operations, Mladic had gained a reputation for fearlessness, as someone who would not seek cover even when other men scrambled for safety.

It helped that he was popular. He was reviled by Bosnian Muslims for the Srebrenica massacre of 1995 in which 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed, and for the long siege of Sarajevo, but the respect he commanded among Serbs smoothed his early years as a fugitive.

Bosnian Serbs had failed in their goal to create an independent state, but they did succeed in creating their own half of Bosnia under a weak central government. Many credited Mladic for this, and respected his reputation as someone who was tough but fair, un-corruptible in a war in which many leaders and business people grew rich.

He was protected by key officials for years after being originally indicted in 1995. A 2006 U.S. diplomatic cable, obtained by WikiLeaks and seen by Reuters, gives a sense of how much support Mladic once had.

Svetko Kovac, director of the military security agency, told the United Nations war crimes prosecutor that "some 300-400 people" were in the Mladic support network between 1997 and 2004, it says.

Despite his indictment, Mladic kept his job as Bosnian Serb military commander through 1996, and then moved to Belgrade where he lived with his family until 2002, according to friend Aleksandar Mihailovic, who lived a few houses down from him in Belgrade's Banovo Brdo neighborhood.

"Everybody came by to pay their respects," Mihailovic, a real estate developer, said in an interview. "They were always asking for advice and favours. "He simply became the idol of the people, the only person they believed in 1994-95."

According to Mihailovic, among those who visited during those years was Vojislav Kostunica, who succeeded wartime strongman Slobodan Milosevic as Yugoslav president in 2000. A spokesman said an official from Kostunica's party would only answer questions at a news conference set for next week.

ONE APARTMENT TO ANOTHER

The period of stability started to end in 2001 when a new pro-western prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, came to power. One day in 2002, Mihailovic said, Mladic simply disappeared from his apartment. Even though the general remained popular, the young reformist leader was seeking to distance Serbia from its wartime pariah years.

In 2001 Belgrade had sent Milosevic to The Hague where the strongman died before his trial ended. In 2002, the country passed a law allowing the extradition of war crimes suspects and urged all of them to surrender.

After that, Mladic moved in irregular intervals from one location to another, mainly in the concrete buildings of Belgrade's New Belgrade neighborhood, according to helpers who later went on trial for hiding a fugitive.

"We were moving him from one apartment to another, every two or three weeks on the average," said one who did not want to be named because he still faces legal proceedings. "I would play some chess with him sometimes, bring him food, newspapers, we frequently talked a lot."

Chess had been one of Mladic's wartime passions. He often played as he traveled, at military headquarters, or even at the front lines.

Mladic also seems to have been haunted by the 1994 suicide of his daughter Ana. Before extradition to The Hague on Tuesday, Serbian authorities allowed him one final visit to her grave in Belgrade.

"He frequently spoke at length about his daughter, about his suspicion she was killed by some secret service," said the past helper who described his kidney stones problem. "He was inquiring about his family, how they lived, about his son and wife. "We seldom spoke about the war."

Spending the overwhelming bulk of his time indoors with a limited group of people led to mood swings.

"Sometimes he was in good spirits, sometimes he was depressed," the helper said. "In such bad moments he asked us to kill him if someone tried to arrest him. He always had a loaded pistol on him. He also had a hand grenade at some point, but asked us to dispose of it as it was highly unsafe to carry a piece of live ordnance around.

"Sometimes he would go for a walk, usually in the evenings. Sometimes I would go with him. We appeared as a couple of pensioners, which we actually were."

Mladic suffered a variety of medical problems. But getting medicine was no problem for his support network. Serbian pharmacies rarely ask for prescriptions.

An investigator working on the hunt for Mladic said a major focus in recent years was on doctors or pharmacists who might have been helping him. Since 2006, Serbian agents have also raided a number of homes and businesses throughout the country in hopes of learning more about how his network was financed.

THE BOSNIAN CONNECTION

Investigators suspect Mladic's support network extended into the Serb Republic half of Bosnia, a mostly ethnic Serb enclave whose very existence was a legacy of his military offences during the war.

There, as in Serbia proper, some officials played a double game, telling diplomats they were doing everything they could to apprehend him but consistently falling short. U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte was often frustrated by the lack of progress, including in 2006 when she met Serbia's war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic. "She described her five-hour meeting with Vukcevic earlier that day as 'five hours of trash'," according to one U.S. cable.

Bruno Vekaric, the deputy war crimes prosecutor and spokesman for the office, said they had very good cooperation with del Ponte, although he added there were some tense moments in 2006. And Vukcevic was still in the job when Serbia did finally arrest Mladic.

Privately and in their cables, some diplomats were also convinced that some officials in the Serb Republic of Bosnia were helping Mladic. One U.S. official was particularly concerned about a private security agency in the Serb Republic capital Banja Luka.

CHENNAI CORPORATION: Mayor does not allow congratulatory resolutions

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on June 1, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/may-does-not-allow-congratulatory-resolutions/279700.html

CHENNAI: Playing cheap politics on the floors of the historic Chennai Corporation, mayor M Subramanian (of DMK) on Tuesday, refused to allow a customary resolution to be moved by the Left parties to congratulate the new AIADMK government for winning the Assembly polls.

Though there were expectations of fireworks from the Tuesday’s Council Meet, as it has been convened after a three-month-gap and in a changed political scenario, everything went normally and the session got over in little more than three hours.

Minutes after the meeting was convened in the morning, three Left party councillors were on their toes, asking mayor Subramanian to unanimously adopt a congratulatory resolution for the new government led by AIADMK. However, Subramanian sharply declined to heed their request for adopting the resolution and went ahead with the day’s agenda.

When the trio was still holding on to its demand, the mayor announced that the resolution had been dumped, as it did not reach his office on time. He said that it was handed over to him just two days back, as against the mandatory period of a minimum of eight days prior to the convening of the council meeting.

When the CPIM’s councilor Devi (ward-58) confronted the mayor, saying that it was a tradition to pass the resolution in the council and that the DMK had in fact passed several such resolutions in the past, the irked Mayor replied that it was up to the Mayorship to decide on such things.

However, Subramanian allowed the Left party councilors to register their congratulatory message to the new government, while speaking during the Zero Hour debate.

Incidentally, despite having absolute majority on the floors, DMK and Congress councilors have conspicuously refrained from moving any resolution congratulating former chief minister M Karunanidhi or former deputy chief minister MK Stalin, for winning the Assembly polls.

While the DMK-led Council passed such resolutions, congratulating the new state governments in 1996 and 2006 (both DMK regime), the same courtesy was not extended when the AIADMK was voted to power in 2001 and 2011.

In 2001, there were altercations and a walkout by AIADMK councilors when the then mayor MK Stalin refused to allow such a resolution to be moved in the floor of the house by the then deputy mayor ‘Karate’ R Thiyagarajan.

Repeating the same after 10 years, mayor M Subramanian on Tuesday, did not allow such resolutions to be adopted in the house.