NEW DELHI, June e 12 (Agencies): An Indian national has been accused of stealing and decamping with three fine diamonds worth lakhs of rupees in the world's smallest Island - St Maarten - located near Caribbean Islands.
In a letter written to Prime Minister's office and officials in External Affairs Ministry and CBI, Diamonds International firm alleged that a Mumbai-based Indian national, who was working with the group for eight years, made good with three diamonds on June e five.
The three diamonds - round brilliant (finest cut) and round brilliant and square shaped Princess cut diamonds (both of them certified by Gemological Institute of America - are worth nearly 100,000 dollars in the wholesale international market.
The Company's Managing Director Moshe Hakimi, annexed the passport details of the accused, whose address in India has been shown to be in Chembur (Mumbai).
The Indian national was not identified.
"I have got a case registered against the accused in Police station.
Even the Indian authorities have been informed through their Venezuelan mission," Hakimi told PTI over phone from Philipsburg (St Maarten).
St Maarten Island is the world's smallest inhabited Island with an area of only 37 square miles and a population of 85,000.
Tourism is the mainstay of its economy and is considered as a shopper's paradise with wide range of duty free shops.
One part of the Island is controlled by France and the other by the Netherlands.
With no help flowing from the Indian side, Hakimi would now be approaching Lt Governor of St Maarten.
"I want him to take up the matter now with the Indian side," he said.
Having a work force of nearly 150 Indians in his establishment, Hakimi has all the praise for the Indians.
"...I have many Indians working for me for many years and my overall experience has been positive," he said but agrees that his "confidence level" was shaken.
Hakimi says many of his staff members especially Indians were helping him and also praying "for his arrest." In his appeal to the Indian authorities, Hakimi said the accused had shocked the entire Indian community, which has a large presence in St Maarten Island.
The Association of Indians in the St Maarten have also sought speedy action to bring the culprit to book.
Indians have been a part of this Island since 19th century after slavery was abolished.
Britishers brought some Chinese and East Indians to take the place of slaves.
Thus, St Maarten and the other islands are populated by a mixture of American Indians, Europeans, Africans, Indians and Asian peoples.
Govt reduces prices of complex fertiliser NEW DELHI, June e 12 (Agencies): The government today announced a reduction in prices of complex fertilisers to encourage farmers to use nutrient-based organic instead of regular nutrient like urea and DAP.
The decision to reduce prices was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, amid reports that there is a supply crisis of the crucial agri nutrient.
"The prices of complex fertilisers will come down by Rs 1,416 per tonne or Rs 70 per bag," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the CCEA meeting.
The government has also approved the uniform freight subsidy scheme for fertilisers to make them available to farmers in different areas at uniform price.
There will, however, be no change in prices of urea, MoP, DAP and SSP during 2008-09, he said, while announcing the decision of the government to shift to nutrient-based pricing of subsidised fertilsier mooted by the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers.
The complex fertilisers are those which have at least two nutrients, while regular fertilsiers have only one nutrient like nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) or potash (K).
The uniform freight subsidy scheme which is based on payment of actual freight, Chidambaram said, will ensure easier availability of fertiliser in all parts of the country.
Currently, fertiliser companies receive a fixed amount as freight irrespective of distance from the production centre to the sale point.
The industry for long had been demanding payment of actual freight.
Replying questions on shortage of fertiliser, he said, "The ministry of fertiliser assures us that there is no shortage.
Adequate fertiliser are available and being provided." The states, he added, should ensure that there are no movement bottlenecks, which could be cleared at local level.
Maharashtra govt to formulate measures to regulate lottery NEW DELHI, June e 12 (Agencies): The Maharashtra government will host a high level meeting next month to formulate effective and transparent measures to regulate lottery, in which many poor people get involved and ruin their lives.
The decision was taken at a meeting convened by the Union Home Ministry here today.
The meeting, attended by officials of Ministries of Home, Law and Finance and four states - Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Nagaland - discussed the broad parameters of a national policy on regulating lottery, official sources said.
While the Centre is understood have been in favour of banning all forms of lottery - paper, online and internet - some states are opposed to the move as they currently earn around Rs 25,000 crore as revenue from it.
The Centre suggested setting up of a regulator authority on lottery which the states agreed to consider, sources said.
With the traditional paper lottery on the decline, online lottery has become popular in several states.
While the powerful lottery lobby contends the business earns substantial revenue for the state governments, those opposed to the trade say that poor people get involved in it and ruin their lives.
The National Institute of Public Finance and Policy has been asked to work out a revenue sharing model between lottery operators and the state governments.
Meawhile, Pan India Network Infravest that runs the Playwin lottery brand said any move to strengthen the regulatory mechanism would help to improve the government's revenues.
All forms of lottery online, paper and internet - should be clubbed and there should be no draw on national holidays, Pan India Network Infravest's Amar Sinha told reporters.
He also favoured setting up of a SEBI-type regulatory body to bring transparency and justice for all states and operators.
Police stations in Chandigarh 'certified' CHANDIGARH, June e 12 (Agencies): One is aware of products and services being ISO certified, but have you heard of entire police station of a state or union territory being given a certification to be of international standard? Yes! Chandigarh's police department has gained ISO certification for all of its police stations thus making it the first one in India.
All eleven police stations in the city were awarded ISO 9001:2000 certificates in March 2008, following a successful exercise of instituting a special squad of tourist-friendly cops.
The changeover is a great boon for visitors like Rajiv Bedi, who need have no qualms visiting police stations.
"Four to five years ago, we used to fear going to a police station.
Now, things have changed.
We are receiving police cooperation readily.
Without fear, we are coming here to help and the response is most praiseworthy," said Bedi.
All the police stations here have standardized policies and procedures, which include world-class infrastructure and cleanliness as the priorities.
Separate rooms have been established for all investigating officers.
There is easy accessibility to multiple records for both the officers and the public while visiting a police station to avail any kind of service.
Moreover, transparency of operations has been given a complete new meaning.
"As far as taking legal action and strict legal action is concerned, we are very clear.
ISO certification does not mean that on legal issues we are lenient to anybody or we are being flexible.
Infect, we are being more professional.
We are trying to standardize things so that the discretion, which after results in criticism of the police, we have to reduce," said S S Srivastava, Senior Superintendent of Police, Chandigarh.
Moreover, there is an attitudinal change among the policemen.
The services rendered by them are streamlined following technical changes.
Though the Chandigarh police is in a position to offer consultancy services to police force in other parts of the country, they are duty bounded to maintain the ISO status.
For the Chandigarh police, it is a matter of faith, which it has earned in recent years, which has brought about this changing attitude and capabilities.
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