INDIA ON Wednesday 

All hurdles cleared, Bangalore airport ready to take off 

What is India News Service, 16 June 2004, 1720 hrs

The central cabinet met and okayed the construction of India\92s first ever greenfield international airport near Bangalore.

Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his cabinet approved the modifications to the draft concession agreement proposed by the Karnataka government. It now needs to be signed by Bangalore International Airport Limited, the Karnataka government and the Airports Authority of India.

BIAL, the Siemens-led consortium comprising Zurich Airport and Larson and Toubro, will hold 74 per cent stake in the Rs 1,300-crore project with the rest being held equally by the AAI and the state government.

"The project will surge ahead," Karnataka\92s additional chief secretary Krishna Kumar said.

The government finally hiked the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas, but left the price of kerosene unchanged.

Petrol became dearer by Rs 2 a litre and diesel by Rs 1 a litre from Tuesday midnight. To cushion the hike, the government slashed excise duty on petrol from 30 to 26 per cent, and on diesel from 14 to 11 per cent. On LPG, the duty is down from 16 to 8 per cent.

Police shot dead four persons, including a woman and two Pakistani men allegedly connected with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad early Tuesday morning. They said the armed team was on a mission to kill chief minister Narendra Modi.

In Pakistan, president Musharraf called for speedy disposal of terrorism cases, and promised to cleanse the police of political interference.

He said in Karachi that he would encourage a more proactive approach to rein in terrorists who were trying to destabilise the country. He flew into the troubled city on Sunday night. He called upon the judiciary to decide terrorism cases speedily. Terrorist attacks in the have claimed 72 lives since May.

Overall:

Cabinet cleared airport hurdles: It paved the way for India's first greenfield airport.

Centre hiked fuel prices: Petrol, diesel and cooking gas prices went up Tuesday midnight.

Police shot dead four: The team was allegedly going to Gandhinagar to kill the Gujarat chief minister.

Musharaff wanted quicker verdicts: He visited troubled Karachi and said speedy disposal of cases would help curb terrorism.