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By Bhopal Rock

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Media Have Crucial Role In Maintaining Peace : CM

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September 29, 2010

A delegation of working journalist union of Madhya Pradesh met the Chief Minister  Shivraj Singh Chouhan here today. The delegation presented a memento of symposium to the Chief Minister. It may be mentioned here that the working journalist union of Madhya Pradesh organized a symposium on the role of media in maintaining harmony here the other day.
Chouhan said that the vernacular press has an important role in promotion of communal harmony and peace. He said that the media should come forward to support the efforts for maintaining law and order situation saying that the media command respect among all communities. People have faith in the media. This should be utilized constructively for peace.  Chouhan said that the state government is committed to maintaining law and order situation at all cost.
President of the working journalist union  Radha Vallabh Sharda, vice chairman of State Gaur- Samvardhan Board  Shiv Choube, vice president of Madhya Pradesh Ekta Samiti  Ramesh Sharma were present.

By Bhopal Rock

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Union Minister Yadav releases Christian directory

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Congressmen and Christian Assembly office-bearers met Union Heavy Industry Minister Arun Yadav and informed him about the Christian directory published by Christian Assembly. The Union Minister Arun Yadav released the Christian directory published by Christian Assembly. Prominent among those present on this occasion were Congress leader Solomon, Christian Assembly national council vice president Rajni Ravte, general secretary Pratibha Victor, Vargis BM and office-bearers of Christian Assembly. Oath taking ceremony at Lions Club Lake City
Bhopal, June 14:
Lions Club Bhopal Lake City's foundation day function concluded with oath taking ceremony. New president of the Club Lions Abhishek Gupta, secretary Akhilesh Rawat, treasurer Mahesh Sharma were administered oath of post and secrecy by vice district governor Mukesh Mathur. Club president Abhishek Gupta gave information about the activities conducted throughout the year. Prominent among those present on this occasion were district governor MJF, Lion GS Arora, Lion Atul Shah and large number of respectable citizens.                       More News ......

By Bhopal Rock

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CM expresses concern over Manappuram Gold Loot

Posted in
By Our Staff Reporter
Bhopal, Aug 25:
The Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has give instructions to ensure arrest at all cost the gang members who looted the Bhopal office of Manappuram Gold finance company. He asked the home department and top police officers to make special arrangements at police headquarters for constant monitoring of serious crimes like dacoity, loot and murder. He was discussing the law and order situation with the senior police officers at his residence here today.
Shri Chouhan said that robbery that took place in Indore and now in Bhopal has shaken people's faith. The accused will have to be arrested at all cost to restore people's faith.
The Chief Minister asked the police officers to review the security arrangements at financial companies across the state. He said that action should be taken for cancellation of commercial licenses of companies that have failed to have securing arrangements according to the security norms prescribed the Reserve Bank of India and suggested by the State Police.
The Chief Minister asked the police department to promptly implement the state government's decision regarding increasing police force, sanction of vehicles and other services. These resources, he said will help the police efficiently ensure safety and security of people.
Inspector General of Police Bhopal Shri Shailendra Shrivastava briefed the Chief Minister about the robbery and action taken so far.
Minister for Home Shri Uma Shankar Gupta, Chief Secretary Shri Avani Vaish, Director General Police Shri S. K. Raut, Principal Secretary Home Shri Rajan Katoch, Additional Director Gereral Police - Intelligence Shri Rishi Kumar Shukla, Superintendent of Police Bhopal Shri Adarsha Katiyar were present.

By Bhopal Rock

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Case Against Anderson Not Closed

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Law Minister Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said the case against former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson in connection with the Bhopal gas tragedy was not closed.
"As far as Anderson is concerned, the case is not closed," Moily said.
He said the name of Anderson figured in the chargesheet filed by the CBI in the case.
"The CBI has filed chargesheet. The courts then frame charges. There is one person here who has not responded to the
summons or replied to the charges. He has absconded and was declared a proclaimed offender," he said.
"That does not mean that the case against him (Anderson) is closed," Moily said.
The Minister had on Monday said that the government will fast-track the Bhopal gas tragedy case in the High Court as it
has learnt "big lessons" from the verdict and could go in for a stand-alone legislation to ensure that the culprits in such
incidents are brought to book effectively.
Nearly 26 years after world's worst industrial disaster left over 15,000 dead, former Union Carbide India Chairman
Keshub Mahindra and six others were on Monday sentenced to two years imprisonment. The outcome of the case came under attack from civil rights activists and political parties.
89-year-old Anderson, the then Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation of USA, who lives in the United States, appeared to have gone scot-free for the present as he is still an absconder and did not subject himself to trial. There was no word about him in the judgement of the Bhopal court. 


By Bhopal Rock

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Bhopal gas tragedy: Bail granted to Mahindra, 7 others

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The sentencing came hours after a Bhopal court convicted the eight accused, including former Union Carbide of India Chairman Keshub Mahindra, in the Bhopal gas tragedy case.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohan P Tiwari pronounced the verdict in a packed court room convicting 85-year-old Mahindra, and seven others in the case relating to leakage of deadly methyl isocyanate gas in Dec 1984.

They were held guilty under Sections 304-A (causing death by negligence), 304-II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 336, 337 and 338 (gross negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.

However, there was no word on Warren Anderson, the then Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation of the US, who was declared an absconder after he did not subject himself to trial in the case that began 23 years ago.Others found guilty are Vijay Gokhle, the then Managing Director of UCIL, Kishore Kamdar, the then Vice President, J N Mukund, the then Works Manager, S P Choudhary, the then Production Manager, K V Shetty, the then Plant Superintendent and S I Quershi, the then Production Assistant.

Except Quershi, all the seven others, including Mahindra, were present in the court. Another accused R B Roy Choudhary, the then former Assistant Works Manager of UCIL, Mumbai, had died during the course of the trial.

A total of 178 prosecution witnesses were examined in the trial and 3008 documents were produced while eight defence witnesses deposed in the court.
 
Anderson, who did not face trial, is based in the US. The companies-- USA and Union Carbide Eastern, Hong Kong --were also not represented in the trial.

An FIR in the tragedy was filed on December 3, 1984 and the case was transferred to CBI on December 6, 1984. The CBI filed the chargesheet after investigation on December 1, 1987.

Subsequently, a local court had framed charges against the accused.

CBI counsel C Sahay had argued that defective design of UCIL and its poor maintenance resulted into the tragedy that had left 2259 dead immediately after the mishap. The lingering effects of the highly poisonous methyl isocyanate killed over 20,000 people.

Sahay contended that Union Carbide Corporation, USA, in its survey of the factory in 1982 had found serious safety and maintenance lapses on nearly 10 counts.

The prosecution argued that even after UCC experts' team visit to the factory, adequate safety measures and maintenance works were not undertaken in UCIL.

A Central team, which visited the UCIL plant post-tragedy in 1984, also found lapses in safety norms and maintenance, the counsel had said.

Refuting the charge that lapses in maintenance and safety norms had led to the tragedy, defence counsel D Prasad and Amit Desai had argued that all steps were followed to keep the UCIL's Bhopal factory in a proper shape.

The defence had also refuted the charge that a team of Union Carbide Corporation, USA, which visited the plant following the death of a worker here in 1982, had found any fault in the unit.

The defence had contended that the UCIL was so much concerned on the safety front that after the death of Mohammed Ashraf Khan, it had reported the matter to the UCC, USA, which had carried out a safety audit.

Reacting after the verdict, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said that delay of justice is equivalent to denial of justice.

"Of course, it is too delayed. It is most unfortunate that it has taken that much of time to give the verdict and we need to address that issue," said Moily.


 

By Bhopal Rock

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Old bhopal Delicious Evening Food

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An evening meal of biryani bun kebab and seekh kebab at chatori gali in old bhopal

I knew I would like Bhopal when the first thing I heard on its streets was the mobile ringtone: ‘Tum aa gaye ho, noor aa gaya hai.’ I was sold. My first impressions? This old Nawabi jewel, today capital of Madhya Pradesh, brought to mind the capital of Andhra Pradesh. Nizami Hyderabad was the only Muslim state that outsized Bhopal. Both offer a rich built and culinary Nawabi heritage, and both offer glimpses of the varieties of food eaten in all the corners of their respective states. The two cities equally share a passion for nargisi kebab and briyan (biryani)—with subtle distinctions, of course. The latter you will find in every gali of both cities.
Bhopal reminded me, too, of Pune. Its Budhwara and Itwara areas bring to mind the Shaniwar, Mangalwar and Somvarpets of that one-time capital of the Peshwas, who, together with their Maratha allies the Holkars of Indore, the Scindias of Gwalior and the Bhonsles of Nagpur, coveted Bhopal and attacked it several times. Bhopal’s perfectly light breakfast of poha, too, reminds me of Maharashtra. Only, here it comes topped with Madhya Pradesh’s beloved sev and served with hot and crispy jalebis. A superior combination.


One of Bhopal’s most delicious offerings is a meltingly soft delicacy tucked in a bun, which, for a bade ka kebab, is second only to the famous offering of Tunde Miyan in Lucknow’s Chowk Bazaar. And Bhopal too has its own Chowk Bazaar.

Its love of nalli nihari reminds me of my own city, Delhi. A narrow lane delightfully named Chatori Gali in Ibrahimpura, the first place Bhopalis will recommend for a bite, is lined with four restaurants that offer Bhopal’s best ‘Dilli ka nalli nihari’.

For all these reasons, Bhopal was comfortingly familiar. And on my first day I thought the city and its cuisine could be an amalgam of influences from India’s great Nawabi cities and the Mughal capital. There are few ideas with more chances of offending a native of this city. Bhopal is unique, because it is Bhopali. And Bhopalis consider themselves pioneers who are always ahead of the times.

They have a point. To me, the most impressive facet of Bhopal’s history is that, for just over a century, like no other preceding or contemporary Indian state whether Hindu or Muslim, Bhopal was ruled by four women, each the first-born daughter of the preceding begum. In modern times, Bhopal is also India’s first city to elect hijras to its municipality, staying true to its egalitarian, gender-blind history, at least when it comes to its rulers. I was in Bhopal this Holi to discover what the men were creating in the kitchens while the women were doing the real work of running the state.

To discover Bhopal’s heritage of Nawabi cuisine, you must head to Old Bhopal, and to eat, make your way to the Jama Masjid—built by Bhopal’s first begum—and its Chowk Bazaar, the heart of the Old City.

Old Bhopal, like Old Delhi, is a Muslim city and takes its time waking up. Sensibly, its streets are widest awake by 7pm, when the pots of nalli nihari that have been steaming all day in its restaurant kitchens are thrown open and their aroma wafts across neighbourhoods. Except for the hot afternoon, each time of day offers special culinary experiences, and for the hungry, an ideal Bhopali day would be something like this.
At about 7am, though even 8 or 9 will do, head to the Jama Masjid. On the east side of the masjid, just off Itwara Road, is Kalyan Singh’s Swad Bhandar (0755-2731495). You will find it easily because of the crowd of people eating his famous, fresh and hot Bhopali poha with sev and jalebis (Rs 7). The poha is perfectly light, dry, spicy and slightly sweet, the sev adds a lovely crunch and the jalebis give you plenty of power to take on the day’s labour. This is a breakfast you will find all over the city, in both old and new quarters. Bhopalis say the best poha is made by hawkers hailing from Indore or Sehore. Then walk down to Itwara Chowk and get yourself a cup of authentic Bhopali Sulemani chai (Rs 2) from Jamal Bhai’s chai ki dukaan. Served from a huge samovar, this tea is uniquely sweet and salty, with generous amounts of cream. I disliked it but assure you that I was the only one who did. As half the crowd around Jamal sipped their tea, the other half dunked toast into plates of pure thick cream. In the next shop, men sat in a row slowly savouring a regal breakfast of delicious mutton biryani from Famous Briyan Shop. I love a city which has biryani for breakfast. Get yourself a plate for Rs 7. And in a third shop, still others were beginning their day with bakre ka paya.


Build up your appetite for lunch walking through the galis of Old Bhopal. Quite apart from the magnificent ruins of the royal mosques and palaces such as the Sadar Manzil, Moti Masjid and Shaukat Mahal, every second home here is an ageing relic and many of these are being carefully preserved. My friends in Bhopal fear their city will change for the worse very soon. I am surprised, because the evidence seems to suggest a city proud and protective of its heritage. But their worry does not stem from a fear of losing their built heritage. They tell me with great pride of how Domino’s Pizza had to make a hasty exit and of how Baskin Robbins had to shut down within a week because they couldn’t compete with Bhopal’s ubiquitous Top-in-Town ice-cream. But now, Pizza Hut has opened and shows no signs of leaving and Café Coffee Day is well entrenched, my friends say wistfully. They want to move to a smaller city. Before that they tell me where to have a perfect Nawabi Bhopali lunch.
By lunchtime, leave the Old City to its afternoon wait for the nihari to cook and make your way to one of three restaurants in Bhopal that offer Bhopali food on their menus. Two of these are in Koh-e-Fiza, back towards the airport. The first is at the lovely hotel I stayed in, the Noor-us-Sabah Palace (4223333, 4239996), built in the 1920s by the last Nawab HH Hamidullah Khan for his elder daughter and heiress, Abida Sultan. Visitors are greeted at the entrance by the preserved sceptre and crown of Sultan Jahan (reign 1901-1926), the last begum to rule Bhopal. The open-air restaurant here offers beautiful views of Bada Talab and retains a few Nawabi specialities from the menus that once dominated its kitchens. I ordered the Bhopali chicken korma (Rs 255), a rich and spicy chicken gravy and khada masala ka gosht (Rs 255), a dish of mutton cooked with whole spices that included star anise.
The former royal khansama Ustad Saeed Khan, who used to cook for HH Hamidullah Khan and still cooks authentic Nawabi food to order (c/o Imran, 09893036807), proudly told me of how Bhopal uniquely prizes and uses star anise. He was affronted at the suggestion that Bhopali food is anything like Lucknowi or Hyderabadi food. Each grain of rice in our biryani is perfectly cooked, he exclaimed; Bhopali curries don’t taste of only haldi and dhania; and the Bhopali nargisi kofta, unlike in Hyderabad, is uniquely stuffed with kachumbar. And Bhopal’s pasinde kebabs! Totally dry, unlike the moist Hyderabadi variety. He was most proud of Bhopal’s rotis, which have to be so thin that “kauwa kaan par baandhen, uda le jaye aur pata na chale”. Saeed Khan regularly cooks murgh mussallum, biryani and murgh rezala among other Bhopali dishes at the Noor-us-Sabah and also cooks on occasion at the Jehanuma Palace (2661100). The latter belongs to the descendants of HH Hamidullah Khan’s brother Obaidullah Khan, and is also a heritage hotel, set in the Shyamala Hills on the southern shore of Bada Talab. Lunch at the Shahnama Restaurant here could include delicious Bhopali mutton korma (Rs 260) and murgh rezala (Rs 270) as per recipes (see box) handed down from the days of the nawabs. One of the most precious of these is the Bhopali filfora (Rs 275), a most unique dish made of turkey breast, marinated and slow cooked. They make a very good bater (quail) mussallum (Rs 225) at the Jehanuma too.

The other place in Koh-e-Fiza is one of just two standalone restaurants I heard of in Bhopal that serve authentic Bhopali food outside the Old City walls. Filfora is also the only place where you can find delicious shahi piece (Rs 15) readymade, without having to order in advance. The superb dessert of fried bread soaked in custard and flavoured with cardamom is among the best I’ve had. You could also try the excellent phirni here (Rs 15), but save that as a post-nihari treat in the Old City. Their boti (Rs 55) and shami kebabs (Rs 45) are succulent and soft, and their kormas spicy. They serve excellent biryani (Rs 55) complete with traditional burani (Rs 30). The menu is replete with Nawabi dishes like khada masala ka gosht, roghan josh (Rs 70 each), kaccha kebab (Rs 40) and, of course, murgh rezala (Rs 70).


After a breakfast and lunch of that size, you must sleep away the hot, hot afternoon hours and be at the MP Tourism Boat Club at 5pm for a leisurely boat ride on the Bada Talab. This is a must to get one of the best views of the minaret-studded skyline and undulating geography of the Nawabi capital.
Take your time before heading back from the pier to the Jama Masjid for a fortifying evening snack. In the tiny chowk adjacent to the masjid I first ate barfi rasmalai dona at Surendra Jain’s stall. He placed crushed ice in a pattal bowl, poured sweet and thick rabri over it, topped that with syrup and finished with a sprinkling of rose water. Cold and delicious. The next stall offered something called fariyali khichdi (Rs 7), a sabudana khichdi that again reminded me of Maharashtra but was unlike any I’ve ever had there. This khichdi of cooked sabudana came with a peanut or two, curry leaves, kothmir and chillies. What made it so tasty was the MP love for crisps. It was topped with thin wafers, a good sprinkling of sev and spicy batata chips.


Your evening snack done with, it is time for what you’ve been waiting for all day along with the rest of Bhopal. Make your way to Chatori Gali in Ibrahimpura, a short walk from the Jama Masjid, by 7pm so you can be there when the lid of the nahari pot is opened and swoon in ecstasy. The entrance to Chatori Gali is marked by crowds hanging around the bun kebab man. He takes the tenderest bade ka kebab, made from meat that has been pounded hour upon painstaking hour, stuffs it into a tiny bun and serves it with chutney and onions (Rs 3). Once you’ve had it you’ll agree that the world henceforth is divided into those who’ve eaten bun kebab and those who haven’t. Have just a couple and pack some more. Then get to Hotel Gazala, a few steps ahead in Chatori Gali, announced by thick stacks of kulcha tandoori. Mohammad Sarwar’s (09893191733) shopfront, like every other, claims to offer Bhopal’s best

‘Dilli ka nalli nihari’.Mohammed will give you a plateful with rotis and on your first bite itself you will agree that it is nothing at all like Delhi or Hyderabadi nihari. A thick and peppery stew full of soft meat that brings tears of gratitude. Look at the unspeaking crowds in the gali around you engrossed in enjoying this most perfect dinner and you will agree that, like this city, it’s in a class of its own.

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