India Army champions global Yoga Day celebrations in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Myanmar

Jammu, March 25 (IANS) BJP MLAs walked out of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Tuesday after uproar marred the House proceedings over the issue of daily wagers, who are on strike in the union territory.

Opposition and treasury benches raised slogans as they blamed each other for the present plight of thousands of daily wagers in the UT.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) and BJP MLA Sunil Sharma said he raised concerns about the daily wagers’ issue in the House on Monday, but there was no response from the government.

“The government should make a statement over it,” the LoP demanded.

Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary of the NC accused the BJP of failing to resolve the issues of daily wagers in the last 10 years.

“We formed a committee within days to resolve the issues of daily wagers. Why you didn’t form a committee to address their grievances in the past 10 years,” Choudhary said.

The remarks of the deputy CM triggered a war of words between the BJP and the ruling NC and Congress members.

BJP’s Sham Lal Sharma said the “government should behave like a government”.

As protests continued, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the BJP has agreed that there has been no justice with daily wagers for over 10 years.

“I appeal to daily wagers to call off the strike. The committee headed by the chief secretary and other bureaucrats will hold talks with you,” he said.

Later, the BJP legislators staged a walkout from the House.

The daily wagers have been on strike for the last two days and have said that the protest will be indefinite till a solution is found to their issues.

Thousands of daily wagers have been demanding regularisation and an increase in wages.

Some of these daily wagers have already crossed the maximum age limit of applying for a government job.

There are cases in which a daily wager has been serving the department for the last 22 years without any decision on their fate.

Interestingly, many departments like the Jal Shakti department, power development department and some others depend heavily on the smooth functioning of the daily wagers.

–IANS

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Bengaluru, Feb 20 (IANS) The Karnataka High Court has reserved its judgement on the matter related to two separate Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons concerning Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife B.M. Parvathi and Urban Development Minister Bhyrati Suresh in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam case.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna on Thursday went through the arguments and counter-arguments, following which he extended the interim order, staying the summons issued by ED and reserved the matter for judgment.

Parvathi, named as the second accused in the case, is seeking to quash the summons issued by the ED to appear for questioning. Minister for Urban Development Bhyrati Suresh, a close confidante of CM Siddaramaiah, had also filed a petition seeking relief from the ED’s summons to appear for the investigation.

Appearing for the ED, Additional Solicitor General Arvind Kamath submitted that when the ED filed the case and registered ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) when 14 allotted sites were in the possession of CM Siddaramaiah’s wife.

The investigation is required as these 14 sites are proceeds of the crime. The ED has not made any charges in the summons and issued a summons to receive information from her, he submitted.

The ASG submitted that directions went from the office of Minister Bhyrati Suresh. It was also said that his office had given endorsements and hence he was issued a summons for questioning.

He further submitted that the property of MUDA taken illegally has been handed over to relatives.

“The influential persons are getting the sites allotted in their relatives’ names. Many relatives of former MUDA Commissioner have got the sites allotted. The sites are allotted to grandfather, wife’s grandfather, brothers’ son illegally. These information would be shared with the investigating agency,” he said.

The ASG further stated that the corruption and money accumulated by committing crime are like Siamese twins. “Whenever there is corruption, the money gets accumulated illegally. The private complaint mentions Rs 5,000 crore scam and based on the complaint, the Lokayukta has filed an FIR. This is not just about allotment of 14 sites, the ED has investigated about the charges of illegalities committed in the MUDA.”

Senior counsel Sandeep Chowta, appearing for CM Siddaramaiah’s wife, said: “The ED is probing the allotment of 1,708 sites, it is not just about 14 sites. The ED is conducting probe by crossing its jurisdiction. It has already seized 160 sites temporarily and probed matters such as land acquisition and conversions.”

“The ED has entered the jurisdiction of Lokayukta police. The ED has not seized 14 sites returned to the MUDA. But seized other 160 sites. The Lokayukta police have submitted a closure report on this and stated that there is no misappropriation in the case,” he added.

Chowta further submitted: “On October 1, 2024, CM’s wife Parvathi returned all 14 sites, arguing that she is not in possession of the MUDA-allotted sites and is not benefiting from them. Therefore, the alleged proceeds of the crime are not in her possession.”

“If the proceeds of the crime were hidden, then the case would fall under the jurisdiction of the ED for investigation. If the assets were still in possession and being used, then ED’s jurisdiction would apply.”

However, in this case, Chowta argued that the ED registering an ECIR itself was incorrect.

Additionally, he pointed out that the ED registered the ECIR within just four days of the FIR being filed.

He argued that the ED is merely repeating the investigation already being conducted by the Lokayukta Police.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 14 (IANS) Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Friday, paid homage to brave soldiers martyred in the Pulwama terrorist attack in 2019.

“I pay my heartfelt salute and humble tribute to our brave soldiers martyred in the Pulwama terrorist attack. India will never forget his supreme sacrifice,” LoP Rahul Gandhi wrote in a post on X on the sixth anniversary of the gruesome attack in which 40 jawans lost their lives.

Saluting the courage and sacrifice of Pulwama martyrs Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge remarked, “As an indebted nation, we salute the indomitable courage and sacrifice of our Pulwama martyrs. Our heartfelt gratitude towards them. Their selfless sacrifice for Bharat Mata shall never be forgotten.”

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also paid tributes in a post on social media platform X stating, “Salute and heartfelt tribute to our brave soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice in the Pulwama terrorist attack. The country will always be indebted to the brave martyrs and their families. Jai Hind.”

A local terrorist of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group rammed his explosive-laden car into an CRPF convoy in the Lethpora area of Pulwama district killing 40 troopers of the force on February 14, 2019.

It was in retaliation to the Pulwama terror attack that the Indian Air Force carried out bombings of terror training camps deep inside the Pakistani side of the Line of Control (LoC) in the Balakote area.

The retaliation decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was made after considering all the eventualities of such a step.

India and Pakistan had virtually been brought face to face in a warlike situation by the Pulwama terror attack.

Although Pakistan had denied that any damage had been caused by the Indian Air Force bombings of 2019, yet it ate a humble pie by failing to resist or respond to the blitzkrieg by the force.

–IANS

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