Demolition Drive Clears Eight Illegal Colonies in Gurugram’s Sohna

New Delhi, Jan 5 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the 13-kilometer stretch of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Namo Bharat corridor between Sahibabad and New Ashok Nagar.

The project, constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 4,600 crore, marks a significant milestone in regional connectivity, providing Delhi with its first Namo Bharat connectivity.

This high-speed, reliable, and comfortable train service is set to ease travel for millions, saving commuters one-third of their usual travel time between Delhi and Meerut, that is, less than 40 minutes.

PM Modi, during his ride on the Namo Bharat Train, purchased a smart ticket and interacted with passengers.

He interacted with school children who presented sketches and recited poems. One student recited a poem titled “Nav Bharat,” which was appreciated by the Prime Minister.

PM Modi also witnessed an exhibition showcasing the construction process of the train network. A model of the Namo Bharat train was presented to him by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC).

The train offers modern amenities, including phone charging points, luggage spots, a separate coach for women, and a premium coach. The fare for the stretch from New Delhi to Meerut has been set at Rs 150.

Later in the day, PM Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for multiple development projects in Delhi worth over Rs 12,200 crore.

He will also open a 2.8-kilometre stretch of the Delhi Metro Phase-IV between Janakpuri and Krishna Park, built at a cost of Rs 1,200 crore. This marks the first operational segment of Phase IV, benefiting areas like Krishna Park, Vikaspuri, and Janakpuri in West Delhi.

Additionally, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for the 26.5-kilometer Rithala-Kundli section of Delhi Metro Phase-IV, estimated at Rs 6,230 crore.

This corridor will enhance connectivity between Rithala in Delhi and Nathupur (Kundli) in Haryana, significantly benefitting areas such as Rohini, Bawana, Narela, and Kundli.

Another notable project includes the foundation stone for the Central Ayurveda Research Institute (CARI) in Rohini, a state-of-the-art facility to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 185 crore.

PM Modi is also scheduled to address a public rally in the national capital at 1 p.m., marking the culmination of these landmark developments.

–IANS

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Mumbai, Feb 28 (IANS) Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said the accused in the Pune bus rape case has been nabbed and based on the technical and forensic details the police will carry out a detailed investigation.

The probe will reveal the turn of events and further details, he said.

“The police have arrested the accused, who was hiding. However, the police found him using various technologies. Soon, the entire incident will be revealed. The Police Commissioner has given some information about the incident. It would not be appropriate to give the remaining information at this stage. All the information will be available after the investigation,” he said.

CM Fadnavis further stated, “It would be premature to talk about this right now. The accused will be taken into custody. An investigation will be conducted after that.”

Pune Police arrested Dattatray Gade, who is the accused in the Swargate rape case, at around 1.30 a.m. on Friday. He was picked up from a sugarcane farm in Gunat village in Shirur taluka, where he was hiding. The police had deployed 13 teams comprising over 500 personnel and a dog squad for Gade’s look out who was missing since Tuesday after he raped a 26-year-old woman inside a bus in Swargate bus depot.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Nikhil Pingle led the team that nabbed Gade and later handed him over to Swargate police for further investigation.

Police sources said a hectic search was launched to arrest Gade in his home village, Gunat. Police personnel from the crime branch, drone cell, and dog squad from the surrounding districts were deployed. DCP Pingle said the villagers cooperated with the police during Gade’s search operation.

The police commissioner, Amritesh Kumar, said the preliminary medical examination of the accused revealed that rope wounds were visible on his neck; judging by these wounds, he may have tried to commit suicide. The accused has also confessed to this. However, his attempt failed because the rope broke, and by that time, the people came to the site. A team will be sent there to investigate whether he had actually attempted suicide.

Meanwhile, CM Fadnavis remarked on Minister of State for Home Yogesh Kadam’s comment that in the incident that took place in the Shivshahi bus, there was no resistance from the victim. Since there was no resistance, no one suspected this.

“Yogesh Kadam’s statement was taken differently. Swargate bus depot is situated in a crowded area. There were many people there. The bus where the crime took place was outside. Yogesh Kadam was trying to say that people did not notice the resistance,” said the Chief Minister.

He, however, added, “Kadam is a new Minister. Therefore, my advice to him is that we have to be more sensitive when speaking in such cases. If something goes wrong while speaking, it has a negative impact on the public mind.”

CM Fadnavis also had a word of advice for Textile Minister Sanjay Savkare, who earlier said that “such incidents happen not in Pune alone but in other parts of the country”. The CM asked him to be sensitive while making statements in such cases.

–IANS

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Kolkata, June 20 (IANS) A political slugfest surfaced in West Bengal over the Calcutta High Court’s interim stay on Friday, restraining the state government from providing stipends to non-teaching staff, who lost their jobs following an order of a Division Bench of the Supreme Court in April this year.

According to Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, the interim stay was inevitable considering the manner in which the state government hurriedly issued the notification last month announcing stipends for all job-losing non-teaching staff, including both “untainted” and “tainted” ones.

“Previously also there had been several instances of the state government announcing financial relief to cover up their acts of corruption,” Suvendu Adhikari claimed and added, “They did exactly the same thing in this case. So the interim stay was inevitable.”

The Chief Whip of the BJP’s legislative party in the West Bengal Assembly, Shankar Ghosh alleged that the real intention behind announcing the stipend was to protect the interest of the “tainted” ones who got jobs by paying cash to Trinamool Congress leaders rather than providing financial relief to the “untainted” ones who got jobs by proving their eligibility.

“The hidden agenda of the state government in announcing the stipend is clear and hence the interim stay on its payment was legally inevitable,” Shankar Ghosh said.

Trinamool Congress state general secretary in West Bengal, Kunal Ghosh said that yet another humane approach by a sensitive chief minister like Mamata Banerjee has been stalled by some politically-motivated vested interests.

“I have nothing to say about the legal angle of the interim stay. I cannot say anything about how the state government will legally address this issue. But surely the intention of the petitioners challenging the stipends for the job-losing non-teaching staff is highly questionable,” Kunal Ghosh said.

Even legal circles feel that the manner, in which the notification announcing the stipend for non-teaching staff, in Group-C and Group-D categories was issued, had some legal flaws.

According to them, while the announcement involves a huge payout from the state exchequer, the state government had no answer to a question from the Calcutta High Court on what it would get in return from those job-losing non-teaching staff against the stipend paid to them.

–IANS

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