‘Next 20 years crucial for Viksit Bharat’: Gujarat Dy CM at I-Day celebration

Ahmedabad, Aug 15 (IANS) Gujarat’s three major municipal corporations marked the 80th Independence Day on Saturday with flag-hoisting ceremonies in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad and Rajkot, combining tributes to freedom fighters with announcements on infrastructure, cleanliness, public services and future urban development.

In Gandhinagar, Mayor Mira Patel hoisted the National Flag at the civic body’s Sector 17 office.

Addressing councillors, officials and citizens, she said the real measure of municipal development was not the amount of money spent but the positive change in people’s lives.

She said the progress of a city should be measured not by its tallest building but by the nutrition available to its most vulnerable child.

She announced that infrastructure projects worth Rs 1,000 crore, including a sports complex, modern roads and a City Civic Centre, would be taken up under the Centre’s Urban Challenge Fund scheme.

The civic body is also strengthening water and drainage infrastructure, including a 40 MLD water treatment plant at Sughadh and a 100 MLD sewage treatment plant at Jaspur.

With 40 electric buses already operating, work is underway to add another 60. Patel urged citizens to keep the city clean, conserve water and electricity, follow traffic rules, pay taxes on time and protect public property.

Ahmedabad Mayor Hitesh Barot hoisted the Tricolour at Maharana Pratap Chowk in Khokhra and paid tribute to freedom fighters and martyrs.

Referring to the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat @2047’, he said: “Youth would remain a key pillar of development and needed to be connected with education, skills, values and opportunities.”

Barot highlighted the city’s expanding sports infrastructure, including the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex, Vastral Sports Complex and Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, while saying Ahmedabad is strengthening its position as a sports city ahead of the Commonwealth Games-2030.

He also referred to tree-planting initiatives such as ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ and ‘Mission Five Million Trees’ and called on residents to segregate wet and dry waste and follow traffic and cleanliness rules.

The Ahmedabad programme also included cultural performances by students of municipal schools, while freedom fighters and sanitation workers were honoured.

Deputy Mayor Anju Shah, Standing Committee Chairman Kamlesh Patel, Ruling Party Leader Jashubhai Thakor, Whip Atul Mishra, Municipal Commissioner Banchhanidhi Pani and other officials and elected representatives attended.

In Rajkot, Mayor Dr Nehal Shukla hoisted the Tricolour at Atal Sarovar after a group rendition of ‘Vande Mataram’, followed by the National Anthem.

“The city is moving towards becoming a smarter and more developed urban centre through improvements in infrastructure, cleanliness and green energy,” he said.

Shukla outlined plans for an advanced food laboratory, stronger water and drainage networks, a 150-tonne Material Recovery Facility, AI-based systems for faster resolution of civic complaints and improved infrastructure for 100 CNG buses.

He also said the civic body would prioritise around 14 pending town-planning schemes and submit plans for about 10,000 houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana over the next year.

Rajkot’s ceremony also featured a first-of-its-kind demonstration by Fire and Emergency Services personnel, who conducted simulated water-rescue operations at Atal Sarovar and a high-rise fire rescue.

Six sanitation workers, six ASHA workers and six Anganwadi workers were honoured for outstanding performance with certificates and shawls.

The three civic ceremonies concluded with patriotic performances and reaffirmations of civic responsibility, alongside tributes to those who contributed to India’s freedom and those working for the cities’ cleanliness, safety and public welfare.

–IANS

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Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 10 (IANS) Former HDFC Bank employee Ritu Tripathi has put forward her account of the incident linked to a viral video from an HDFC Bank branch in Kanpur, saying the confrontation between her husband and another bank staffer stemmed from a dispute during her resignation process and later escalated into a verbal altercation involving caste-based remarks.

Speaking to IANS on the controversy, Ritu Tripathi said the incident occurred on January 6 when she visited the bank’s Panki branch to submit her resignation.

She said she reached the branch around 9 a.m., expecting that the formalities would be completed within a few hours. As she was fasting that day, she said she needed to return home in time to perform her prayers and had come to the bank along with her sister-in-law.

According to Tripathi, around 10 a.m., her sister-in-law went to use the washroom, where a female employee, identified as Aastha Singh, was already present and had not locked the door.

Tripathi alleged that when her sister-in-law pointed out that the door should have been locked, the employee reacted angrily and refused to accept her mistake. She claimed the employee told her sister-in-law not to speak to her.

Tripathi further said that her husband reached the bank between 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. and enquired about the matter. When he remarked that the police helpline number could have been dialled if there was a serious issue, the situation escalated.

She alleged that the employee shouted from her seat, used abusive language, and made a caste-based remark, claiming, “I am a Thakur,” which Tripathi alleged was meant to intimidate them.

Responding to the alleged remark, Tripathi said she asserted her own identity, stating that she is a Brahmin and would not bow to anyone. She maintained that she did not initiate any violence and only sought to complete her resignation process.

Tripathi’s husband, Rishi Mishra, also rejected allegations of aggression against the bank employee.

He said his wife had gone to the bank peacefully to submit her resignation and that he himself did not go there to create trouble or use force. “I was fully conscious and in control of my senses. I did not behave violently. I only spoke to Shivam, an employee,” Mishra said, alleging that the response from the staff was aggressive.

The incident came into the spotlight after a 43-second video from the HDFC Bank branch went viral on social media, showing a female employee engaged in a heated argument with a person and allegedly making a caste-related remark. The employee, identified as Aastha Singh, has also given her version of events and demanded a probe into the matter.

Speaking to IANS, Aastha Singh said the incident occurred on January 6 and involved the husband of one of the bank’s staff members.

“This incident is from January 6. It involves the husband of one of our bank staff members. I myself am demanding an investigation. Earlier, the husband of our bank staff had come and used abusive language,” Singh told IANS.

Explaining the sequence of events, she said she had a brief dispute with a female staff member’s relative, which ended quickly.

“I had a little dispute and that dispute was for around one minute and it ended there only,” she said.

She further claimed the issue arose over the relieving process of the staff who had resigned, stating that corporate procedures take time and cannot be completed instantly.

“The problem was that when you are joining or leaving any corporate, the formalities are very lengthy. When you are working as a cashier, then you have the responsibility of handing over the keys and completing all the basic formalities. Only then you are freed,” she said.

Singh added that the staff member wanted to be relieved on the same day, which she said was not possible under the procedures.

“I can tell you that in some organisations, the relieving period is three months and in some it is 30 days. That bank staff wanted same-day relieving,” she said.

She alleged that the husband of the staff member then entered the branch and became aggressive and questioned her caste.

“The husband of the bank staff entered and coming near my table he said, ‘Which caste are you that you are showing arrogance? Tumhare andar jyada garmi hai to hum nikalte hain tumhari garmi. Tumhari garmi hum nikalte hain kyunki hum Press mein hain’,” she told IANS.

Singh further claimed he asked someone to call a woman Constable, and questioned how a woman is expected to tolerate such behaviour.

As both sides level allegations against each other, the matter has triggered widespread debate online. Singh has sought an investigation, while Tripathi and her family have denied any wrongdoing, saying they were subjected to abuse and caste-based remarks during a routine resignation process.

–IANS

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Kolkata, Dec 10 (IANS) Amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, the digitisation of 99.53 per cent of enumeration forms has been completed, and the number of excludable voters stands at little over 57 lakhs.

The scheduled deadline for completion of the enumeration form digitisation is December 11 evening, after which the draft voters’ list will be published on December 16.

According to sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officers (CEO), West Bengal, of the 57 lakh potentially excludable voters, a little over 24 lakh are dead.

The number of shifted voters identified till Tuesday afternoon is a little over 20 lakhs. The number of untraceable voters identified till that period was around 11 lakhs.

The rest of the potentially excludable voters are either duplicate voters, having their names in more than one place, or voters deemed to be excludable for other reasons.

Meanwhile, the CEO’s office has slapped show-cause notices on two booth-level officers (BLO), one electoral resignation officer (ERO), and one assistant electoral resignation officer (AERO) for deliberate flouting of the Election Commission of India (ECI) mandated guidelines to be followed in the revision exercise.

All four electoral officers who have been slapped with the show-cause notices are attached to the Baruipur (Purba) Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district.

The first stage of the three-stage SIR will be completed with the publication of the draft voters’ list on December 16.

After the second stage is over, the third and final stage, the publication of the final electoral roll, will be done on February 14. Soon after the publication of the final electoral roll, the ECI is expected to announce the dates for the crucial Assembly elections in the state.

On Wednesday, the CEO, West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, will hold a crucial meeting with the five additional special roll observers appointed by ECI last week. These five additional special roll observers will be in charge of the five organisational divisions in the state.

–IANS

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