Ayush Ministry promotes ‘Yoga for Unity’ on National Unity Day

Kolkata, Aug 9 (IANS) Sumit Roy, the personal assistant of the Trinamool Congress’ general secretary and the party’s Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, arrived at the office of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police in South Kolkata on Sunday to face interrogation in relation to his alleged involvement in an illegal land-grabbing case in West Midnapore district.

This is the second consecutive day that Roy has appeared at the CID office for interrogation in the matter. On Saturday, Roy reached the CID office around 10 a.m. and was interrogated for over 11 hours.

After leaving the CID office on Saturday night, Roy went to the residence of Abhishek Banerjee in Kalighat, South Kolkata.

Now, again on Sunday, Roy has turned up at the CID office at around 10 a.m. At the time the report was filed, his interrogation process had already started. A total of four FIRs are currently registered against Roy, including the one related to illegal land-grabbing.

Roy had been absconding for a long time with multiple cases and FIRs registered against him. He had also approached both the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court for interim protection from coercive police action, including arrest.

Finally, last week, the Supreme Court granted him the interim protection in a case of illegal land-grabbing registered against him. Armed with that apex court-granted interim protection, Roy finally appeared at the CID office on Saturday.

Roy has been accused of grabbing and selling government-vested land in Salboni, West Midnapore district, using forged documents. Following a complaint, the police registered an FIR and launched an investigation.

As Roy could not be traced at his known addresses, a local court issued an arrest warrant against him. The Criminal Investigation Department of West Bengal Police had earlier issued a lookout notice against him.

In June, police teams also conducted searches at Abhishek Banerjee’s residence in Kolkata’s Kalighat and at Roy’s in-laws’ residence in Serampore, but he was not found in either place.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday came down heavily on the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, saying that it is a matter of “shame” that the latter has “no understanding” of his Constitutional duties.

Goyal’s reaction came a day after LoP Gandhi said President Droupadi Murmu had asked the Opposition-led delegation to provide evidence to substantiate its allegations of ‘vote chori (vote theft)’ following a meeting over the controversy surrounding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

Earlier, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) questioned the veracity of the claims made by Rahul Gandhi following the INDIA bloc’s meeting with President Murmu.

Speaking to reporters, Piyush Goyal said: “It is a matter of shame that the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, has no respect for any Constitutional authority. He has no understanding of the law or his Constitutional duties, both as a citizen of India and as the Leader of the Opposition.”

“Rahul Gandhi has displayed arrogance, disrespectful behaviour, disregard for courtesies and, if I may add, ignorance of both the law and common sense,” he remarked.

Piyush Goyal said that when the President Murmu graciously and immediately granted time for meeting, as requested by the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi should have carried evidence, if any, to support his “fake allegations”.

“If Mr. Gandhi had any substance to his fake and false narrative and allegations, he would have the courtesy and in fact he was duty bound, to go along with some proofs, some evidence of whatever claims he was making,” the Union Minister added.

“When he (Rahul Gandhi) hands over a representation, since it had no data, facts, figures or proofs attached to his fake allegations, because there are none to backup his fakery, the honourable President requested him to provide the necessary evidence,” he said.

Earlier on Saturday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sambit Patra, addressing a press conference, said that LoP Gandhi tried to “drag the President of the country into a street protest”.

“Never has anyone attempted to drag the President into a street protest. However, a ‘nalayak neta’ attempted to do that. The anarchist Rahul Gandhi tried to pull the President of India to the anarchism which he is trying his best to conduct on the streets of India,” the BJP spokesperson alleged.

–IANS

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Mumbai, June 6 (IANS) Maharashtra Revenue Minister and BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule has directed the state administration to implement a tender process for surveying mining areas using drones on a pilot basis to curb illegal minor mineral mining in the state.

“The aim is to complete the survey of all mining areas in the state in the next three months, which will not only curb illegal mining but also give impetus to the artificial sand production project. The information obtained from the survey will have to be submitted to the District Collector every three months and will be uploaded on the ‘Mahakhanij’ website immediately, the Minister said on Thursday.

At a meeting held in the State Revenue Minister’s office regarding the measurement of minor mineral deposits in Pune using drones, discussions were held on conducting accurate surveys of mining deposits using drone technology.

According to Minister Bawankule, the use of drone technology to monitor the extraction and royalty collection of minor minerals like stone, murrum and sand will be a revolutionary step.

It will increase transparency and efficiency in mineral management, the Minister said.

“There are many errors in traditional land surveying, which hinders the control of illegal mining. As a solution, a survey conducted using drones on a pilot basis has been found to be remarkably accurate. After this successful trial, it has been decided to conduct a survey using drones of all mines where minor minerals are mined. For this, emphasis will be placed on determining the measurement method, preparing comprehensive criteria, making provision for expenses and implementing a transparent tender process,” he added.

“Conducting surveys using drone technology will provide detailed information on past excavations in mining areas, ongoing excavations, future excavation possibilities and available stone quarries. It will be easier to control illegal mining and this will help promote the environment-friendly initiatives like artificial sand production projects,” the Minister said.

Meanwhile, Minister Bawankule, who chaired meeting of the surveyors’ organisation, said that the state government is positive about the various demands of the land surveyors in the land records department and will follow up with the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in this regard, adding that the government is working dynamically and transparently.

The meeting was important as some employees had gone on strike for various demands, including the pay scale of the land records enumerator post in the state should be S-8 as per the Seventh Pay Commission. After the Minister’s assurance, they announced to resume the works immediately.

Minister Bawankule ordered the Settlement Commissioner to submit a revised proposal for increasing the pay scale of enumerators and assured that a follow-up will be done with the Finance Department and the Chief Minister in this regard.

He directed that the issues of conducting an examination for promotion after five years in the service and approving a new structure be included in the 150-day programme of the department.

He also ordered the Settlement Commissioner to take a positive decision on the demands of approving travel allowance for the enumeration and purchasing a rover and laptop for enumeration, and to invite tenders for the rover and laptop.

Similarly, he also approved the implementation of the process of recruitment of peon posts on a contractual basis.

–IANS

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