Punjab Assembly passes Bill to allow bullock cart races in Kila Raipur rural games

Kolkata, Feb 16 (IANS) Two workers engaged in scavenging and manual cleaning of a septic tank at Nandigram in the East Midnapore district of West Bengal were killed on Sunday.

This is the second such mishap reported in West Bengal during the current month.

Earlier on February 2, three workers engaged in scavenging and manual cleaning of a sewerage drain pipe within the Bantala leather complex on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata had died.

In both instances, the first on February 2 at Bantala and then on Sunday at Nandigram were because of poisonous gas emitting out of sewerage water there, which makes it evident that in the case of both the mishaps, the deceased workers got engaged in manual scavenging activity with proper measures, including safety gadgets.

The two workers killed on Sunday at Nandigram have been identified as Mrityunjay Jana and Manas Giri.

A local person, Kanai Jana, who was there at the spot while the manual scavenging was taking place, had also fallen sick because of the poisonous gas.

He is currently under treatment at a local hospital.

The bodies of the two deceased workers have been sent for post-mortem.

Tension is prevailing in the area where the incident occurred.

Incidentally, last month only a bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia had ordered a complete ban on manual scavenging and sewage cleaning in six major metropolitan cities, including Kolkata.

The next hearing is scheduled for February 19.

Recently, during a discussion held by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the rights of manual scavengers and ensuring their dignity, experts suggested that robots can be used to clean sewage lines and septic tanks.

Addressing the discussion on ‘Dignity and Liberty of the Individuals — Rights of Manual Scavengers’, NHRC Chairperson, Justice V. Ramasubramanian said it is necessary to study and understand the causes to suggest remedial measures.

–IANS

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New Delhi/Amritsar, Feb 17 (IANS) Women and children onboard the second deportation plane of the US that landed in Punjab’s Amritsar were “not restrained during the flight”, sources said on Sunday. The assertion came in the backdrop of the furore that was created amid claims of “ill-treatment” meted out to the first batch of deportees from the US.

The C-17 aircraft carrying over 115 illegal Indian immigrants, including women and children, landed at the Amritsar airport late on Saturday night, with the men among the deportees claiming they were in shackles during the journey.

It was the second batch of Indians to be deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of its crackdown on illegal immigrants.

On the deportation flight that arrived in Amritsar on Saturday, “women and children were not restrained during the flight”, the sources said.

These deportees are natives of Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The second batch of illegal immigrants from the US, comprising 67 Punjabis, landed at Amritsar’s Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport on Saturday night in a special plane, officials said.

Earlier, a US military plane with 104 deportees landed in Amritsar on February 5.

Officials said besides 67 immigrants from Punjab, Saturday’s flight will have 33 people from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

That was the second batch of Indians deported by the Trump government as part of a crackdown.

The deportation of these individuals is part of a wider crackdown by US immigration authorities on those who either entered the country illegally or overstayed their visas.

Sources have revealed that deportations will continue on a bi-weekly basis, with similar flights bringing back Indian nationals in the coming weeks, until all undocumented immigrants are returned to their home countries.

The government of India, through diplomatic channels, continues to work on repatriating its nationals who are affected by such deportations.

While the process has caused distress for many families, the authorities emphasise that the deportations are part of the ongoing effort to address illegal immigration, and those who wish to return home will be facilitated.

With the ongoing crackdown, both the US and India are taking steps to address immigration challenges while ensuring their respective laws are upheld.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump during their recent meeting stressed the need to fight against the “ecosystem” that lures people from ordinary families with big dreams and promises and brings them to other countries as illegal immigrants.

“We are of the opinion that anybody who enters and lives in another country illegally, they have absolutely no legal right or authority to live in that country,” PM Modi said at a joint press conference with Trump in the White House on Thursday.

Opposing the move to land the next plane carrying deported Indians at the Amritsar airport, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday described it as a “conspiracy of the Union government to defame Punjab and Punjabis”.

Interacting with the media here, the Chief Minister said that despite Punjab being the food bowl and sword arm of India, the move to land the plane carrying deported Indians from the US “is just another attempt of the Government of India to tarnish the image of Punjab globally”.

Mann questioned the move of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to choose Amritsar for landing this plane whereas there are hundreds of other airports in the country.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, along with INDIA bloc leaders launched a no-holds-barred attack on the chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday, holding him responsible for the repeated stalling and disruption of the House, apparently over his ‘headmaster-type attitude’ and treatment of ‘Parliament like a school.’

In a joint press conference held by Congress and its allies, Mallikarjun Kharge hurled serious accusations at V-P Jagdeep Dhankhar and said, ‘The biggest disruptor of the House is the chairman himself.’

He accused the Rajya Sabha chairman of partisan conduct in the House and at times, even acting as the spokesperson of the ruling party.

“He is the one who disrupts the House. He gives sermons to the Opposition members but he never tries to stop chaos by the treasury benches. His conduct has hurt the conscience and dignity of the House as well as the nation,” Kharge told newsmen.

He also said that the move to bring no-trust motion against the Vice-President was not by choice but because of compulsion.

“We were left with no option but to go ahead with this notice. For three years, he has been acting in a partisan manner. He has given ample time to the treasury benches, denied the Opposition a chance to present their views and also resorted to schooling the Opposition leaders like a headmaster,” said Kharge, in a pointed charge at Dhankhar.

He further said that the Vice-President never misses any opportunity to insult the senior and more experienced members of the Opposition and added that sometimes, he even outperforms the spokesperson of the ruling party.

“For the worst time in our history, we have a Vice-President who openly criticised Opposition parties in public and behaved like a spokesperson of the ruling party not just in the House but also outside,” he elaborated.

Kharge, further dishing out advice to the Rajya Sabha chairman said that he should behave like a custodian of the House and protector of the Opposition members.

“He is expected to rise above politics and hear the voices of all parties and leaders. His conduct of the House for the past three days was particularly troubling as it was marked by blatant partisanship and total lack of fairness,” said Kharge.

“He rejects all the notices of the Opposition but allows that of ruling parties. When we raise our fingers, he doesn’t allow us to speak one sentence. When I get up, he doesn’t allow us to speak for more than two minutes. This is not just a breach of protocol but the betrayal of the Constitution as well as the people of India,” he remarked, justifying the reason behind moving a no-trust motion against Dhankhar.

Apart from Kharge, many INDIA bloc leaders including RJD’s Manoj Jha, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and other party spokespersons launched diatribe at the Vice-President, alleging that there was a co-ordinated and systematic targeting of the Opposition, apparently at the behest of Centre.

Justifying the no-trust notice, the first ever in history, they said that this was brought not because of any personal bias but because of political compulsion as its sole intention is to safeguard the dignity and integrity of the Parliament.

Earlier in the day, both Houses of Parliament witnessed uproarious scenes over the no-trust notice against Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and the George Soros issue.

–IANS

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