Month: July 2014

With Haryana giving clear indications of going ahead to set up a separate Sikh body to manage gurdwaras in the state, Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal met union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to seek the central government’s intervention in the matter.

An Akali Dal spokesman said that Badal met Rajnath Singh in Delhi and briefed him “about the mischief being played by the Congress party to divide and weaken the Sikh community by propping up the demand for a separate management committee to manage Sikh affairs in Haryana”.

Fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, known for mixing splendour with art in his creations, will be the opening designer at the Shree Raj Mahal Jewellers India Couture Week 2014, starting here July 15.

Fashion Design Council of India’s (FDCI) six-day fashion event will be held at the capital’s Taj Palace hotel.

“I have had a very good association with FDCI and I’m very privileged to be starting the India Couture Week again,” Mukherjee said in a statement.

Star rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh has been travelling for his concerts and music video shoots, but that’s not affected his work on his upcoming TV debut “India’s Raw Star”.

If a source is to be believed, Honey Singh is so dedicated that he has started conducting meetings with the team at channel Star Plus via Skype.

The search and rescue operations for survivors at the site of an 11-storey building that collapsed here June 28 ended Friday, even as the death toll went up to 61, officials said.

The rescue operations were carried out round-the-clock since June 28 when the under-construction building in Porur area fell like a pack of cards. A total of 27 people were rescued alive.

The officials said detailed search has been carried out and the possibility of any survivor trapped under debris or any body yet not extricated was very remote.

The national capital experienced a sunny Friday with the maximum temperature recorded at 36.8 degrees Celsius, average for this time of the season. The Met department has forecast a partly cloudy Saturday.

“Saturday will be partly cloudy. Light rain may occur in some parts of the city,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The maximum and the minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 38 degrees and 27 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The minimum temperature recorded Friday was 26 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season’s average.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday said that Jammu and Kashmir has a huge eco-friendly hydropower potential and the central government would give all possible help to exploit it.

Addressing a gathering while inaugurating the 240 megawatt Uri-II hydro power project near the Uri town in Baramulla district, the prime minister said the government has laid stress on environment-friendly energy of which hydro power is an important constituent.

The central government Friday sanctioned enhanced coal linkage for thermal plants in Punjab, a demand pending with the union coal ministry since April 2011, state government officials said.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that the central government’s decision would help the thermal plants generate more power.

The enhanced coal linkage has been allowed for Talwandi Sabo Thermal Power Plant (TPP) and Rajpura Thermal Power Plant matching their installed capacities of 1,980 MW and 1,400 MW respectively.

All 46 Indian women nurses seized by Sunni insurgents in Iraq were freed Friday after intense diplomatic efforts, and were set to return to Kerala Saturday morning.

In what appeared to be a sudden change of mind, the militants told the nurses Friday morning after breakfast that they should be ready to move to Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, on their way home.

IANS scooped the story, with Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy telling the news agency first that the nurses were on their road to freedom. He is to receive the nurses Saturday morning at Cochin airport.

Odisha Police Friday initiated the process of confiscating properties of Bhubaneswar based Sai Pragati group in connection with four cases of money laundering and chit fund scam, an official said.

“The police crime branch submitted a proposal to the state government seeking interim orders for attaching properties of the group,” Deputy Inspector General of the economic offences wing (EOW) at the crime branch, Rajesh Kumar, told IANS.

Andhra Pradesh education minister Ganta Srinivas Rao today said that the government was trying to streamline educational system to ensure quality education.

The BJP Friday slammed Pakistan for calling Kashmir “disputed” and said this was unacceptable.

“The statement that Jammu and Kashmir is disputed is unacceptable to the country, to (Narendra) Modi government and Bharatiya Janata Party,” BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, adding when the prime minister of India is visiting Jammu and Kashmir, “such remark is uncalled for” and “we trash it as a insignificant statement”.

Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam Thursday said Kashmir is a “disputed property” and not an integral part of India.
(IANS)

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao today directed Railway officials to construct new railway lines, complete pending railway projects, besides setting up new lines on war footing in Telangana State.

Two-term legislator Basant Kumar Panda was Friday unanimously re-elected the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Odisha assembly.

Union Minister for Environment and Forest Prakash Javadekar, the party observer, made the announcement after meeting the BJP legislators, adding that Panda was elected unopposed.

The BJP has 10 legislators in the 147-member assembly.

Panda, 53, represents the Nuapada constituency in the assembly.
(IANS)

APNGOs president Ashok Babu on Friday confirmed they have received a memo from the Telnagana government regarding taking back of Gopanpally lands, which was earlier allocated to NGOs.

Speaking to the media here, Ashok Babu said that they have not constructed houses in the allotted 189 acres land due to a case pending in the Supreme Court. The matter should not be looked in the political angle, he added.

“When we met Deputy Chief Minister and Revenue Minister on the matter, they advised us to the Chief Minister”, he added.

CPI Legislature Party today sought the Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to restore Chief Minister Relief Fund to extend financial aid to poor and middle class for availing health services.

Condemning the action of Telangana government in taking back allotted land to APNGOs, YSRC party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy demanded Telangana government to return 189 acres of land to APNGOs immediately which was taken back by it.

Jagan, who came in support of APNGOs, said that its members have spent crores of rupees for development of roads, electricity and for other basic facilities. If Telangana government wanted to allot the lands, it should look for an alternative. Andhra Pradesh government should intervene and protect the interest of APNGOs, Jagan said. (NSS)

The Andhra Pradesh Commercial Taxes Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association has decided to contribute one day’s basic pay to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
The Association President K R Suryanarayana, in a communiqué to the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao, said that the commercial tax employees would play a key and supporting role of rebuilding the state under the guidance of the Chief Minister.

Druva Institute of Engineering and Technology announced the four years free education and 100% Challenging Job Guarantee program for the merit students through “Dhruva Hat Bricks” special program.

At least two security personnel were killed when suspected Al Qaeda gunmen attacked a military checkpoint near the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen Friday, a government official said.

“The suspected Al Qaeda gunmen carried out an attack with rocket-propelled grenades against a military checkpoint and the Wadia border crossing with Saudi Arabia in southeastern Hadramout province,” the government official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Badami Bagh cantonment here Friday during his day-long visit to Jammu and Kashmir and addressed the soldiers deployed in the Valley.

The prime minister flew into the Kashmir Valley Friday afternoon after inaugurating the Katra-Udhampur rail link in Jammu region, an official statement said.

He paid rich tributes to the martyrs at war memorial of the Chinar Corps (15 Corps) in the cantonment, and addressed the soldiers, said the statement

State-run explorer Oil India (OIL) Friday said it has completed the acquisition of 50 percent stake in an oil block in Russia for $85 million.

OIL said it has “completed the acquisition of 50 percent shareholding in WorldAce Investments Ltd (WorldAce), a Cyprus-based wholly-owned subsidiary of PetroNeft Resources Ltd (PTR), which owns License 61 in Tomsk Oblast region in Western Siberia, Russia.”

The acquisition marks OIL’s entry into Russia and is a major addition to the company’s overseas portfolio.

The Goa government Friday formed two high powered committees including a Secretariat to oversee the organisation of the ‘Exposition of St. Francis Xavier’, a decennial feast organised in memory of the Spanish saint.

Both the committees are headed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Scottish racing driver Susie Wolff became the first woman in 22 years to participate in an official Formula 1 World Championship meet when she drove the Williams of Valtteri Bottas in the first practice session of the British Grand Prix here Friday.

The last time a female participated in a Grand Prix weekend was when Italian Giovanna Amati failed to qualify her Brabham at the 1992 Brazilian GP at Interlagos.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Friday there is no proposal to increase rates of subsidised LPG, kerosene and diesel.

“There is no such proposal with the government,” Pradhan said with reference to a report that his ministry is considering a note to the cabinet for raising kerosene and LPG prices as recommended by an expert committee.

The Kirit Parikh panel has recommended raising kerosene prices by Rs.4-5 per litre and LPG by Rs.250 per cylinder

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday inaugurated the 240 megawatt Uri-II hydropower project in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

The Uri-II Hydro Electric Project (HEP), located near the Line of Control (LoC) in Baramulla district close to Uri town, was dedicated to the nation by Modi in the presence of Governor N.N. Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and top officials of NHPC.

This is the second power project on River Jhelum in Uri area and is located downstream of the 480-MW Uri-I HEP, which is already operational.