Month: August 2014

The division bench of Bombay High Court on Monday, in an interim order, stayed the handing over of the will of Rajesh Khanna to his alleged live-in partner Anita Advani.

Justice RD Dhanuka, on July 30, had allowed Advani to secure a copy of the will.

Following this order, Twinkle Kumar (Khanna) daughter of the late yesteryear superstar filed an appeal before the division bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah challenging the single judge`s order asking her to give a copy of her late father’s will to Advani.

The death toll in Maharashtra’s worst-ever landslide last Wednesday in Pune district’s Malin village climbed to 134 Monday with the majority of the victims being women, a official said.

“By this evening, we have recovered 134 bodies, including 64 women, 50 men and 20 children. The rescue operations are still continuing,” Pune’s Additional Collector Ganesh Patil told IANS.

So far, around 23 people have been rescued from the much and debris, though no survivors have been found after Friday.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said that the government is ready to address oppositions’ concerns. Denying that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf”s (PTI) ”million march” posed a threat to his government, Sharif had earlier reiterated his commitment to resolving issues with the PTI chief through talks. According to the Dawn, Sharif said on Sunday that political problems were always resolved through dialogue and understanding and added that the grievances of the opposition will be addressed through talks either after the Azadi March or before it.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Monday urged MPs, particularly from districts affected by Japanese Encephalitis, to educate people to boil water before drinking and immunize their children.

Replying to a debate in Lok Sabha on the spread of encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in eastern Uttar Pradesh and other areas of the country, he said there was a need to take preventive steps.

Harsh Vardhan said 85 percent of the cases were from five states: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao Monday visited the historic Golconda Fort here to personally select a suitable location for the Independence Day celebrations.

Accompanied by the top officials, he inspected the fort and surrounding areas for nearly two hours.

A day after deciding to celebrate the Independence Day at the ancient fort, he drove to the monument, taking people including the visitors by surprise.

Noida-based businessman Moninder Singh Pandher, in jail for nearly 7 years in connection with infamous Nithari serial killings, was granted bail today by the Allahabad High Court in cases relating to abduction, rape
and murder of 5 minor girls in which his domestic servant Surendra Koli is a co-accused.

Justice Bharat granted bail to Pandher in cases filed by parents or guardians of Payal, Pinki, Anjali, Madhu and an
unnamed girl mentioned as the daughter of complainant “Jhabbu Lal” in the court order.

Police have arrested a bootlegger and seized 31 cartons of illicit liqour, containing 1,532 quarter bottles, from him in west Delhi, The accused, identified as Mahender (24) of Amar Colony area, was transporting the consignment from Haryana and was arrested following a tip-off in Nihar Vihar area, police said.

Police got information that a person, who is carrying illicit liquor from Bahadur Garh area of Haryana, was coming
towards Adhyapak Nagar yesterday. Acting on the tip-off, police laid a trap and arrested him,” said a senior police
officer.

Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the sole seller of CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas in Delhi, today reported a 30 per cent jump in its first quarter net profit on back of revision in depreciation rates.

Net profit in April-June at Rs 114.03 crore was 30 per cent higher than Rs 87.57 crore net in the same period a year
ago, the company said in a statement here.

Profit rise has been “driven by revision on depreciation rate on certain fixed assets as per useful life specified in
the Companies Act 2013 or re-assessment on the basis of technical evaluation,” it said.

Cidco plans to expand the proposed Belapur-Khandeshwar metro service up to Kalyan and Ulhasnagar to improve the connectivity between these suburbs and Navi Mumbai.

We are on track to complete phase I of the first 23.4-km CBD Belapur to Khandeshwar Metro project. We now plan to
extend the line to Kalyan and Ulhasnagar to improve the connectivity between these three suburbs,” City and
Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) Chairman Pramod Hindurao told reporters here today.

The government is planning to prepare an Immigration Bill before the next session of Parliament, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said today.

Speaking during a discussion in Rajya Sabha, Swaraj said that an Immigration Bill had been prepared in 1983 but it has many deficiencies.

“We want to bring a perfect Bill by removing these deficiencies,” she said, adding the Bill can be ready by the
next session of the Parliament.

Swaraj expressed horror at the kind of people who had become agents, saying that some such agents take huge sums of

A sex racket was today unearthed during a police raid in Gomti Nagar area of the state capital, a senior officer said here.

Additional Superintendent of Police Dinesh Yadav said four girls and seven boys were nabbed during a raid at a flat in Yamuna apartment in Gomti Nagar extension.

He said the flat is owned by an engineer of PWD department.

———————-PTI

Bowing to pressure from protesting civil service aspirants, the government Monday said the marks in English language comprehension skills of the UPSC aptitude test will not be included in the merit list. But students said their demands still remain “unfulfilled”.

Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said in parliament: “Government is of the opinion that in the civil services preliminary examination, paper II, the marks of the question section on ‘English language comprehension skills’ should not be included in gradation or merit.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned home Monday evening after a two-day visit to Nepal.

An Indian Air Force aircraft carrying Modi and his delegation landed here at 7 p.m., Deputy Commissioner of Police M.I. Haider told IANS.

–IANS

Former external affairs minister Natwar Singh has alleged that the US exerted pressure on then prime minister Manmohan Singh in the choice of his ministers and also claimed that CIA agents had “penetrated deep into every sphere of decision and policy making of the UPA regime”.

The encephalitis outbreak in north Bengal has claimed two more lives in the last 24 hours while the death toll for this year has crossed 200, an official said Monday.

“There have been two deaths due to AES (acute encephalitis syndrome) in the last 24 hours. We have got four new cases of AES and 10 Japanese encephalitis (JE) positive samples from north Bengal,” state’s director, health services, B.R. Satpathi, told IANS.

He said the total deaths this year are now 203 but dismissed reports of encephalitis spreading out to Kolkata.

The first batch of 44 Kerala nurses, evacuated from Libya, will arrive at Kochi on a Middle East airline Tuesday morning, said a state government official.

Speaking to IANS, P.Sudeep, chief executive officer of Roots-Norka (the state agency that looks after the welfare of non-resident Keralites), said this information was passed on to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

The Iran Consul General Hasan Nuriyan and senior Consul General Fariyaad today met the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao.

Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Chief Minister Mahmud Ali said that steps would be taken up to improve the relations between Iran and Telangana State. He informed that Iran Consulate General was invited by the government on the occasion of culmination of Ed-milap. (NSS)

Delhi Police have filed two separate charge sheets against alleged Indian Mujahideen operative Zia-Ur-Rehman in September 2010 Jama Masjid terror attack case in which two Taiwanese tourists had were injured and a mild explosion had taken place in a car parked there.

Local Congress leaders today staged a sit-in at the sub-collector’s office here, demanding immediate implementation of the agriculture loan waiver scheme without any conditions.

Former minister Devnineni Nehru said the ruling TDP promised complete waiver at the time of elections, but now the state government had changed the tune and was talking about only a partial waiver.

The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to complete the EAMCET counselling process by August 31 by following the Presidential Order.

Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu reviewed the budget of Planning Department with the senior officers at the Secretariat here on Monday.
The Minister instructed that the ongoing and incomplete works should be continued and completed on war-footing and there will be no new schemes as of now. He also advised the officials to coordinate with the Agricultural Department, Horticulture Department and other allied sectors and prepare a special Agriculture Budget which will be presented to the assembly separately on the same day.

Karimnagar MP B Vinod on Monday said that the Supreme Court’s direction seeking completion of EAMCET Counselling by August 31 were neither against Telangana nor in favour of Andhra Pradesh.

The Telangana Congress has strongly condemned the police lathicharge on farmers on NH 44 near Narsingi of Medak district on Monday.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Ponnala Lakshmaiah said that at one side Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was trying to project himself as a friend of farmers by promising to waive off loans and on the other, he is trying to suppress the voice of farmers using force. Is lathi the answer for asking power? he asked adding that farmers were forced to come on streets in protest against the erratic power supply.

Deputy CLP leader in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Monday demanded that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao tender an unconditional apology to farmers for the lathicharge at NH 44 near Narsingi of Medak district.

Several persons including police personnel were injured when the Rasta Roko agitation by farmers over erratic power supply turned violent on National Highway No 44 near Narsing in Medak district on Monday.

Several farmers blocked the traffic on NH 44 while raising slogans against the State Government. The farmers alleged that despite being in the midst of Khariff season they were not getting power even for a few hours a day. They alleged that supply became quite erratic since one week.