Archives for February 2017

Lucknow: Nominations for the sixth phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh started this morning with the issuance of notification for 49 seats spread across seven districts of the eastern part of the state bordering Nepal and Bihar.

“The notification for the sixth phase has been issued and nominations have started at 11 am,” the office of the UP Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said.

The districts going to polls in the sixth phase are Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Azamgarh, Mau and Ballia.

The polling in this phase will be held on Mar 4 while February 14 will be the last date for filing of nominations.

While scrutiny of papers would be done on February 16, candidates can withdraw their candidature till February 18.

The number of eligible voters for the sixth phase of elections is around 1.72 crore, including 94.60 lakh male and 77.84 lakh female voters, who will exercise their franchise in 17,926 polling booths.

In the 2012 Assembly polls, of the 49 seats, 27 were won by the SP, 9 by BSP, 7 by BJP, 4 by Congress and 2 by others.

The notification for the seventh and final phase for elections to 40 seats will be issued on February 9.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: A moderate intensity earthquake measuring 5.8 on Richter Scale  hit Uttarakhand, tremors of which were felt in Delhi and other parts of northern India.

The epicentre of the quake was Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand, said J L Gautam, Operations head at the National Seismological Bureau, a unit of Ministry of Earth Sciences.

“The depth of the quake was 33 km and it occurred at 10.33 PM,” he said. Uttarakhand, which falls in the Himalayan belt, is known for high seismic activities. Tremors were felt across Punjab, Haryana and their common capital Chandigarh also after which many people rushed out of their homes.

There were no immediate reports of any loss of life or damage to property.

According to reports, tremors were felt across Haryana and the National Capital Region.

People, especially those living in high-rise apartments and buildings, rushed to the ground floor.

Tremors were felt at various places in Haryana including Gurugram, Faridabad, Rohtak, Ambala, Panchkula, Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal.

In Punjab, tremors were felt at many places including Mohali, Patiala, Ropar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

Meanwhile, people felt the tremors also in neighbouring Noida of Uttar Pradesh.

“Bed started shaking and the ceiling fan was swinging a little,” Sohil Sharma, a resident of sector 20 in Noida, said.

“I was lying on bed suddenly it started shaking,” said Savita Gupta, resident of sector 21.

Meanwhile, in Uttarakhand, people rushed out of their homes in panic when the earthquake struck tonight.

The quake was felt nearly everywhere at 10.33 pm especially the hill districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Pithoragarh.

Panicked residents ran out of their houses. In many colonies of Dehradun, men, women and children were seen hanging outside their homes in anticipation of aftershocks.

However, there is no report so far of damage to life and property.

Meanwhile, Uttarkahand Chief Minister Harish Rawat said that he spoke to district magistrates and sought a report.

“I have spoken to District Magistrate and getting information from various sources through out the state. There is no loss of life but there may be some cracks developed in the houses in far-flung areas. We are still in the process of collecting the information,” he said.

Disaster Management authorities are well prepared and there is nothing to worry, he said, adding our emergency control room is also collecting information.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Karnataka continues to lead the country in the Information Technology and Bio Technology sectors, and over 4000 start-ups have received investments of INR 67.32 billion over the past two years, Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala said on Monday.

In his customary address to the joint sitting of the state legislature reflecting government’s policies and priorities, he said public transport and scientific traffic management are essential to address the traffic problems faced by this IT city.

“Karnataka continues to lead the country in the Information Technology and Bio Technology sectors, which are growing at a rate of 10 per cent to 12 per cent a year and creating new avenues for employment,” Vala said.

He said “With the launching of a new start-up policy the state has retained its lead as one of the start-up capitals of the world. Over 4000 start-ups have received investments of over INR 67.32 billion over the past 2 years.”

The Governor in his speech also sought to address Bengaluru’s traffic issues by listing out the steps taken by the state government to mitigate it.

Pointing out that the World Economic Forum recently rated Bengaluru as the world’s most dynamic city, he said “public transport and scientific traffic management are essential to address (its) traffic problem.

“The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation is poised to complete 42.38 km of phase 1 of Bengaluru Metro by April 2017, he said adding that the work under phase 2 was being executed at a fast pace, he added.

Vala also said that his government is pro-active to introduce suburban rail for the Bengaluru Metropolitan Area in collaboration with the Ministry of Railways for which a MoU has been signed.

Noting that during the current and the next year, various roads and other infrastructure works worth Rs 7300 crores will be taken up in Bengaluru, he said the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewage Board will provide Cauvery water to 110 villages newly added to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (the city civic body).

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s house in southeast Delhi was burgled and his Nobel citation allegedly stolen, police said Tuesday.

Police said they received a call about the alleged theft of the citation and teams are at the spot to get details of the items stolen.

Satyarthi is currently abroad, they said.

The child rights activist won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. He shared the prize with Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai.

(PTI)

New Delhi: The proceedings of the Lok Sabha were adjourned for nearly 50 minutes today after an uproar by Congress and Left members over the handling of the death of IUML leader and MP E Ahamed.

Amid noisy scenes, an apparently upset Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House till noon.

As soon as the House took up the Question Hour, Congress and Left members, mainly from Kerala raked up the issue of Ahamed’s death at RML hospital here following a cardiac arrest.

The Opposition members have been demanding a probe into the manner in which the death of Ahamed was “handled” by the government, alleging that he had died soon after being rushed to the hospital but it was announced much later.

When the Speaker disallowed the issue from being raised during Question Hour, the protestors said it was against democratic norms.

The members then rushed to the Well holding placards which read ‘Parliamentarians for dignified life and death’ and ‘We are Ahamed Sahib’.

As the slogan shouting continued for a while, an upset Mahajan rose to say that such talk should not take place. She then adjourned the proceedings till noon.

Treasury and Opposition benches were largely empty today with most members apparently concentrating on electioneering in Uttar Pradesh.

Trinamool Congress members were present in the House, but unlike on Friday, did not protest the arrest of their MPs in a chit fund scam by the CBI.

The members of the AIADMK, which is witnessing transition of absolute power to V K Sasikala, were also conspicuous by their absence.

Earlier as soon as the House met, Mahajan made obituary references on the killing of 8 Odisha Armed Police personnel in a landmine blast allegedly by Left-wing extremists and the death of 17 miners in a cave-in at a Jharkhand open cast mine.

(PTI)