Archives for 2019

Describing the sand shortage in the State as a temporary phenomenon, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said it will end soon once the floods in the rivers recede

VIJAYAWADA: Describing the sand shortage in the State as a temporary phenomenon, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said it will end soon once the floods in the rivers recede. 

Taking stock of the situation during a review meeting with the Roads and Buildings officials on Monday, the Chief Minister lambasted the TDP for encouraging sand mafia while it was in power and making it an issue now. 

“The gates of Prakasam Barrage have been lifted for days and floodwater is flowing even now. It is good for farmers and crops. Sand will be available as per demand soon,”  he said.
The previous government had allowed sand mafia to mine sand indiscriminately using heavy machinery, Jagan said.  

During the TDP regime, the free sand policy was only for namesake as the sand mafia ruled the roost in the State, he said.  
“We are now allowing only manual mining which makes a lot of difference. We have evolved the new sand policy, which is transparent and corruption-free, to benefit the poor people in the State,” the Chief Minister said. Due to floods for the last 90 days, only 61 out of the total 265 sand reaches in the State are operational.  It has become difficult for trucks and tractors to transport sand from flooded areas. A transportation charge of `4.9 per km will be collected and the supply of sand will be increased after the floods in the rivers recede, the CM added.

Interest subsidy for M-Sand units
The State government has decided to provide subsidy on interest at the rate of 3 per cent per annum (Pavala Vaddi scheme) on facility upgradation costs (ranging from `50 lakh to `1.5 crore) for the existing stone crusher units into M-Sand units within a period of six months, which involves an outlay of `186.5 crore for five years at the rate of `37.3 crore per year. A GO in this regard was issued on Monday.
While the demand for river sand keeps increasing every year, its supply is declining. As a result, use of manufactured sand has to be promoted in a big way, which was done in various States like Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

M-Sand is produced by crushing rocks, quarry stone or larger aggregate pieces into sand-sized particles. Rocks or quarry stones are blasted and subjected to a series of crushing cycles to reduce the particles to the size of 150 microns. The sand is then sieved and washed to remove fine particles and impurities and tested for various quality aspects before it is deemed fit as a construction aggregate. To promote the use of M-Sand as a supplement to the river sand, a proposal for converting the existing stone crusher units into M-Sand units has been mooted. An M-Sand unit for the purpose of availing the incentive is defined as a crushing unit that produces at least 50% of its total production as M-Sand.

On Monday night, Pakistani Ranger opened fire from across the border in Manyari-Chorgali area in Hiranagar sector, the official said.

JAMMU: Pakistani Rangers on Tuesday targeted forward posts along the LoC in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir with small arms firing, a defence official said.

The Indian Army effectively retaliated.

“At about 0740 hours, the Pakistan Army initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing of small arms along LoC in Kirni sector in Poonch district”, he said.

The firing stopped around 8 am.

On Monday night, Pakistani Ranger opened fire from across the border in Manyari-Chorgali area in Hiranagar sector, the official said.

The Border Security Force (BSF) guarding the border retaliated.

64-year-old Kuldeep Kaur Vig, who worked as a coach at Guru Teg Bahadur High School in GTB Nagar, had his salary account with PMC Bank.

MUMBAI: A 64-year-old depositor of the scam-hit Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank died due to a heart attack in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, her family said on Friday.

Kuldeep Kaur Vig (64) is the seventh PMC Bank depositor to have died after the alleged Rs 4,355 crore scam at the bank came to light and the RBI imposed restrictions on withdrawal of funds.

Kaur, resident of sector 10 in Kharghar locality of Navi Mumbai, died at a hospital on Tuesday night.

She was worried about her money stuck with the bank and feeling quite stressed after watching news about depositors’ protest on TV, her husband Varinder Singh Vig (74) said.She was rushed to a hospital but declared dead during treatment, he said.

Vig, who worked as a coach at Guru Teg Bahadur High School in GTB Nagar, also had his own salary account with PMC Bank.

“We have our accounts in PMC bank for more than 15 years. Some of our Fixed Deposits were renewed recently, and a month after that this scam came out,” he said.

“We don’t have the money to renew our health insurance. The insurance firm had called asking for renewal. I asked them if they would accept a cheque of PMC Bank,” he said.

“Seven depositors have died so far. How many more deaths the bank needs?” asked a bitter Vig.

The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police has arrested five persons — three top officials of the bank and two promoters of realty group HDIL — in the scam.

Bank officials are alleged to have colluded with the promoters of HDIL in hiding its huge loan defaults.

Among the deaths of depositors reported after the scam came to light in September and fund withdrawal was capped at Rs 40,000 (hiked from the initial Rs 1,000), one was suicide.

The Shiv Sena leader is scheduled to meet Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Monday at 5 pm.

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut along with other senior party leaders is scheduled to meet Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Monday at 5 pm.

“Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, along with other senior party leaders, is scheduled to meet Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at 5 pm tomorrow,” the office of Maharashtra Governor told ANI on Sunday.

Raut has also said that he will meet the Governor tomorrow and request him to invite the single largest party to form the government in Maharashtra.

The development comes at a time when the BJP and the Shiv Sena are engaged in a bitter tug-of-war over the equal distribution of Cabinet portfolios and the term of chief minister’s post for 2.5 years each.

While the BJP is firm on their stand that Devendra Fadnavis will become the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shiv Sena is seeking an equal term for chief minister’s post.

Earlier today, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar said that Raut dropped a text message to him.

“This is the first time after elections that he has contacted me. I do not know why he messaged me. His message reads ‘Jai Maharashtra Saheb, I am Sanjay Raut’. I will call him in a while to know about it,” Pawar had said.

The BJP has emerged as the single largest party by winning 105 seats in Maharashtra polls while the Shiv Sena has got 56 seats in the 288-member assembly. 

However, on Wednesday and Thursday, light to moderate rainfall may occur in isolated parts across the districts.

CHENNAI: Light to moderate rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry over the next four days, according to the weekly bulletin issued by the Regional Meteorological Department on Sunday.

While the northern districts including Chennai are likely to stay dry until Tuesday, southern districts will continue to receive light to moderate rainfall, according to the forecast. Isolated parts of Madurai and other neighbouring districts in south Tamil Nadu received heavy rainfall on Sunday.

However, on Wednesday and Thursday, light to moderate rainfall may occur in isolated parts across the districts.

The sky condition in Chennai is likely to be partly cloudy during forenoon and generally cloudy thereafter on Monday, the bulletin said, adding that light to moderate rain is likely to occur in some areas during evening or night. “Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 33 and 26 deg celsius respectively,” it said.

Referring to Mamata’s claim, Dhankar, in an event organised by Marwari Mahila Samity in Kolkata, said only she knows what evidence she has to substantiate her claims.

KOLKATA: Hitting out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Governor Jagdeep Dhankar on Sunday claimed businessman, officials, politicians among others in the state have approached him claiming their privacy is being compromised. Dhankar’s attack came after Mamata claimed her phone was being tapped as part of surveillance by the Centre.

The conflict between the state government and the constitutional head of the state, that observed a brief ceasefire, emerged after WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging platform, said it had earlier informed Indian authorities about a privacy breach.

Referring to Mamata’s claim, Dhankar, in an event organised by Marwari Mahila Samity in Kolkata, said only she knows what evidence she has to substantiate her claims. “CM Mamata Banerjee knows what evidence she has and on what basis she made the comment on tapping. I can say that several people including businessmen, officials and politicians met me and told me that their privacy is being compromised in Bengal,’’ the Governor said.

Reacting to it, Trinamool secretary-general Partha Chatterjee accused Dhankar of acting like a spokesperson of a political party. “Let him release the list of people whom he met. You will see these people belong to the BJP. Why does he always react to the statements made by our chief minister? Why doesn’t he comment on BJP president Dilip Ghosh statements? General people in Bengal are intelligent enough to understand why he is making such comments,” Chatterjee said.

In an apparent reference to Trinamool’s stand on the abrogation of Article 370 in the valley, Dhankar said, “A prolonged illness was cured after 70 years in Kashmir. I would like to tell them if you want to do politics, then look at yourself also. I am pained when I see violence in Bengal and violence executed with political motives.’’

When Dhankar condemned the Murshidabad triple murder in which on of the victims was claimed to be a RSS worker, Trinamool said the Governor was crossing his constitutional limits