Archives for 2019

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP supremo also stated that the party has been working relentlessly for the welfare of  Purvanchalis.

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday defended the comments of the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, after the state Bharatiya Janata Party labelled his remarks as ‘anti-Purvanchali’ and ‘regionalist’.

AAP supremo Kejriwal on Sunday claimed that the influx of patients from other states was the reason behind long queues at government hospitals in the national capital.

Slamming the Delhi BJP, senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Sanjay Singh said the ruling party has no issues to raise for the upcoming assembly polls and that is why it is making baseless allegations.

“Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made a simple statement that the people from the UP and Bihar come to Delhi for better treatment because the Delhi government has improved the health sector of the state,” he said.

“BJP is the party that has thrown people from UP and Bihar from states ruled by it, whether it was Gujarat, Maharashtra or through NRC in Assam. Now, suddenly, the BJP leaders are worried about Purvanchalis,” said Singh.

Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP, said the BJP is accusing the AAP, “a party whose state chief minister is pro-Purvanchali, and whose  state president as well as 13 MLAs are from Purvanchal.”

The AAP leader also stated that the party has been working relentlessly for the welfare of  Purvanchal.

 “The Delhi government has set up more than 1,000 Chhath Ghats in the city, declared a holiday for the festival of Chhath Puja. We developed education and health system for all and worked for the development of the unauthorised colonies where mostly people from Purvanchal live,” he said.

Zilla Parishad president Gour Chandra Mandal said that the low-lying areas in all the blocks of the district have been inundated and a large number of mud houses have collapsed due to heavy rainfall.

MALDA: Over 2.5 lakh people in West Bengal’s Malda district have been affected by a flood-like situation owing to incessant rain, officials said.

Zilla Parishad president Gour Chandra Mandal said that the low-lying areas in all the blocks of the district have been inundated and a large number of mud houses have collapsed due to heavy rainfall over the past two days.

“A total of 2.5 lakh people of 50,000 households have been affected by the flood-like situation in the district. Operations are on to rescue the residents of the islets of the Ganga, who are stranded there,” he said.

The district has received over 99.80 mm rain since 8.30 am on Monday, an Irrigation Department official said.

The emergency, operation theatres and the male and female medical wards of the Malda Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) were also inundated.

Surgeries, nevertheless, were conducted in the inundated operation theatres, hospital superintendent Amit Dawn said.

Most of the wards of the district headquarter, English Bazaar, are under the water, officials said.

Water also entered the district collectorate, the district magistrate’s residence and government offices, they said.

Residents blocked roads at several places demanding that the stagnant water be cleared.

On the other hand, all the major rivers in the district are flowing above the danger mark.

“While Ganga is flowing 66 cm above the ‘extreme danger’ level mark at Manikchak Ghat, Fulhar is flowing 57 cm above the danger mark at Teljana. Mahananda is also rising steadily but no alert has been sounded,” Executive Engineer of Malda Irrigation Division, Pranab Samanta, said.

Flood embankment at Sakullapur under Kaliachak 2 block and Keshorpur in Manikchak block are being repaired on a war- footing, Samanta said.

District Magistrate Kaushik Bhattacharya, Superintendent of Police Alok Rajoria and Samanta visited Sakullapur to inspect the work on Monday.

Samanta said, while damage of Sakullapur embankment will affect residents of nine blocks in the district, around one lakh residents of Bhutni islet will be affected in an event of a breach in the Keshorpur ring embankment, which was constructed in the 1970s.

Additional District Magistrate Arnab Chatterjee said cooked food is being distributed to the people who have taken shelter at the 10 relief camps set up across the district.

An NDRF team has been stationed at Ratua area in the district for relief and rescue operation.

The FIR states that PMC Bank officials, along with HDIL directors, had caused the loss by not declaring NPAs even though there was no repayment of dues between 2008 and August 2019.

MUMBAI: The Economic Offence Wing (EOW), Mumbai, on Monday said it has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-Operative Bank’s (PMC Bank) former managing director, the chairman, as well as the bank’s major borrower Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) for alleged fraud and irregularities.

Mumbai Police said as per the Reserve Bank of India’s directives, PMC Bank’s administrator Jasbir Singh Matta filed the complaint against ex-managing director Joy Thomas, chairman Waryam Singh and other bank officials for not declaring big loan accounts and Non-Performing Assets (NPA), and prima facie causing a loss of Rs 4,355.46 crore to the bank.

The FIR states that PMC Bank officials, along with HDIL directors, had caused the loss by not declaring NPAs even though there was no repayment of dues between 2008 and August 2019.

The information was hidden from the RBI with false and forged report of accounts with small loans and fake accounts leading to the loss, it said.

“The aforesaid persons (PMC Bank officials as well directors of HDIL, Wadhawans) colluded with criminal intent and conspired to use the loan amount for their own benefit by cheating the bank. Hence, EOW has filed the FIR under Sections 409, 420, 465, 466, 471 and 120(B). A special team has been formed to investigate the case,” a Mumbai Police statement said.

While Thomas last week said he was not aware of how the large exposure and NPAs were hidden, he admitted to wrongdoings to hide the NPAs in the letter to RBI last week.

The letter, now in public domain, shows him admitting that some of the large accounts were not reported to RBI from 2008 due to fear of reputational risk. In 2011, loans to HDIL at Rs 1,026 crore was more than half of the total advances of Rs 2,000 crore, he said.

When RBI started asking for indent for Advances master 2017 onwards, Thomas said the “stressed legacy accounts belonging to this group were replaced with dummy accounts to match the outstanding balances in the balance sheet. As the loans were mentioned as loans against deposits and were of lower amounts they were never checked by RBI.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to chief minister Nitish Kumar over the catastrophe and took stock of the emergent situation on Monday night.

PATNA: Though rainfalls have somewhat remained disciplined from Monday evening to Tuesday morning, the death toll touched 43 with three more deaths reported from other parts of state.

Seven deaths from Kaimur, six each from Gaya and Bhagalpur and four from Nalanda, besides other 9 affected districts have been reported.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to chief minister Nitish Kumar over the catastrophe and took stock of the emergent situation on Monday night.

An official said that the PM assured the CM of all helps to check the flood-related miseries.

Later, the PM in a tweet said that all agencies of administration have been working with full strength to assist the affected people.

The choppers of IAF, pressed into relief and rescue operations over Patna, dropped more than 40,000 packets and has taken four to five sorties since Monday.

Chief secretary Deepak Kumar and Principal secretary of disaster management department Pratyaya Amrit along with entire state bureaucracy and police administration are on their toes to tackle the menace that emerged due to rainfalls of over 350 ml.

“We are taking all-out efforts to tide over the problem and will overcome it soon”, said Prataya Amrit.

Official sources added that 14 districts have so far been badly affected with heavy to very heavy rainfalls in addition to Patna, wherein 20 colonies are submerged, Rajendranagar and Kankerbagh being the worst rain hit.

Meanwhile, breaches have been reported from different places including one in Jehanabad Daraundha river.

On Tuesday, disaster management department claimed to have made arrangements to provide 2 lakh drinking water across the waterlogged areas.

The number of community kitchens has also been increased from 219 to 226.

The 72-feet tall statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Patna Gandhi Maidan, made of bronze at cost of Rs 35 crores, is the world’s tallest statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

PATNA: Amid waterlogging crisis due to incessant rains, the state government has decided to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti at the world’s tallest statue of Bapu, installed at Patna Gandhi Maidan.

An official communique issued on Monday confirmed this and stated that Gandhi Jayanti ceremony stands as per its schedule without any alteration.

The 72-feet tall statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Patna Gandhi Maidan, made of bronze at cost of Rs 35 crores, is the world’s tallest statue of Gandhi.

Sculpted by famous artist Ram Sutar, the statue was unveiled by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on February 15 in 2013. 

On the 24-feet high pedestals of this statue, details on Gandhi’s’ Dandi March, Quit India Movement, Champaran Satyagraha and popularity of Charkha (spinning wheel) have been inscribed.

Gandhi maidan, where the statue is installed, has witnessed several political movements including the Jayaprakash Narayan movement.

Mahatma Gandhi had also addressed a huge gathering at this maidan during his Bihar visit at the time of Champaran satyagraha.

It was named by the Britishers as Patna Lawn but got renamed as Gandhi Maidan in 1948.