Archives for December 2020

A total of 1,561 mobile towers have been impacted in the state, according to an official statement. The state has a total of 21,306 mobile towers spread across its 22 districts.

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said that 1,561 mobile towers have been “impacted” in the state during the farmers’ stir against the agri laws and directed the police to take strict action against vandalisation and disruption of telecom services.

Asserting that he will not let Punjab plunge into anarchy at any cost and nobody can be allowed to take the law into their hands, the chief minister said he has been forced to toughen his stance as his repeated appeals to perpetrators of such acts had been ignored.

The chief minister said that the general public including students, professionals working from home and banking services would suffer the most if the mobile services were disrupted and warned that the use of violence could alienate the protestors from the masses which would be detrimental to the interests of the farming community.

A total of 1,561 mobile towers have been impacted in the state, according to an official statement.

The state has a total of 21,306 mobile towers spread across its 22 districts.

Pointing out that his government had not objected to, or stopped, peaceful protests in the state against the Centre’s “black farm laws” for the past several months, Singh said in a statement here that damage to property and inconvenience to the citizens could not, however, be endured.

Out of the total towers impacted, 25 had been damaged, allegedly by some farmers and their supporters in violation of the directions given by farmers’ unions to keep their protests against the farm laws peaceful.

Since Monday morning there was a disruption of power supply to 32 towers, which led to the disconnection of services of 114 more.

So far, 433 towers have been repaired, according to the official statement.

Amid reports that the power supply to mobile towers was being disconnected allegedly by protesting farmers in different parts of the state during the past few days, Amarinder Singh had earlier on Friday appealed to them to not inconvenience the general public with such actions.

Such incidents were reported from Mansa, Barnala, Ferozepur and Moga with mobile towers of a particular telecom operator being targeted during the past few days, disrupting their services.

“The farmers’ agitation had so far been successful and had garnered the support of people from all sections of the society and across the country due to its peaceful nature,” said the chief minister.

Calling upon farmers and their supporters to put an immediate stop to such destructive activities, which were being disowned by farmer leaders themselves, the chief minister said disruption of telecom services could lead to a communications blackout in the state, causing its people, especially students and working professionals, to suffer serious consequences.

“With examinations, especially Board exams, nearing and students dependent on online education amid the Covid pandemic, such communication breakdown could seriously affect their future,” he said.

“The state government has already distributed 1.75 lakh smartphones to class XII students to equip them for the Board exams, but the vandalization of telecom property was hampering the students,” he said.

The chief minister further said that professionals working from home, with many of them having come to Punjab during the pandemic, could lose their jobs due to such acts of violence and damage to property.

Even banking services, which were also largely dependent on online transactions in these times of crisis, were taking a major hit due to these unlawful acts, he added.

While his government’s sympathies were with the agitating farmers, which was why it had also brought in state amendment bills in the assembly to negate the central legislations, nobody could be allowed to take law and order in their hands, warned the chief minister.

Panvel police told reporters that the accused was arrested from Barwai village within 12 hours of committing the crime on Sunday

THANE: A 26-year-old autorickshaw driver has been arrested from a village near Panvel in Raigad district of Maharashtra for allegedly raping an 18-year-old woman tourist from Chhattisgarh on December 27, police said on Tuesday.

The victim hailed from Jashpur.

She was visiting Mumbai and neighbouring areas to celebrate Christmas and New Year, an officer said.

Panvel police station senior inspector Ajaykumar Landge told reporters that the accused was arrested from Barwai village within 12 hours of committing the crime on Sunday.

He said the woman had travelled to Jharkhand and then to Delhi, before reaching Bandra railway station in Mumbai on December 22.

However, a ticket checker at Bandra railway station handed her over to Child Helpline after finding her alone.

The woman was then shifted to a shelter before she was allowed to go, he said.

On December 26, the woman travelled to Panvel railway station.

She was befriended by a man and stayed with him for a day, the police officer said.

“During investigation, it came to light that the woman is a resident of Chhattisgarh who travelled to Mumbai to celebrate Christmas and New Year,” Landge said.

On December 27, the woman hired an autorickshaw at Panvel to go to Gandhi Garden locality.

However, the autorickshaw driver drove her to an isolated place near the Wadghar river bank and dragged her to bushes.

He raped her after threatening to smash her head with a stone, he said quoting the FIR.

Since the woman was new to the area of the crime, police relied on informants and took help of other autorickshaw drivers to zero in on the accused.

A case has been registered under sections 376 (Punishment for rape) and 506- 2 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), he added.

Hitting out at Visva-Bharati VC, the feisty TMC boss said “attempts to destroy Tagore’s cultural abode have to be resisted with all might”

BOLPUR: Iterating that the BJP is a “party of outsiders”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that the land of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore will never allow hate politics to triumph over secularism.

Banerjee, during a rally in Bolpur, branded Visva- Bharati Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty as a “BJP man”, and said he plans on destroying the rich heritage of the hallowed institution by “importing divisive and communal politics inside its campus”.

“Those who don’t respect Mahatma Gandhi and other icons of the country are taking of building ‘Sonar Bangla’ (Golden Bengal). Rabindranath Tagore has already created ‘Sonar Bangla’ several decades ago, all we need to do is to protect the place from the communal onslaught of the BJP,” Banerjee said during her address, following a four-kilometre roadshow here.

Hitting out at Visva-Bharati VC, the feisty TMC boss said “attempts to destroy Tagore’s cultural abode have to be resisted with all might”.

“I feel bad when I see efforts are on to pursue communal politics at Visva-Bharati. The VC there is a BJP man, he is trying to tarnish the heritage of this institution by practising communal politics,” the chief minister claimed.

Talking about the recent defections from the TMC, Banerjee said saffron camp may have bought a few MLAs, but it can never buy her party.

Police sources said the restriction was put in place to avoid a stampede-like situation. The demonstrators alleged that it was an attempt to suppress their voice

PATNA: Several people were injured here on Tuesday in a lathi charge at a busy crossing in the heart of the city when police personnel tried to stop a procession, taken out in protest against the farm laws from heading towards the Raj Bhavan.

Traffic was thrown out of gear as thousands of protestors, comprising members of various farmers organizations and pro-Left outfits, marched through Frazer Road before they were thwarted at the Dak Bungalow crossing.

According to police, the crack down at Dak Bungalow crossing was preceded by skirmishes between the demonstrators and police and administrative officials at the Gandhi Maidan, the starting point of the rally, where agitators took exception to their entry being allowed inside the sprawling public ground only through one of the many gates.

Police sources said the restriction was put in place to avoid a stampede-like situation. The demonstrators alleged that it was an attempt to suppress their voice.

Later, when they reached the Dak Bungalow crossing, about a kilometre and a half away, officials deployed there told the demonstrators that their march could not be allowed beyond that point.

As the demonstrators insisted on walking right up to the Raj Bhavan, some three km away, the police used force to prevent their march towards the restricted VIP area.

An unspecified number of injured protestors were taken to hospitals for treatment while a few were rounded up, the police said.

There was heavy deployment of force at Dak Bungalow crossing, where some of the demonstrators sought to stand their ground raising slogans, the police added.

Hazare said had had been holding protests for cultivators since the last three years, but the government has done nothing to resolve the issues.

PUNE: Social activist Anna Hazare has threatened to go on a hunger strike if his demands on issues concerning farmers are not met by the Union government by the end of January next year, and said it would be his “last protest”.

Speaking to reporters in his Ralegaon Siddhi village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra on Sunday, Hazare said had had been holding protests for cultivators since the last three years, but the government has done nothing to resolve the issues.

“The government is just giving empty promises due to which I do not have any trust left (in the government). Let’s see, what action the Centre takes on my demands. They have sought time for a month, so I have given them time till January-end. If my demands are not met, I will resume my huger strike protest. This would be my last protest,” the 83-year-old said.

On December 14, Hazare wrote a letter to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar warning of a hunger strike if his demands like the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations and granting autonomy to the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), were not accepted.

Senior BJP leader and former Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade recently met Hazare to explain him the details of the three farm laws introduced by the Centre.

Hazare observed a fast on December 8 in support of the Bharat Bandh called by farmer organisations demanding a repeal of the agri laws.

Farmers have been protesting at borders of Delhi for over a month against the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The three farm laws, enacted in September, have been projected by the government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting tillers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and do away with the mandis, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

The Centre has repeatedly asserted that these mechanisms will remain.

Athawale was discharged from a private hospital in Mumbai last month, 10 days after testing coronavirus positive.

PUNE:  Union minister Ramdas Athawale, whose ‘go corona, go’ chant became a national sensation, on Sunday came out with a new slogan, ‘No Corona’, saying it was in response to the new strain of the novel coronavirus.

“I gave the ‘Go Corona Go’ slogan and the virus is now going. But it also came near me, leading to my hospitalisation (after testing COVID-19 positive). I thought coronavirus would not reach me but it can reach anywhere,” Athawale said.

“For the new coronavirus strain, I would say ‘No Corona, No Corona’ as we don’t want either the old coronavirus or the new strain to infect us,” he told reporters in Pune.

Athawale was discharged from a private hospital in Mumbai last month, 10 days after testing coronavirus positive.

In February, a video of Athawale, along with a Chinese diplomat and Buddhist monks chanting “Go corona, go corona” at a prayer meeting went viral on social media.

The video was reportedly shot at the Gateway of India here on February 20 during a prayer session to stop the spread of coronavirus in China.

Athawale (60) is a member of the Rajya Sabha and minister of state for social justice in the Narendra Modi-led government.

“I will be meeting BJP president J P Nadda to discuss a possible alliance for West Bengal Assembly elections,” he said.

“We expect (BJP to set aside for us) around 10 seats,” he added.

The leader of opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly was speaking at a programme organised in Bisuali village.

BALLIA: Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary on Sunday called on farmers in his constituency Bansdih here not to allow political leaders who are supporting the Centre’s agricultural reforms to enter their villages.

The leader of opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly was speaking at a programme organised in Bisuali village.

Thousands of farmers from different states, including Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders for a month now to demand the repeal of the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

The Samajwadi Party has come out in support of agitating farmers.

It held demonstrations in various parts of Uttar Pradesh earlier this month to back the farmers’ demand.

Chaudhary said political leaders who are supporting the new farm laws should not be greeted with ‘Ram-Ram’, ‘pranaam’ and ‘dua-salaam’.

“Giving them water and hookah should also be stopped. They should be stopped from entering the villages,” he told the gathering.

Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

However, protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of minimum support price (MSP) and do away with mandis that ensure income, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused the BJP of giving importance to its “capitalist friends” and said the farmers’ protest against the new agri laws is an example of the “failure” of the government.

The BJP government at the Centre is making offers to farmers for talks, but on the other hand, it is levelling “baseless allegations” on the protesting farmers, he said in a statement issued here.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) chief, however, did not elaborate on the issue of allegations on farmers.

“This is an insult to farmers, who are staging a sit-in for their rights. The BJP, while supporting its favourite capitalist friends, is walking a path which is against farmers, labourers and those from the lower-middle income group. The government is giving Kisan Samman, but the new farm laws will cause losses worth thousands and lakhs to farmers,” Yadav said.

The former chief minister also said that after the BJP came to power, bad times started for farmers.

“The current farmers’ agitation is a living example of the failure of the BJP government. The SP is standing with the farmers,” he said.

SP’s national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said that on the direction of the party chief, on the third day of the ‘samajwadi kisan ghrea abhiyan’, MPs, MLAs and other public representatives took part, and listened to the grievances of farmers.

The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state improved to an all-time high of 96.14 per cent as 23 people were cured of the disease, he said.

KOHIMA: Nagaland did not register any fresh COVID-19 case on Sunday for the first time since the state reported its first coronavirus cases on May 25, a health official said.

The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state improved to an all-time high of 96.14 per cent as 23 people were cured of the disease, he said.

The state’s caseload stands at 11,897, of which 251 cases are active while 11,438 people have recovered, 78 patients have succumbed to the infection and 130 migrated to other states, Health Department Director Dr Denis Hangsing said in a COVID-19 bulletin.

Nagaland reported its first three COVID-19 cases among Chennai returnees on May 25.

Dimapur has the highest number of active cases at 100, followed by Kohima (85) and Mokokchung (47), he said.

The state has so far conducted over 1.19 lakh COVID-19 tests, including 72,328 RT-PCR, 36,652 TrueNat and 10,733 rapid antigen tests, Hangsing added.