Archives for October 2021

Kanpur (UP): A Zika virus case has been reported in this district of Uttar Pradesh, a health official said on Sunday.

He said a warrant officer in the Indian Air Force (IAF) was diagnosed with the infection on Saturday, the first in Kanpur.

Chief Medical Officer Nepal Singh said that the IAF officer was suffering from fever for the past several days and was admitted to the Air Force Hospital in the district.

Following mysterious symptoms in the case, the blood sample was collected and sent to Pune for proper examination which confirmed that the patient was Zika virus positive, he said, adding the report was received on Saturday.

Twenty-two more samples of persons who came in contact with the patient and those who have the same symptoms have also been sent for examination, Singh said.

Health and civic bodies’ officials have been put on alert to deal with the situation. Besides, several teams have also been tasked to check the spread of the virus in the district, officials said.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to pay over Rs 50 lakh to a former employee, who was illegally terminated from service, noting that the man has been running from pillar to post for the last several years.

Raj Singh, who was appointed as a driver by AIIMS sometime in the 1980s, will also be paid Rs 19,900 as pension every month.

According to the petitioner, he was illegally terminated after which he approached the labour court. The labour court in December 1998 held that the termination of service was an unfair labour practice, Singh said in his petition.

The labour court’s order was challenged before various forums and finally the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by AIIMS was dismissed by the Supreme Court on June 3, 2016.

Petitioner Singh, represented through advocate B T Kaul, served a legal notice to authorities seeking compliance of the award and payment of the amount, but it was not paid.

Thereafter, he approached the high court.

Justice Prathiba M Singh directed that the man be paid Rs 50,49,079 towards salary for the period from December 4, 1998, which is the date of award, and the date of superannuation, which is October 31, 2016, his leave encashment and his gratuity.

It was directed that Rs 19,900 be paid to him as monthly pension.

This amount was calculated by the authorities and the court was informed about it. However, the basis for the computation has still not been explained.

“However, considering that the petitioner (Singh) has been running from pillar to post since 2016 when the Supreme Court dismissed the SLP till date, the respondents (authorities) are directed to pay the amounts in terms of order dated March 9, 2021, on or before October 30, 2021, to the petitioner workman,” the high court said in its October 12 order.

The court was also told by advocate Sonali Malhotra, representing AIIMS officials, that the workman was also required to deposit Rs 30,000 as a lifetime validation amount for being enrolled under the Employees Health Scheme.

To this, the court said that in view of the long duration for which Singh has been fighting the present litigation, the amount of Rs 30,000 shall now be deposited on his behalf by AIIMS itself, in lieu of costs for the long-drawn litigation.

It said all the amounts due and payable shall be released by October 30 and a compliance affidavit giving the details of the computation and the manner in which it has been done, as also confirming the payment, shall be filed on or before November 15.

The court asked the petitioner’s counsel to give details of the workman’s bank accounts to the counsel for AIIMS for remitting the payment.

HYDERABAD/BENGALURU: Sleuths from Prohibition & Excise Department from Medchal-Malkajgiri district seized huge quantities of drugs worth over Rs 2 crore and arrested two persons on Saturday. The suspects were allegedly supplying the party drug Mephedrone, also known as Meow Meow. A case has been registered against them, said K Vijay Bhaskar, district prohibition & excise officer.

Based on credible information, sleuths from the District Task Force team raided a flat at Kukatpally and caught Pavan alias Chitukuri Prashanth Reddy and seized 5 grams of the drug from him. Using the information elicited from him, raids were conducted at the residence of Kanna Reddy alias Mahesh Kanna Reddy at Bongulur Gate on the outskirts of the city, and 921 grams of the drug was seized from him.

Based on Kanna Reddy’s admission, the officials caught K Ramakrishna Goud at Thimmajipet in Nagarkurnool district and seized 4 kg of drugs concealed in an SUV parked on the premises of the Civil Supplies godown.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bengaluru zonal unit, has arrested six people in two cases under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and one car has been seized, after the Central agency busted two major drug syndicates in the past three days.

According to the NCB official, on Saturday, the officers “intercepted a Maruti Swift car bearing Andhra Pradesh (AP) registration at Devanahalli toll and apprehended four people after recovering commercial quantity of MDMA pills, methamphetamine and methaqualone from the possession of a resident of Vizag. The other three persons are from Bihar and Hyderabad. They were going towards Hyderabad from Bengaluru,” said Ghawate.

In a follow-up action, the premises of the supplier were identified and a search resulted in seizure of a small quantity of high grade ganja. “The syndicate reportedly procures a variety of contraband drugs from suppliers based in Bengaluru and sells them to youths at parties and pubs in Hyderabad,” he added.

“More than 10 grams of MDMA is commercial quantity under the NDPS Act. Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine is commonly known as ‘ecstasy’ and ‘molly’ in party circles. In an earlier operation on October 21, NCB officers of the Hyderabad sub-zone had intercepted a parcel and “seized 3 kg of pseudoephedrine, which was concealed in three lehengas. The contraband was well concealed. The parcel was destined for Australia,” added the NCB officer. 

The consignor of the consignment was identified to be at Chennai and the NCB Chennai team apprehended him after two days of prolonged field surveillance.  Bengaluru is emerging as the transit route for pseudoephedrine from South India to Australia. In November last year, the NCB had busted an international drug syndicate, which reportedly involved two young women boxers and two Nigerians, who were allegedly smuggling pseudoephedrine for more than a year.

The four were arrested under the NDPS Act.Last year, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence had seized over 500 kg of pseudoephedrine from across India, including 25 kg of the drug from the Kempegowda International Airport.

3 kg of crystal meth component seized in Bengaluru

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bengaluru zonal unit, has busted two drug syndicates in the past three days. The agency seized MDMA pills, methamphetamine and methaqualone in Bengaluru, besides 3 kg of pseudoephedrine from Hyderabad, which was concealed in lehengas, said NCB zonal director Amit Ghawate. 

GUWAHATI:  The Congress in Assam on Saturday petitioned the Election Commission alleging Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had blatantly violated the model code of conduct by making new announcements during bypoll campaign.

The Congress also said that he had promised to incorporate each garden into the Jal Jeevan Scheme and announced 10 new high schools in the gardens. At Hatigarh, the party said, he had made an on-the-spot announcement for the setting up of a school at the request of the candidate.

“He announced financial assistance to SHGs of women tea workers. He also announced that casual labourers in the tea gardens will be incorporated into the MGNREGA scheme and given MGNREGA cards,” the Congress memorandum reads. 

At a campaign meeting in Bhawanipur constituency, the Congress said Sarma, pointing out to a person, publicly announced that he should be provided with a house under PMAY scheme and whoever is responsible to do so should immediately allot him the house. 

The Congress said Sarma had also made announcements to set up a medical college and build two bridges over two rivers in poll-bound Thowrah constituency in violation of the model code of conduct.

CHANDIGARH:   A day after Punjab deputy chief minister roasted Amarinder Singh over his friendship with Pakistan-based journalist Aroosa Alam, state Congress unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu on Saturday fired fresh salvos at the former chief minister, alleging it was customary to give gifts to Aroosa to get job postings as it was she who called the shots during his regime. 

Lashing out at Amarinder, Kaur alleged Aroosa had taken all the bribe money with her and advised him to go with her to ‘enjoy his time there with her’. “Not a single posting was possible without paying off Aroosa or giving her a gift. She has taken all the money with her. We (the Sidhus) were never heeded because I never let my husband get close to Aroosa,” Kaur said.

Post Aroosa’s departure, development would be carried out in full swing in Punjab and instead of floating a political party, Amarinder should spend time praying and having a fun-filled life with Aroosa, Kaur said in reference to his age.

A Congress bastion for long, Sindagi saw the emergence of BJP and JDS over the last two decades. Sindagi MLA and former minister, the late MC Managuli, whose death necessitated the bypoll, was a popular leader who was able to win on a JDS ticket in 2018.  He defeated Ramesh Bhusanur (BJP) by around 9,000 votes.

However, the political landscape in Sindagi changed after Managuli’s death with his son— Ashok Managuli— switching over to Congress, which has fielded him as its candidate.

“What makes Congress’ victory easy in Sindagi is that the BJP government at the Centre has failed on all fronts. Increasing prices of LPG, petrol, diesel and essential commodities and the Centre’s failure in tackling Covid will put BJP on the backfoot. Ashok Managuli also enjoys the support of all sections of society,’’ said KPCC working president Satish Jarkiholi. 

While BJP and Congress are confident that JDS candidate Naziya Angadi will not impact their prospects, the division of a sizeable share of 35,000 Muslim votes is what some leaders expect.

“JDS is aware that it won’t win by fielding an inexperienced candidate. JDS top leaders HD Deve Gowda, HD Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna are campaigning with the sole aim of getting Ashok defeated for betraying the party,’’ said BJP MLC Mahantesh Kavatagimath.

To consolidate the Lingayat vote, the BJP camp, led by Yediyurappa and Bommai, has launched a solid campaign for the last one week. BJP candidate Ramesh Bhusanur, who was opposed by RSS, is popular among all communities, including Muslims. “He hails from the Banajiga-Lingayat community and is backed by Panchamsali leader Basangouda Patil Yatnal (Vijayapura City MLA) and former DyCM Laxman Savadi (Ganiga-Lingayat),” said Kavatagimath.

In Hanagal, BJP has bolstered its campaign by involving several top leaders, including Yediyurappa and Bommai. Despite being deprived of a party ticket, the family of former MLA CM Udasi, whose death necessitated the bypoll, has extended support to party candidate Shivaraj Sajjanar.

Sajjanar, a close confidant of Yediyurappa, is backed by Lingayats and party leaders in Hangal. But his opponent Srinivas Mane (Congress) is equally popular in the segment. “BJP may win Sindagi comfortably… But it will have a close clash with Congress in Hanagal,’’ a top BJP leader told TNSE. JDS candidate Niyaz Shaikh will not be able to make an impact as Muslim voters are expected to rally behind Congress, aware of the inevitable division of votes if they go with JDS, say experts.

Congress spokesperson Laxmi Hebbalkar strongly backed Mane, asserting that the party will win Hanagal, given the support the party has been getting from people across the constituency.