Archives for August 2023

CHANDIGARH: Even as some panchayats in Haryana have called for ostracising Muslims in the aftermath of communal riots in the Nuh district, some khaps in the state are firming up plans to broker peace between the two communities.  Further, the Sarvkhap Panchayat said the activities of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal should be banned in all the villages across the state.

At the same time, some khaps said the government’s actions post-violence are justified. The state has more than 90 khaps. Their viewpoints assume significance ahead of the next year’s assembly and parliamentary elections as khaps enjoy considerable influence in villages.

A resolution was passed to restore peace in the Mewat, he said, adding that a demand was made to conduct an impartial inquiry and arrest Monu Manesar and Bittu Bajrangi. Action should also be taken against those who put provocative speeches and shared videos to incite the clashes, he said.

“Khap leaders are planning to visit Nuh in the coming days. At present, the local administration will not give permission. Once we are given permission and normalcy returns we will go there and talk to the locals of both communities and try to broker peace between them as they have been living peacefully for years,” Sube Singh Smain, national spokesperson of the Sarvkhap Panchayat, told this newspaper.

He further said: “Activities of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal should be banned in all the villages across the state.” As both assembly and Lok Sabha elections are due next year all that has happened is a larger conspiracy to divide the communities and thus polarise the voters of the state, Smain suspects.

MUZAFFARNAGAR: Some unidentified persons have been booked for allegedly vandalising an idgah in a village here, police said on Thursday.

The incident that happened in Mathura village under Charthawal police station area came to light after some people noticed that the dome of the idgah was damaged and informed the police, they said.

SP City Satyanarain Prajapat said after reaching the spot the police found that the dome was damaged and registered a case against unidentified people and started an investigation.

The police team is also trying to repair the damaged dome, he said.

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said India is today in a unique position of being optimistic and positive about its future growth when the global economy is struggling, thanks to reform agenda pursued by the Narendra Modi-led government. 

The minister was speaking during the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha. Sitharaman reiterated that the country has emerged as the fastest growing large economies even when developed countries such as the US and the UK, and the Euro zone are facing challenging times, and big economies such as China are also facing their own issues related to consumer demand and wage stagnation.

“PM (Narendra) Modi has changed this completely. There is a transformation in our governance,” she said and asserted words such as “Milega” (you will get) have been replaced by people saying “Mil Gaya” (we have got it). “We believe in empowering all and appeasement of none,” she said.

Sitharaman talked in details about various steps taken by the union government through its tenure and compared it with the situation before 2014. The minister said defence exports have gone up, food production has increased multiple fold, and central schemes have helped people come out of poverty. 

New Delhi : Female and single male government employees are eligible for 730 days of child care leave, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.

“Female government servant and single male govt servants appointed to the civil services and posts in connection with affairs of the Union, are eligible for child care leave (CCL) under Rule 43-C of the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972 for a maximum period of seven hundred and thirty days during the entire service for taking care of two eldest surviving children up to the age of 18 years and no age limit in case of differently-abled child,” he said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

New Delhi: Two policemen and seven civilians were injured putting out a fire that broke out at a factory in west Delhi’s Mayapuri area early Wednesday morning, officials said.

According to officials, a call was received at 2.05 am that there was a fire at a two-story sofa factory at the market known for dealing in scrap.

The fire was doused by five tenders that were rushed to the spot, they said.

The fire had sparked in the packing box of sofa springs. A drum of glue kept on the ground floor also burst in the blaze, a fire official said.

Seven men received minor burn injuries and were rushed to DDU hospital.

The injured were identified as Rakesh, 35, Ram Niwas, 60, Santosh, 27, Harichand, 35, Vikrant, 25, Kishan, 23, and Inderjeet, 33. Head constables Randhir Singh and Vikrant too received burn injuries in the incident, fire officials said.

According to police, the factory dealt in iron spring (used in making sofas) in Mayapuri Phase II.

A crime team was called at the spot to investigate the fire.

A case is being registered at Mayapuri Police Station, police added.

Bengaluru: India’s ambitious third Moon mission’s ‘Chandrayaan-3’ spacecraft successfully underwent another orbit reduction maneuver on Wednesday, bringing it even closer to the Moon’s surface, ISRO said.

Post its launch on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 had entered into lunar orbit on August 5.

“Even closer to the moon’s surface. Chandrayaan-3’s orbit is reduced to 174 km x 1437 km following a maneuver performed today,” ISRO said in a tweet.

The next operation is scheduled for August 14, 2023, between 11:30 and 12:30 hrs, it said.

As the mission progresses, a series of maneuvers is being conducted by ISRO to gradually reduce Chandrayaan-3’s orbit and position it over the lunar poles.

Chandigarh: Letters purportedly written by some panchayat heads in Haryana’s Mahendergarh, Rewari and Jhajjar districts “banning” Muslim traders from their villages have surfaced online, amid communal tension in parts of the state.

The almost identical letters, supposedly written by some sarpanches in these districts in recent days cite the violence in Nuh district on July 31, when mobs attacked a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession.

Five people, including two home guards, were killed in Nuh and a cleric died in an attack on a mosque in adjoining Gurugram as the violence spilled over.

District authorities said they have taken note of the letters online and are investigating the matter.

The purported letters by sarpaches of some villages said the panchayats have decided not to give “permission” to the Muslim community and miscreants to conduct any business. It specifies hawkers, cattle traders and those seeking alms.

However, when contacted, many sarpanches in Mahendergarh and Rewari denied having issued any such letters making a reference to a particular community.

Mahendergarh Deputy Commissioner Monika Gupta said no such letters have been submitted before the government officials.

“Social media is perhaps claiming that these have been submitted (by the village sarpanches) to their respective sub-divisional magistrates. However, no such matter has reached before SDMs till date as far as we know. So, nothing has been submitted to any administrative officer by any sarpanch,” Gupta told PTI over phone.

“However, what is going on in the media, we have taken suo motu cognisance of that and are inquiring into the matter,” she added.

Gupta said they have sought reports from field officers in this regard.

Ved Prakash, the sarpanch of Gomla village in Kanina block of Mahendergarh district, said, “No letter has been issued from our side to the SDM with the contents as is being claimed”.

He said what he had “written was a different matter. It does not mention name of any particular community”. However, he did not elaborate.

Another sarpanch from Mahendergarh district, however, said they are only verifying identity credentials of strangers, which he called was a general exercise having nothing to do with any community.

Chimnawas village Sarpanch in Rewari Narender Yadav said, “No such letter has been issued from my side as is being claimed.”

However, Vikas, the sarpanch of Saidpur in Mahendergarh said he had issued a letter but it was not forwarded to the SDM, nor was any resolution passed by the village. However, he did not talk about the contents of the letter.

“The atmosphere in the village, which has a population of 3,500, was surcharged after the Nuh incident and any untoward incident could have happened with any outsider,” Vikas said.

When asked whether the letter had any reference to a particular community, he said, “We are not against any community. But the kind of incident which took place in Nuh, tempers ran very high and the letter was issued so that situation does not flare up.”

He said there is no Muslim population in his village, though members from the community come for jobs.

Jhajjar Deputy Commissioner, Capt Shakti Singh, when asked about the letters going viral on social media, said some mischievous elements might have used the letter head of any panchayat and circulated that. He said they are investigating it.

Singh, however, said no such letter has been submitted to officials.

He said no gram panchayat or anybody else will be allowed to do anything which is unconstitutional or illegal.

Meanwhile, a total of 57 FIRs have been registered in connection with the Nuh violence and 188 people arrested so far, according to officials. They said an was FIR also lodged against 11 people for spreading rumours on social media on the violence.

Opposition parties in Haryana have alleged that the violence in Nuh was the result of the “failure” of the BJP-JJP government.

Haryana MLA Gopal Kanda

Gurugram: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted searches at the premises of Haryana MLA Gopal Kanda and others as part of a money laundering investigation, official sources said.

Officials of the central agency reached Kanda’s palatial house and his now defunct airline company MDLR’s office in the civil lines area of Gurugram around 6 am, police said.

The raids are being undertaken under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and some premises in Delhi and Sirsa are also being covered, as per the sources.

The case in which he is being investigated is not known. Kanda, 57, is an MLA from Sirsa from Haryana Lokhit Party — a political outfit floated by him. He has in the past been a former minister for home, industries and urban local bodies of the state.

The politician was recently acquitted by a Delhi court in the high-profile case of abetment of suicide by Geetika Sharma, a former air hostess in the MDLR airlines.

It is understood that Kanda had earlier met ED officials in connection with this probe.