Pilibhit (UP): A road in UP’s Pilibhit District that was reportedly constructed at a cost of Rs. 3.90 crores was torn off by a man with bare hands, a video of this incident has since been doing rounds across social media platforms.

The incident comes amidst the tall claims of fringe right-wing Hindutva groups and activists gloating tall claims of development in the state by the CM Adityanath-led BJP government.

In the video, a man can be seen peeling off the road from the ground, exposing the negligence with which the road was constructed.

The villagers are now preparing to protest against the poor quality of the road. It is alleged that apart from the contractor, Junior Engineer (JE) has an important role in this whole matter.

The road was reportedly constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana from Puranpur to Bhagwantapur village in the district.

New Delhi: The Central Information Commission has summoned officials of the offices of the lieutenant governor, chief minister, and chief secretary over the non-disclosure of information on salaries paid to Imams of mosques in Delhi under the RTI Act.

Information Commissioner Uday Mahurkar has also issued notices to officers of the Delhi Waqf Board on the plea of activist Subhash Agrawal.

Agrawal wanted complete information, including the file notes, on the decision to pay salaries to Imams in Delhi mosques through his application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

He sought to know the total number of mosques in the national capital where Imams receive salaries, the total amount incurred, annual expenditure, and details of the competent authority responsible for the payments.

Through his RTI application, Agrawal also asked if such salaries are being paid to priests of Hindu temples as well.

The offices of the LG and the chief minister did not respond to the RTI application, but the office of the chief secretary transferred it to the Department of Revenue and Delhi Waqf Board.

The Delhi Waqf Board, in its reply to Agrawal, said none of the queries are related to it.

The commissioner has also issued notices to the Public Information Officers of these two departments asking them to appear before it for hearing on November 18.

The CIC has asked the officers to bring all the files related to the matter for hearing.

The Supreme Court in 1993 had ordered the Waqf Boards to pay adequate salaries to Imams working in mosques managed by the boards.

“We are, therefore, not willing to accept the submission that…in the absence of any statutory provision in the Waqf Act the Imams who look after religious activities of mosques are not entitled to any remuneration,” the Bench of Justice R M Sahai had held on a petition by All India Imam Organisation which had approached the apex court for “enforcement of fundamental right against their exploitation by Waqf Boards.”

The organisation had approached the apex court seeking a direction to Central and State Waqf Boards to treat them as employees of the Board and to pay them basic wages to enable them to survive.

Waqf Boards in several states, including Haryana, Karnataka, and Delhi, are following the practice of paying salaries to Imams.

Imphal: A 47-year-old man in Manipur’s Imphal West district has converted barren land into a 300 acre forest with a wide variety of plant species in 20 years.

Moirangthem Loiya, who hails from Uripok Khaidem Leikai area of the district, started planting trees on the outskirts of Imphal town in the Langol Hill range about 20 years ago.

A nature lover from his childhood days, Loiya told PTI, “in early 2000, after completing my college studies from Chennai, when I went to the Koubru mountain, I was appalled by the wide scale deforestation of the previously thick vegetation that marked the Koubru hill ranges. I felt a strong urge to give back to mother nature what we humans as a whole have destroyed so much in modern times.”

The search soon led him to Maru Langol renamed “Punshilok Maru” or “Spring of Life” in the Langol Hill range on the outskirts of capital Imphal town.

“I encountered the place accidentally while taking a hike and immediately felt the area which was all barren due to jhum cultivation could be converted into a thick green lush forest with time and dedication,” the 47-year-old told PTI.

“The site served as a home for me for six years, as I lived in isolation in a hut which I had constructed myself, planting bamboo, oak, jackfruit trees and teaks while nurturing the area previously destroyed by human activities” Loiya who now stays “on and off” at the forest said.

“I would purchase saplings from my own pocket and plant it whenever possible,” Loiya said, adding “the plantation is done mostly ahead of the monsoon season and vegetative growth was always quick.”

“Periodic illegal wildlife hunting for deers, mostly for sports, is another problem we generally face,” Loiya who established Wild Life and Habitat Protection Society (WAHPS) said. The society is devoted to preserving the Punshilok forest and fighting off illegal hunting and wildfires.

The state forest officials have been supportive of the endeavour of Loiya in planting trees in the Longol hill range.

There are more than 100 species of plants, around 25 varieties of bamboo species in the 300 acre forest which also has barking deers, porcupines and snakes, forest officials said.

The officials said the land was barren some 20 years ago.

Forest officials said that most of the wildfires spread as people want a piece of land either for cultivation or any other activity.

Meanwhile, Loiya is certain that the task of growing a forest and nurturing it is going to be “a lifelong mission” although he now works in a pharmacy to earn a living and to sustain his family.

Loiya is currently preparing to organise a camp for volunteers this November so as to protect the forest from wildfire ahead of the dry season. During the camp, a fireline will be created along the periphery of the forest, so that wildfires cannot cross into the forest section, he added.

Venur: Jewellery worth lakhs of rupees was stolen from a house in Naravi allegedly by a group of four masked men, who tied up the lone woman resident before making away with their loot.

The incident took place on Saturday evening at the residence of 67-year-old Prabhavathi Nayak in Arsikatte near Naravi in Belthangady taluk, said sources.

The group of masked looters, who forcibly entered Nayak’s house, reportedly bound her limbs with a rope and silenced her by thrusting cloth into her mouth.

They then stripped Nayak of her gold chain and ear rings, before stealing three gold bangles, three gold rings, a gold chain and a mobile phone in the house. They left the house, declaring among themselves in Tulu, “Our job here is done!” according to the police complaint.

The stolen gold items are worth a total of Rs 4.6 lakh, the sources said.

A case has been registered by the Venur Police. Also, Deputy Superintendent of Venur Soumya J and the police staff members are learned to have visited the crime site.

Puttur: In a motorbike and scooter collision on the Maani-Mysuru national highway bypass here, a local youngster was reportedly killed on the spot recently.

Naushad, 22, son of Abdul Aziz, a resident of Sampya in Aryapu village of Puttur, was the victim, said sources. He worked in a cloth store near the KSRTC bus stop in Puttur.

Naushad was riding the scooter that hit the motorbike. The victim’s body was shifted to the mortuary at the Puttur government hospital.

Puttur Traffic Police have registered a case and are investigating, sources added.

Ahmedabad: A man from Bopal has complained to the Railway police here that his bag, which contained jewellery worth Rs 6 lakh, was stolen as the start of his journey on the Vande Bharat train.

Paresh Sonani, 55, resident of Bopal, filed an FIR with the police on Friday, and told the police that the incident took place on Tuesday, reports Times of India.

Sonani told the police that he had left his house and took a BRTS bus to Iskcon Crossroads, from where he traveled to the Kalupur Railway Station in an AMTC bus. He added that he got on the Vande Bharat train and put his bag on his seat, but, after a while, found that the bag was stolen he was distracted.

He filed a complaint of theft against an unknown person with the Ahmedabad Railway Police, who are learned to be checking the CCTV footage at the station for clues on the case.

Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is unlikely to attend the upcoming winter session of Parliament due to the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra, the party said on Saturday.

The winter session of Parliament is likely to commence in the first week of December in the old building and conclude by the end of the month, sources had said on Friday.

There is a proposal to hold the session between December 7 and 29 and a final decision regarding the dates will be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, they had said.

Asked whether party MPs participating in the yatra will attend the session, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh told reporters that it is unlikely that he and three other parliamentarians — Rahul Gandhi, K C Venugopal, Digvijaya Singh — who are walking in the yatra consistently would attend Parliament.

Ramesh said they would inform the Speaker and the Chairman accordingly that they would not be able to attend the upcoming session.

He said the yatra, which has completed about half the 3,570 km distance, is seeing massive enthusiasm in Maharashtra currently and several allies of the Congress are participating in it.

Nationalist Congress Party leaders Supriya Sule, Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad joined the yatra and so did Shiv Sena’s Aaditya Thackeray, Ramesh said, asserting that this reflected that the Maha Vikas Aghadi combine was intact.

He said the yatra is likely to enter Madhya Pradesh on November 22.

Talking about the sub-yatras, Ramesh said while Odisha became the first state to begin a yatra simultaneously with the main yatra on October 31, Assam was next to join starting a more than 850-km-long yatra on November 1.

On the birth anniversary of former prime minister Indira Gandhi on November 19, the party’s Tripura unit will begin a yatra, Ramesh said.

On December 28, the West Bengal Congress will begin a Bharat Jodo Yatra in its state, he said.

Also in the next fortnight or so, the Congress will take out a Bharat Jodo Yatra in Bihar from Banka to Bodh Gaya, covering an estimated 1,100 km, Ramesh said.