Archives for 2017

Chennai: Rains continued to lash this metropolis and neighbouring districts of Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur besides other regions of Tamil Nadu, even as the MeT department forecast more rainfall due to a low pressure area persisting in the Bay of Bengal.

Commuters had a harrowing time due to delayed services of buses and trains and severe traffic snarls. Mild rainfall was recorded in some areas in the state, moderate in others and heavy in some pockets.

Schools and colleges, closed since October 31, were shut Saturday as well and several university exams were postponed. The state-level National Talent Search Exam scheduled for today was deferred to November 18.

Civic authorities, including corporation officials, district collectors (Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur) coordinated relief work.

Power supply was suspended in inundated areas such as parts of MKB Nagar in North Chennai, pockets of Madipakkam in South Chennai and Karapakkam off Porur in Western Chennai to ensure safety.

Netizens posted updates about traffic diversions and inundated areas on social media and volunteers distributed food packets and water in affected areas of Nanmangalam and Pallikaranai here.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami had Friday visited many waterlogged parts of the city and its suburbs, insisting that his government was working on a “war-footing”. He was accompanied by his deputy O Panneerslevam and senior officials.

Meanwhile, a Met bulletin said the low pressure area over southwest Bay of Bengal, adjoining Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu coast and the associated cyclonic circulation extending upto 3.1 km above mean sea level continued to persist.

With the northeast monsoon active in the state and neighbouring Puducherry, Chennai city (Nungambakkam) recorded 65.8 mm of rainfall while suburban Meenambakkam registered 62 mm rains in 24 hours ending 8.30 am today.

The coastal district of Nagapattinam in the Cauvery delta zone recorded 2 cm rain and Karaikal in Puducherry one cm rain from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm Friday. Comprehensive updates on rainfall for other regions till this morning are awaited.

The Met department said rain or thundershowers were likely to occur at many places over coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and at a few places over interior Tamil Nadu.

Heavy rain at isolated places was very likely over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, it said.

A release from the railways said showers caused track “circuit based signalling to fail” due to water logging in Chennai Division, “affecting punctuality” between Kodambakkam- St Thomas Mount stations in the southern sector from 9 pm yesterday and it was restored at 9.50 pm.

This was also the case at the northern Tondiarpet and Korukkupet route at 9.35 pm and services were restored at 5.45 am today, the release said.

“Wherever automatic signalling got affected, trains got slightly delayed since they had to be dealt with manual signals instead of automatic signals,” it said.

There were also some power tripping issues in railway routes, including the northern suburban Chennai Beach-Central- Tiruvallur. Power was immediately restored by extending supply from adjacent sub stations within a few minutes, they said.

Saturday morning, a rail fracture was detected between St Thomas Mount and Pallavaram stations and it was attended and set right soon after, they said.

“Except for some minor delays, train services including Chennai Suburban Services are being maintained normally and monitored continuously by railway officials,” they said.

(PTI)

Mumbai: A Shiv Sena leader compiled a booklet titled “Ghotalebaaz BJP” listing “scams” of BJP ministers and distributed it among the party leaders yesterday.

The development could further strain the already frosty relations being shared by the two uncomfortable allies even though a Sena leader today clarified that the booklet was not compiled officially by the Uddhav Thackeray-led party. A Sena leader today said the booklet was distributed after the meeting got over last evening and Thackeray had already left the place by then.

The 56-page booklet lists 20 “national scams” of the “transparent BJP” from the time it came to power at the Centre and also the “scams” that were allegedly “committed by the party leaders, besides the quantum of scams during the BJP’s tenure from 1999 to 2004”.

On the proceedings of the meeting, Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe said Thackeray asked the cadres to further increase the organisational strength upto the booth level and ensure that the loan waiver scheme, announced under the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji maharaj, is implemented without any hiccups.

Interestingly, Sena had recently hit out at the BJP-led state government over “hasty” implementation of the Rs 34022 crore loan waiver scheme for farmers. The BJP-led government in Maharashtra, of which Sena is also a part, recently completed three years in office. Though Sena seems attempting a damage control by stating that the booklet was not an official compilation, the opposition NCP latched onto it to attack the BJP.

“The BJP, which always talks about transparency and high morals, has been bared by its own ally. If the BJP still shares power with the Sena after it has laid bare all the facts about corruption of its ministers. There will be none other than the BJP which will be perceived as being so helpless for power,” Malik told reporters. The Sena has stepped up its attack against its senior ally after the BJP inducted Congress renegade and ex-Shivsainik Narayan Rane’s outfit in the NDA fold.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier confirmed the reports that Rane, who recently left the Congress to float Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, would be inducted into the government in the next Cabinet expansion, expected to take place before the Winter session of Maharashtra Legislature in December. Fadnavis had said that people may not like Sena playing a “double role” in politics, a dig aimed at the frequent attacks by the Sena on the BJP while continuing to be in government.

(PTI)

Ahmednagar: Security officials went into a tizzy when a youth rushed towards Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to give a job application here on Saturday. The youth, who is speech impaired, was detained by the police.

The incident occurred in social crusader Anna Hazare’s native Ralegan-Siddhi village where Fadnavis had gone to lay the foundation stone for the first solar power project under the newly-launched Mukhyamantri Agricultural Solar Feeder Scheme.

As he addressed the gathering with Hazare and others on the stage, a mute young man – later identified as Prashant Mahadev Kanade — lunged towards the stage, bypassing the security cordon.

However, the police immediately caught him and whisked him away from the venue to a waiting van, said L.M. Pawar of Ahmednagar Police Control.

Hazare’s aide Suresh Pathare said the jobless man merely wanted to submit a job application and did not indulge in any kind of violence as speculated in some quarters.

Locals say that Kanade, in his 20s, has been very frustrated after he failed to secure a job anywhere owing to his handicap, though he is ready to work even as a peon or security guard in a bank or any government undertaking.

In January, he reportedly sent an application to the CMO, but did not get any response and took the opportunity to approach Fadnavis at the event today.

(IANS)

New Delhi: Nirbhaya’s brother is a pilot and parents Asha Devi and Badrinath Singh cannot stop thanking Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for making it possible.

“Gandhi taught us never to quit attitude,” says Asha Devi. Nirbhaya’s brother was in Class 12 during the time of his sister’s death and was deeply affected by it. “Rahul Gandhi was the one who counselled him and motivated him to achieve something good in life to support the family. Rahul asked him to pursue a pilot’s training. The tragedy hurt my son but could not stop him,” she says.

Asha Devi reveals that her son initially prepared for Indian Army’s recruitment examination but later found it difficult.

In 2013, he enrolled into Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, a government-founded autonomous institute in Rae Bareli — the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi’s mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

While pursuing his pilot training course, my son used to keep a track of the Nirbhaya trial, says Asha Devi.

“When he was studying, Rahul used to talk to him over the phone and during his 18-month pilot’s training course, he taught him to adopt a ‘never quit’ attitude. Even Priyanka Gandhi used to call us,” she said.

Badrinath Singh who works at the Indira Gandhi International Airport says his son has joined IndiGo Airlines and is already flying planes. “Gandhi helped us emotionally as well as monetarily and all on humanitaranian grounds. He asked us to keep this all in secret,” says the father.

Singh adds that he has nothing to do with Gandhi’s politics, “but the truth remains the truth, and we cannot thank him enough”.

Singh says that he has never flown in a plane and hopes that his first time will be the one flown by his son as pilot.

Singh’s another son is pursuing engineering in Pune.

‘Nirbhaya’ the victim of Delhi’s brutal gang rape was an aspiring physiotherapy student and a mentor to her two brothers. She had great ambitions in life and one of them was ensuring her brothers receive good education. Her life and dreams were cut short in December 2012, after she was brutally gang-raped. She succumbed to her injuries 13 days later.

She came to be known as ‘Nirbhaya’ (meaning fearless) in the days after her brutal gang-rape. The brutality of the crime was such that it shook the entire nation and triggered anger and protests on the streets.

All the six accused were later arrested. One of them died in jail while the rest four were convicted of the rape and murder and awarded death sentences. One of the accused, a juvenile, was convicted and ordered to remain in a correctional facility for three years.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today hit back at BJP chief Amit Shah for attacking his government for celebrating ‘Tipu Jayanti’ and accused him of making a ‘desperate attempt’ to communalise the situation ahead of the state Assembly polls.

A day after coming under fire by the BJP chief at a rally here, Siddaramaiah claimed the election had brought ‘tourists like Shah’ who display ignorance about the state.

“We celebrate birthdays of 26 leaders & builders of Nava Karnataka. AmitShah in a desperate attempt to communalise, picks on Tipu Jayanthi,” Siddaramaiah said in a tweet.

“Election is coming! It brings tourists like Amit Shah who display ignorance about our state and call Kannada Rajyotsava as ‘Karnataka Mahotsav’,” he claimed.

Flagging-off a 75-day state-wide ‘yatra’ spearheaded by BJP state mascot B S Yeddyurappa at a rally here yesterday, Shah had flayed ‘ Tipu Jayanti’ celebrations, accusing the Siddaramaiah government of practising ‘vote bank politics.’

“Yesterday was November 1. It was Karnataka’s formation day. Karnataka Mahotsav (Rajyotsava) celebrations had to happen with grandeur, but Siddaramaiah government had no interest in Karnataka Mahotsava, they are more enthusiastic towards celebrating Tipu Jayanti on November 10,” he had said.

In a series of tweets in Kannada, Siddaramaiah defended the ‘Tipu Jayanti’ celebrations.

“People of the state have accepted Tipu Jayanti. Tipu was a patriot. He was not against Hindus or any other community,” he said on Twitter.

Siddaramaiah also took a jibe at the state BJP leaders, alleging they had once described Tipu Sultan as a freedom fighter but had become ‘enlightened’ after learning lessons from Shah.

He claimed the BJP yatra was a failure on the very first day, proving that the people were not with the party.

The BJP has been opposing the event as it sees Tipu Sultan, the 18th-century ruler of erstwhile Mysore kingdom, as a ‘brutal killer’ and a ‘religious bigot’ who converted people to Islam.

Assembly elections are due in Karnataka early next year in which the BJP is hoping to capture power, unseating the government-led by Siddaramaiah.

Making history, the BJP had installed its first-ever government in the South in 2008 before losing power to the Congress.

(PTI)