Archives for 2019

Nasheman News : Kanpur authorities have ordered the “immediate shutdown” of 91 leather tanneries in the city that were offloading their waste in the Ganga river, causing widespread water pollution, an official said on Tuesday.

The crackdown comes days before the start of the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj from January 14.

“The idea is to ensure that the Ganga remains non-polluted and that devotees who go to the biggest religious congregation get pure and clear water,” the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) official told IANS. 

Closure orders for the remaining 28 tanneries in the Chabilapurwa locality are likely to be issued later on Tuesday, sources said.

More than 15 tanneries functional in the neighbouring Unnao have already been closed for the period of Kumbh. 

Some tanneries have been let off as they had treatment plants for their hazardous waste and are not passing off any water in the river. 

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered officials to ensure that waters of the Ganga was pur

Nasheman News : The Congress on Tuesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Supreme Court reinstated Alok Verma as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director, saying he has been exposed for “destroying” the premier investigating agency.

“Modi adds another first to his list. After being the first Prime Minister to be exposed destroying the CBI before the Supreme Court, after having ruined the CVC’s (Central Vigilance Commission) credibility (requiring supervision by former SC judge), Modi has now become first Prime Minister to have his illegal orders set aside by the Supreme Court,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a series of tweets.

His remarks came soon after the Supreme Court judgment pronounced on a plea by Verma and NGO Common Cause challenging the government’s decision on the intervening night of October 23-24 to divest Verma of his charge as head of the investigating agency.

Reminding Modi that the government comes and goes but the integrity of the institutions survive, Surjewala hoped that the judgement would be a “lesson” to the Prime Minister about the strength of country’s democracy and the Constitution.

“Modiji please remember, governments have come and gone. Integrity of our institutions have survived. Let this be a lesson to you about the strength of our democracy and the Constitution. Let this be a lesson that howsoever despotic you may be, law catches up in the end,” he said.

Firing salvo at Prime Minister, the Congress leader said: “After making CBI Chief suffer the consequences of your illegal decision for three months, will you show the courage to return three months of lost tenure? Unless you are afraid of investigation into Rafale scam.

“Modi equals to ‘Muzzling of Democratic Institutions’. First, you lose four economic advisors in a row including two RBI Governors. Second, four Supreme Court judges go public on Judge (B.H.) Loya, then you destroy credibility and competence of the CBI and CVC. This is your model of ‘minimum governance, maximum government’,” he added.

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi questioned the Supreme Court verdict asking what has changed now.

“Before the Supreme Court verdict; Alok Verma didn’t have powers of CBI Chief, couldn’t take any decision on policy or investigation. After Supreme Court verdict: Ditto,” Singhvi tweeted.

MUnion minister for surface transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari, instructed L&T Company which has been given contract to execute widening of national highway (NH) 75 between B C Road and Addahole, to settle legal disputes fast and continue with road widening work at a brisk pace. MP Nalin Kumar, who gave this information, stated that the minister asked L&T Company and National Highways Authority of India to see that the work is executed at the earliest.

A special meeting presided over by Nitin Gadkari to discuss problems associated with national highways passing through Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency was held at New Delhi on Monday. Union minister, D V Sadananda Gowda, and MP, Nalin Kumar Kateel, who were present, explained the problems encountered in executing national highway work in Dakshina Kannada district. After learning that the pace of work on national highways in this district has been moving at a sluggish pace, the minister ordered the same to be executed speedily.

The minister instructed Navayuga Company to complete remaining works under Talapady – Kundapur highway widening work and flyovers at Pumpwell and Thokkottu at the earliest, and facilitate traffic on them by February end.

NHAI chief general manager, Alok Deepanker, NHAI Bengaluru regional office executive, R C Sooryavamshi, secretary of the minister, Vaibhav Dange and high level officials were present.

The minster also asked state level officials to speed up land acquisition process on Kulshekar – Karkala, B C Road – Kateel, Melkar – Konaje – Thokkottu stretches. He promised to take part in the inaugural of Talapady – Kundapur highway and laying of foundation stone for the proposed highway before February end.

Agencies

Nasheman News : The Income-Tax (I-T) Department would soon issue orders for attaching the property of Karnataka’s Congress Minister D.K. Shivakumar, a top official said on Monday.

“The case (investigation) on Shivakumar is in progress. We will soon be issuing orders to attach his property,” Karnataka Director-General of Income-Tax (Investigation) B.R. Balakrishhnan told reporters here.

The official, however, declined to give details about the case and the value of the Minister’s property to be attached, location and its nature.

The imminent orders stem from the interrogation the I-T sleuths did with the 56-year-old state Water Resources Minister on January 3 in connection with the alleged tax evasion, money laundering and seizure of cash worth crores from his premises in Bengaluru, Kanakapura and New Delhi during the investigations since August 2017.

Teams of I-T sleuths searched Shivakumar’s residence in early August 2017 when he was looking after then Congress legislators from Gujarat at a resort near Bengaluru.

The three-day searches were conducted under Section 132 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 as an evidence gathering exercise in compliance with the statutory requirements.

Shivkumar was then Energy Minister in the previous Congress government. He is a lawmaker from Kanakapura Assembly segment in Ramaganaram district.

One of the richest politicians in the country, Shivakumar declared assets valued at Rs 840 crore in his nomination papers on April 19 for the May 2018 Assembly elections in the southern state.

On September 15, 2018, the Special Court for Economic Offences granted bail to Shivakumar and three others in a criminate case the I-T Department had filed for alleged evasion of tax and filing of false tax returns.

Nasheman News : Tamil Nadu Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development P. Balakrishna Reddy, who was on Monday sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by a special court here for damaging buses with stones in 1998, resigned from his post later in the day.

The court hearing the cases against MPs and MLAs also fined him Rs 10,000.

The court convicted 16 persons out of 108 accused.

Elected from Hosur, Reddy was part of a protest against illict liquor in 1998 near his constituency. The protest turned violent resulting in stone pelting on buses.

Meanwhile, on a petition, the judge suspended the sentence allowing Reddy to appeal in the Madras High Court.

Following the verdict, Reddy resigned from his post and the same was accepted by Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

In a statement issued by the Governor’s office, Purohit on the recommendation of Chief Minister K. Palaniswami has allocated the portfolio of Youth Welfare and Sports Development to K.A. Sengottaiyan, Minister for Education and redesignated him as Minister for School Education, Youth Welfare and Sports Development.