Archives for 2023

Thane: Sixty five passengers travelling in a bus had a narrow escape after the vehicle caught fire in Maharashtra’s Thane city on Tuesday, a civic official said.

The incident took place at around 8 am near Utaleshwar in the city limits, Thane Municipal Corporation’s regional disaster management cell (RDMC) chief Avinash Sawant said.

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus carrying at least 65 passengers was on way to neighbouring Bhiwandi town from Thane, he said.

After noticing the fire, the driver immediately stopped the bus and raised an alarm following which the passengers got down, the official said.

The bus was partly burnt, he said.

Local firemen and a team of the RDMC rushed to the spot after being alerted and doused the blaze in half-an-hour, he said.

A short-circuit is suspected to have caused the fire in the bus, which belonged to the Bhiwandi depot, the official said.

Pune: Traders in Maharashtra’s Pune city feel the government’s demonetisation decision in 2016 caused temporary hardships, but the move led to a spike in digital transactions in the subsequent years.

The Supreme Court in a 4:1 majority verdict on Monday upheld the Centre’s 2016 decision to ban Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes, saying the decision-making process was neither flawed nor hasty and that it is “not relevant” whether the stated objectives were achieved or not.

Recalling the move, Pune-based pharmaceuticals wholesaler Mahendra Pitalia said, “Everybody, be it traders or common people, had to face hardships after the demonetisation exercise was announced. Everyone was in limbo about the fate of the scrapped notes they had. Banks were not immediately accepting cash from traders.”

He said the positive outcome of the note ban move was the spike in digital transactions by people.

Maharashtra Plastic Association’s former secretary Pramod Shah said that in hindsight, note ban was a good move.

“Though nothing came concrete out of that exercise, it was a good move. Those who had black money, they had to face the consequences, not everyone,” he said.

Shah said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had predicted a depreciation of three per cent in the country’s economy, but currently the Indian economy is stronger compared to other countries.

“Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram had expressed apprehensions about digital payments. See today, the digital payments have increased many-fold,” he said.

Milind Shalgar, who owns a readymade garments brand in Pune with the same name, also said the hardships were temporary.

“After demonetisation, we could not accept cash and only card payments were accepted. For 10 -15 days, the business declined, but later it came back on track. We traders knew it was a transitional period and we were mentally prepared because the entire exercise was huge. We knew it would require some time before things settle down,” he added.

Shalgar also said the digital payment system was very well adopted in subsequent years.

“Today, we are so relieved that we do not have to handle the cash in our business like we used to do as more than 80 per cent of payments are done through online mode,” he said.

However, Federation of Traders Associations of Pune (FATP) president Fatehchand Ranka differed and claimed the note ban decision was taken without consulting the Reserve Bank of India.

“The economic condition continued to deteriorate as it (exercise) did not gain success,” he said, adding that the move hit small businesses.

“Several traders had to close their businesses. All businesses were affected but at least 15 per cent of small-time traders had to close their businesses,” he said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday condemned an incident in which a 20-year-old woman was killed after her scooty was hit by a car and her body dragged for four kilometres from Sultanpuri to Kanjhawala.

Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal said the incident was “shameful” and the culprits should be “punished severely”.

“What happened to our sister in Kanjhawala is very shameful. I hope that the culprits will be punished severely,” the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said in a tweet in Hindi.

Five men have been arrested in connection with the woman’s death. The victim’s two-wheeler was hit by a car in which the accused were travelling on Sunday, police said.

A video purportedly showing the woman’s body without clothes and broken legs has surfaced on social media.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its judgment on Monday on a batch of pleas challenging the government’s 2016 decision to demonetise currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice S A Nazeer, who will retire on January 4, is likely to pronounce its verdict on the matter on January 2, when the top court will reopen after its winter break.

According to Monday’s cause list of the top court, there will be two separate judgements in the matter, which will be pronounced by Justices B R Gavai and B V Nagarathna. It is not clear whether the two judgements will be concurring or dissenting.

Besides Justices Nazeer, Gavai and Nagarathna, the other members of the five-judge bench are Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.

The top court had, on December 7, directed the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to put on record the relevant records relating to the government’s 2016 decision and reserved its verdict.

It heard the arguments of Attorney General R Venkataramani, the RBI’s counsel and the petitioners’ lawyers, including senior advocates P Chidambaram and Shyam Divan.

Calling the scrapping of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes deeply flawed, Chidambaram had argued that the government cannot on its own initiate any proposal relating to legal tender, which can only be done on the recommendation of the RBI’s central board.

Resisting the apex court’s attempt to revisit the 2016 demonetisation exercise, the government had said the court cannot decide a matter when no tangible relief can be granted by way of “putting the clock back” and “unscrambling a scrambled egg”.

The RBI had earlier admitted in its submissions that there were “temporary hardships” and that those too are an integral part of the nation-building process, but there was a mechanism by which the problems that arose were solved.

In an affidavit, the Centre told the top court recently that the demonetisation exercise was a “well-considered” decision and part of a larger strategy to combat the menace of fake money, terror financing, black money and tax evasion.

The Supreme Court has heard a batch of 58 petitions challenging the demonetisation exercise announced by the Centre on November 8, 2016.

Jaipur: Eleven coaches of the Bandra Terminus-Jodhpur Suryanagri Express derailed in Rajasthan’s Pali district early Monday morning, an official said.

No loss of life has been reported, a spokesperson of the North Western Railway (NWR) said and added that several trains have either been cancelled or diverted due to the derailment of train number 12480 on the Rajkiyawas-Bamodara route at 3.27 am.

The railways has opened helpline numbers and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is monitoring the situation, the official said.

R Krishnakumar, a close confidant of Ratan Tata and a group veteran, died Sunday evening, officials said. Kerala-born Krishnakumar, who had served at multiple positions in the group, including heading its hospitality arm Indian Hotels, was 84.

The Padma Shri awardee suffered a heart attack at his home in the financial capital on Sunday, they said.

Tata Sons’ current chairman N Chandrasekaran offered condolences for Krishnakumar’s “enormous contribution” to the Tata Group.

“I had the good fortune of knowing him and what stood out was his deep sense of compassion as a human being. He always wanted to help the less privileged and positively impact their lives. We pray for his departed soul and will sorely miss him,” Chandrasekaran said in a statement.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan tweeted that Thalassery-born Krishnakumar helped strengthen the ties of the group with the southern state and offered condolences to the family.

Krishnakumar had been active with the Tata Trusts after his retirement from executive roles and was reportedly a part of the team which worked alongside Ratan Tata in the Cyrus Mistry ouster episode. Krishnakumar’s cremation will be held at Chandanwadi Crematorium here at 4.30 pm on Monday.

Ranchi: A 32-year-old man was beaten to death by a mob for allegedly attempting to steal goats in Jharkhand’s Giridih district, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place on Saturday night at Sadi Gawanro, a tribal-dominated village, in the Muffasil Police Station area of the district, around 200 km from the state’s capital Ranchi, a senior officer said.

The deceased was identified as Vinod Choudhary, a resident of Simaria village within the same police station limits.

“The man went to the Sadi Gawanro village to steal goats. When he was untying ruminants from a house on Saturday night, it came to the notice of villagers and he was beaten to death,” Giridih sub-divisional police officer Anil Kumar Singh told PTI.

The villagers alleged that the man was involved in several crimes.

An investigation has been started, the SDPO said, adding that the police are trying to identify those involved in killing of the person.

New Delhi: In a shocking incident, a 20-year-old woman died after her scooty was hit by a car and her body was dragged for around four kilometres in outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri on Sunday, police said.

Five men travelling in the Maruti Baleno have been arrested, they said.

Meanwhile, a purported video of the woman’s body without clothes and broken legs made rounds on social media. PTI could not independently verify the veracity of the video.

The footage also led to claims that the victim was raped and murdered, but the police called it an accident.

The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has also issued a notice to police in the matter.

According to police, an information was received at 3.24 am in Kanjhawala police station (Rohini district) that a body was tied to a car going towards Qutubgarh area.

The body was sent to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial hospital, Mangolpuri for post-mortem, they said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer) Harendra Kumar Singh said the victim’s leg got entangled in one of the wheels of the car and she was dragged for around four kilometres.

“A case under IPC sections 279 (rash driving) and 304-A (causing death by negligence) has been registered in the matter. Deepak Khanna (26), Amit Khanna (25), Krishan (27), Mithun (26) and Manoj Mittal have been arrested,” he said.

“While Deepak is a driver, Amit deals with SBI cards in Uttam Nagar, Krishan works at Connaught Place, Mithun works as a hair dresser in Naraina and Mittal works as a food dealer in Sultanpuri,” he said.

Police said blood sample of the car driver has been preserved to examine whether he was under the influence of alcohol or not.

The victim used to work in marriages and other functions as part time. When the incident happened, she was returning home from one such function, they added.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal said she has issued summons to Delhi Police in connection with the incident.