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Two killed as building collapses in Kolkata: Mayor

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Two killed as building collapses in Kolkata: Mayor

Kolkata : Two persons died and seven others were injured as an under-construction five-storeyed building collapsed in the Garden Reach area of Kolkata, city mayor Firhad Hakim said on Monday.

Hakim apprehended that some more people might still be trapped under the debris.

The rescue operation is going on at the site located at Azan Molla Lane in the city’s western periphery.

“Sad to learn about the house collapse disaster of an under-construction building in the Garden Reach area of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Our Mayor, Fire Minister, Secretaries and Commissioner of Police, civic, police, fire and disaster management officers and teams (including NDRF, KMC and KP teams) have been on site throughout the night for mitigating the disaster,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote on X.

She said the government will provide compensation to the next of kin of each deceased and the injured persons.

“We stand by the distressed families and rescue operations shall continue,” Banerjee said on the microblogging site.

“In a horrific accident, an under-construction five-storeyed building collapsed around midnight. Two persons were killed and at least seven people were injured,” Hakim said.

At least 10 people were rescued from the site, an official said.

The city mayor said there were still a few persons trapped under the debris and efforts were on to rescue them.

The injured were admitted to a hospital, he said.

Hakim, who is also West Bengal’s urban development minister, said, “I have spoken to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and we will give Rs five lakh to the next of kin of each deceased person and Rs one lakh to each injured person.”

Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal visited the spot and took stock of the rescue operation.

“The under-construction building collapsed in the Garden Reach area late on Sunday night. We have rescued a few people. The recuse operation is still going on,” a police official said.

According to locals, who were the first responders, concrete chunks fell from the building before it collapsed.

There was a loud sound and a thick cloud of dust engulfed the area as the building collapsed. The debris fell on nearby shanties in the densely populated area, they said.

“Although no one lived in the under-construction building, it collapsed on the adjacent shanties. We fear that many individuals might still be trapped under the rubble,” said a resident.

“I am receiving frantic calls regarding probable casualties. Please dispatch any team which can help in rescuing the victims, be it Fire Servicemen, Police or any other team,” he said.

Adhikari also shared pictures from the building collapse site.

SC directs SBI to make complete disclosure of electoral bonds details by March 21

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the State Bank of India to make a complete disclosure of all details related to electoral bonds, including the unique bond numbers that would disclose the link between the buyer and the recipient political party, by March 21.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said there is “no manner of doubt” that the SBI is required to disclose complete details of the bonds.

It directed the SBI chairman to file an affidavit before it by 5 pm on March 21 indicating that the bank has disclosed all the details.

During the hearing, the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, observed that the SBI can’t be selective and has to disclose all “conceivable” electoral bond details in its possession, including unique bond numbers that would disclose the link between the buyer and the recipient political party.

The bench said the apex court had, in its verdict in the electoral bonds case, asked the bank to disclose all the details of the bonds and it should not wait for further orders on this aspect.

“We had asked all details to be disclosed by the SBI which includes electoral bond numbers as well. Let SBI not be selective in disclosure,” the bench orally said during the hearing.

Last week, the top court issued a notice to the country’s largest bank to explain the reasons for the non-disclosure of unique alphanumeric numbers in compliance with its directions, saying the SBI was “duty bound” to reveal them.

On April 12, 2019, the apex court issued an interim order directing that the information about the donations received and donations which will be received must be submitted by political parties to the EC in a sealed cover.

In its landmark verdict on February 15, the top court had scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional” and ordered disclosure by the EC of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients by March 13.

They keep saying ‘Ee sala Cup namde’ and we got it: RCB’s Shreyanka

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They keep saying 'Ee sala Cup namde' and we got it: RCB's Shreyanka
Shreyanka Patil

New Delhi: Over the last few years, the Ee Sala Cup Namde (The Cup is ours this time) slogan of Royal Challengers Bangalore has remained the pet troll of social media army. But not anymore after this Sunday!

The RCB have finally managed to bring one trophy home, when they defeated Delhi Capitals in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) final by eight wickets here at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

RCB off-spinner Shreyanka Patil, who ended up as the highest wicket-taker in WPL with 13 scalps, shared that sentiment and relief after the triumph.

“They keep saying ‘Ee sala cup namde’ and we got it. That’s it guys, it is for the fans,” said Patil.

She lauded RCB women’s head coach Luke Williams for keeping the dressing room calm.

“Day in and day out we put our hard work. We felt like family. We did not know Luke much. During the last game that we won against Mumbai, he had tears. We are looking forward to continuing this,” she added.

The talismanic Elysse Perry topped the run-makers’ chart in this WPL with 347 runs, and the Australian all-rounder said the support for the teams throughout the event was very heartening.

“Pretty bonkers, to be honest. It’s another level for us – the support for all the teams has been phenomenal and it’s been unbelievable,” she said.

Perry praised spinner Shreyanka and her compatriot Sophie Molineux for changing the complexion of the match after DC raced to 64 for no loss.

“She turned the match on its head. The rest of the spinners backed her up.

“Shreyanka is such a young player and she has got the world at her feet. It was a special performance,” said Perry.

Mamata Banerjee visits building collapse site in Kolkata

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Mamata Banerjee visits building collapse site in Kolkata
Mamata Banerjee C.M West Bengal

Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday visited Garden Reach area in the city, where an under-construction building collapsed, leaving two persons dead and at least seven people injured.

She directed Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal to take action against those involved in the illegal construction of the five-storey building which collapsed around midnight in the area.

Banerjee also visited the hospital where the injured persons are undergoing treatment.

“This is a very congested area. This building had no sanction from the authorities and it was illegal. I have told the CP and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to take action,” she told reporters after taking stock of the situation.

Banerjee with her forehead bandaged visited the place. She suffered an injury on her forehead on Thursday evening and underwent stitches.

The chief minister said that her government stands by the families whose shanties were damaged in the building collapse.

She also said that two persons were killed in the building collapse and five to six people might still be trapped under the debris.

“This is Ramzan month and this incident happened. I extend my condolences to the bereaved families,” she added.

Commenting on Navalny’s death for first time, Putin says he supported prisoner swap for his foe

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Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin said early Monday that he supported an idea to release late opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a prisoner exchange just days before the man who was his biggest foe died.

In his first comments to address Navalny’s death, Putin said of the dissident’s demise: “It happens. There is nothing you can do about it. It’s life.”

The remarks were unusual in that he repeatedly referenced Navalny by his name for the first time in years and that they came at a late-night news conference as results poured in from a presidential election that is certain to extend his rule.

Early returns showed him leading with over 87 per cent of the votes in a race with no competition, after years of ruthlessly suppressing the opposition and crippling independent media.

Navalny’s allies last month also said that talks with Russian and Western officials about a prisoner swap involving Navalny were underway. The politician’s longtime associate Maria Pevchikh said the talks were in their final stages just days before the Kremlin critic’s sudden and unexplained death in an Arctic penal colony.

She accused Putin of “getting rid of” Navalny in order not to exchange him, but offered no evidence to back her claims, and they could not be independently confirmed.

Putin said Monday, also without offering any evidence, that several days before Navalny’s death, “certain colleagues, not from the (presidential) administration” told him about “an idea to exchange Navalny for certain people held in penitentiary facilities in western countries”. He said he supported the idea.

“Believe it or not, but the person talking to me didn’t even finish their sentence when I said: I agree,'” Putin said in response to a question from a journalist about Navalny’s death. He added that his one condition was that Navalny wouldn’t return to Russia.

“But unfortunately, whatever happened, happened,” Putin said.

Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician, died last month while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated. His allies, family members and Western officials blamed the death on the Kremlin, accusations it has rejected.

The politician’s associates said officials listed “natural causes” on paperwork Navalny’s mother was shown when she was trying to retrieve his body.

Navalny had been jailed since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow of his own accord after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. He was immediately arrested. The Kremlin has vehemently denied it was behind the poisoning.

Pevchikh claimed that there was a plan to swap Navalny and two US citizens held in Russia for Vadim Krasikov. He was serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 killing in Berlin of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen of Chechen descent. German judges said Krasikov acted on the orders of Russian authorities.

She didn’t identify the US citizens that were supposedly part of the deal. There are several in custody in Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, convicted of espionage and serving a long prison sentence. They and the US government dispute the charges against them.

German officials have refused to comment when asked if there had been any effort by Russia to swap Krasikov.

Putin had earlier said that the Kremlin was open to negotiations on Gershkovich. He pointed to a man imprisoned in a “US-allied country” for “liquidating a bandit” who had allegedly killed Russian soldiers during separatist fighting in Chechnya. Putin didn’t mention names but appeared to refer to Krasikov.

Former UP minister Azam Khan convicted with 3 others in 2016 demolition case

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Former UP minister Azam Khan convicted with 3 others in 2016 demolition case

Rampur (UP): Former Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan along with three others was convicted by a special court here on Saturday in a case of a forced demolition of a house in 2016 in the Dungarpur area, officials said.

The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Monday, they said.

Advocate Rohtash Kumar Pandey from the prosecution side said Judge Vijay Kumar of MP-MLA Court of Rampur held Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, former Nagar Palika chairman Azhar Ahmed Khan and former circle officer Ale Hasan and Barkat Ali guilty.

Three other accused — Jibran, Farman and Omendra Chauhan — were acquitted by the court, Pandey said.

A total of seven people were booked in 2019 for the forced demolition of a house in 2016 under the Samajwadi Party government, he said.

The case was registered at the Ganj police station under the Indian Penal Code sections 447 (punishment for criminal trespass), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 395 (punishment for dacoity) and 412 (dishonestly receiving property stolen in the commission of a dacoity), Pandey said.

The case was filed after the change of government in Uttar Pradesh, he added.

The four accused have been convicted for offences under Indian Penal Code sections 447, 427, 504, and 506, he said.

Azam Khan, 75, is currently serving a sentence in Sitapur jail in another criminal case.

Elections should have been completed in three or four phases, says Cong Prez Mallikarjun Kharge

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Elections should have been completed in three or four phases, says Cong Prez Mallikarjun Kharge
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge

Bengaluru, Mar 16: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said a seven phase election for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls meant that “Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to tour everywhere”. Kharge opined that the polls should have rather been completed in three or four phases.

“We are not anxious about what is going to happen, but Modiji putting seven phases, it means that he wants to tour everywhere. In this country, I have also contested nearly 12 elections and there hardly used to be four phases. Sometimes it used to be even one phase. I have seen two phases also but maximum it used to be four,” he told reporters here.

Kharge said conducting polls in seven phases meant that nearly all the development works will be stopped.

“Stopping nearly 70-80 days, imagine how the country will progress? Because of the election code of conduct…materials will not be supplied. Budget will not be spent. So according to me this is not good. He could have completed within three or four phases,” he said.

“So, it is easy for people also to get their businesses completed, infrastructure everything. It should have helped but anyways Modi is Modi,” he added.

The 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases beginning from April 19 with the counting of votes scheduled on June 4 for the world’s biggest election exercise, according to the announcement by the Election Commission.

Persons above 85, those with more than 40 pc disability can vote from home, says EC

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LS polls: Persons above 85, those with more than 40 pc disability can vote from home, says EC

New Delhi: For the first time in Lok Sabha elections, people above 85 years of age and those with more than 40 per cent disability will be able to cast their votes from home, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced on Saturday.

“We are ready to take vote at home for those above the age of 85 years, before nominations we will send form 12 D to their homes to choose the option.

“We have tried this in some parts of the country earlier in assembly elections but this is the first time it will be implemented across the country,” Kumar said while addressing a press conference to announce the schedule of the Lok Sabha elections.

“If they choose the option of voting from home, we will conduct voting for them at their residence. Our experience is that majority of these people want to come to the booths because they have consistently been part of our democracy… they will have volunteers and wheelchairs if they come to the booth,” he added.

According to Kumar, there are 82 lakh registered voters who are aged above 85 years while the number of PwD voters is 88.4 lakh.

A total of 2.18 lakh centenarians are also part of the electoral rolls.

The CEC said there are 97.8 crore eligible voters of which 49.72 crore are male voters and 47.1 crore are female voters. The polls for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases, starting with voting for 102 seats in the first phase on April 19. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.

CEC Rajiv Kumar uses poetry to rebut criticism of EVMs

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CEC Rajiv Kumar uses poetry to rebut criticism of EVMs
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar used a verse on Saturday to take a dig at the critics of electronic voting machines (EVMs), saying the poll authority is often at the receiving end of “unfulfilled desires”.

“Adhoori hasrato ka iljam har bar hum par lagana thik nahi, wafa khud se nahi hoti, khata EVM ki kehte ho, aur baad mein jab parinam aata hai toh uspe qayam bhi nahi rehte,” Kumar said, announcing the seven-phase Lok Sabha election.

The couplet, which Kumar said he thought of on Friday night, means it is not proper to blame the Election Commission for unfulfilled desires when one has not done his or her job properly.

He said this to buttress the point that even ruling parties have lost elections when EVMs were used for polling.

Apparently anticipating a vitriolic poll campaign, the CEC also urged political parties and leaders to refrain from abusing and vilifying their rivals.

He quoted a couplet from Bashir Badr: “Dushmani jam ke karo, lekin yeh gunjaish rahe, jab kabhi hum dost ho jaye toh sharminda na ho.”

“You can be sworn enemies, but let there be scope for not being ashamed when you become friends,” he said, adding that these days, there are many cases of foes turning friends again.

The CEC also quoted a couplet of Rahim: “Rahiman dhaga prem ka, mat todo chatkay, toote pe phir na jude, jude gaath pari jaaye.”

It broadly means that the threads of love, once broken, cannot be healed and even if they are repaired, the creases still remain.

On the prevalence of fake news during elections, Kumar urged the voters not to share such unverified information.

“Jhooth ke bazaar mein raunak to bahut hai, goya bulbule jaisi turant hi fat jati hai … pakad bhi loge to kya hasil hoga siwaye dhokhe ke,” he said.

Loosely translated, the couplet reads that the world of lies is attractive but short-lived, even if you achieve it, what will you get except betrayal?

Rahul Gandhi concludes Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra by reading Preamble of Constitution

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Rahul Gandhi concludes Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra by reading Preamble of Constitution
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi during the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, in Mumbai

Mumbai Congress leader Rahul Gandhi concluded his 63-day-old Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra here by paying tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar at his memorial Chaityabhoomi in central Mumbai and reading the Preamble of the Constitution.

The former Congress president was accompanied by his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

He paid tributes to Dr Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, and read its preamble.

Earlier, addressing a public meeting in the Dharavi area, he reiterated the Congress’ promise of caste census and asserted that poor women would get Rs 1 lakh every year in their bank accounts if his party returned to power.

“Dharavi is yours and should remain yours. Your skills should be honoured and this place should become a manufacturing hub of the country,” he said, referring to the redevelopment project concerning the slum sprawl awarded to the Adani Group.

The yatra, which commenced from strife-torn Manipur on January 14, entered Mumbai from neighbouring Thane on the 63rd day on Saturday.

Gandhi will undertake a ‘Nyay Sankalp Padyatra’ from Mani Bhavan to August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai on Sunday morning.

On Sunday, the opposition INDIA bloc will hold a rally in a show of strength. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and SP chief Akhilesh are scheduled to take part in the event

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