New Delhi: Amid a face-off with the Centre over a proposed metro fare hike, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has offered to take over the Delhi Metro claiming to make it more efficient and said the Aam Aadmi Party government was ready to provide half the funds needed to meet the gap in its finances for three months.

In a letter to Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Mr Kejriwal said the Centre bore the entire loss of Kolkata Metro and there should be no difficulty if it provided half the funds in the case of Delhi.

Mr Puri had on Friday told the Delhi government it would need to pay Rs. 3,000 crore annually for five years if it wanted to stop fare hikes on the Delhi Metro.

Arvind Kejriwal said Mr Puri’s contention that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was bound to follow the Fare Fixation Committee’s recommendations seemed “untenable”.

Citing Section 86 of the DMRC Act, he said it was the Centre which had set up the fourth Fare Fixation Committee after a lapse of seven years. Therefore, the Union minister’s contention that the central government was “powerless” in respect of fare fixation was “flawed”.

The Fare Fixation Committee-recommended fare hike, a second in seven months, will come into effect on October 10.

Mr Kejriwal said the AAP government was confident it would be able to fund the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation by improving its efficiency rather than imposing fare hikes.

“As for your suggestion regarding a grant to the DMRC (Delhi Metro) for meeting the gap in their finances, my government is willing to bear half the grant if only a matching grant is provided by the central government.”

“As you know, the central government and the Delhi government are 50-50 owners of the DMRC (Delhi Metro) and its equity etc. have been shared in this proportion all along,” Mr Kejriwal said in his letter.

“Let an assessment be made of the financial gap likely to be created on account of the postponement of the second fare hike and we will be able to bear half of it,” he said.

Sources in the Delhi government said that the chief minister offered to provide on a short-term basis, half the funds the DMRC (Delhi Metro) needed to meet the gap in its finances so that another Fare Fixation Committee could be set up to recommend fresh fares.

Besides cooperative federalism, the point remains that the Centre and Delhi government are equal partners in the DMRC, Mr Kejriwal said. “From the recent developments, it is becoming evident that the relationship is not one of equal partners since what the Delhi government proposes is often summarily disposed by the Cental government.”

“If the Central government agrees, Delhi government would be willing to take over the DMRC (Delhi Metro),” he said.

Fares will go up by a maximum of Rs. 10 after the latest hike comes into effect.

The existing fare structure is: up to 2 kms — Rs. 10, 2-5 kms — Rs. 15, 5-12 kms — Rs. 20, 12-21 kms — Rs. 30, 21-32 kms — Rs. 40 and for journeys beyond 32 kms — Rs. 50.

From October 10, for a distance of up to two kilometres, the fare will remain Rs. 10, but for a distance between two and five kilometres, it will go up from Rs. 15 to Rs. 20. For the subsequent slabs, it will go up by Rs. 10 each, which means the maximum fare will be Rs. 60.

Delhi Metro managing director Mangu Singh also met the chief minister at his residence today. It was immediately not known as to what transpired at the meeting.

(PTI)

Lucknow: Sixteen children, including ten infants, died at the Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in Gorakhpur during the last 24 hours, authorities said on Monday.

Of the children who died, ten were admitted in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) while six were in the paediatric ICU.

According to reports, 20 patients — including six from Deoria, two from Kushinagar, four each from Gorakhpur and Maharajganj, and one patient each from Basti and Balrampur — afflicted with encephalitis have been admitted to the hospital in the last 24 hours.

As many as three dozen patients, mostly affected by encephalitis, were being treated at BRD Medical College. Five patients from Bihar were also being treated there, doctors said.

Officials said that 1,470 patients have been admitted to the BRD Medical College since January this year, adding that a total of 310 have died.

The BRD Medical College hit the headlines earlier in August when 63 children, including infants, died within a span of one week due to disruption of oxygen supply by the vendor.

The FIR was lodged against nine people, including the owner of the oxygen supplying company and the principal of BRD Medical College.

Doctors said the latest deaths did not occur due to lack of oxygen, treatment or anything else but the fact that they were brought to the hospital in a very critical condition.

(IANS)

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Thursday rejected the plea of Zakia Jafri, the wife of slain former MP Ehsan Jafri, challenging a clean chit by the Special Investigation Team to then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other top officials in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The court rejected Zakia Jafri’s plea on allegations of “a larger conspiracy” behind the riots.

Ehsan Jafri, a Congress leader, was one of the 69 people killed when a large mob attacked Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002.

(IANS)

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi again on Thursday, asking “how long will he (PM) continue to tell lies” to the country.

Addressing a rally after taking out a massive procession to Churchgate to demand better facilities for Mumbai commuters after last week’s stampede killed 23 commuters, Thackeray said the country was being pushed into crises on all fronts, brought about by the Bharatiya Janata Party government.

“Modi has been lying and misleading the people of this country. Now I realize that when I visited Gujarat a few years ago at the behest of (industrialist) Ratan Tata when Modi was the CM, I was shown a misleading picture of the development there,” Thackeray said to cheers.

He reiterated that the people of the country had lost faith in Modi, who “only keeps giving speeches daily – how much is he going to speak?”

In an exasperated tone, Thackeray said that “now whenever Modi comes on TV, we feel like switching it off, but then he starts his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ on the radio”.

Calling the PM “a liar”, he said that like the people of the country, Thackeray said he believed and had faith in Modi, but now “we have been betrayed” and there is so much anger among the masses.

Targetting BJP President Amit Shah, who had once said the election statement of depositing Rs 15 lakh in every Indian’s bank account was a ‘jumla’ or an electoral stunt, he said that it meant they “cheated the people of the country”.

He also gave an earful to Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari who once said that the slogan of ‘Achhe Din’ had stuck in the BJP’s throat, proving to be very troublesome, and ‘Achhe Din’ would never come.

Attacking the Bullet Train proposal, Thackeray wondered for whom it was intended. “It will benefit only the people of Gujarat, but the loan of Rs 1.08 lakh crore will be repaid by all the people of the country who have nothing to do with the project.”

He alleged that Suresh Prabhu was ejected as Railway Minister because he opposed the Bullet Train and Piyush Goyal brought in to facilitate it.

The MNS leader claimed he was “the first to oppose the mega-project” before other “parrots” started talking about it, indirectly referring to his cousin and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray.

Training guns on the Western Railway and Central Railway which runs the lifeline of Mumbai, the suburban trains network, Thackeray demanded that “within 15 days all hawkers, encroachments and obstacles” to commuters must be removed from all railway station premises to prevent recurrences of another tragedy like the September 29 stampede.

“If you fail within this ultimatum, then on the 16th day, my MNS men will do it. After that the railways shall be directly responsible for whatever be the repercussions,” he warned amidst thunderous applause.

He also warned that Thursday’s procession was a peaceful one, but if there is no if there is no change, the next one would be otherwise.

(IANS)

Chandigarh: Two women followers raped by the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking life imprisonment for the sect head sentenced to 20 years in prison. A special CBI court on August 28 had sentenced Ram Rahim Singh to 20 years in prison after his conviction in two rape cases.

“A revision petition has been filed today in the Punjab and Haryana High court for the enhancement of sentence for Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to life imprisonment in rape case,” said victims’ counsel Navkiran Singh here. “In this case, the Dera sect chief was considered as ‘Pita Ji’ (father) by his followers. Victims were under emotional and physical custody of Dera chief and he broke their trust and misused his position as a religious and spiritual leader. Therefore, we sought life imprisonment instead of 20-year sentence,” the counsel further said.

CBI Judge Jagdeep Singh had pronounced two sentences of 10 years rigorous imprisonment in each of the two cases that date back to 2002. Besides, the court had also fined him Rs 15 lakh in each of the two cases. Ram Rahim was convicted by the special CBI court on August 25, following which violence and arson had erupted in Panchkula and Sirsa districts which left 41 people dead and scores of injured. Ram Rahim is currently lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak district of Panchkula.

In April 2002, an anonymous letter was written to the then Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, complaining about alleged sexual exploitation of women followers at Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa
Then in May 2002, the high court directed Sirsa district and session judge to probe the allegations in the letter. In September 2002, the high court had handed over the matter to the CBI after district court indicated possibility of sexual exploitation.

In December 2002, the CBI registered a case of rape, criminal intimidation against Ram Rahim Singh.
The CBI had filed charge sheet against Dera head in Ambala court in July 2007. The charge sheet mentioned about sexual exploitation of two ‘sadhvis’ (women followers) between 1999 and 2001. In September 2008, the special CBI court framed charges against Gurmeet Ram Rahim under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

On August 17, 2017, the arguments of prosecution and defence concluded and the Special CBI Judge Jagdeep Singh on August 25 convicted Ram Rahim Singh in the rape case.

(Agencies)

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank today lowered to 6.7 per cent the economic growth projection for 2017-18 from its August forecast of 7.3 per cent in view of issues with GST implementation and lower kharif output estimates.

In its Fourth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement, 2017 -18, RBI said the loss of momentum in first quarter of the current fiscal and the first advance estimates of kharif foodgrains production are early setbacks that impart a downside to the outlook on growth projections.

The implementation of GST so far also appears to have had an adverse impact, rendering prospects for the manufacturing sector uncertain in the short term, it said. “This may further delay the revival of investment activity, which is already hampered by stressed balance sheets of banks and corporates,” it said. RBI further said that consumer confidence and overall business assessment of the manufacturing and services sectors surveyed by it weakened in the second quarter (July- September).

On the positive side, firms expect a significant improvement in business sentiment in third quarter, said the Resolution of the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) put by the central bank on its website. “Taking into account the above factors, the projection of real GVA (Gross Value Added) growth for 2017-18 has been revised down to 6.7 per cent from the August 2017 projection of 7.3 per cent, with risks evenly balanced,” it said.

Fitch Ratings this week had lowered India’s economic growth forecast for the current fiscal to 6.9 per cent from 7.4 per cent earlier after the GDP growth “unexpectedly faltered” in the April-June quarter. Asian Development Bank too has lowered the growth projection to 7 per cent for the current fiscal from its earlier estimate of 7.4 per cent. The real GVA growth slowed significantly in the April- June period of 2017-18, cushioned partly by the extensive front- loading of expenditure by the central government.

GVA growth in agriculture and allied activities slackened quarter-on-quarter in the usual first quarter moderation, partly reflecting deceleration in the growth of livestock products, forestry and fisheries. Industrial sector GVA growth fell sequentially as well as on a y-o-y basis. The manufacturing sector the dominant component of industrial GVA grew by 1.2 per cent, the lowest in the last 20 quarters.

RBI said the uneven spatial distribution of the monsoon was reflected in the first advance estimates of kharif production by the Ministry of Agriculture, which were below the level of the previous year due to lower area sown under major crops including rice, coarse cereals, pulses, oilseeds, jute and mesta. The central bank further said that the assessment of food prices going forward is “largely favourable”, though the first advance estimates of kharif production pose some uncertainty.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Petrol price was Wednesday cut by Rs 2.5 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.25 following the reduction in excise duty on auto fuels.

Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 68.38 a litre, down from Rs 70.88. A litre of diesel now comes for Rs 56.89 as against Rs 59.14 previously, according to Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation’s largest fuel retailer.

The government had yesterday cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre each to moderate the relentless rise in fuel prices over the last three months.

IOC Director (Finance) A K Sharma said the cut in retail selling price is higher after factoring in its impact on VAT.

As things stand, excise duty is levied on fuel produced ex-refinery. Local sales tax or VAT is levied on the total of ex-refinery cost plus excise duty and commission paid to dealers.

So, till yesterday the VAT on petrol in Delhi was Rs 15.07 while today it stands at Rs 14.54. On diesel, VAT today is Rs 8.41 per litre as against Rs 8.73 previously.

The excise duty cut paused the relentless rise in rates witnessed since July 4. While petrol prices had increased by Rs 7.8 to reach Rs 70.88 a litre in Delhi Tuesday, the highest since August 2014, diesel rates had risen by Rs 5.7 to touch an all-time high of Rs 59.14.

The excise duty cut would cost the government Rs 26,000 crore in annual revenue and about Rs 13,000 crore during the remaining part of the current fiscal year that ends on March 31, 2018, the government had said yesterday.

The government, which had between November 2014 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel on nine occasions to take away gains arising from plummeting global oil prices, has been criticised for not cutting excise duty despite a sustained rise in fuel prices since early July.

In all, duty on petrol was hiked by Rs 11.77 per litre and that on diesel by 13.47 a litre in those 15 months that helped government’s excise mop-up more than double to Rs 2,42,000 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 99,000 crore in 2014-15.

While the costliest petrol was sold in September 2013 when it was priced at Rs 76.06 a litre in Delhi, the previous highest rate for diesel was also during the BJP rule in September 2014 when it was priced at Rs 58.97 per litre.

On petrol, excise has been cut to Rs 19.48 per litre from Rs 21.48 per litre and on diesel to Rs 15.33 a litre from Rs 17.33 previously.

The rise in petrol and diesel prices also reflected in wholesale price inflation, which increased to 3.24 per cent in August 2017, as compared to 1.88 per cent in July.

(PTI)