Navi Mumbai international airport will be operational in 2024: Fadnavis 2
The under-construction Navi Mumbai international airport will become operational in 2024, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said here on Sunday.
He was addressing the Maratha Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA).
Fadnavis also said that the “industrial culture” of Maharashtra will be back on track soon.
“Every stakeholder has to unite and work hard to make Maharashtra number one again,” he added.
Fadnavis highlighted important projects like Pune Metro, EV transportation etc and said the ring road will prove to be the growth engine for the Pune region. He said the government has acknowledged the urgent need for the Purandar airport in the Pune district and that the government is taking efforts for the same.
He also said the government is planning a logistics hub at Purandar along with the airport. There is a need to connect the Navi Mumbai and Purandar airports.
“Maharashtra’s economy should reach USD one trillion if India has to achieve the USD 5 trillion target,” the Deputy CM said.
He stressed the importance of the Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (PMRDA) and Mumbai Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) for infrastructure and said Maharashtra is the startup capital of India.
“15,000 out of 18,000 startups are from Maharashtra besides 25 out of 100 unicorns. We want to ease connectivity and approach to all MIDCs. We should bring more investment in the fintech sector,” he added.
The water level in the Yamuna here breached the warning mark of 204.5 metres on Monday following heavy rain in the upper catchment areas and is expected to rise further in the next two days, officials said.
The Delhi flood control room said the water level crossed the warning mark at 1 am on Monday and rose to 204.7 by 8 am.
It reported a discharge rate of 2,95,212 cusecs at 6 am from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana, which is the highest so far this monsoon season. The flow rate was 2,57,970 at 7 am.
One cusec is equivalent to 28.32 litres per second.
Normally, the flow rate at the Hathnikund barrage is 352 cusecs, but the discharge increases after heavy rainfall in the catchment areas. The water discharged from the barrage normally takes two to three days to reach the national capital.
Authorities have not issued a flood alert yet.
Announcements are being made to caution people living in low-lying areas near the river banks about a further increase in the water level, East Delhi District Magistrate Anil Banka said.
“The water level is predicted to touch the 206-metre mark by Wednesday. A food alert will be issued when it crosses the danger mark of 205.3 metres,” he said.
Incessant rains have battered parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and north Uttar Pradesh over the last few days.
The catchment of the Yamuna river system covers parts of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.
The low-lying areas near the river in Delhi are considered vulnerable to flooding. They are home to around 37,000 people.
The Yamuna had breached the danger mark of 205.33 metres on August 12, following which around 7,000 people were evacuated from the low-lying areas near the river banks.
Efforts were underway by senior Congress leaders on Monday to resolve the impasse in Rajasthan after several MLAs loyal to Ashok Gehlot submitted resignation letters over a possible move to appoint Sachin Pilot as the next chief minister.
Congress observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken, who had waited in vain for all legislators to arrive for the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on Sunday, were trying to persuade Gehlot loyalists to meet them one by one in an effort to defuse the political crisis.
The Gehlot loyalists had visited Speaker C P Joshi’s home after a long meeting at minister Shanti Dhariwal’s residence on Sunday, saying they were resigning as MLAs.
At the chief minister’s home, Gehlot, Kharge and Maken waited for all legislators to arrive for the CLP meeting.
Pilot and his supporters came but the meeting was a washout.
Gehlot loyalists claimed that over 90 MLAs had visited Joshi’s home, but the number could not be verified independently. The Congress has 108 MLAs in the House of 200.
There was no word from the Speaker’s office on the resignation letters.
Ministers Dhariwal, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Mahesh Joshi, along with CM Gehlot’s advisor Sanyam Lodha met the AICC observers, but the standoff continued.
On their return, sources said, they told the other loyalists that they had put forth three conditions.
They wanted the decision on the next CM to be left till after the Congress organisational election and stressed that Gehlot should have a say in picking the new CM who should be someone who stood by the veteran leader during the rebellion by Pilot supporters in 2020.
“We have submitted our resignation and are now going home. The MLAs want that any decision on the CM’s should be taken only after the election of the party’s national president,” minister Govind Ram Meghwal had said.
The loyalists said the views of MLAs should be taken into account.
“Later, whatever decision taken by the high command will be accepted,” independent MLA Babulal Nagar had said.
The aborted CLP meeting was seen as crucial step ahead of Gehlot filing his nomination for the Congress president’s post, amid speculation that the former deputy chief minister Pilot will take his place in the state.
Gehlot, seen by many as a reluctant candidate for the top party position, initially appeared unwilling to give up his CM’s post. Later, it was speculated that he would rather see Joshi — or anyone else — as CM rather than Pilot, who had rebelled against his leadership.
Gehlot had told reporters in Jaisalmer that the MLAs would pass a one-line resolution at the CLP meeting calling upon party president Sonia Gandhi to pick his successor.
But the MLAs seemed to go off script.
Before setting off for Joshi’s home, some Gehlot loyalists had said the next CM should be someone who was instrumental in saving the government during the 2020 crisis and not anyone involved in the bid to topple it, a veiled reference to Pilot.
“We are going to the Speaker’s residence and will submit our resignation,” Khachariyawas had told reporters.
Another leader, Govind Ram Meghwal, said Gehlot can shoulder both roles, that of the chief minister as well as the party’s national president.
He said if Gehlot does not remain CM, the party will face problems in winning the next Assembly elections.
“If a decision is not taken keeping the MLAs’ sentiments in mind, the government will be in danger,” independent legislator and advisor to the chief minister Lodha had said.
Gehlot and Pilot were at loggerheads over the chief minister’s post soon after the Congress won the Assembly elections in December 2018.
The high command then chose Gehlot as the chief minister for the third time while Pilot was made his deputy.
In July 2020, Pilot along with 18 party MLAs rebelled against Gehlot’s leadership.
Image: Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey. | Sam Panthaky/AFP
Police have detained social activist Sandeep Pandey and three others ahead of a foot march planned on Monday to express solidarity with Bilkis Bano, who was gang-raped and seven of her family members murdered during the 2002 Gujarat riots, police said.
Ramon Magsaysay award recipient Pandey and other activists were scheduled to participate in the foot march, titled ‘Apologising to Bilkis Bano’, planned to be taken out from her native village Randhikpur in neighbouring Dahod district on Monday under the banner of ‘Hindu-Muslim Ekta Samiti’.
The march was to conclude in Ahmedabad on October 4.
“Sandeep Pandey and three others were detained from Godhra (in Panchmahal district) at around 10.30 pm on Sunday. They are still in detention,” a B-division police station officer said.
The Hindu-Muslim Ekta Samiti in a statement condemned the police action.
It said the foot march was organised to apologise to Bilkis Bano, after the Gujarat government on August 15 this year released 11 convicts in her case under its remission policy.
The convicts were serving life sentence in the Godhra sub-jail on charges of gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven members of her family in a post-Godhra riot case.
“We only wish to apologise to Bilkis for whatever has happened to her and wish such heinous acts do not happen in an otherwise peaceful state of Gujarat,” the organisation said in the statement.
On March 3, 2002, Bilkis Bano’s family was attacked by a mob at Randhikpur village in Limkheda taluka of Dahod. Bilkis, who was five months pregnant at the time, was gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed.
A special CBI court in Mumbai had on January 21, 2008 sentenced to life imprisonment 11 accused in the case for murder and gang-rape. Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court.
These convicts served more than 15 years in prison, after which one of them approached the Supreme Court with a plea for his premature release.
The Gujarat government later issued an order to release all the 11 convicts, as per its remission policy, following which they walked out of the jail on August 15.
India matters in the world today and its voice counts because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday.
Referring to the series of meetings he had with the world leaders in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Jaishankar said he can say this based on the feedback from these meetings.
The voice of India matters and is being taken seriously at the world stage because of the leadership and policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jaishankar said at an interactive dialogue with the Indian-American community organized by the US India Friendship Council and Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS).
“Today our opinions count, our views matter and… have actually today the ability to shape the big issues of our time. I think … these are main takeaways from a very, very intensive set of interactions over the last six days,” he said about his New York meetings.
Responding to a question on Ukraine, Jaishankar said today the nature of the world is such that a big conflict by definition causes enormous ripples across the world. “People across the world are paying the cost of fuel and food”.
“I think this conflict has different facets and perhaps some of those, maybe addressed (earlier),” he said.
Indian-Americans from various parts of the country as far as Los Angeles and Houston flew in to attend the event. The External Affairs Minister arrived in the American capital from New York, where he attended the annual General Assembly of the United Nations, for a four-day official visit.
During his stay here he is expected to meet the Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. He is also likely to have interactions with the members of the corporate sector and the think-tank community.
“During my professional lifetime, as a diplomat, perhaps the biggest change that I saw, and I was privileged to be part of, was a change in the relationship between India and America,” he said.
The minister described Indian-Americans as the living bridge between the two countries as the one responsible for this change. The role of the Indian-American community in strengthening this relationship is something which “I can never say enough about,” he said.
“India, America relationship has changed because of Indian-Americans. It did not change only because of government policies,”Jaishankar said.
Eminent Indian-American community leader Dr Bharat Barai applauded Jaishankar for his “deep understanding, deep analysis and very intelligent very analyze, interpretation, and the complexities of foreign policy.” Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale, in-charge, foreign affairs department of the ruling BJP, applauded the minister for the clarity in which he has been articulating India’s views and positions to the global community.
Kashmiri columnist and political commentator Sunanda Vashisht described Jaishankar as a “rock star” foreign minister of India.
More than 30 shanties from a locality in the city’s Vile Parle area suffered damages on Sunday night, apparently due to the strong vibrations caused by the ongoing Metro rail work there, an official said.
Nobody suffered a major injury in the incident, the fire brigade official said.
While portions of seven shanties fell in an adjoining nullah, more than 30 other such structures caved in, he said.
“After the incident, two fire engines were rushed to the spot. At least 24 adjoining shanties were vacated and the residents were shifted to a civic-run school. They were provided with food and water,” the official said.
“This apparently happened due to the construction work going on in the area,” he added.
Raju Devendra, a local resident said, “The incident occurred due to the strong vibrations caused by the ongoing Metro work. After the damages to the hutments, local residents forced the work to be stopped. Luckily, nobody suffered a major injury.”
US will 'respond decisively' if Russia uses nuclear weapon on Ukraine, warns Jake Sulliva 9
US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan warned President Vladimir Putin of “catastrophic consequences” if Russia launches a nuclear attack on Ukraine and said that America will “respond decisively” to such an action. While speaking on NBS’s “Meet the Press” show, Sullivan said, “Let me say it plainly: If Russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for Russia,” The Hill reported.
“The United States will respond decisively,” he continued. “Now, in private channels, we have spelt out in greater detail exactly what that would mean, but we want to be able to have the credibility of speaking directly to senior leadership in Russia and laying out for them what the consequences would be without getting into a rhetorical tit for tat publicly,” he added.
During the interview, Sullivan said the United States is working with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which sent representatives to the plant, and Ukrainian energy regulators to avoid a meltdown catastrophe.
“It is actually still being operated by the Ukrainian operators who are essentially at gunpoint from the Russian occupying forces, and the Russians have been consistently implying that there may be some kind of accident at this plant,” Sullivan said as quoted by The Hill.
Gujarat’s Harmeet Desai and West Bengal’s Sutirtha Mukherjee won the hearts of a packed stadium while comfortably clinching the men’s and women’s singles titles in the 36th National Games here on Saturday.
Local hero Harmeet thrashed Haryana’s Soumyajit Ghosh 4-0 while Sutirtha proved too good for national champion Sreeja Akula, with the Olympian winning 4-1 in the women’s final.
Sutirtha ended the Games on a high with three gold medals – women’s singles, doubles and team – while Harmeet and another Gujarat paddler Manush Shah now have two gold medals to show for their efforts.
Gujarat men had won the team gold, with Harmeet and Manush playing stellar roles in front of adoring crowds. The latter also clinched the mixed doubles title, partnering wife Krittwika Sinha Roy.
West Bengal emerged as the overall champions of the table tennis arena bagging four gold medals, one silver and three bronze. Gujarat finished second with three gold and three bronze. Maharashtra finished third with one silver and four bronze medals.
But the final day well and truly belonged to Harmeet and Sutirtha as they vanquished top seeds G Sathiyan and Manika Batra in their respective semifinals before dominating the gold medal matches.
Harmeet, who had won the silver medal in Kerala seven years ago, wasn’t going to let go of another chance of standing atop the podium and began the match with an aggressive mindset.
He kept Ghosh on the defensive by finding angles from both forehand and backhand shots to win 11-8, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8. Sutirtha was equally clinical in quelling the attacking instinct of 2022 Commonwealth Games mixed doubles champion Sreeja, who had thrashed the likes of Ayhika Mukherjee and Diya Chitale on her way to the final.
Sreeja also ended up on the losing side in the mixed doubles final as she and partner FR Snehit were beaten in straight sets by Shah and Krittwika.
Earlier Sutirtha had teamed up with Ayhika to defeat Karnataka’s Yashaswini Ghorpade and Kushi V in straight sets in the women’s doubles final.
West Bengal’s Jeet Chandra and Ronit Bhanja clinched the men’s doubles gold, beating statemates Arjun Ghosh and Anirban Ghosh in straight sets.
Over 100 women police officers have been rehired in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, as a ray of hope for women amid the grave challenges of human rights violations in the Taliban-led country.
According to local media, the officials of the Badakhshan Police Command said, “More than one hundred female police officers have been rehired and the majority of these female police officers had previously served in the previous administration.”.
“We have about 20 to 25 officers and lieutenants and 70 to 80 female soldiers,” said Badakhshan Police Commander Abdulhaq Abu Omer, as quoted by local media.
In this province, female police officers are in charge of conducting house-to-house inspections and searching women.
“As criminal department officers, we go when there is a criminal act and enter the house,” Khaleda, a police officer, said.
“We search the house and we arrest the women and hand them over to the criminal department,” said Gol Jan, a policewoman, reported local media.
Ever since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the plight of Afghan women has continued to be deplorable in the country.
Contrary to the Taliban’s claims, girls were stopped from going to school beyond sixth grade on March 23 and a decree against the women’s dress code was issued after a month.
There are restrictions on movement, education and freedom of expression of women posing a threat to their survival. Not only this, the lack of female healthcare workers has prevented the women from accessing basic medical facilities, and the international donors, who fund 90 per cent of health clinics, are hesitant to send money because of their fear of the funds being misused.
Around 80 per cent of women working in the media have lost their jobs, and almost 18 million women in the country are struggling for health, education and social rights. Many women, particularly those who worked in security agencies, lost their jobs after the Islamic Emirate was re-established.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a report the previous month, outlining the human rights situation in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.
The report summarized UNAMA’s findings with regards to the protection of civilians, extrajudicial killings, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and detentions, the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, fundamental freedoms and the situation in places of detention.
Amid this, the rehiring of women officers comes as a ray of hope for the women facing several severe challenges in the country. Some female police forces urged the Islamic Emirate to allow more women to work in government institutions.
“We ask the Islamic Emirate to let all the women return to their jobs,” said Mashoqa, a police officer.
A day after ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were allegedly raised during a Popular Front of India (PFI) protest in Pune, Shiv Sena leader and former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray attacked the state government and said there is a major law and order failure in Maharashtra.
“The government must come down swiftly and hard on those who indulged in pro-Pak slogans. The fact that someone dared to do so, and is yet roaming free, means this is a major law and order failure in Maharashtra,” Thackeray told media persons.
‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were heard outside the District Collector’s office on Friday in Pune city where PFI cadres gathered against the recent ED-CBI-Police raids across 15 states. Some protestors were detained by Pune police and a case registered of unlawful assembly against protestors. Police also arrested some protestors.
“Case registered under sections of rioting and for blocking the roads at Bund Garden police station. Probe underway pertaining to videos that went viral. Stringent action to be taken against culprits,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone II, Pune Sagar Patil. Earlier, Pune Police had said they will probe and verify the videos and action will be taken accordingly.
“We have received some videos, we will investigate and verify them completely and take action accordingly,” the DCP had said. Reacting to the sloganeering incident, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the state Home Minister said stringent action will be taken. “We will take stringent action against any person raising Pakistan Zindabad slogans in Maharashtra,” Fadnavis said.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Nitesh Rane took to Twitter and warned those raising such slogans. He also sought a ban on PFI.
