New Delhi (NVI): An earthquake of magnitude 4.6 struck in Haryana near Delhi today evening.
The epicentre of the earthquake was near Rohtak in Haryana, according to the National Center for Seismology.
Tremors were felt in Delhi and adjoining areas, prompting people to rush out of their homes.
The earthquake struck at around 9pm at a depth of 3.3 km.
Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir’s National Conference (NC) today decided to boycott the delimitation exercise, saying its participation in the exercise would tantamount to accepting all events that unfolded in J&K post August 5 last year.
The NC cleared its stance a day after Centre nominated three of its MPs as the associate members of the delimitation commission. The NC leaders who were nominated as the members of delimitation commission include party chief Dr Farooq Abdullah and Hasnain Masoodi and Muhammad Akbar Lone.
After hectic deliberations over the issue, the party came up with a detailed statement. It said that with reference to the recently-announced delimitation commission, NC rejects the process and its three members of the parliament will not participate in the delimitation exercise.
“This delimitation commission is a product of the J&K Re-organization Act 2019 which JKNC is challenging in and outside SC. Participating in this delimitation Commission will be tantamount to accepting the events of August 5, 2019, which the NC is unwilling to do,” a statement issued by the party read.
It said that according to the constitution of J&K, the constituencies were to be delimited in 2026 with rest of the country.
“The constituencies in the state were last delimited in ‘90s. Thereafter an amendment was made in the constitution of J&K unanimously passed in the State Assembly in which all the regional parties, Congress and BJP voted for this amendment to go with the delimitation with rest of the country in 2026. Therefore, the constitution of the delimitation commission is unwarranted,” the statement further said.
Five Lok Sabha MPs from J&K were nominated by Speaker Om Birla as associate members of the delimitation commission which was constituted on March 6.
Headed by former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Ranjana Desai, Election Commissioner, Sushil Chandra and Chief Electoral Officer, Hirdesh Kumar are members of the panel which was constituted under the Delimitation Commission Act.
Before August 5, 2019, the delimitation of Assembly was not possible in Jammu and Kashmir till first census after 2026 – that is at least not before 2031 – due to amendments carried out in J&K Constitution and J&K Representation Act, 1957, under which delimitation exercises were carried in the erstwhile state of J&K in 1975 and 1995.
The Re-Organisation Act enacted by the BJP-led Central government paved way for the first delimitation exercise in J&K after abolishing its statehood.
In the erstwhile, Legislative Assembly, Kashmir region had 46 seats, Jammu 37 and Ladakh had 4 seats.
Meanwhile, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed NC for its decision of boycotting the delimitation exercise. “This is very unfortunate that they have decided to drag their feet from the exercise for which people of J&K have been yearning for long,” said BJP’s J&K Affairs incharge and national vice president, Avinash Rai Khanna. He said the main aim of the delimitation is to address the regional imbalance.
Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): After averting a major terror attack, Jammu and Kashmir police has achieved a significant breakthrough as it has found out the explosive-laden car’s owner, who is a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Hidayatullah Malik.
Malik, a resident of Shopian district, had joined the Pakistan-based terror outfit last year, according to an official, who said a manhunt has been launched to track him down.
Security forces yesterday averted a major terror attack by intercepting in Pulwama district a Santro car, which carried about 45 kgs of explosives and was possibly to be used in an attack on the lines of one carried out on CRPF convoy on February 14 last year in the same district. At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed in that attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit.
Effort is to catch Malik alive so that he can be interrogated to unravel the entire terror plot, the official said.
The ownership of the car, which had fake registration number and was driven by a terrorist who escaped after being fired upon by security forces, was traced after taking samples of the engine and other details of the car, which was exploded yesterday in a control manner to neutralise the bomb.
The car was destroyed in a “technical way” by the Bomb Disposal Squad of security forces at Ayegund area of Rajpora in Southern district of Pulwama. The police along with other security agencies had sought the help of forensic experts in tracing the owner of the car and today a “major breakthrough was achieved.”
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir zone Vijay Kumar had yesterday said it was a joint plot of Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad and two more terrorists, along with the one who was driving the vehicle, were involved.
It is being investigated as to where the car was prepared for the explosion.
“We are also looking for the Over Ground Workers (OGWs), who helped the militants prepare the car-bomb and how they got the explosive material in such a huge quantity,” the official said.
“One thing needs to be appreciated that the lead was perfect and it was reacted to in a timely manner, thereby a major tragedy was averted,” the official said.
Director General of CRPF A P Maheswari lauded the role of CRPF men, who were part of joint check post at Ayegund village of Rajpora, Pulwama, where the car was intercepted. According to Junaid Khan, CRPF’s spokesman for operations in Kashmir, Maheswari appreciated the timely action of CRPF men in detecting the car laden with explosives beforehand.
“The DG CRPF announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh to the CRPF team involved in the operation. And also announced a commendation disc,” Khan said.
New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the demise of former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Ajit Jogi, saying he had strived to bring a positive change in the lives of the poor, especially tribal communities.
Ajit Jogi passed away today at the age of 74, at a private hospital in Raipur after battling for life for the last 20 days.
“Shri Ajit Jogi Ji was passionate about public service. This passion made him work hard as a bureaucrat and as a political leader,” PM Modi wrote on twitter
Shri Ajit Jogi Ji was passionate about public service. This passion made him work hard as a bureaucrat and as a political leader. He strived to bring a positive change in the lives of the poor, especially tribal communities. Saddened by his demise. Condolences to his family. RIP.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 29, 2020
“He strived to bring a positive change in the lives of the poor, especially tribal communities. Saddened by his demise. Condolences to his family. RIP,” Modi added.
New Delhi (NVI): Bangladesh saw the highest-ever jump in coronavirus cases in a single day as 2,523 new patients were found coronavirus positive in the last 24 hours, raising the total cases to 42,844.
The total number of deaths from coronavirus has reached 582 after 23 more people lost their lives in the last 24 hours, according to United News of Bangladesh.
On a positive note, 590 more patients made recovery, taking the total number of recovered caseds to 9,015 in the country.
Against the total number of detected cases, the recovery rate is 21.04 per cent and the mortality rate is 1.36 per cent in country.
In addition to this, although public transport remains suspended, thousands of people have started coming back to their workplaces in Dhaka after celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr at home, availing all kinds of transport from ferries through river routes to three-wheelers, pickup vans, private cars on roads.
New Delhi (NVI): Afghanistan witnessed a rise in coronavirus cases with 623 new cases, taking the overall tally to 13,659 across the country, according to Afghan media reports
In the past 24 hours, 11 patients have died due to COVID-19 virus.
Of the total 623 positive cases across the country, 271 were registered in Kabul, 67 in Herat, 23 in Balkh, 67 in Kandahar and 13 in Laghman province.
In addition, 10 cases were reported in Parwan, 10 in Badakhshan, 9 in Paktika, 9 in Bamiyan, 7 in Paktia, 3 in Logar, 2 in Takhar, 1 in Kunar, and 1 in Daikundi.
The Ministry of Public Health said 1,259 people have recovered while 246 died from the respiratory disease
So far, 35,921 people have been tested in the country.
Whereas, recoveries were reported in Kabul (15), Paktika (21), Herat (5), Farah (5), Khost (3), and Nuristan (1), the ministry data shows.
According to the Afghan officials, this comes as a lockdown has been eased unofficially in Kabul, but people should follow some rules, including not carrying more than three people in a taxi while buses are banned.
At least, 1,259 patients have been cured from virus or discharged.
New Delhi (NVI): Pakistan is witnessing a sharp surge in the number of positive coronavirus cases as nearly 2,000 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 64,028 with at least 1,334 fatalities recorded so far.
Looking at the breakdown of cases, Sindh province has reported 25,309 coronavirus cases, highest among all the provinces, while Punjab has 22,964 positive cases.
On the other hand, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has recorded 8,842 cases, Balochistan is at 3,928, Gilgit-Baltistan at 658, Islamabad at 2,100 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is at 227 cases so far, according to Geo News.
On the positive side, the country’s Health Ministry said, 22,305 patients have been recovered so far from the deadly contagion.
Meanwhile, a senior journalist have died due to coronavirus in Peshawar, making him the first media casualty of the virus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, according to media reports.
New Delhi (NVI): 170 new positive Covid-19 cases have been reported from Nepal, taking the toll in the Himalayan nation to 1,212, according to local media reports.
The country’s Ministry of Health and Population said, this has yet again broken the record of single-day cases in Nepal.
Of the infected, 56 people are from Rautahat district, 51 from Kapilvastu, 28 from Jhapa, 10 from Banke, five each from Parsa and Sarlahi.
Apart from that, four each from Bara and Saptari, two each from Dang and Nawalparasi, one each from Myagdi and Rupandehi districts.
At present, 52 of the 77 districts and all the Provinces have witnessed the transmission of COVID-19 virus.
As many as 157 cases have been detected in eight districts of Province 1; 490 cases have been seen in eight districts of Province 2; and 44 cases in 12 districts of Bagmati Province, as per media reports.
Likewise, 20 cases have been reported in five districts of Gandaki Province; 433 cases in nine districts of Province 5; 47 cases in three districts of Karnali Province; and 21 cases in seven districts of Sudurpaschim Province.
With this, 1,103 males and 109 females have been infected with the virus across the country.
At least 19 people have been discharged from various health facilities across the country taking the total number of recoveries to 206.
Meanwhile, the ministry also confirmed the death of sixth person from contracting the infection in Nepal. A 35-year-old youth from Arghakhanchi, who was returning from India, had died on his way home.
Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): Tension gripped Jammu-Srinagar highway near Tikri area of Udhampur district, when a truck laden with LPG cylinders suddenly caught fire and witnessed back to back explosions which resulted in the authorities suspending the vehicular traffic on the highway.
Officials said that a truck, on the way from Jammu to Srinagar, was parked on a highway near Tikri, in Udhampur district, which suddenly caught fire and flames engulfed the entire vehicle.
“Since the incident happened on the highway, it took some time for the fire tenders to reach the spot to douse the flames,” the officials said.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Udhampur, Rajiv Pandey said that the truck was parked on highway when it caught fire.
“There were huge bangs due to cylinder explosions. There has been no loss of life in the incident and fire has been brought under control,” Pandey said, adding that traffic will be restored after sometime.
New Delhi (NVI): In order to expand the reach of environment friendly Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan, today dedicated 48 CNG stations to the nation and inaugurated 8 other CNG stations in the country.
Dharmendra Pradhan, in an online ceremony, lauded the efforts of all the stakeholders and added that 72 per cent population of the country will soon be covered through the City Gas Distribution (CGD) network, which will spread over 53 per cent of the geographical area.
“The country is moving towards gas based economy. The number of PNG stations has gone up from 25 lakh to 60 lakh; 28 thousand industrial gas connections have risen to 41 thousand, and the number of CNG vehicles has gone up from 22 lakh to 34 lakh,” he added.
These 56 stations are spread over 11 states and Union Territories including – Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, New Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh and belongs to 11 different entities – public as well private.
Besides, the Public Sector, private companies are whole-heartedly taking part in the expansion of gas infrastructure in the country.
The Minister also said that the government is working on energy efficiency, affordability, security and accessibility. He envisioned that soon, the customers will have to go to only one place, where all types of fuels – Petrol, diesel, CNG, LNG and LPG will be made available.
He further added that the government has already started mobile dispensers for diesel, and would like to expand the same for petrol and LNG. Thus, people would be able to get fuel delivered directly to their homes in the future.
“Notably, India is the 3rd largest energy consumer of the world and is working earnestly to have 15 per cent share of gas in its energy basket,” said Tarun Kapoor, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
He also said that as the economic activity and consumption level goes up in the country, the energy consumption is bound to go up.
Meanwhile, the government will promote and support this Gas as the fuel, for being environment friendly, energy efficient and economically efficient, Kapoor added.
The completion work at these stations was affected due to countrywide lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. However, after easing of restrictions last month, the work gathered pace and was carried out ensuring all safety and social distancing norms.
This ensured minimum delay in commissioning of these stations as against the original schedule. With the addition of these stations to India’s CNG network, the daily filling capacity in the country has gone up by over 50,000 vehicles.
Senior officers of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Gas companies, OMCs and other stakeholders also took part in this virtual inauguration ceremony.
