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Centre looking for options in J&K, ‘anything possible’: Apni Party leader

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Senior Apni Party leader Ghulam Hassan Mir today said that the Centre was looking for options in Jammu and Kashmir to fill the vacuum caused by the rollback of article 370 last year.

The former Agriculture Minister said that so far there is no reality in the rumors of forging an alliance with the Centre, but “anything is possible in the coming days.”

Mir, who is a key member of J&K Apni Party led by former PDP leader and finance minister Syed Altaf Bukhari, kept the suspense alive that his party head was in touch with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP big-wigs in New Delhi over forming an alliance to bridge the gap in J&K.

“Let me tell you clearly that so far whatever is spreading on social media and other platforms is a rumor. Some are saying that Altaf Bukhari is lobbying for Chief Minister’s post and Apni Party leaders are busy making ground for J&K Advisory Committee to get themselves accommodated. This all is a rumor,” Mir told NVI in an exclusive chat.

However, he said that nothing can’t be ruled out as anything is possible if the Centre takes a call. “Till August 4 last year, none believed that Centre would scrap article 370, but it did. So if Centre wishes to constitute an advisory committee by accommodating Apni Party members, none can stop it from happening,” he said, adding that “parleys were on behind the scene between Apni party leaders and some major developments were on cards till June 2.”

Mir, however, said that elections can’t be held at this juncture in J&K, and “some middle path has to be found.” Sources said that Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari is camping in New Delhi and has kept all his phones off. “He is holding secret meetings with the BJP top leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav to strike a deal before June 1 or 2,” sources in the Apni Party said.

A senior Apni Party leader said that making amendments in the constitution is not a big deal as it can be done through a simple presidential order. “If Delhi wishes, there can be an interim chief minister from Apni Party or there can be an Advisory Committee which is equivalent to the council of ministers. Powers of members of the Advisory Committee can be redefined by the Centre as per the suggestions of Apni party leaders,” he said, requesting anonymity.

“Somebody has to take a lead and there can’t be a status quo. The political vacuum needs to be filled and people need to be given some respite on development and political front. So expect some surprise in the days ahead,” he said.

Pertinently, Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari had recently downplayed the rumors that he was lobbying for Advisory Committee and Chief Minister’s post saying, “it’s a good joke.” However, sources said that he was deliberately downplaying the hectic lobbying going on between him and the BJP top brass in New Delhi as he wanted to “strike a deal” away from the media glare.

It may be recalled that on March 9 this year, Altaf Bukhari floated Apni Party with former ministers of PDP and independent legislators as its members. At the launch, Bukhari had stated that his party would fight for the people’s rights and statehood of J&K amid enough indications that the clock can’t turn back and that abrogation of article 370 was “quite acceptable to them.”

Locusts attack crops in several states in India; Mathura, Delhi on alert

(Twitter)

New Delhi (NVI): Farmers in several parts of India fear imminent threat to their crops due to locust outbreak as large swarms of the migratory pests have entered in the country via Pakistan, and have already reached Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra after attacking parts of Rajasthan.

Huge swarms of desert locusts have reached as far as Panna in Bundelkhand region in Madhya Pradesh. At least ten districts in Uttar Pradesh are on alert, including Mathura. National capital Delhi is also on alert as the swarm expands the area.

Desert locusts move in large groups, called swarms and can eat crops up to their own weight every day. When millions of locusts descend on a crop, they destroy everything.

These pests have already invaded East Africa, threatening crops that feed millions of people and undermining food security in the Afro-Asian region. The locust menace is worrying especially amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

In India, the migratory pests have reached Maharashtra where four to five villages have come under attack. Huge swarms were also seen in Jaipur as the locusts made their way into the pink city through Western Rajasthan.

Netizens have also reacted to the unusual and “scary” sight of these pests on their terrace, colonies and trees.

Parveen Kaswan, an IFS (Indian Forest Service) officer tweeted, “This time desert locust attack is severe. They have arrived earlier, in huge numbers & now reached till Panna in MP. The changing climate conditions are linked with locust growth in east Africa. The swarms has potential of eating everything & destroy the crops.”

In a series of tweets, he further stated, “In last two years we are seeing an upsurge in locust swarms. The reason according to experts is Mekunu and Luban cyclonic storms of May and October 2018 in Oman & Yemen. Which created condition for upsurge in population. You see climatic condition has such role in pest production.”

Earlier in December 2019, when parts of Gujarat were invaded by locusts, they had destroyed crops spread over 25,000 hectares of land. This time, the attack is more widespread.

Meanwhile in Rajasthan, the pest attack has reached residential colonies of Jaipur. Unable to find crops to feed on, the locusts have started destroying trees.

In addition to this, United Nations has also warned that armies of locusts swarming across continents pose a “severe risk” to India’s agriculture this year.

Nepal reports 90 new coronavirus cases, total climbs to 772

New Delhi (NVI): Nepal registered 90 new cases of coronavirus, the highest single day spike, taking the national tally to 772, according to local media reports.

The country’s Ministry of Health and Population said, among the new infected, 26 cases hail from Kapilvastu, 22 from Rautahat and 12 from Surkhet.

Likewise, eight cases from Banke district, five from Siraha, three from Bara, two each from Mahottari, Arghakhanchi, Gulmi and Syangja, one each from Dhanusha, Rupandehi, Kailali and Achham district have been reported.

Additionally, two people from Jumla, working in Bara, have also tested positive for the novel coronavirus infection.

The health condition of all patients is normal and they are in contact with health officials, the ministry added.

As of today, 46 districts have witnessed the transmission of COVID-19. As many as 86 cases have been detected in seven districts of Province 1, 268 cases have been seen in eight districts of Province 2, and 38 cases in 11 districts of Bagmati Province.

Likewise, seven cases have been reported in four districts of Gandaki Province, 331 cases in eight districts of Province 5, 25 cases in three districts of Karnali Province, and 17 cases in five districts of Sudurpaschim Province, the ministry data shows.

So far, four people have died of coronavirus in Nepal.

At present, 155 people have been cured form the virus and discharged.

Afghanistan reports 658 new Covid-19 cases, 11,831 in total

Representational Image (Credit: TOLO News)

New Delhi (NVI): Afghanistan authorities have recorded 658 new positive cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total in the country to 11,831, according to Afghan media reports.

The Afghan Ministry of Public Health said, the number of total known active cases stands at 10,483 in the country.

Among the fresh cases, 237 were reported in Kabul, the country’s hardest-hit area

In addition, 85 cases reported in Herat, 77 in Balkh, 59 in Baghlan, 52 in Badghis, 52 in Farah, 29 in Faryab, 27 in Nangarhar, 11 in Bamiyan, seven in Logar, six in Kapisa, four in Sar-e-Pul, one in Samangan and one in Takhar province.

Despite persistent calls by the Ministry of Public Health to stay home, the pandemic continues to expand in various areas of the country, as per the reports.

The doctors in Parwan province today asked residents to stay home and comply with the health and hygiene guidelines suggested by the Health Ministry to stop the COVID-19 pandemic.

They warned that there will be more cases of COVID-19 in the country because the public does not follow the directives of the ministry.

The doctors also said that residents should show mercy to their families by staying at home.

At present, 32,870 people have been tested for COVID-19 in the country, ministry said.

So far, 220 people have died due to the COVID-19 and 1,128 others have recovered since the outbreak across the country.

Three injured in blast at Tosamaidan in J&K’s Budgam

(File)

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): At least three people were injured, one of them critically, in an explosion at Tosamaidan area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district today, police officials said.

A police officer said that some people had gathered in the Tosamaidan meadow today and a sudden explosion took place in which three people were injured, one of them seriously.

“All three were shifted to the hospital for treatment, where the condition of one was stated as critical,” he said. The injured were shifted to Primary Health Centre, Budgam for treatment.

Tosamaidan, a sprawling meadow spread over 10,000 hectares of land, was under Army for several decades till 2014 and was used as an artillery training range for the armed forces. The army vacated the area in 2014 and it took two years to sanitise the area from unexploded shells after which the meadow was thrown open for public in May, 2016.

It was opened for public by the then J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti with a promise that the area will be converted into a full-fledged tourist spot.

Coronavirus cases exceed 36,500 in Bangladesh; 522 dead

(Image source: United News of Bangladesh)

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of deaths from coronavirus in Bangladesh has reached 522 after 21 more people lost their lives in the last 24 hours, according to United News of Bangladesh.

The total number of coronavirus infections rose to 36,751 after 1,166 new infections were reported during this period.

The infection rate in the country has been recorded at 21.56 per cent.

On a positive note, 245 coronavirus-infected people completed full recovery from their infections, which upped the total number of recoveries to 7,579.

Bangladesh has been seeing a spurt in daily coronavirus cases since mid-April. The health authorities declared the whole country vulnerable to coronavirus infection and imposed heavy restrictions on movement.

Gadkari lauds BRO for achieving Chamba tunnel breakthrough

Nitin Gadkari today inaugurated the breakthrough event of Chamba Tunnel through video conferencing.

New Delhi (NVI): Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today lauded Border Roads Organistaion (BRO) for achieving a major milestone by successfully digging up a 440-meter long tunnel below the busy Chamba town in Uttarakhand on Rishikesh-Dharasu road Highway, under the Chardham project.

The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways commended BRO for its “extraordinary feat” today while inaugurating the breakthrough event of Chamba Tunnel under Chardham Parijojna via video conference today.

“Border Roads Organisation (BRO) achieved this major milestone by digging up a 440 m long Tunnel below the busy Chamba town on Rishikesh-Dharasu road Highway (NH 94),” the minister said, adding that the breakthrough was completed amidst threat of COVID-19 and nationwide lockdown.

He lauded BRO for working in some of the very difficult terrain and ensuring implementation of critical projects. He said that he has been informed about completion of the project by October 2020, i.e, three months ahead of the schedule.

The construction of tunnel was a challenging task in terms of weak soil strata, continuous water seepage, heavy built up area on top thereby chances of sinking of houses, land acquisition issues, restrictions during COVID lockdown etc, the ministry said in a statement.

Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari said, “This Rishikesh-Dharasu-Gangotri road in Uttarakhand has a very significant role from socio economic and religious point of view.” He said that opening of this tunnel will ease out congestion though the Chamba town and reduce the distance by one kilometer and journey through the town will take only ten minutes as compared to thirty minutes earlier.

Director General of Border Roads Organisation, Lt Gen Harpal Singh said, BRO started the work on North Portal of this tunnel in Jan 2019 but work on South Portal could be started only after Oct 2019 due to stiff resistance from locals on account of safety concerns and compensation issues.

To compensate for the loss in time, day and night working shifts along with use of modern technology facilitated the breakthrough. BRO is a key stake holder in prestigious Chardham project and breakthrough of this tunnel has been achieved by Team Shivalik. Latest Austrian technology has been used in its construction. The tunnel will be through for traffic by October this year, almost three months before its scheduled date of completion, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways said.

Under prestigious Chardham Project costing around Rs 12,000 Crore with approximate length of 889 Km, BRO is constructing 250 Km of National Highways leading to holy shrine Gangotri and Badrinath. Majority of the works are progressing ahead of schedule and BRO is slated to complete four projects by October this year.

BRO has been entrusted 251 Km of stretches  costing Rs 3000 Cr approx consisting of 17 Projects on road Rishikesh – Dharasu (NH-94) from Km 28 onwards of 99 Km length, Dharasu- Gangotri Highway (NH-108) of 110 Km length and Joshimath to Mana ( NH-58) of 42 Km length.

Out of these, 10 Projects consisting of 151 Km road length have been sanctioned which are worth Rs 1702 Cr and works are under progress.

BRO is slated to complete four Projects aggregating a length of 53 Km out of 10 ongoing projects ahead of their scheduled date of completion.

A Tunnel of 440 mtr length to decongest busy Chamba town is being constructed out of these 10 projects. The Chamba tunnel is a Horse shoe type tunnel with 10 mtr carriage way width and 5.5 mtr vertical clearance. The sanctioned cost of this tunnel is 107.07 Crore. The awarded cost is Rs 86 Crore, including 43 Crore for Tunnel and 43 Crore for 4.2 Km approach roads to tunnel, the ministry said.

Pak warns to reimpose lockdown if violation of safety measures continues

New Delhi (NVI): The Pakistan government has warned the lockdown would be reimposed after Eid-ul-Fitr if the violations of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) are continued, put in place to constrain the Covid-19 pandemic, according to media reports.

The warning comes weeks after the government had started phase-wise easing of the nation-wide lockdown, citing economic fallout of a prolonged quarantine.

Meanwhile, the total number of positive coronavirus cases in Pakistan has increased by at least 3,000, taking the overall tally to 58,278 with at least 1,202 fatalities recorded so far.

Looking at the breakdown of cases, Sindh province has reported 23,507 coronavirus cases, highest among all the provinces, while Punjab has 20,654 positive cases.

On the other hand, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has recorded 8,080 cases, Balochistan is at 3,468, Gilgit-Baltistan at 630, Islamabad at 1,728 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is at 211 cases so far, according to Geo News.

So far, a total of 17,482 patients have recovered from the deadly contagion in the country.

Tourism ministry extends period of approval/classifications of hotels

Representational Image

New Delhi (NVI): The Ministry of Tourism today said that it is extending validity period of Approval or Classifications of hotels and other accommodation units till June 30.

The ministry said that it has taken the decision considering the current situation when the hospitality industry is going through a very difficult time in the wake of COVID-19 Pandemic and lockdown.

The Ministry classifies hotels under the star rating system to conform to the expected standards for different classes of tourists. The classification and certification is valid for a period of five years.

“It has been decided that validity of approval or certifications of hotels and other accommodation units whose project approvals/reapprovals and classification/reclassification have expired/are likely to expire during the period (24.03.2020 to 29.6.2020) are deemed to be extended till 30.06.2020,” the ministry said in a statement.

Apart form this, the Ministry has a scheme of approving Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Adventure Tour Operators, Domestic Tour Operators and Tourist Transport Operators etc. the idea being to encourage quality, standard and service in these categories so as to promote Tourism in India.

Due to postponement of inspection work and application scrutiny during the lockdown period from March 2020 onward in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry has decided to allow six months’ relaxation or extension to all categories of Tour Operators (Inbound, Domestic, Adventure) Travel Agents and Tourist Transport Operators for their approval with the Ministry of Tourism subject to the following conditions: –

(i) The previous approval expired or the current approval expires during the period of 20th March, 2020 (i.e. the date of issuance of order by the Ministry for discontinuation of inspection work by India Tourism offices) till continuation of lockdown, and

(ii) They applied for renewal before expiry of their current/previous approval.

Under the classification system by the Ministry, hotels are given a rating, from One Star to Three Star, Four and Five Star with or without alcohol, Five Star Deluxe, Heritage (Basic), Heritage (Classic), Heritage (Grand), Legacy Vintage (Basic), Legacy Vintage (Classic), Legacy Vintage (Grand) and Apartment Hotels, Home stays, Guest house etc. The classification/ certification is valid for period of five years.

Tough time for cardamom growers in Kerala amid Covid-19 lockdown

New Delhi (NVI): The Covid-19 outbreak has hit cardamom cultivators in Kerala very hard as they find themselves in a difficult situation due to the nationwide lockdown.

In Kerala, which leads the country in total cardamom production, 30000 Ha (Hectare Unit) of cardamom cultivation is estimated to have affected due to lockdown, according to the Spices Board of India, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Cultural and plant protection operations have been hindered in the plantations due to restrictions imposed, creating inadequate labour resources, seriously affecting the final round of harvesting, post harvesting operations, etc, according to the Spices Board.

“The entire system of production and supply links were disrupted causing economic loss to the stakeholders in many ways,” the board said in a statement.

Farmers and traders were worried about the low demand, decline in price and deterioration in quality due to storage over long period.

However, Spices Board developed an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to be followed in the cardamom plantations and proposed schemes/programmes for interim relief to various stakeholders in the industry which has been submitted to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry for approval.

Apart from that the Board has successfully resolved the issues faced in the export of small cardamom to Saudi Arabia recently. This has spurted a new wake in the sector to facilitate better price realization, the board said in a statement.

The Spices Board is the nodal agency for marketing of Indian spices in domestic and global markets. Recently, the board was also looking at the option of online auction of cardamom to help mitigate the impact of Covid-19 crisis.

Besides this, there have been many discussions on medicinal properties of spices and the Board has proposed for the development of commercially viable nutraceutical products based on these properties. The Board has said that currently, sustaining the production, export of spices, ensuring quality and food safety are of paramount importance.

“Hence emphasis will be given on food safety in all nodes of the supply chain and production and exports of organic products, the Board said, adding that it is in the process of suitably modifying the existing schemes in this regard.

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