Regional

Bengaluru, Oct 17 (IANS) The president of the Bengaluru chapter of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Mohan Dasari, on Monday lashed out at the BJP government in the state for 'denting' the image of Karnataka, as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a fine of Rs 2,900 crore on the state government for failing to dispose of solid and liquid waste.

Speaking at a presser, Dasari said, "Even though the Supreme Court in 2014 had suggested many measures regarding waste management, the government has not followed them.

"So now the government has to pay a huge fine of Rs 2,900 crore. Add to that the fine imposed earlier for the defacement of Chandapur lake, the total comes to Rs 3,400 crore. Taxpayers' money is being wasted by the incompetent BJP government."

"An average of 15,000 tonnes of solid waste are generated in the state every day. Out of this, around 6,000 tonnes of waste are not adequately disposed of. They are dumped in the open. In addition to that, about 1,400 liters of untreated sewage enters water sources every day," Dasari said.

AAP lawyers' unit member Gangadhar said, "Garbage management has turned into a business worth over Rs 1,500 crore in the state, especially in Bengaluru.

"Because of this, Karnataka had to be reprimanded by the NGT. The NGT has not only fined the state government, but also ordered it to inform in detail what steps will be taken for garbage disposal. This shows that the NGT has lost faith in the state government," he said.

"Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai himself is in-charge of Bengaluru Urban Development Department. He should calrify to the people of the state immediately," Gangadhar added.

--IANS
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Hyderabad, Oct 17 (IANS) Police in Telangana's Nalgonda district seized Rs 1 crore cash from a car heading to Munugode Assembly constituency where the by-election is scheduled to take place on November 3.

During the vehicle check at a check post near Chalmeda, the police found the cash in the car, in which the husband of a BJP corporator from Karimnagar was travelling.

The cash was detected during the checking by 'Dynamic teams' constituted by police in Nalgonda district. The person transporting the cash told police that it was being taken to Munugode on the direction of a BJP leader.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) alleged that the money was meant for distribution among voters.

The ruling party leaders said the incident was a clear proof that the BJP is using the money power to buy the voters.

They reiterated the allegation that BJP nominee Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy has assured the BJP leadership that he will spend Rs 500 crore in the by-election.

The ruling party alleged that Rajagopal Reddy quit Congress and joined the BJP for the sake of a Rs 18,000 crore contract. Reddy recently stated that his company was awarded the contract by the Centre six months ago.

Police in Hyderabad recently seized Rs 8 crore cash in separate incidents. It is suspected that the money was being transported to Munugode.

--IANS
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Panaji, Oct 17 (IANS) After announcing a stop to vegetables from other states in government schemes, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday urged people to grow marigold flowers, which are presently imported from Karnataka.

Noting that Diwali is around the corner, he said that there will be a need for marigold flowers.

"Marigolds come from Karnataka. We can grow them in Goa. Cant we make production as per need? We can do it. We daily need it," he said, adding that as there are many temples in the coastal state and flower vendors are dependent on supplies from Karnataka, they should grow it in their villages.

Large quantity of marigold flowers come from Karnataka on the occasion of Dussehra and Diwali. Even on a daily basis, there is demand for marigold as it is required for religious programmmes in the state.

"Flower vendors selling flowers outside temples bring it from Panaji, if they grow it in their villages, then they will also save on transport. We need to think about this," Sawant said.

He said that to achieve a goal of self-reliance, there is a need to focus on the production of vegetables and fish too.

"To become self-reliant, we need to give importance to local produce. I am optimistic that people will do it," he said.

At the launch of the 'Natural Farming' programme on September 20, he had noted that Goa is dependent on vegetables procured from Karnataka's Belgavi. "We now 'like' the taste of outside procurement, more than our traditionally grown here. This is a fact," Sawant had said.

Around 1,300 vendors in the state sell vegetables supplied by the Goa State Horticultural Corporation Ltd (GSHCL), which purchases these from other states.

"If we increase local vegetable production, then the Horticulture Corporation will give a good rate (to farmers). In a few days, it will stop importing vegetables from other states and will purchase only locally-produced vegetables," he had said.

--IANS
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Gandhinagar, Oct 17 (IANS) The Gujarat government on Monday decided to give free LPG cylinders twice a year to beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

The decision was announced by Education Minister Jitu Vaghani and Finance Minister Kanu Desai here.

Vaghani told media persons that there are 38 lakh beneficiaries under the scheme and the decision will save Rs 650 crore for poor families.

The moment a consumer gets one's cylinder refilled, immediately, the money will be transferred to the account, he said.

They also announced that the state government has decided cut VAT duty on piped natural gas (PNG), and compressed natural gas (CNG) by 10 per cent. There are 24.21 lakh PNG consumers in the state and 855 CNG stations.

--IANS
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Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 17 (IANS) In a joint initiative of Kerala State Scheduled Tribes Development Department and Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, tribal colonies in the hilly district of Wayanad have been able to integrate e-education and e-health programmes.

State's SC/ST Minister, K. Radhakrishnan, inaugurated the first phase of the implementation of 'Digitally Connected Tribal Colonies' here at Kalpetta.

The total cost of the project, which will bring a new lease of life to the tribal community, is Rs 9 crore. The plan is to complete its implantation by the end of this fiscal.

Wayanad district in the state has the highest number of tribal population.

Through this project, tribal colonies are expected to improve health and education services with the help of various digital platforms and CDAC, under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is implementing the project.

"Our focus is the development of Scheduled Tribes by emphasizing on the areas of health, education and employment. Implementations of development projects must have a humanitarian approach. Otherwise, they will be of no use," said the minister.

As part of the project, smart class rooms will be introduced in tribal colonies which will also be linked with the comprehensive e-resource portal of the Public Education Fund.

Another attraction of project is services of prestigious institutions like Regional Cancer Centre, Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, and CSIR-NIIST will be available online for the tribal villages of Wayanad.

A telemedicine system will be set up for screening of non-communicable diseases and diabetic retinopathy, oral cancer and cervical cancer with the help of artificial intelligence and providing expert advice for treatment.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed petitions by Kerala government and others challenging the Kerala High Court judgment allowing the Adani Enterprises to operate, manage and develop the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.

A bench comprising Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and justice Bela M. Trivedi said there is no need to interfere with the High Court decision at this stage, since a private entity has been managing the operations of the airport since October last year.

The bench also declined to entertain the plea filed by Airport Authority Employees Union (AAEU) and others challenging the High Court order. Dismissing the petitions, the bench said: "Considering the fact that the private entity has been in operation since October 2021, we see no reason to interferea."

However, the top court clarified that the question in connection with the ownership of land, on which the airport is situated, would remain open. Senior advocate C.U. Singh contended before the bench that land on which the airport is situated belonged to the state government, and the state should get preferential rights, and also alleged that RFP was tailor made to suit the Adani group. However, the bench pointed out that the state government did not challenge the RFP conditions, rather participated in the bid.

The state government had challenged the Airports Authority of India (AAI) decision to prefer Adani over it for management of the airport. The appeal argued that this decision was not in public interest and granting concession to Adani, who has no previous experience in managing airports, was violative of the provisions of the Airports Authority of India Act.

After losing the bid, the Kerala government approached the Kerala High Court, but failed to get a favourable direction, following which they along with AAEU moved the apex court.

In October 2020, the High Court declined to entertain the challenge to Centre's decision to lease out the Thiruvananthapuram Airport to Adani Enterprises.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) The Forum of Academics for Social Justice has urged the Delhi University (DU) Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh to not charge admission and tuition fee from Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students during the time of admission process.

According to the forum, DU's Academic Council had on June 12, 1981, decided to waive the tuition fee, admission fee and other fee for those students belonging to SC and ST community taking admission in various departments and colleges affiliated to the university, whose parents do not come under the category of paying income tax. Despite this, the rule is not followed by any college department in DU at the time of admissions.

All SC and ST students are still charged tuition fees, admission fees etc at the time of admissions. Special cells as well as grievance committee are formed in colleges only for the sake of it, however no work is being done in the interest of such reserved category students.

The teachers' forum has also demanded that the data of the last five years should be provided by all DU colleges to see that how many colleges have waived the admission fees and tuition fees of SC and ST students.

Forum Chairman Hansraj Suman has told that this decision of the Academic Council of DU in 1981 was implemented by the colleges and various departments for several years, but later this scheme was scrapped. The colleges and departments did not give any information to the university about when and why the colleges closed this scheme or why SC and ST students are not availing benefits under this scheme.

Suman said that the Special Cell of DU had sent a circular regarding admission fee, tuition fee to SC/ST students on September 9, 2015 to the heads of all departments, principals of colleges and deans of faculties. But for the last seven years, no college takes this letter seriously and in every academic session, fees and other charges are taken from such reserved category students at the time of admission.

By writing a letter to the DU Vice-Chancellor, the Forum has demanded that the circular should be issued in the academic session 2022--23 in the same way as the letter was sent to the colleges on September 9, 2015 and after that on June 15, 2018 so that SC/ST students will not be charged any admission or tuition fee during admissions.

--IANS
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Kolkata, Oct 17 (IANS) The West Bengal Forest Department on Sunday seized smuggled snake venom with an estimated market value of Rs 30 crore from the Ghoshpukur forest range in Darjeeling district.

According to the ranger of the Ghoshpukur forest range, Sonam Bhutiya, the venom weighing around 2.4 kg was stored in a crystal jar.

"As per the international market rate of per gram of snake venom, the estimated value of the seized consignment is roughly around Rs 30 crore. One person has been arrested in this connection. The consignment originated from France and was smuggled into India via Bangladesh. The crystal container has a French tag," he said.

The arrested person has been identified as Mohammad Sarafat, a resident of North Dinajpur district.

He also said that in all probability, the consignment was brought there to be smuggled to China via Nepal.

"We were tipped off by our sources that Sarafat was trying to smuggle in snake venom through the area and he was carrying the consignment in a motorcycle. Accordingly, a forest department team reached the spot and caught him red-handed," Bhutiya said.

This is the second seizure of snake venom from the forest sector in North Bengal in a span of 35 days. On September 10, the forest department in Jalpaiguri district seized snake venom worth Rs 13 crore.

--IANS
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Guwahati, Oct 17 (IANS) A leopard was beaten to death in Assam's Golaghat district after it attacked three villagers, officials said. The incident happened on Saturday at Dusutimukh village in the Khumtai area of the district.

The villagers claimed that the leopard was causing terror for the last few days and on Saturday it attacked three locals while they were going to a paddy field to feed their cattle.

The injured persons have been identified as Bitopan Doley (15), Lalit Doley (45) and Malay Medak (20).

According to the forest department, the officials went to the village to catch the leopard but before that, a few villagers launched an attack on the animal with machete, axe and sticks, which caused the death of the leopard.

Later, the forest officials recovered the carcass of the leopard.

The body of the dead leopard has been sent for post-mortem to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC).

Notably, a few days ago, another leopard had caused rampage in the Mahbandha tea estate in Jorhat district. That time, following complaints by the locals, the forest department was able to capture the leopard and release it into the forest.

--IANS
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Guwahati, Oct 16 (IANS) The Assam Police have seized a huge consignment of ganja worth Rs 2.4 crore from the Assam-Tripura border, officials said.

The smuggled substances were recovered on Saturday evening from a truck at the Churaibari checkpost of Assam's Karimganj district. The consignment was coming from Tripura.

The police have arrested two persons -- Parvinder Singh, a resident of Faridkot district in Punjab, and Jewel Hussain, who resides at Sipahijla in Tripura.

The Police said that the duo was carrying the consignment on behalf of a large smuggling gang.

A senior police officer informed that late Saturday evening, an 18-wheeler trailer truck loaded with rubber extract along with containers was travelling from Agartala to Delhi through Assam. When the truck reached the Churaibari gate, a total of two tonne and four quintal of ganja were recovered from 72 drums filled with rubber extract.

The Police claimed that the estimated market value of ganja will be nearly Rs 2.4 crore.

The truck was in police custody and questioning continues of the two arrested persons.

Dibakar Gogoi, the police officer who has been investigating the incident, said that they have registered a case under the specific section of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

--IANS
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