Regional

Jaipur, Oct 4 (IANS) Rajasthan Minister Rajendra Gudha on Tuesday once again advocated for appointing Congress leader Sachin Pilot the Chief Minister, while comparing the former deputy chief minister with Mahabharat character Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna who was killed by plotting a conspiracy.

"If 5 MLAs going to Manesar can be made ministers, why can't Pilot be made the CM?" he said, claiming that there was a conspiracy against Pilot.

"As Abhimanyu was killed by a conspiracy of big masters in Mahabharata, a similar plot has been chalked out against Pilot," Gudha said while addressing a programme in Udaipurwati.

"If the MLAs do not not listen to the Chief Whip, then the membership goes away. However, those who (in an oblique reference to C.P. Joshi) have the right to end the membership of the MLAs conspired against Pilot and became a party to the other side (Gehlot camp).

"However, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul, and Priyanka Gandhi also lent their ears to Pilot. If he (Pilot) does something, he is called traitor, but if they repeat it, they want to be called as loyalist," Gudha added.

"The language used for Pilot is wrong. When all people made him a target, I couldn't stop myself. I said this is wrong. Those who went to Delhi with Pilot entered the other camp and you made these five MLAs as ministers, then why can't Pilot be made the CM?" he wondered.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Oct 4 (IANS) In a shocking case, parents and brother of a woman ended their lives after she eloped with a man belonging to another caste in the Handiganala village of Karnataka's Chikkaballapur district.

The deceased have been identified as Sriramappa (63), Sarojamma (60) and Manoj (24). The incident came to light on Tuesday. The parents had lodged a missing complaint on Monday with the Sidlaghatta Rural police station.

According to police, the woman, Archana, was in love with Narayanaswamy, who belonged to another caste and was suspected to have eloped from her house to marry him.

The deceased father had left a death note before committing suicide. He had stated that his daughter was the reason for his death and further wrote that his daughter should not get anything from his property.

The three family members committed suicide when elder son Ranjith was asleep. The police also found a message sent by the deceased Manoj to his sister.

He had pleaded with his sister to come back before 11 p.m. on Monday. He also said that due to her decision the entire family was suffering and if she did not return before 11 p.m., she would not see her family members alive.

Manoj had also stated that they have already brought tablets and all would consume them and end their lives after 11 p.m. The police have taken up further investigation.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Oct 4 (IANS) A Karnataka man was arrested after his son alleged that his liquor addiction prompted his mother to commit suicide in Bengaluru, police said on Tuesday.

According to police, 45-year-old Vasantha, a resident of Ramaiah Street in Yelahanka locality of the city, had died by suicide on October 1.

Anand, the woman's son who works as a carpenter, filed a complaint in this regard. The woman lived in an apartment with her husband and two children.

While Vasantha worked as a housekeeping staff, her son worked as a carpenter and daughter worked as a tailor. Accused Lokesh (50) was a drunkard and fought with his wife frequently after consuming liquor.

On the night of October 30, Lokesh had assaulted his wife in an inebriated state.

The next day, after son and daughter left to work, Vasantha, after coming back from her work, ended her life by hanging.

Anand had filed a complaint with the police that his mother Vasantha had committed suicide after being repeatedly abused by his father. The son had held the father responsible for the death of his mother and demanded legal action against him.

The police, following the complaint by the son, arrested the accused father.

Further investigation is on.

--IANS
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Chennai, Oct 4 (IANS) Protests in the DMK have arisen over the underrepresentation of minority communities, especially Muslims, in the newly reconstituted party district committees.

The cadres and some district functionaries were upset over the party conducting unilateral nominations for the committees instead of elections making it totally out of reach for those who had aired their differences openly against the local district leadership.

Several leaders in district committees that were reconstituted have collected details on the newly formed committees and found that there was an underrepresentation of the minority communities in the committees.

A district leader of the party from Tiruchi while speaking to IANS said, "I can't come out in the open but DMK is slowly turning into a political party with a lot of sycophants giving wrong feedback to the state leadership. Our party had in the past prided itself for the homogenous representation of all people in the district committees and unfortunately, the newly constituted district committees have a major shortage of minorities, especially the Muslims."

The leader said that many disgruntled leaders across the state are planning to meet the party president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to air their grievances and to apprise him that the party would lose ground in the run-up to the general elections if this issue was not treated on war footing.

Another leader told IANS that influential leaders of the party deprived the workers of a fair opportunity to choose people in the district committees and instead foisted district committee members according to the choice of the party's influential leaders.

The cadres and local leaders rue that several party hoppers were given undue representation while dedicated party cadres were cold-shouldered and that this was due to the wrong feedback given to the state leadership.

A senior leader pointed out that in Coimbatore South district committee of the party, there is no Muslim representation even though the community has a strong presence in the district. The leader said that this would backfire on the party in the long run.

The leaders pointed out that when the state leadership invited applications for the district-level posts, it was made clear that two general council members would be elected per Assembly constituency and aspirants could file the nominations as per the number of Assembly seats in their districts. One executive committee member would be given to each Assembly constituency. However, when the results were announced, there were 73 extra general council members and 22 Executive committee members who were against the party rule.

Interestingly the local leaders said that there were instances of one man being given two posts and several families getting representation.

The DMK, which has always prided itself on the representation of all communities in its party district and state committees, is facing a problem over the underrepresentation of the Muslim community which has been a dedicated vote bank for the party.

Sources in the party told IANS that if the Chief Minister does not bring in some changes in the district committees and rope in more Muslims in the party committees, it would affect the trust the community has in the DMK.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS) The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a fine of Rs 3,800 crore on Telangana government for its failure to treat solid and liquid waste.

"The total compensation comes to Rs 3825 crore, or say (rounded off as) Rs 3,800 crore, which may be deposited by the State of Telangana in a separate ring-fenced account within two months, to be operated as per directions of the Chief Secretary and utilised for restoration measures," said the recent order passed by the bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel.

The green court was dealing with the issue of solid and liquid waste management as per the orders of a 2014 Supreme Court ruling.

The tribunal also directed Telangana government to devise an operative mechanism by which service providers with due diligence process can execute work relating to solid and sewage management simultaneously throughout the State - all districts, cities and towns.

Considering the environmental compensation imposed for restoration dovetailed with the State budget and availability of confirmed sites, there should not be any difficulty in execution without delay, it added.

"The Chief Secretary may consider designating a Senior Nodal Officer at the rank of ACS to regularly assess the progress in bridging the gaps in Sewage and solid waste management and establishing stock taking at the District levels. Existing and upcoming STPs need to have linkages with industries and other bulk users including Agriculture/horticulture for using treated sewage. Legacy waste sites need to be remediated and reclaimed areas utilized for setting up of waste processing plants so as to process day-to-day waste generation," the order read.

Apart from compliance in future, the liability of the State has to be fixed for the past violations in the light of earlier binding orders passed in pursuance of the Supreme Court, it said further.

The restoration measures to sewage management would include: setting up of sewage treatment and utilisation systems, upgrading systems/operations of existing sewage treatment facilities to ensure utilization of their full capacities, ensuring compliance of standards, including those of fecal coliform and setting up of proper fecal sewage and sludge management in rural areas, the tribunal said.

With regard to solid waste management, the execution plan would include setting up of required waste processing plants and remediation of left out sites. Bio-remediation/bio-mining processes need to be executed as per CPCB guidelines and the stabilised organic waste from biomining as well as from compost plants need to comply with laid down specifications.

Further, the tribunal asked the Chief Secretary to file six monthly progress reports with verifiable progress of the issue.

--IANS
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Chennai, Oct 4 (IANS) Forest officials of Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) are in the process of constructing Public Distribution System (PDS) shops on elevated pillars in Valparai's Thirumalai to protect the commodities from the wild elephants' raids.

A meeting held between officials of the forest department, including ATR officials, revenue and civil supplies department officials, on Monday finalised this experimental project.

If the project to be implemented at Thirumalai in Valparai turns successful, then it will  be extended to places affected by human-elephant conflict.

Notbaly,the Kerala forest department has in its forest policy note recently decided to plant jackfruit trees and other fruit-bearing trees that are dear to elephants within forest land. Taking a cue from this Tamil Nadu forest department will also be planting jackfruit trees within its forest land so that wild elephants don't venture out into human settlements bordering forest lands.

The forest department and civil supplies department has taken the initiative to construct a model ration shop to prevent the wild elephant's access to the PDS commodities as the next three months will be a migration period for elephants.

The municipal department officials who were also part of the revenue team that attended the meeting informed the ATR officials to erect sign boards for the tourists on the do's and dont's at the tourist sites in Valparai.

It is to be noted that a majority of the PDS shops in the ATR area and other human inhabitations bordering forest lands don't have shops that are concrete structures and there were instances of wild elephants targeting specific shops for the commodities that include sugar and jaggery.

--IANS
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Kheda (Gujarat), Oct 4 (IANS) Around ten people, including a Gram Rakshak Dal, were injured when two communities clashed amid a dispute over garba in Undhela village of this district, police said on Tuesday.

Police have rounded up a few suspects.

According to Kheda District Superintendent of Police Rajesh Gadhia, "Garba was underway in Mandvi chowk of the Undhela village late on Monday night, when a group led by Arif and Zaahir raised objections to it. When the villagers refused to stop, they started pelting stones. On being informed, police force rushed in and brought the situation under control."

After the villagers identified the people involved, the police rounded up a few suspects for rioting, unlawful assembly, possessing deadly weapons and hurting voluntarily and obstructing public servants from discharging one's duty.

Additional police force has been deployed in the village to maintain peace, and law & order.

Village Sarpanch Indravadan Patel alleged that it was a pre-planned attack as the the minority community members were not only armed with sticks and other weapons, but had stored stones on the terrace of houses.

--IANS
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Barabanki (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 4 (IANS) Two minor cousins, aged 13 and 14, who had gone missing while on their way to school on a bicycle in the Jaitpur area of Barabanki district were found in Shahjahanpur district late on Monday night.

The two were in civvies and were found travelling in a passenger bus near Katra crossing.

S. Anand, superintendent of police (SP), Shahjahanpur, said, "A team of Barabanki police was following the minor girls and two women constables are taking them back home."

SP Barabanki, Anurag Vats said that on Monday the locals had spotted two school uniforms and bicycles abandoned under a tree near Takiya crossing and informed the police.

The police team reached the spot and based on the uniform, reached the school where the principal asked teachers and later it was revealed that the two girls were not in school.

The elder brother of the missing girls, who was also accompanying the duo, was asked about the whereabouts of missing girls.

"The minor girls had told their brother that they were going to get the bicycle tyres inflated and then did not reach the school," said a police officer.

The police team then got on their toes and CCTV footage found them boarding a passenger bus going towards Shahjahanpur

Four teams had been set up to trace the girls.

--IANS
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Ayodhya, Oct 4 (IANS) In a bizarre incident, a young sadhu in Ayodhya cut off his right palm from the wrist as part of what he called a Durga Puja ritual.

According to police, the seer Vimal Kumar, 32, wore new clothes after taking a holy dip in river Saryu and then chopped off his palm on the river bank.

He was taken to the Sriram government hospital.

Vimal Kumar belongs to Araria district in Bihar.

According to locals, the sadhu's act was part of 'occult science' and he believed he would get supernatural powers after this.

--IANS
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Chennai, Oct 3 (IANS) Six persons were swept away by strong undercurrents when they entered the Kollidam river near Poondi for a bath on Monday, police said.

While two bodies have been retrieved, search for the rest is on.

The deceased -- D. Charles (38), D. Prithviraj (39), T. Issac (19), D. David (32), S. Kermel (19), and S. Praveen Raj (19) -- were part of a 40-member group who was on a pilgrimage to Poondi Madha Basilica.

According to Thirukapatti Police, after the six entered the water, a sudden undercurrent swept them away. Of the six, the bodies of Charles and Prithviraj were retrieved and police said that the search for the remaining people is on.

The bodies have been sent to Thiruvaiyuru Government hospital for post-mortem. Police, Fire and Rescue services, and local people are engaged in search operations in the river Kollidam.

--IANS
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