Regional

Bengaluru, Sep 20 (IANS) A 68-year-old environmentalist allegedly committed suicide over "corruption" in Public Distribution Shops (PDS) in Davanagere district of Karnataka on Tuesday.

Felicitated by the state government with Rajyotsava Award, Veerachari had pledged that if justice is not delivered on the said issue, he will commit suicide by hanging himself.

Agitated over the incident, nature lovers and local residents staged a protest and blocked the road. They demanded that the district commissioner should come to the spot and conduct a probe.

Harihara Rural police have rushed to the spot and are controlling the situation.

According to local residents, Veerachari has hung to the very tree which he planted and nursed over decades.

Earlier, Veerachari had claimed that food items in PDS shops were not being distributed to marginalised sections of society.

He had been protesting against the local ration shops since a long time and said that he would end his life if justice is not delivered. An audio about it has also gone viral.

He used to grace all programmes in the regions with four tree saplings and create awareness about increasing green cover.

He had planted and grown thousands of trees for four decades.

Veerachari hailed from Middlakatte village. He used to run a goods auto for livelihood and in that vehicle, he carried tree saplings.

He used to plant and distribute saplings wherever he went.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 20 (IANS) In a jolt to Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane, the Bombay High Court ordered the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation to demolish illegal portions in a bungalow belonging to his family's company within two weeks, here on Tuesday.

A division bench of Justice R.D. Dhanuka and Justice Kamal Khata also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on the company while dismissing a plea seeking directions to the BMC to consider a second application for regularisation of the unauthorised constructions.

The court also declined the petitioner company -- Kaalkaa Real Estates Pvt. Ltd's plea for a 6-week stay on the demolition order on its Juhu bungalow to enable them to approach the Supreme Court.

In March this year, when the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi was in power, the BMC had served a notice to KREPL ordering it to remove the alleged illegal works of around 300 per cent on its premises within 15 days or face demolition and recovery of charges.

The KREPL had challenged the notice and after the MVA government was toppled, filed a fresh application to the BMC for regularisation on various grounds, which has been rejected.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 20 (IANS) Senior DMK leader and former Union Minister Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan has quit the party.

She was deputy general secretary of the DMK. Jagadeesan submitted her resignation to DMK president and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M.K. Stalin on August 29.

In a statement on Tuesday, the former Union minister said that she had quit the party as it was her long-term wish to quit active politics.

Jagadeesan in the statement said that after her tenure as MP in 2009, she had conveyed to the then party president, M. Karunanidhi that she was interested in party work and was working for the development of the party at the grassroots.

She said that after the passing away of Karunanidhi, her solo objective in party work was to make the party president M.K. Stalin the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

The former Union minister said that the DMK registered a massive victory in the 2021 assembly elections and Stalin was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the state. She said that Stalin becoming the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has given her tremendous satisfaction.

--IANS
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Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 20 (IANS) The tiff between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the ruling CPI-M led Left led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan appears to be escalating as on Tuesday the party organs of the CPI-M and the CPI have decided to take the fight into Khan's camp.

On Monday morning, Khan took the first shot hours later Vijayan hit back, and that gave the ammunition to many other Communist leaders to follow suit. Special articles in the party organs clearly indicate that there is not going to be a respite in near future.

Khan minced no words when he lashed out at the Communist ideology which he termed as alien. He said the cadres were indoctrinated to take on anyone who was against them.

Deshabhimani -- the party organ of the CPI-M -- carried two articles attacking Khan.

In the first one it says that Khan was one of the key politicians to be involved in the Jain Hawala case in 1989.

The report says that Khan was one of the politicians who got the maximum money to the tune of Rs 7.63 crore in installments and this is said in detail in a book by a leading journalist.

It also points out that in the statement of the prime accused Surendra Jain and also in the CBI charge sheet the name of Khan is there.

The second article portrays Khan as one leader who goes after positions and sold his ideology and went after the BJP.

This report points out that while being a BSP Lok Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh, "Khan took on the BJP and this very same Khan surprised one and all and joined the BJP in 2004, and caused a jolt to many, when he did this. Now in Kerala he is acting as a BJP soldier".

In the CPI party organ -- Janayugam -- the heading says Khan's press meet was a damp squib.

It goes on to say that a lot of noise was made in the past few days that Khan at his press meet would release a lot of information and when it was held it turned out to be a damp squib.

The only thing that surfaced at his press meet was he affirmed to one and all that he is an RSS man and his staunch opposition to the Communists also came out.

Meanwhile, CPI Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswan wrote to the President that steps should be taken to reign in Khan and he should be told not to dabble into the affairs of governance and stick to the tenets of the Constitution.

State LSG and Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh said Khan himself has said that he was yet to see the Bills, and then how he could say that he won't sign.

"This means that he is prejudiced and a Governor should not act like this. The least he should do is he should comment after reading," said Rajesh.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 19 (IANS) Amid strong demands from several quarters for shutting down of schools due to the increase in fever cases, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said that the experts in the state have not recommended this measure.

Neighbouring Puducherry has recommended shutting down classes from 1 to 8 till September-end due to a high increase in fever cases.

PMK founder leader, Dr. S. Ramadoss, who is himself a medical doctor, has called for the state government to close down schools in the wake of increasing flu-like cases.

However, Ma Subramanian told reporters that there is "no unexpected increase in fever-like cases".

"This is the season of fever and we have adequate beds, doctors, and drugs. We have vacant beds and bed occupancy is not high. We have children among the infected but there is no need to panic. Most of the infected children recover in three days."

On Monday morning, Tamil Nadu reported 368 active cases of H1N1 and 280 cases of admission in hospitals due to dengue fever.

The minister said that not all H1N1 cases are admitted to hospitals and most of the patients are getting treated at their respective homes only. He also said that during the past two years, people were using masks and keeping safe distance and regular sanitisation of hands and this has led to the flu-like diseases not increasing in the state. However, after the Covid-19 protocols were relaxed, people began to throng public places leading to an increase in the spread of contagious diseases.

Ma Subramanian called upon the people to wear face masks, keep safe distancing, and sanitise hands regularly.

--IANS
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Amaravati, Sep 19 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) will operate 1,081 special buses to clear festival rush before and after Dasara.

The buses will be operated from September 29 to October 10. The state-run transport operator announced on Monday that the buses will run from Vijayawada to various places in Andhra Pradesh and also to neighbouring states.

The special buses will run from Vijayawada to Visakhapatnam, Rajamahendravaram, Kakinada, Tirupati, Rayalaseema district, Amalapuram, Bhadrachalam and other destinations in Andhra Pradesh.

Officials said special buses will also be operated to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Most of the buses will be operated from and to Hyderabad as a large number of people living there travel to their villages in Andhra Pradesh to celebrate Dasara.

The corporation will not charge extra fare for the special buses. Last year the APSRTC had charged 1.5 times more than the normal ticket prices. It had come under criticism for charging extra.

Reservation facility will also be available for the special buses. Details of these buses will be available on APSRTC website.

Vijayadashami is scheduled to be celebrated on October 5. Every year, lakhs of people from various cities in Andhra Pradesh and also Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai travel to their native places for the festival.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 19 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu Police will invoke the provisions of the Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe (Atrocities) Act to prevent two accused, who had discriminated against the children on caste basis, to enter the Panjakulam village in Tenkasi district.

Tamil Nadu Inspector General of Police (South Zone) Asra Garg took the steps to invoke the provisions.

If the special court that handles the SC/ST cases approves the decision of the police to evoke the provisions of the SC/ST Act, then the duo will be barred from entering the village for three years.

The Karivalamvanthanallur police arrested a shopkeeper Maheswaran for not selling snacks and candies to school children belonging to the Scheduled Caste community. The village chief Ramachandran was also arrested.

The duo was arrested after the video of Maheswaran denying snacks and candies to the children due to their caste went viral on social media.

Tension erupted in the Panjankulam village following a clash between caste Hindus and members of the SC community at a wedding function. This snowballed into a major issue leading to police registering cases against people from both sides. A Caste Hindu, Ramachandran (20) was to appear for recruitment for a defence post, but due to the police case registered against him, he could not attend the recruitment test. This led to the caste Hindus deciding not to give anything from their shops to the Scheduled Caste people and Maheswaran did not sell snacks and candies due to this diktat.

Police have already conducted a peace meeting between the two communities.

--IANS
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Hyderabad, Sep 19 (IANS) Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao has asked IndiGo to respect local languages after a woman was allegedly made to shift from her seat on a flight because she understood only Telugu.

Rama Rao was reacting to an incident which occurred on the Vijayawada-Hyderabad IndiGo flight on September 16.

Devasmita Chakraverty, an assistant professor of education at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad tweeted that the woman aboard IndiGo 6E 7297 was originally sitting in 2A (XL seat, exit row) was forced to shift to seat 3C because she understood only Telugu, not English/Hindi. The attendant said it was a security issue

Devasmita Chakraverthy, who posted a photograph with her tweet, called the incident a discrimination. Reacting to her tweet, TRS leader and Telangana minister Rama Rao requested IndiGo management to start respecting local languages and passengers who may not be well conversant in English or Hindi in regional routes.

"Dear @IndiGo6E Management, I request you to start respecting local languages & passengers who may not be well conversant in English or Hindi In regional routes, recruit more staff who can speak the local language like Telugu, Tamil, Kannada etc. This will be a win-win solution," wrote KTR, as the minister is popularly known.

KTR received support from Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra. "Short haul European flights ex London all have attendants who are native language speakers," she tweeted.

The minister's tweet sparked a debate. Some Twitter users agreed with him while others found fault for turning it into a language issue.

"This is because the persons in the exit row seats need to be extra vigilant and support in an emergency by opening the door, communicating with others etc. It is unfair to showcase it as a language issue," wrote a Twitter user Subbaraju.

--IANS
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Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 19 (IANS) Starting October 1 for the next six months, the famed Sree Krishna temple at Guruvayoor and those who arrive for prayers are going to get a first of its kind 'Ayurvedic' touch as 34-year-old Kiran Anand Namboothiri becomes the new Chief Priest or 'Melsanthi' of the temple.

Namboothiri is an Ayurveda doctor and till four months ago, he and his wife Manasi, were in Moscow running a clinic there. It was then that he applied for the top post in the temple.

Of the 41 applicants who applied, 39 were cleared and when a draw of lots was done to find who should be the chief priest for a period of six months, the name of Namboothiri was selected.

"Am extremely delighted and happy that this is a great blessing for me. I am really delighted about this and this is now going to be a huge responsibility as well, and am confident that Lord Guruvayoor Appan will help me," said Namboothiri.

Incidentally, Namboothiri belongs to the Kakkad Othikkan family.

He will arrive here on September 30 to take over.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 19 (IANS) Reacting over a flex that was put up in Telangana which reffered the BJP-led Karnataka government as "40 per cent commission government", Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday stated it would affect the relation between both the states.

The controversial flex was put up in Hyderabad city of Telangana. The flex reads - "Welcome to the 40 per cent government", and was put up on the road through which Union Home Minister Amit Shah travelled to participate in the 'Liberation Day'.

Chief Minister Bommai said, "How would it be, if something like this is published on Telangana in Karnataka. It is a systematic conspiracy. This would impact political relations between the two states. No one should do this."

"No one should allow this. It is unfair to make baseless allegations on one of the states," he added.

Opposition Congress and JD(S) have taken this opportunity to slam ruling BJP. Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has said that the commission allegations against the BJP are reaching every place.

The State Contractors' Association has alleged that the contractors will have to pay 40 per cent commission to every government project. The association had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard twice seeking action.

Opposition Congress had earlier demanded the implementation of the President's rule in the state in the backdrop of allegations.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has been talking to JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda regarding launching of a parallel forum against the BJP at the Centre. Rao's son Minister K.T. Rama Rao had asked the IT companies to shift to Hyderabad promising better infrastructure than Bengaluru.

--IANS
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