Regional

Guwahati, Feb 16 (IANS) An earthquake, measuring 3.9 on the Richter Scale, rattled Meghalaya on Thursday morning, according to the National Centre for Seismology.

According to official data, the quake, which occurred at 9.26 a.m, with an epicentre in the East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, was 46 km deep.

The tremors were felt in Meghalaya and in some parts of Assam, including Guwahati.

Notably, on February 13, a 3.2 magnitude earthquake occurred in Assam which was epicentred in Hojai district at a depth of 10 km.

--IANS
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Patna, Feb 14 (IANS) Eleven persons, who were part of a convoy of former MP and Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) chief Pappu Yadav, met with an accident in Bhojpur district in the wee hours on Tuesday.

The accident took place at 12.30 a.m. when Pappu Yadav along with his supporters were returning to Patna after meeting with the victims of the Mubarakpur violence that happened in Saran district last week.

Pappu Yadav escaped unhurt as he was travelling in another SUV.

When they reached Brahampur village on Koilwar-Buxar four lane highway, a speeding truck crashed into the divider and overturned on the convoy of Pappu Yadav.

The impact of the accident was as such that the car mangled from the front side.

Vineet Kumar, a spokesperson of JAP, confirmed the accident.

"It was a non-fatal accident. The injured persons sustained fractures in hands and legs. They have been admitted in hospitals of Patna and are out of danger," he said.

Pappu Yadav, four-time MP, went to Saran on Monday and met with the victims of the Mubarakpur violence in which one Amitesh Singh was killed.

The incident in Mubarakpur village in Saran district was triggered on February 2 when some unidentified persons opened fire on Vijay Yadav, the husband of the village Mukhiya.

Suspecting that Amitesh Singh, Rahul Kumar and Alok Kumar were involed in the firing on February 2, Yadav and his aides called the three youths to a chicken farm house located in Sidharia Tola under Manjhi police station and brutally assaulted them.

Following the assault, they suffered severe injuries and were admitted in Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for treatment where Amitesh Singh succumbed to the injuries.

After the incident, the supporters and relatives of Amitesh Singh set the houses and properties of Vijay Yadav and his supporters on fire. Vijay Yadav is on the run now.

--IANS
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Muzaffarnagar (UP), Feb 14 (IANS) A 22-year-old student pursuing MBBS from Russia has been arrested along with his friend for allegedly stealing jewellery worth lakhs of rupees from a neighbour's house.

According to SP (city) Arpit Vijay Vargiya, the student Rohan Kumar came back home a month ago from Russia after completing the first year of his medical course.

His family had given him Rs 15 lakh for tuition and living expenses which he lost while gambling online.

To recover the money, Rohan along with friend Amit Kumar, a second year D-pharma student, hatched a plan to rob his next door neighbour's house.

"On February 10, the duo entered the house from the terrace at night when the owner, Laxmi Rani, who works as a teacher, was out and decamped with gold and silver jewellery," the SP said.

The victim filed a police complaint at Nagar Kotwali police station the next day. After examining the CCTV footage from the area, police identified the two accused.

When the police raided Rohan's home, he swallowed a gold chain while attempting to escape. However, he was nabbed and rushed to a hospital where the X-ray report confirmed the presence of jewellery in his stomach.

The stolen jewellery was also recovered from his home.

SHO Mahaveer Chauhan said, "Rohan is currently lodged in jail. We will wait for him to naturally expel the chain, otherwise we'll take him to the hospital for a surgery to extricate the same."

--IANS
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Patna, Feb 14 (IANS) Vaishali police on Tuesday arrested a youth for threatening to kill MoS Home Nityanand Rai, an official of the district's town police station said.

The arrest was made on the basis of a viral video in which four youths can be seen interacting with each other. One of them named Madhav Jha claims to have taken a contract for killing Nityanand Rai during the Shiva Barat Yatra in the district.

Shiva Barat Yatra is held every year in district headquarters Hajipur on Maha Shivaratri.

As per the video, Madhav Jha talks about posing as a bull carrier in Shiva Barat and opening fire on the MoS during the Yatra. "For the past three years, I was dreaming of killing Nityanand Rai on Mahashivaratri."

Twice he talks about killing Rai when one of his friends asks him to avoid saying anything in this matter. Madhav is a native of Vaishali.

Nityanand Rai hails from Hajipur and is scheduled to participate in a Shiva Barat in the district.

Following the viral video, district police swung into action and started raids at several places.

Confirming the development, Vaishali Town police station's SHO said that the investigation is currently underway and police are scanning the youth's background.

--IANS
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Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 14 (IANS) Fate of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will be decided in two weeks' time, when the AICC announces its list of members at the upcoming plenary in Rajasthan.

Tharoor's stock has definitely increased and now it will be known if he is going to be wanted in the scheme of things for new president Mallikarjuna Kharge, to whom he lost the presidential race.

A bright spot for Tharoor is that recently, three Congress MPs from Kerala went and personally met Kharge and requested him to consider the Thiruvananthapuram MP for greater responsibilities in the party.

According to a source in the know of things, Kharge told them that it's a bit too early to decide on such things and that it would be looked into at an appropriate time.

Sadly, despite his tall status of being a popular leader who can address issues in the floor of the state Assembly, at the ongoing session so far, he has not been given opportunities matching his capabilities to take on the Modi government.

Though a section of the top brass in the party from Kerala is batting for Tharoor, there are some opposed to him, especially the faction close to leader of opposition V.D.Satheesan and the AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C.Venugopal, now considered the closest aide of Rahul Gandhi.

In the present AICC team, veteran A.K.Antony, Oommen Chandy and Venugopal are working committee members and it remains to be seen if the first two who have health issues will be considered as full time members.

But according to sources, former leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala is keen to get into the highest body of the party.

The selection to the AICC is made through nomination and then there is an election too and it remains to be seen if Tharoor is keen to contest.

--IANS
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Bhubaneswar, Feb 14 (IANS) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday asked collectors to reach out to more and more people, find out their issues of concern, and use technology to sort them out in a faster, simple and hassle-free manner.

While inaugurating a two-day conference of senior officers including collectors here, Patnaik said, "I would like to see all our development projects are implemented in the shortest possible time and our welfare initiatives reach all the legitimate beneficiaries."

There should be a competition among districts for realisation of goals, and set benchmarks for others, he added.

Stating that Odisha has been at the forefront of many states for its transformative initiatives, Patnaik said, sports, healthcare, school transformation, women empowerment, skill development, crop production, Covid management are some of the sectors that attract special mention.

The Chief Minister said the 5T initiative and Mo Sarkar, - these twin initiatives of his government have brought about transformative governance and have enhanced our people's outreach programmes.

Odisha is now a food surplus state contributing to the national public distribution system and the agriculture & allied sectors provide maximum employment to people in rural areas, he pointed out.

The Chie Minister asked the officers to focus more on farm mechanisation, crop diversification, horticulture and floriculture, dairy development and fisheries.

"Our Millet Mission has now been taken up nationally to improve nutrition. This sector has the potential to revitalise the rural economy. We need to continue to excel in this sector," he added.

"Start-ups play a vital role in the economic development of the state and a lot in this regard has been done by the government. The O-hub is in operation as one of the big incubation centres for the startups," he said, adding, "We are trying to make Odisha as one of the top three startup destinations in the country."

Speaking on women empowerment, Patnaik said, "We intend to transform our Mission Shakti groups into small and medium enterprises. We are providing interest-free loans up to Rs 5 lakh so that they can convert their units to flourishing units."

Besides, the state government has set a target to provide Rs 50,000 crore to the Mission Shakti groups in next five years. So, he directed the collectors to provide all possible support to Mission Shakti groups in realisation of this objective.

Appreciating the Mission Shakti industrial park conceived and implemented by the Koraput administration, the Chief Minister said that this initiative will be adopted by the entire state.

The collectors were further directed to give special attention to other flagship programmes of the Odisha government like Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, school transformation, tourism promotion, sports, etc.

Hoping that this interaction will reset and re-invigorate the state's efforts to maximise visibility to transformative initiatives, Patnaik told the collectors, "Let's work together towards a new Odisha, an empowered Odisha."

--IANS
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Jaipur, Feb 14 (IANS) Travel time on the existing Delhi-Jaipur highway (NH-48) shall be reduced with the opening of the first phase of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway on Tuesday.

The route will ensure that the Delhi-Jaipur travel time gets reduced by two hours. Total one way toll for a private car on the New Delhi-Jaipur route will be Rs 585. Toll on the new-way will be based on total number of kilometres travelled.

The eight-lane expressway will have a 120kmph speed limit for cars with wayside facilities every 30km. It will allow a Jaipur commuter to reach Delhi in less than four hours via Sohna, Dausa, Lalsot stretch.

The entire stretch has CCTV surveillance and at every 20 km, speed detection boards have been installed to alert drivers about the speed of their vehicles.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Feb 14 (IANS) Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said that the state will contribute a "lion's share" to India's ambition to become a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2027.

For achieving this goal, it was imperative for Maharashtra to become a USD 1-trillion economy with a holistic growth focussed on agriculture, industries and infrastructure development, he said.

"Maharashtra is the country's growth engine... Our effort is to increase its capacity, output and productivity, we have potential in all sectors. We shall work to upgrade the living standards of our farmers," said Shinde.

He was speaking late on Monday after the first meeting of the Maharashtra State Economy Advisory Council (EAC), which was set up in December 2022, billed as a revolutionary step for inclusive growth with the common man at the centre.

The EAC Chair and Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran said that India is well-poised to achieve the highest growth among large nations globally for many years to come.

Maharashtra, being one of the largest economies in the country, with a GDP of over USD 4.50 billion, can accelerate growth and immensely contribute to India's goal of achieving a five-trillion dollar economy, he added.

For this, the EAC will focus on increasing the per capita income by tackling key sectors like agriculture, technology like AI, machine learning, new market trends, supply chains, green energy, improving quality of life, and the EAC members coming from diverse backgrounds would help formulate a blueprint for the state's economic growth, said Chandrasekaran.

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the EAC gave a presentation of the state's current status, vision for the state's development, what needs to be done and has "set a timeline for achieving aggressive growth in Maharashtra".

"The EAC has discussed the agriculture sector, skill development, financial inclusion, eliminating regional imbalances and people with various backgrounds in the EAC expressed their views," said Fadnavis.

Formed on the lines of the planning commission, the EAC will advise the state on financial and policy matters, formulate growth strategies and submit a five-year-plan to the government, besides an interim report in the next three months.

The EAC comprises the cream of top corporate honchos like Chandrasekaran, Amit Chandra, Dilip Sanghavi, Sanjiv Mehta, Anish Shah, Ajit Ranade, Zia Mody, Vikram Limaye, S.N. Suramanian, Shrikant Badve, IAS officers Harshdeep Kamble, O.P. Gupta, and Rajgopal Devara.

However, two members -- Reliance Industries Ltd. Executive Director Anant Ambani and Adani Ports CEO Karan G. Adani -- remained absent in the first meeting of the EAC.

--IANS
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Panaji, Feb 14 (IANS) State's Leader of Opposition (LOP) Yuri Alemao has urged the government to extend the 'Restoration and Renovation of Temples Scheme' to the places of historic importance, forts, churches, mosques, and relics of religious shrines.

"I have written to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant urging him to restore places of historical importance, including Shrines without discrimination. Chieftains Memorial, Lohia Maidan, Azad Maidan, Martyrs Memorials, churches, mosques, shrines, forts are craving for attention. These places need to be notified and protected immediately," he said.

"I appeal to the government to extend the Restoration and Renovation of Temples Scheme to the Places of Historic Importance, Forts, Churches and Mosques, Relics of Religious Shrines etc.," He said in a letter written to the Chief Minister.

Expressing his happiness that the government took steps to renovate the Saptakoteshwar Temple at Narve Bicholim in North Goa, which was destroyed by Portuguese, Congress leader Yuri Alemao said that it is important that the places, sites and monuments of historic importance are preserved and protected.

"The government should take effective steps to ensure the same," he said.

"I was assured during the Second Session of the Eighth Goa Legislative Assembly by the Chief Minister that all the historic Sites (mentioned in letter) shall be notified and necessary steps will be taken to protect, preserve and maintain the same. I regret to inform that till date no action has been initiated by the government in this regard," he said.

He said that Historic Lohia Maidan at Margao and Azad Maidan at Panaji have become dens of drunkards and anti-social elements. "Proper care is not taken of these historical places which has resulted in accumulation of garbage all over the place," Alemao said.

State Minister for Archaeology, Subhash Phal Dessai, recently had said that the scheme, wherein Goa government had made budgetary provision of Rs 20 crore in 2022 was only to restore the temples demolished by Portuguese.

"The scheme is only for temples, if any other claims come then we will discuss it and will decide. We have received one claim of a mosque, we will decide on it, even if there are incidents of churches then we will think on it. Basically this scheme is for temples. But we can propose incidents other than temples," Dessai had said.

--IANS
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Srinagar, Feb 14 (IANS) At 3.6 degree Celsius as the minimum temperature, Jammu city recorded the coldest night of the season during last 11 years.

"Minimum temperature was 3.6 in Jammu on Monday. This is the lowest since February 8, 2012 when the minimum had dropped to 3.2 in the city," an official of the Meteorological (MeT) department said.

The official also said that mainly dry weather with clear sky in Jammu and partly cloudy in Kashmir is likely during the next 24 hours.

Srinagar had minus 1.6, Pahalgam minus 4.6 and Gulmarg minus 7.2 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature.

In Ladakh region, Drass had minus 16.3, Kargil minus 17.4 and Leh minus 12.2 as the minimum temperature.

Jammu had 7.2, Katra 8, Batote 3.8, Banihal 0.8 and Bhaderwah 1.4 as the minimum temperature.

--IANS
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