AAP asks Ravi Shankar Prasad to resign over ‘Reliance link’

December 19, 2014

New Delhi, Dec 19: The Aam Aadmi Party alleged impropriety and conflict of interest on the part of Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and former UPA minister Manish Tewari in connection with Reliance Industries.

Alleging that Prasad’s association with the corporate group prevented him from issuing a notice to Reliance Jio on the 4G issue, the party demanded the Union Minister’s resignation.rsprasad

Prasad and Tiwari refuted the allegations and called them baseless. “We have documents that show direct conflict of interest and impropriety in conduct of a current and a former cabinet minister,” senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said. The AAP had with them invoices worth Rs 84 lakh raised by Prasad on Fine Tech Corporation Private Limited, a company associated with the Reliance group, between April 2013 to March 2014.

Senior AAP leader Prashant Bhushan alleged that Prasad has been receiving payment from the company “in the form of retainership fee” which “appears to be a token of gratification being offered”.

The party also pointed out that before becoming a union minister, Prasad was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee from March 2011 onwards, examining matters relating to allocation and pricing of telecom licences and spectrum.

“Is the current Minister for Telecom (Ravi Shankar Prasad) not sitting over a notice that needs to be issued to Reliance Jio with respect to the 4G case? Why is the Minister for Telecom Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad sitting over this notice for the past three months and not allowing DoT’s Access Service Division to issue notice to Reliance?” the AAP asked in a statement.

According to a statement by Prasad’s office: “The allegation of the AAP is completely false and misleading… Mr Prasad has never given any advice or appeared for the Reliance Industries.”

The statement also said that before becoming a minister, Prasad had terminated all his professional relationships.

In the case of former telecom minister Manish Tewari, the AAP said that he was in a retainership agreement with the RIL even during his tenure as a union minister.

Alleging that Tewari’s retainership contract expired on June 30, 2012, he got the contract extended tell June 30, 2015. Pointing out that Tewari was also a member of JPC which probed the 2G telecom scam, Bhushan said, “Such former ministers speak in Parliament on issues of interest to these companies (Reliance group).”

According to Tewari’s office, he was sworn in as a minister on October 28, 2012 and took charge on the October 29 and on his request his licence to practice was suspended by the Bar Council the next day. “On the November 1, 2012, we wrote to Reliance Industries Ltd. terminating the Legal Relationship with immediate effect and Reliance Industries acknowledged the termination of the Legal Relationship vide letter dated November 3, 2012,” the statement read.

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Agencies
February 8,2020

New Delhi, Feb 8: A 26-year-old woman sub-inspector (SI) of the Delhi Police was shot dead near Rohini East Metro station on Friday night, officials said.

The SI, Preeti Ahlawat, was posted in Patparganj Industrial Area Police Station, police said.

A call about the incident was received around 9.30 pm, they said, adding she received gunshot wounds on her head.

"We have identified the suspects and CCTV footage of the area has been collected," said SD Mishra, Additional Commissioner of Police (Rohini).

Three empty cartridges were found from the spot, the officer said, adding a case has been registered and a probe is on.

Personal enmity is suspected to be the reason behind the killing, the officer said.

Ahlawat joined the Delhi Police in 2018.

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News Network
April 15,2020

New Delhi, Apr 15: The Union Health Ministry has identified 170 districts as COVID-19 hotspots and 207 districts as potential hotspots, officials said on Wednesday, reiterating that there has been no community transmission of the disease in the country so far.

Addressing the daily briefing to provide updates on coronavirus situation in the country, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said that states have been asked to classify districts which have reported a higher number of cases as hotspots, the districts where cases have been reported as non-hotspots, and green zones where no cases have been reported.

"Hotspots are those districts which are reporting more number of cases or where the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases is high," Agarwal said, adding a detailed direction has been issued to states stating consolidated efforts are required to utilise this period of lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.

"Cabinet secretary held a video conference today with all chief secretaries, DGPs, health secretaries, collectors, SPs, municipal commissioners and CMOs where hotspots were discussed and orientation on field level implementation of containment strategy was given.

"They were told about large outbreak containment strategies, cluster containment strategies. Delineation of buffer and containment zone, parameter mapping, defining of entry and exit points were also discussed in detail," he said.

The joint secretary said movement of people will not be allowed in containment zones except for those related with essential services and special teams will search for new cases and samples will be collected and tested as per sampling criteria.

The officials said that health facilities in buffer zone outside the containment zone will be oriented and people facing SARI and influenza-like symptoms will be tested there.

"Special teams have been formed which will work in containment zone and do contact tracing and house-to-house surveys. Cases of fever, cough and breathlessness will be identified in the survey and requisite action will be taken as per protocol," Agarwal said, adding that there has been no community transmissions so far but some local outbreaks.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in India has risen to 11,439 with 1,076 fresh cases reported in the last 24 hours while the death toll stands at 377, the ministry official said.

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News Network
June 29,2020

New Delhi, Jun 29: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday paid tribute to the senior doctor of city government-run LNJP Hospital who died battling COVID-19, saying the society has "lost a very valuable fighter".

The 52-year-old doctor served in the front line of the war against the pandemic at the government facility, and died of novel coronavirus infection in an ICU of a private hospital on Sunday.

"Dr Aseem Gupta, a senior doctor of LNJP Hospital succumbed to Covid yday. He was known for going out of his way to serve his patients. We have lost a very valuable fighter. Delhi salutes his spirit and sacrifice...," Kejriwal tweeted.

The chief minister also said in his tweet that he has spoken to Dr Gupta''s wife and "offered my condolences and support".

LNJP Hospital is a dedicated COVID-19 facility under the Delhi government. It recently completed 100 days of being declared a coronavirus facility.

"LNJP Hospital has displayed great fortitude in the face of acute challenges. It''s recovery rate is going up, death rate is reducing, ICU capacity is being ramped up - the hospital is saving so many lives," the chief minister said.

A condolence meeting to pay respect to Dr Gupta has been scheduled at 1 pm in the office of the Medical Director of the hospital, a senior official said.

The doctor, a consultant anaesthesiologist died at the Max hospital, Saket in south Delhi, a private dedicated COVID-19 facility.

"He was a front line anaesthesia specialist who contracted COVID-19 infection while on duty. He tested positive on June 6, when he had mild symptoms and was shifted to a quarantine facility. His symptoms aggravated on June 7 and he was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of the LNJP Hospital," the LNJP Hospital said in a statement on Sunday.

He was shifted to Max Hospital, Saket on June 8 on his request, it said.

The doctor was battling the disease for the last two weeks at Max Hospital, where he succumbed to the illness on Sunday, the statement said.

He was Specialist, Grade I, in the Department of Anaesthesia at the LNJP Hospital, the statement said.

Several hundreds of healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19 till date in Delhi.

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