Crabs thrown at Maharashtra minister Tanaji Sawant's residence over Tiware dam breach remark

Agencies
July 9, 2019

Pune, Jul 9: Days after Maharashtra Water Conservation Minister Tanaji Sawant blamed crabs for the breach in a Ratnagiri dam that killed at least 19 people, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) threw crabs outside his residence in Pune to protest against his remark.

On July 2, at least 19 people lost their lives after a breach in the Tiware Dam near Chiplun in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district after heavy rainfall in the region. The breach caused a flood-like situation in seven downstream villages.

Following the incident, Sawant gave a bizarre explanation for the tragedy, saying that the leakage was caused due to a large number of crabs gathered around the dam. Sawant had said that officials and locals had informed him that a large number of crabs have weakened the wall of the dam.

"A large number of crabs have gathered around the dam and leakages happened. Locals had brought the issue to our notice and our department acted on it,” Sawant had told reporters.

The villagers, however, claimed that there were already several cracks in the dams and the government neglected their pleas for maintenance. According to reports, the villagers spotted cracks in the dam in November last year and reported the same to the concerned district authorities. However, due to an ongoing dispute between Chiplun and Dapoli tehsil offices over jurisdiction of the dam, the maintenance was never undertaken.

Earlier, NCP youth workers reached Shahupuri police station in Kolhapur with crabs in hand and demanded registration of an FIR against crabs under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. They also presented a memorandum urging police to file a case against crabs.

"If the minister thinks crabs caused the breach, then a case should be registered against the crabs under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for murder," NCP state youth wing chief Mehboob Sheikh said.

In a similar move, NCP workers led by party general secretary Jitendra Awhad went to Naupada police station in Thane with crabs in hand and asked the police to file a complaint against them and arrest them.

Awhad slammed the Maharashtra government and said that Sawana was trying to shield the contractor who was responsible for the tragedy.

"23 people were washed away, some are still missing, but the minister claims that crabs had weakened the dam," he was quoted as saying by news agency.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered an inquiry in the matter led by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under a secretary rank official.

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Agencies
February 7,2020

Jammu & Kashmir, Feb 7: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, besides two political stalwarts from NC and its arch-rival PDP were booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) by the administration on Thursday, officials said.

A magistrate accompanied by police served the order to Mufti at the bungalow where she has been detained, the officials said.

Abdullah was also booked under the PSA, they said.

National Conference general secretary and former minister Ali Mohammed Sagar, who wields a support base in downtown city, was served with a PSA notice public order by the authorities.

Similarly, senior PDP leader Sartaj Madani was booked under the PSA. Madani is the maternal uncle of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.

Both Sagar and Madani were detained in the aftermath of August 5 crackdown by the Centre on politicians following abrogation of special status of the erstwhile state, besides its bifurcation into two union territories.

Their six-month preventive custody was ending on Thursday.

Earlier, the officials had said that former NC legislator Bashir Ahmed Veeri was also booked under the PSA but later it turned out that he had been released.

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News Network
July 22,2020

Warangal, Jul 22: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an outlet in Telangana's Warangal has started selling 'anti-corona' tea. The tea has become an instant hit with the locals as the beverage is laced with natural immunity-boosting ingredients.

"We sell tea named 'anti-corona'. It has natural immunity-boosting ingredients such as ginger, black pepper, cinnamon powder, among other things. A mixture of these ingredients boosts our immunity," Shiva, the owner of the tea shop said.

"Better immunity is needed to fight the coronavirus infection in the body. So we have started preparing this tea and selling it during the coronavirus pandemic," he added.

Prabhakar, a customer at the tea stall said, the tea was a "corona special tea," and it has Ayurvedic mixtures which help to boost the immunity of the human body.

"The tea is prepared after adding the Ayurveda mixtures to milk. This is good for your health. I, along with my family members and friends, come here every day. We drink this tea thrice a day," Prabhakar added.

According to the Union Health Ministry, there are 46,274 COVID-19 cases in Telangana. Meanwhile, India's coronavirus count stood at 11,92,915 on Wednesday morning.

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Agencies
March 12,2020

Mumbai, Mar 12: In what appears to be the worst trading session in the Indian stock markets, the benchmark BSE Sensex crashed over 2900 points to end below the 33,000-mark.

The Sensex crashed 2,919.26 points to end at 32,778.14. So far it has touched an intra-day low of 32,530.05 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange also lost nearly 850 points so far. It plunged 868.25 points to 9,590.15.

The plunge was in line with the global markets as all Asian indices also traded in the red after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic following which the Dow Jones Industrial Average also slumped significantly on Wednesday.

The bear run in both the global and domestic markets has continued off late on concerns of the coronavirus outbreak severely impacting the global economy. It has also raised calls for government intervention and support.

Central banks in several countries, including the US Federal Reserve have announced emergency rate cuts to boost sentiments. However, the concerns have only deepened in the past few days as the number of COVID-19 cases across the world has increased.

Further, following the rout in the global markets oil prices also fell on Thursday with the Brent crude trading around $34 per barrel.

The Indian rupee also felt the pressure and touched a 17-month low of 74.34 per dollar in its initial trade.

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