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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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News Network
May 5,2020

Kochi, May 5: India has sent three naval ships to evacuate its citizens stranded in the Maldives and UAE due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a defence spokesperson said in the early hours on Tuesday.

INS Jalashwa deployed off Mumbai coast, along with INS Magar, diverted for Maldives on Monday night, he said.

While INS Shardul diverted to Dubai to evacuate the expatriates, the spokesperson added.

The three ships will return to Kochi, he said.

INS Magar and INS Shardul are Southern Naval Command ships, while INS Jalashwa is from Eastern Naval Command.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Petrol price on Saturday was hiked by 59 paise per litre and diesel by 58 paise as oil companies for the seventh day in a row adjusted retail rates in line with costs since ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 75.16 per litre from Rs 74.57, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 73.39 a litre from Rs 72.81, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

This is the seventh daily increase in rates in a row since oil companies on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

In seven hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 3.9 per litre and diesel by Rs 4.

The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of a decline in international oil prices.

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News Network
April 12,2020

New Delhi, Apr 12: With 34 deaths and 909 new positive COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus cases in India on Sunday climbed to 8356, including 716 cured and discharged and 273 deaths, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

At present, there are 7367 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

"A total number of COVID-19 positive cases rises to 8356 in India, including 716 cured/discharged, 273 deaths and 1 migrated," said the Health Department.

The highest number of positive cases of coronavirus was reported from Maharashtra at 1761, including 127 deaths, followed by Delhi (1069 and 19 deaths), Tamil Nadu (969 and 10 deaths) and Rajasthan (700 and 3 deaths).

There are 452 coronavirus positive cases in Uttar Pradesh, including 45 cured and discharged and 5 deaths.

The states which have crossed 200-mark for COVID-19 positive cases also include Madhya Pradesh (532), Telangana (504), Gujarat (432), Andhra Pradesh (381) and Kerala (364).

While 19 people were detected positive for coronavirus in Chandigarh, 207 cases were confirmed from Jammu and Kashmir and 15 from Ladakh.

In North-East, Assam has confirmed the highest number of corona positive cases at 29, followed by Manipur and Tripur at two each and Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh at one each.

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