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
June 25,2020

Patna, Jun 25: At least 83 people died due to thunderstorms in Bihar in the last 24 hours, according to Chief Minister's Office.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced Rs 4 lakhs each for the families of deceased.

Thirteen people died in Gopalganj, 8 each in Madhubani and Nawada, 6 each in Baghalpur and Siwan, 5 each in Darbhanga, Banka, East Champaran and 3 each in Khagaria and Aurangabad.

Due to thunderstorms, two people each lost their lives in West Champaran, Kishanganj, Jamui, Jahanabad, Purnia, Supaul, Buxar, Kaimur while one death each was reported in Samastipur, Shivhar, Saran, Sitamarhi and Madhepura.

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News Network
May 18,2020

As many as employees of Zee News have tested positive for the coronavirus, Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary said on Monday. Most of them are asymptomatic, he said, tweeting an official statement from Zee News about the situation.

The organisation said that on May 15, one of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus. Following this, the company started testing employees who may have come in contact with the employee. Twenty-seven more were found to be infected.

“Fortunately most of them are asymptomatic and are not complaining of any discomfort,” Zee News said. “We believe this is because of early diagnosis and proactive intervention.”

The news network said all guidelines and protocols have been followed, and its office, newsroom and studios have been sealed for sanitisation. The Zee News team has been shifted to an alternative facility.

“At the moment, Zee Media Corporation has 2,500 employees, by far the largest in the private sector,” the company said. “We are committed to the safety of each one of them.”

Chaudhary also claimed that “those who are infected had the option of sitting at home and sharing memes”. “They came to work because they are committed professionals.”

Following this, some social media users claimed that Zee News employees found infected with Covid-19 were still at work. In response, Chaudhary alleged that a malicious campaign was being conducted to distort his statement. He said no infected employee had come to work, and all the contacts of the employee who tested positive on May 15 had been tested and quarantined.

Over the past two months, journalists from several media organisations have tested positive for the coronavirus. On April 21, 26 employees of a Tamil news channel based in Chennai tested positive for the coronavirus. The previous day, over 50 journalists from Mumbai were found infected, after samples of over 170 journalists were tested.

On May 7, a newspaper journalist died of the coronavirus in Agra. Some states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi, have tested journalists for Covid-19.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Mar 28: A 69-year-old patient, hailing from Chullikal in Ernakulam District, passed away at Kalamasserry Medical College at 8:00am.

The patient had come from Dubai recently and was quarantined.

He arrived in Kerala on March 16 and was tested positive for Coronavirus on March 22, Medical College nodal officer A Fathahudeen said.

He was undergoing treatment for heart ailment and blood pressure. He had earlier undergone a bypass surgery.

Forty nine passengers in the flight he came are under quarantine.

A close relative and the driver who picked him up from the airport are coronavirus positive.

Since the deceased had no contact with any others in the state since his arrival, his route map was not processed.

Kerala reported 39 fresh cases of coronavirus on Friday, taking the total number of people under treatment to 164. The total number of confirmed cases from the state is 176, but, of this, 12 had recovered.

Of the 39 cases, 34 are from the worst affected northernmost district of Kasaragod, two from Kannur and one each from Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kollam.

With a positive case being reported from Kollam, all 14 districts in the state have been affected by the pandemic.

The worst affected Kasaragod has 76 positive cases, the highest and most of the affected are Non Resident Keralites from the Gulf.

A total of 1,10,299 people are under surveillence and 616 are in isolation wards of various hospitals.

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