Major relief for Ajit Pawar after eloping with BJP as ACB closes 9 cases of 72K-cr scam

News Network
November 25, 2019

Mumbai, Nov 25: In what comes as a partial relief and a breather to rebel NCP leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, nine cases related to the over Rs 72,000 crore irrigation scam has been closed all of a sudden under suspicious circumstances.

The development comes within days after he joined hands with Bharatiya Janata Party. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Maharashtra police was investigating the scandal.

Pawar, who had been the water resources minister, had come under scrutiny because of the scam and even had to resign briefly, when he was part of the Congress-NCP Democratic Front government.

The allegation was that Rs 72,000 crore was spent in a decade, ending in 2010, with an addition of a mere 0.1 per cent of irrigation potential.

In fact, BJP's Devendra Fadnavis, who was then in opposition benches, was one of the whistleblowers in the scam forcing the then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan to order a probe.

When Fadnavis took over as the chief minister in 2014, he ordered the ACB probe. However, ACB director general Parambir Singh clarified that the cases were not linked to Pawar.

"We are investigating around 3,000 tenders in irrigation related complaints. These are routine inquiries which are closed and all ongoing investigations are continuing as they were earlier," Singh was quoted saying by a news agency.

ACB officials said that the cases that were closed today were conditional, cases could reopen if more information comes to light or courts order further inquiry.

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News Network
March 21,2020

New Delhi, Mar 21: A couple was deboarded from a Delhi-bound Rajdhani train on Saturday after co-passengers observed a home quarantine seal on the husband's hand, the Railways said Saturday.

Officials said the Delhi-based couple boarded the Bangalore City-New Delhi Rajdhani at Secunderabad on Saturday morning.

When the train reached Kazipet in Telangana at 9:45 am, a co-passenger noticed the quarantine mark authorities are putting on suspected coronavirus cases —on the husband's hand when he was washing his hands. Other co-passengers then informed the TTE onboard.

The train was briefly detained and the couple was taken to a hospital. The coach was completely sanitised in Kazipet and was locked, officials said.

The air conditioning was also switched off.

The train left for its destination at 11.30 am.

People fleeing quarantine has been a common problem reported from different parts of the country.

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News Network
June 13,2020

Jun 13: The Congress on Saturday accused the BJP-led government of burdening the common man with high taxes on petrol and diesel and earning Rs 2.5 lakh crore since March 5.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal said while international crude oil prices have fallen and are at the lowest level in 15 years, yet petrol and diesel prices are skyrocketing and common people continue to suffer under the Modi dispensation.

He said instead of passing the benefit of lower crude prices to consumers, petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the seventh straight day on June 13.

"The government has earned as much as Rs 44,000 crore in the last six days due to hike in petrol, diesel prices. Since March 5, the government has earned as much as Rs 2.5 lakh crore by way of increasing petrol, diesel prices.

"If the government had even the slightest feelings for the common man, instead of benefitting the companies and the government, the prime minister would have helped the common man with reduced fuel prices," Sibal said at an online press conference.

According to a report by Care Ratings, he said the hike effectively meant that the Central government is collecting around 270 per cent taxes on the base price of petrol and 256 per cent in case of diesel.

The former union minister said petrol was selling at Rs 71.41 in Delhi on May 1, 2014, when international crude oil prices were USD 106.85, while on June 12, 2020, the price of petrol was Rs 75.16 when the crude oil was at USD 38.

He said central excise and VAT cumulatively account for 69 per cent of tax on fuel in India which is higher than anywhere else in the world. He said the tax of fuel in the US was 19 per cent, Japan 47 per cent, the UK 62 per cent, France 63 per cent and Germany 65 per cent.

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News Network
April 11,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 11: The effective handling of Covid-19 pandemic by the Kerala Government has received a big endorsement in the International media with the latest being a report in Washington Post which suggests that the State’s success could prove instructive to the entire country.

The Washington Post quoted Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja Teacher as saying “We hoped for the best but planned for the worst. Now, the curve has flattened, but we cannot predict what will happen next week.”

"The Minister said six states had reached out to Kerala for advice. She, however, noted that it might not be easy to replicate Kerala’s lessons elsewhere," according to the Minister's office quoting the report here on Saturday.

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