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In Vidarbha, Gadkari wears a tycoon mantle

[email protected] (DHNS)
October 18, 2012

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Mumbai, October 18: From a man who ran a family-owned furniture shop in a cobbled lane of Nagpur in the early nineties, 55-year-old Nitin Jairam Gadkari today, apart from being the president of the BJP, is the chairman of one of the biggest business groups in Vidarbha called Purti Group dealing in liquor, power, sugar, fuel, mineral and super bazaars.

Gadkari has come a long way from his days in student politics in ABVP (Akhila Bharat Vidyarthi Parishad) and RSS shakha worker; his political trajectory took a leap when an MLC from a graduate constituency in Nagpur expired. His proximity to RSS leaders helped him gain entry into the Vidhan Bhavan.

Even though the term was only for two years, Gadkari's path was chalked out very adroitly by a Nagpur journalist called Prakash Deshpande from Nagpur. Deshpande later became his personal assistant and key strategist.

Incidentally, Deshpande some years ago was found dead near the rail tracks between Deolali and Nashik. The case was never solved and it was closed with a remark that he fell down from the train in which he was travelling to Nagpur.

Gadkari, reportedly a leader with no mass-base, in 1995 first tasted the powers of being a minister after being given public works department portfolio when Shiv Sena -BJP came to power in Maharashtra. While he initiated several projects infrastructure projects in the state like Mumbai-Pune Expressway, his business venture Purti Group focussing on retail trading in the beginning also started flourishing.

In a span of five years, it started its first manufacturing company Purti Power and Sugar Ltd and today, it is regarded as one of the top sugar manufacturing companies in Vidarbha; as of now it is made of eight major group companies playing in sectors like power, sugar, fuel, minerals like manganese, iron and bio-fertilisers.

Gadkari, after his stint as a minister, never had to look back even though controversies continued to dog him at every juncture. A case in point some years ago was the discovery of the smothered body of seven-year-old girl Yogita Thakre, daughter of Gadkari's domestic help, inside his car. The case like that of Deshpande was given a quiet burial. And same happened to the questions that reared up when lakhs were splurged in the wedding of his son in Nagpur.

Gadkari's proximity with the RSS and the press also played a major role in helping him get out of soups he lands in. While his RSS god-fathers may have helped him in retaining him for the second term despite severe opposition from several quarters inside the party itself, his media friends have always bailed him out of tight corners when the BJP failed miserably in elections.


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Agencies
August 2,2020

Lucknow, Aug 2: Uttar Pradesh's cabinet minister for Technical Education Kamal Rani Varun succumbed to COVID-19 on Sunday at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences.

Kamal Rani is the first minister in Uttar Pradesh to die after contracting coronavirus. She was 62.

On 18 July, the minister tested positive for coronavirus and was admitted to the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Hospital.

She was later shifted to the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed grief over the minister's death.

In a condolence message issued on Sunday, Adityanath said, "Kamal Rani Varun died on Sunday at around 9.30 am. She was an experienced and capable leader. She discharged her responsibilities with competence. She was a dedicated public representative, who was always working for the welfare of deprived and oppressed sections of the society."

Kamal Rani was the MLA from Ghatampur in Kanpur. She was also twice a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, Adityanath has cancelled his visit to Ayodhya scheduled for the day, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said on Sunday.

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News Network
April 7,2020

New Delhi, Apr 7: The death toll due to novel coronavirus rose to 114 and the number of cases in the country climbed to 4,421 on Tuesday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 3,981, as many as 325 people were cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it stated. The total number of cases include 66 foreign nationals.

According to the ministry's data updated at 9 am, three new deaths were reported from Rajasthan, while Tripura recorded its first coronavirus case.

Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 45, followed by Gujarat at 12, Madhya Pradesh nine, Telangana and Delhi seven each, Punjab six and Tamil Nadu five fatalities.

Karnataka registered four deaths, while West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have recorded three fatalities each. Two deaths each have been reported from Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala. Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana have reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry data.

However, a PTI tally based on figures reported by states directly on Monday night showed at least 138 deaths across the country, while the confirmed cases reached 4,683. Of them, 359 have been cured and discharged.

There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the numbers announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

The highest number of confirmed cases are from Maharashtra at 748, followed by Tamil Nadu at 621 and Delhi with 523 cases. Kerala reported 327 COVID-19 cases, Telangana 321, Uttar Pradesh 305 and Rajasthan 288 cases. Andhra Pradesh reported 226 coronavirus cases.

Novel coronavirus cases have risen to 165 in Madhya Pradesh, 151 in Karnataka and 144 in Gujarat. Jammu and Kashmir has 109 cases, West Bengal has 91, Haryana 90 and Punjab 76 cases of the infection.

Thirty-two people were infected with the virus in Bihar while Uttarakhand has 31 patients and Assam 26. Odisha reported 21 coronavirus cases, Chandigarh 18, Ladakh 14 and Himachal Pradesh 13 cases.

Ten cases each have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Chhattisgarh. Goa has reported seven COVID-19 infections, followed by Puducherry with five cases. Jharkhand has reported four cases and Manipur two. Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported one case of the infection each.

"State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation," the ministry said on its website.

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News Network
January 28,2020

New Delhi, Jan 28: Kolkata Metro Rail Corp expects to complete its East-West project, which runs partly under the city’s iconic Hooghly river, by March 2022 after a delay of several years doubled costs.

The authority is awaiting a final installment of Rs 20 crore ($2.8 million) over the next two years from the Indian Railway Board, said Manas Sarkar, managing director at KMRC. A soft loan of Rs 4,160 crore from Japan International Cooperation Agency helps fund 48.5% of the project.

India’s oldest metro, which started in 1984 with a North-South service, was due to expand by 2014 but faced problems including squatters on the planned route. These issues have contributed to the total project cost rising to about Rs 8,600 crore for some 17 kilometers from Rs 4,900 crore for 14 km.

“About 40% of total transport demand will be tackled by these two metro services,” Sarkar said in an interview at his office in Kolkata. “It will be a relief for environmental pollution and the city should be much more decongested.”

The new line is expected to carry about 900,000 people daily, -- roughly 20% of the city’s population -- and will take less than a minute to cross a 520-meter underwater tunnel. Depending on the time of day, it takes some 20 minutes to use the ferry and anywhere upward of an hour to cross the Howrah bridge.

KMRC will repay the JICA loan over 30 years after an initial six-year moratorium. The interest rate is between 1.2% to 1.6%. The East-West metro project is 74% owned by the railway ministry and 26% by the ministry of housing and urban affairs.

“We don’t anticipate any further cost escalation now,” Sarkar said.

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