Lavish marriage lands AP minister in controversy

November 4, 2012

lavish

Vizianagaram, November 4: The wedding of Anusha, daughter of Andhra Pradesh Transport Minister and state PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana’s daughter, Anusha, at Vizianagaram, in the backward north coastal region on Friday evening has evoked a sense of awe and outrage in equal measure.

If the pompous display of wealth floored the guests at the gala event, the open and flagrant misuse of official machinery sent the critics fuming. The wedding had all the trappings of an extravaganza with the main dais, decorated with imported flowers, costing an estimated Rs 1 crore.

Anusha, a medical student, tied the knot with the scion of a realtor group, Somi. A leading art director from the Telugu film industry was roped in to design the pandal.

The district administration was virtually at the service of the minister with nearly 700 constables, 35 DSPs and 120 SHOs being deployed to ensure a smooth affair.

What raised eyebrows in political circles was the order issued by the Transport Department to requisition 300 private taxis to ferry men and material as part of the wedding preparations. “This is gross misuse of official machinery. Action should be taken against the minister for engaging local officials for personal work and diverting public money for the wedding,” said opposition TDP leader Srikanth Reddy.

At a time when the image of the Congress is at its lowest ebb, the PCC chief appears to have added to its woes by splurging several crores on his daughter’s wedding.

Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan, his Tamil Nadu counterpart K Rosaiah and state Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, Central and state ministers, MPs, legislators and leaders of various political parties attended the event. Around 80,000 guests were invited to the grand bash. It was alleged that the state Ministers, who were put up at a star hotel in Visakhapatnam, held review meetings to make the trip official. “It is clear that the so-called review meetings were specifically held to fund travel expenses,” said a retired civil servant.

Whistle blowers shot off letters to the chief minister, pointing out that Satyanarayana had resorted to gross misuse of public authority. “Andhra Pradesh is facing sever power shortage, but the ruling party leaders are indulging in extravagance at the cost of the exchequer. People are aghast at the misuse of authority to satisfy the ego of a few self-serving leaders,” they said. Satyanarayana is no stranger to controversies.

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News Network
January 13,2020

New Delhi, Jan 13: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) has alleged that the varsity administration has blocked the registration of 300 students on the basis of 'fake Proctor inquiries'.

The union had on Saturday asked students of the university to pay their academic tuition fee but not the hiked hostel fee.

"Today the Vice Chancellor first blocked the fee payment portal and then blocked the payment of tuition fees. It is clear that the VC was lying through the teeth when he said students want to register but are not being allowed to by protesters," JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh said.

She said the VC has also blocked the registration of 300 students based on fake proctor enquiries which are not even completed.

"The truth is that it is the administration which does not want students to register and is blocking their registration," she said.

JNUSU vice president Saket Moon said that in the meetings held in HRD ministry, it was decided that the administration would take a lenient view on the students' protest and not take action against them.

He said many students, who opened the portal for registration found they had been academically suspended and could not register.

He said the JNUSU had softened its stand by saying that they would register by paying the old fees but that has been kept on hold.

On Sunday, the administration extended the date for the winter semester registration till January 15.

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News Network
March 20,2020

New Delhi, Mar 20: Bodies of the four Nirbhaya convicts who were hanged on Friday morning at Tihar Jail have been sent to hospital for a post-mortem, following which it will be handed over to the families, according to an official.

After the hanging at 5:30 am today, the bodies were taken from Tihar Jail to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital for post mortem at around 8:20 am.

Tihar jail Director-General Sandeep Goel said that the bodies will be handed over to the families after the post mortem.

The families, however, will have to give a written undertaking that they will not make a public demonstration of the cremation or burial of the executed person.

The superintendent will also consult the District Magistrate and the Deputy Commissioner of Police for arrangements for the disposal of the body.

The post mortem comes in line with the Supreme Court's order in Shatrughan Chauhan's case in January 2014, which had mandated the same observing that there is a dearth of experienced hangman in the country.

"By making the performance of post mortem obligatory, the cause of the death of the convict can be found out, which will reveal whether the person died as a result of the dislocation of the cervical vertebrate or by strangulation which results on account of too long a drop," the apex court had said in its order.

"Our constitution permits the execution of death sentence only through the procedure established by law and this procedure must be just, fair and reasonable," the order added.

All four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case -- Akshay Singh Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, and Mukesh Singh -- were hanged till death at 5:30 am this morning.

The case pertains to the brutal gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in the national capital. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

One of the adults accused had allegedly committed suicide in the prison during the trial, while the juvenile was released from a correction home after a period of three years.

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News Network
April 16,2020

New Delhi, Apr 16: The number of COVID-19 cases in India has reached 12,759, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.

According to the official data, India has 10,824 active cases and 1514 discharged and cured cases. Meanwhile, 420 people have died from the disease which originated in China.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases in the country which stands at 2919, including 295 cured and discharged and 187 deaths.

With 1578 coronavirus cases, Delhi is in the second position of India's tally of corona infected people; followed by Tamil Nadu (1242) and Rajasthan (1023).

Kerala, which reported India's first coronavirus case, has 388 confirmed cases, including 295 cured and discharged and 187 deaths.

On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, that border the national capital, have 773 and 205 cases, respectively.

Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh and Pudducherry have reported 33, 21 and 7 cases respectively. While West Bengal has 231 coronavirus infected people, Odisha has confirmed 60 cases.

The newly carved union territories -- Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir--- have 17 and 300 cases, respectively.

In the Northeast, 33 people were detected positive for COVID-19 in Assam, which is the worst-affected states in the region. Six corona cases were confirmed from Meghalaya, two each from Manipur and Tripura and one from Arunachal Pradesh. Nagaland remains free from coronavirus till date, said the Ministry.

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