SC asks K’taka for data on drinking water needs

January 29, 2013

Drinking_water

New Delhi, Jan 29: The Supreme Court on Monday, while hearing a plea from Tamil Nadu for water release by Karnataka from the Cauvery river to save its wilting paddy crop, said drinking water requirement must get priority over irrigation needs of a state.

A bench of Justices R M Lodha and J Chelameswar observed that some out-of-box thinking was required to find a solution to the vexed issue of sharing Cauvery river water among the sparring states.

The court told Karnataka to furnish details of its drinking water consumption pattern from 1992 onwards, and posted the matter for further hearing to Tuesday.

The court concurred with the finding of the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) that the storage in Karnataka reservoirs was adequate to meet only the State’s drinking water needs and that should get precedence over TN’s demand.

The bench, however, pulled up Karnataka for failing to maintain a constant flow.

“What pains us is the observation made by the CMC that you (Karnataka) have not regulated the constant flow. There are very specific observations… citizens cannot be made to suffer like this. Some equal apportionment has to be done. It can’t be left to the mercy of somebody. Of course, drinking water must get priority... The apportionment has to be done in such a manner that drinking water need is fulfilled and irrigation requirement is also met,” the bench said.

The court was hearing a plea made by Tamil Nadu seeking direction to Karnataka to release 12 tmc ft of Cauvery water to save its standing samba crop and meet the drinking water needs of the people.

The court asked senior counsel C S Vaidyanathan, appearing for TN, “What is wrong with the observation of CMC that drinking water is to be given precedence over irrigation needs?”

When the TN counsel responded that the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal had in its interim award in 1992 and final order in 2007 assessed the drinking water requirements, the court countered, “How can the drinking water requirement assessed 20 years back be considered today?” Vaidyanathan said this was a sorry state of affairs and TN cannot agree with everything that Karnataka says.

Senior advocate Fali S Nariman, representing Karnataka, submitted that a statutory scheme enjoined that anybody aggrieved by the order of CMC could approach the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) headed by the Prime Minister.

He said that the tribunal’s final order has been challenged by each party and the appeal was pending. “We want to find out some solution in terms of present requirement,” the court said, asking TN to explain how it calculated Karnataka’s drinking water requirement as one tmc ft a day.

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News Network
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has gone into self-quarantine after developing sore throat and fever, and will get himself tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday, officials said on Monday.

They said the chief minister, who is also a diabetic, was feeling unwell since Sunday afternoon.

"He has mild fever and sore throat since Sunday afternoon. As advised by doctors, the chief minister will undergo COVID-19 test on Tuesday morning," officials said.

Officials said the CM had attended a Cabinet meeting on Sunday morning and thereafter, he did not attend any meeting.

The chief minister has been holding most of his meetings via video conferencing from his official residence for past two days.

This come as the number of coronavirus cases in the national capital crossed the 28,000-mark with 1,282 fresh infections while the death toll climbed to 812 on Sunday, a health bulletin issued by the Delhi government said. According to the health bulletin, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi rose to 28,936 with 1,282 fresh cases.

A total of 51 fatalities were reported on June 6, the bulletin said, adding that these lives were lost between May 8 and June 5. It, however, said the cumulative death figure refers to fatalities where the primary cause of death was found to be COVID-19, according to a report of the Death Audit Committee on the basis of the case-sheets received from various hospitals.

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Agencies
July 23,2020

Jaipur, Jul 23: Four days after the Special Operation Group (SOG) sent a notice to Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in connection with the purported audio clips indicating his alleged involvement in horse trading of MLAs in Rajasthan, a city court has directed the Rajasthan police to probe a complaint alleging Shekhawat's role in a credit society scam worth Rs 840 crore.

The additional district judge Pawan Kumar, on Tuesday, directed the additional chief judicial magistrate's court to send the complaint against Shekhawat to the SOG.

Shekhawat, his wife and other partners have been named in the complaint in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam in which around 50,000 investors allegedly lost about Rs 840 crore.

The Jaipur unit of the SOG has been probing the scam since last year after an FIR was registered on August 23, 2019.

Now, Jaipur ADJ Court-8 ordered a fresh inquiry in the case against Gajendra Singh accepting the revised application filed by Lagu Singh and Guman Singh and said that "this is a serious matter and hence SOG should investigate this".

Both the applicants had invested a huge amount in Sanjivani credit cooperative society.

It is alleged in the complaint that a multi-storey building has been built with the money instead of a theatre which was proposed earlier and many properties were also bought in Ethiopia with the money.

An SOG investigation also reveals that a large amount of money has been deposited into accounts of Shekhawat and his wife at different time spans, said sources.

Earlier, Shekhawat was not mentioned in the chargesheet filed by the SOG in connection with the case. Later, a magistrate's court also rejected the application to include him in the chargesheet. The applicants then approached the additional district judge's court with a revised application.

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News Network
January 7,2020

New Delhi, Jan 7: The government has asked public sector undertakings to dissuade their employees from participating in the 'Bharat Bandh' called on Wednesday and advised them to prepare a contingency plan to ensure smooth functioning of the enterprises.

Ten central trade unions have said around 25 crore people will participate in the nationwide strike to protest against the government's "anti-people" policies.

Trade unions INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF, UTUC along with various sectoral independent federations and associations had adopted a declaration in September last to go on the nationwide strike on January 8.

"Any employee going on strike in any form, including protest, would face the consequences which, besides deduction of wages, may also include appropriate disciplinary action," said an office memorandum issued by the government.

"Suitable contingency plan may also be worked out to carry out the various functions of the ministry/department," it added.

It also issued instructions not to sanction casual leave or other kind of leave to employees if applied for during the period of the proposed protest or strike and ensure that the willing employees are allowed hindrance-free entry into the office premises.

The instructions issued by the Department of Personnel & Training prohibit the government servants from participating in any form of strike, including mass casual leave, go-slow and sit-down, or any action that abet any form of strike.

Besides, pay and allowances are not admissible to an employee for his absence from duty without any authority.

The central trade unions are protesting against labour reforms, FDI, disinvestment, corporatisation and privatisation policies and to press for a 12-point common demands of the working class relating to minimum wage and social security, among others.

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