Centre rushing more rescue choppers to Uttarakhand

June 20, 2013
stranded
New Delhi, Jun 20: Government has decided to deploy more helicopters in Uttarakhand to rescue over 60,000 people still trapped in the rain-ravaged hill state and expedite relief operations.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said so far 22 helicopters have been used to evacuate stranded people to safer locations and through hundreds of sorties they rescued 22,392 people.

“But 22 helicopters are not enough. So, we have requested the Defence Ministry to deploy more helicopters to expedite the rescue operations in Uttarakhand. The Defence Ministry agreed to our request and hopefully the additional choppers will be deployed soon,” he told reporters in New Delhi.

According to the Home Ministry, as many as 62,122 people are still stranded in different inaccessible locations in the flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.

Asked whether the death toll in Uttarakhand could go up, the Home Minister said he has spoken to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna who conveyed that it was difficult to tell the exact number of people who died since all debris have not been cleared yet.

“It may go up. But we cannot say now,” he said.

Mr. Shinde said due to bad weather on Thursday morning, rescue operation has been hit in Uttarakhand.

He said he has convened a high-level meeting on Friday to take stock of the relief and rescue operations.

Representatives of Ministries of Home, Defence, Food, the National Disaster Management Authority and other stake holders will attend the meeting.

According to the latest situational report sent to the Home Ministry summarising progress of rescue and relief operations, 13 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) consisting of 422 personnel and 3,000 personnel of ITBP, besides hundreds of Army personnel are engaged in rescue works in Uttarakhand.

Daily meetings under the chairmanship of Home Secretary R.K. Singh are being held on to review the situation and the relief and rescue measures being undertaken in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, an official statement said.

Senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs are in constant touch with senior officers concerned of Uttarakhand for extending the required support and assistance.

As per Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), cumulative rainfall of Uttarakhand is reported 385.1 mm actual against normal rainfall of 71.3 mm, which is 440 per cent excess during the southwest monsoon period of June 1 to June 18.

One team of NDRF and one team of ITBP have been placed at Kedarnath and Gaurigaon to assist in the evacuation both from Kedarnath and Gaurigaon. Evacuation operations were carried out yesterday using helicopters till the weather deteriorated.

One team of ITBP operated between Govindghat and Joshimath and evacuated pilgrims stuck there, the statement said.

It was also decided that ITBP would launch teams from Pithoragarh to all the valleys in the district to see if the villagers or stranded persons require any assistance.

As per the reports received from Himachal Pradesh government, due to continuous rainfall in the region during June, severe damage to life and property was caused in several locations in different parts of the state.

The search, rescue and relief operations are being carried out with the help of helicopters from Army, Air Force, NDRF, ITBP and State government and there was no shortage of food material.

Supreme Court directs Centre, Uttarakhand to rescue people

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre and Uttarakhand governments to make all out efforts to rescue thousands of people stranded in the State due to flash floods and provide them food and drinking water.

A bench of justices A.K. Patnaik and Ranjan Gogoi directed the governemnts to deploy sufficient number of helicopters to rescue flood-affected people in the area.

“We direct as an interim measure that all stranded people be provided immediate relief by the state and district authorities by giving them food, medicines and other essential things including fuel,” the bench said.

It asked the Centre and National Disaster Management Authority to provide all required resources to the State governemnt.

The court passed the order on a PIL filed by a lawyer Ajay Bansal seeking its direction to Centre and State governemnt to rescue people stranded in the State.

The bench also said that authorities should not discriminate among the affected people in relief and rehabilitation operations after the petitioner alleged that government agencies are neglecting people stranded in Gangotri.

It also asked the Centre to file a report on the relief and rehabilitation work in the State on June 25 when the case will be taken up for further hearing.

“We also direct, depending on the availability of helicopters, sufficient number of helicopters be deployed for picking up the stranded persons,” the apex court said in its order.

Although the official toll is over 150, it is feared that thousands of pilgrims staying in 90 rest houses may have been washed away.

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Agencies
May 26,2020

New Delhi, May 26: The in-fighting among the residents of housing societies over feeding of stray dogs is nowhere near ending, with yet another attack on a pregnant Russian woman again in the national capital region this time in Noida.

The Russian woman residing in a condominium in Noida's Sector 71 was allegedly attacked by two men for feeding foundling canines inside the complex.

"We have initiated an inquiry and a case has been registered against the men for voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation," Amit Kumar Singh, Station House Officer of Phase 3 police station told IANS.

The police said that the victim is married to an Indian man and they live in that society.

The issue was raked up on social media by one of the residents of the society. Her post had even solicited a response and help from the Noida Police Commissioner.

Kaveri Rana Bharadwaj wrote, "Mob led by Vikas Sharma, and Mr. Chauhan beat up a pregnant woman in Jagriti Apartment, Sector 71 Noida. Request you to immediately arrest these men and provide security to the scared woman!"

When contacted, a member of the Resident Welfare Association (RWA) of the society said that the allegations levied by her are false and that he, along with a handful of other people, had only asked her not to feed the dogs.

Vikas Sharma divulged, "The woman was called at the society gate by the members of the RWA. When she was asked not to feed the street dogs, she became aggressive, started fighting with the residents of the society and even pushed a 70-year-old woman. The complaint that she registered against us is false. We did not even touch her."

He added that there are 70-80 street dogs in the society who have lately become extremely aggressive. "The lady was asked not to feed them as people feared stepping out of their houses and getting bitten."

In another incident on Tuesday, a Greater Noida man beat up a Chinese woman for allegedly fostering a stray dog which bit his canine.

Greater Noida District Commissioner of Police Rajesh Kumar Singh told IANS that the man named Amar Pratap Singh of ATS Paradiso misbehaved with the woman after his dog was bit by another dog who she used to feed every day.

The incident happened in the wee hours of the day when the accused took his dog out for a walk. "After his dog was bitten, in a fit of rage, he misbehaved with the Chinese woman." A Non-Cognizable Report (NCR) has been registered and no arrests have been made so far, the police said.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Meerut, Jan 8: Hangman Pawan Jallad, who officials say is being considered to carry out the execution of the four Nirbhaya gangrape case convicts, on Tuesday said he is ready for the job which will send out a strong message in the society.

He said executing those who were involved in the horrific crime will bring "great relief" to him, Nirbhaya's parents and everybody else.

Earlier in the day, a Delhi court issued death warrants against all the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case and ordered that they are hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail.

The death warrant, also known as a black warrant, addressed to the office of the Tihar jail chief, was issued by Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora against Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31).

"I do not have any information regarding the execution, nobody has spoken to me yet. If anyone approaches me, I am ready to do the job. Earlier, I was asked to be ready for the execution on December 16," Pawan Jallad told reporters here.

"Those who were involved in this brutal incident must be hanged, which will send out a strong message in the society," he said.

"Hanging the Nirbhaya gangrape case convicts will certainly bring great relief to me, her parents and everybody else," he added.

Nirbhaya, a 23-year-old paramedic student, was gang-raped and brutalised on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, inside a moving bus in south Delhi by the four men, along with two others, before being dumped on the road.

She died on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

Of the six persons convicted, one allegedly committed suicide in jail and another, a juvenile, was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

When contacted, Jail Superintendent of Meerut prison V P Pandey said he has not yet received any letter from Tihar authorities.

"Last month, we had received a letter asking us to keep Pawan Jallad ready but there is no fresh communication. The Delhi court warrants were issued this evening, maybe we will get the letter for sending him by tomorrow (Wednesday)," he said.

The gangrape of 23-year-old, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya', the fearless one, sparked outrage across the country. Repulsed, people took to the streets across the country, demanding justice for her and better safety measures for women.

The case led to toughening of India's rape laws.

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News Network
July 2,2020

Lucknow, Jul 2: After a video showing health workers allegedly tossing bodies of coronavirus victims in a large pit in Karnataka, BSP President Mayawati on Wednesday stated that the incident is the "height of cruelty and insult to humanity".
The former UP Chief Minister demanded that the guilty must be punished.

"The tragedy that the bodies of COVID-19 victims being thrown into trenches in Ballari, Karnataka is the height of cruelty and an insult to humanity. Though incidents related to inhuman cruelty with corona patients are rampant but guilty of Ballari must be punished by the state government," Mayawati said in a tweet.

Also, in another tweet, she asked the Central government to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana till the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

"In order to check ignominy of starvation on account of long unprecedented hardship & unemployment due to coronavirus and the subsequent nationwide lockdown, the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna must continue not till November but till the end of the pandemic, this is the demand of BSP," she tweeted. 

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