Oppn uproar in RS over missing Coal Ministry files

August 19, 2013

Coal_MinistryNew Delhi, Aug 19: Opposition today vociferously raised in the Rajya Sabha the issue of crucial files of Coal Ministry going missing, alleging that it was a conspiracy to save the Prime Minister in the multi-crore coal block allocation scam being probed by the CBI.

The opposition sought to corner the government by demanding a statement from Prime Minister or Coal Minister on the issue.

Responding to the demand, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla assured the House that Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal will make a statement on the issue but gave no time frame.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Dharmendra Pradhan (BJP) said such an incident has never happened earlier and the government needs to reply.

"This is a very serious issue...Nothing can be more condemnable. This is a conspiracy...It is an attempt to save the Prime Minister," said Pradhan, wondering if the coal department had a hand in missing of files to brush under the carpet irregularities by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who earlier held the Coal portfolio.

Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said, "There are three powerful targets of investigation and suddenly the files are missing...the government must respond to this...Otherwise you eliminate the evidence and then say no crime is committed."

Jaitley said, "There are three important targets of investigation - the beneficiaries who benefited from coal block allocations, the screening committee which allotted the mines and the Minister, the Minister's office and the Prime Minister's Office."

As BJP created uproar over the issue, Shukla said, "We will apprise the Minister and he will make a statement in the House."

While BJP insisted that the Coal Minister or the Prime Minister should come to the House and reply, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien observed that the matter is a Zero Hour issue and the government is not obliged to answer.

Pradhan said, "CBI is carrying out a probe into the matter, Government of India is trying to obstruct it. It is an attempt to save the Prime Minister."

He sought to know from the government as to who were responsible for the missing files.

He alleged that a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore was caused to the state exchequer and the Law Minister had to resign while trying to tinker with the CBI affidavit.

Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP) said this is a serious issue, alleging, "It is an attempt to hide a big scam."

"It acquires all the seriousness. The Minister or the Prime Minister should have come to the House to make a statement," said Venkaiah Naidu, asking the Chair to give a direction to the government to make a statement.

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News Network
April 30,2020

Hyderabad, Apr 30: A 45-day-old baby boy, who tested positive for COVID-19 when he was 20-days-old, was discharged from a state-run hospital here on Wednesday after his full recovery.

The baby from Mahabubnagar, who contracted the infection from his father, was 20-days-old at the time of admission (on April 4), a COVID-19 bulletin said.

He was discharged after being cured, it said. The baby, probably the youngest to contract the infection in the country, was treated at the state-run Gandhi hospital in the city.

State Health Minister E Rajender expressed happiness over the baby being discharged after recovery.

An official release said 35 people were discharged today and 13 of them were children.

Those who were discharged thanked the doctors and medical personnel of the hospital and the minister has lauded the doctors and other medical staff for their efforts, it said.

Among those undergoing treatment at the hospital, 10 are being treated in the ICU.

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Agencies
May 1,2020

New Delhi, May 1: The Centre has finalsed the criteria for delimitation of various zones after May 3. It has identified at least 130 districts as red zones, 284 orange zones and 319 green zones.

According to a letter written by Health Secretary Preeti Sudan to the Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs, all the states have to delineate the containment areas and buffer zones in the identified red and orange zone districts and notify the same.

The letter said, the national capital has at least 11 red zones, Uttar Pradesh 19 red zones, 36 orange zones and 20 green zones while, the state of Haryana has 2 red zones, 18 orange zones and 2 green zones.

The Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh has been identified as a red zone district while, Ghaziabad has been designated as an orange zone. The national capital has no orange and green zone; there are only red zones according to the letter.

In Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nashik come in the red zone.

In West Bengal, Kolkata, Howrah, 24 Parganas -- both North and South have been identified as red zones while Hooghly, Nadia, Murshidabad etc have been marked as orange zones.

In the southern part of India, Kerala has 2 red zones and 10 orange zones, while Tamil Nadu has 12 red zones and 24 orange zones.

The Health Secretary said that the list will be revised on a weekly basis or earlier and communicated to states for further follow-up action in consonance with the directions issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 based on field feedback and additional analysis at state level, states may designate additional red or orange zones as appropriate.

However, states may not relax the zonal classification of districts classified as red or orange as communicated by the Ministry. This classification is multi-factorial and takes into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback to classify the districts.

A district will be considered under green zone, if there are no confirmed cases so far or there is no reported case since the last 21 days in the district.

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March 24,2020

Gautam Buddh Nagar, Mar 24: As many as 96 First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered and more than 2000 challans issued in Noida yesterday for violation of lockdown rules, police said. The lockdown was imposed in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus, which has taken more than 14000 lives across the globe.

The FIRs were registered against people for allegedly flouting Section 144 and not adhering to the orders of the state government for staying indoors.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday stated that all borders adjoining Uttar Pradesh should be completely sealed.

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