Govt may go slow on Telangana to douse Seemandhra anger; no deadline for GoM report

October 9, 2013

GoM_reportNew Delhi, Oct 9: In a move to pacify protesters in the coastal region of the state, the Centre on Tuesday signalled that it would slow the process of splitting Andhra Pradesh, setting up a group of ministers for the bifurcation but not giving it a deadline to submit a report.

The Congress party has been caught off balance by the intensity of protests in Seemandhra, the part of Andhra left behind after the government conceded the long-pending demand for the creation of Telangana. Its own chief minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy, has opposed the breakup of the state but refused to quit, virtually daring the party to risk sacking him ahead of general elections next year.

The home ministry had originally proposed a six-week deadline for the GoM to submit its findings, but this did not find favour with a government desperate to show that while it wants to create Telangana, there is still scope to accommodate some demands of the dissenters.

The GoM, likely to be headed by home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, will divide the assets of Andhra and determine the boundaries of Telangana and Seemandhra with reference to electoral constituencies, and split judicial and statutory bodies, and other administrative units.

One reason the Congress wants to split Andhra is to minimise electoral losses in the state after popular leader Jaganmohan Reddy left the party in 2010. It reckons it will sweep a newly created Telangana, and pick up a few seats in a multi-cornered contest in Seemandhra. Telangana will have 17 Members of Parliament and Seemandhra, 25.

But things have gone from bad to worse over the past few days.

"It seems the Centre trusted the state's political leadership to explain the mechanics of the division to the people. But the AP chief minister is trying to sabotage the central decision," said Gautam Pingle, former Director, Center for Public Policy at Administrative Staff College of India.

One of the options before the government is to impose President's rule in the troubled state, though Shinde categorically denied any such move. With elections approaching, the Congress would not like to give the Opposition a stick to beat it with.

There is a precedent of forming a new state under President's rule:  Haryana in 1966. But given the bitter feud among pro and anti-Telangana parties, this time such a move will also be vulnerable to a legal challenge.

The Congress started the day by trying to discredit two of its bête noires in the state -- former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and Jaganmohan Reddy -- by showing they had actually supported the split  before professing to oppose it.

Congress spokesperson Digvijaya Singh released letters written by Naidu in 2008 and 2012 and Reddy in 2012 expressing their support for Telangana. The two leaders are on indefinite fasts to protest the bifurcation of the state.

After the announcement of the GoM, Singh appealed to the people of Seemandhra to give up their protests "so that a healthy dialogue process can move forward and a solution that will benefit both the sides be arrived at".

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June 7,2020

Bhopal, June 7: In a shocking incident of medical cruelty, an 80-year-old man was tied to a hospital bed in Madhya Pradesh after he allegedly failed to make payment of fees for his treatment. The incident took place at the City Hospital in Shajapur.  

The hospital, however, claimed that he was having convulsions and as a result had his hands and legs tied so that he could not hurt himself.

The man’s family members have accused the hospital authorities of resorting to the heinous act after they failed to pay a fee of Rs 11,000 for his treatment at the. 

“We had deposited a bill of Rs 5,000 at the time of admission but when the treatment took a few more days, we did not have the money to pay the bill,” his daughter told the channel.

The hospital, however, maintained that the man was shackled because he was suffering from an electrolyte imbalance. “He was having convulsions because of electrolyte imbalance,” an unidentified doctor said. “We tied him so that he could not hurt himself.” 
The doctor claimed the hospital had waived off the man’s bill on “humanitarian grounds”.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took cognizance of the matter and promised strict action against the hospital authorities. 

The Shajapur administration has also ordered an inquiry and has sent a police team to the hospital for investigation, the district collector told media persons.

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March 31,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 31: Kerala Chief

Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said the government has collected the details of those who took part from the state in recent religious congregations in Nizamuddin and Malaysia and it needs to be examined if they have any health issues.

"Police have already made detailed examination in this regard. Thelist of participants have been given through respectivedistrictcollectors. Necessary precautions will be made in the concerned districts in this regard," Vijayan told reporters here.

The government has the exact number of participants and thedetails of the districts they are hailing from, he said.

Meanwhile, Pathananthitta police said they have identified 6 persons in the district in connection with the Nizamuddin congregation.

"Three persons had taken part in the congregation, of them one hadalready died. One person is in quarantine in the district while theother is located now in Thiruvananrhapuram," a senior police officialtold PTI.

The others are not participants but had travelled to Delhi along with them, he said.

In the nearby Alappuzha district, three persons have been identified in connection with the congregation, police said.

"They have been in quarantine and under the surveillance of thehealth department since they have reached back the state from Delhi," another official said.

Several people, who had attended the religious congregation at Nizamuddin in the national capital are suspected to be having symptoms of Covid19, even as at least 24 have tested positive.

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March 3,2020

New Delhi, Mar 3: Delhi's Tihar Prison authorities had made all necessary preparations for the hanging of four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape-and-murder case which was scheduled for Tuesday, officials said Monday.

However, on Monday evening, a city court deferred the hanging till further orders.

Postponing the execution, Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said the hanging cannot be carried out pending disposal of Pawan Gupta's mercy plea before the President, observing any condemned convict must not meet his "Creator" with grievance against courts for not acting fairly on the opportunity to exhaust legal remedies.

"We had made all the necessary arrangements for the execution of the four convicts which was scheduled for Tuesday at 6 AM. Now, the execution has been postponed and we are waiting for the further order by the court," a senior jail official said.

The hanging of the four men -- Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan -- who are lodged in Tihar jail, was fixed for March 3 in Tihar jail on a court order.

"We had checked the ropes. Hangman was called and dummy executions were carried out," another senior jail official said.

Barring Pawan, the other three had in the previous weeks moved curative petitions and mercy pleas which were all dismissed.

The first date of execution -- January 22 -- fixed on January 7 was postponed by the court to February 1. But on January 31, the court indefinitely postponed the hanging. On February 17, the court again issued fresh date for execution of death warrants for March 3 at 6 AM.

The court in its orders observed that the four convicts cannot be hanged since a mercy plea of one or the other convict was pending.

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