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Moily Metro ride irks commuters

October 10, 2013

Moily_MetroNew Delhi, Oct 10: Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily has kept his word to take public transport to work. He claimed that around 600 litres of fuel could be saved daily if others in the ministry followed his self-imposed austerity.

“My journey was pleasant. Hope it will start a movement,” he told a TV channel, little aware that several people were inconvenienced by his gesture. Commuters faced needless delays on their way to work. A 15-minute trip from the Race Course metro station to Central Secretariat took an hour.

Mediapersons made a beeline for Moily’s house for his comments. A five-minute walk to the Race Course station took half an hour as Moily explained how his action would spur fuel conservation at a time when the country was projected to import nearly 94 per cent of its crude in 2030.

The minister had said last month that as part of a fuel conservation drive to save $5 billion in oil import bill, he and Oil Ministry officials would take the public transport to work every Wednesday.

The first stumbling block to Moily’s initiative was the Finance Ministry, which called “ambitious” his claim to reduce the oil import bill by 3 per cent through such measures.

“While it is recognised that a conservation campaign might result in some reduction in petro product consumption, the estimates of savings projected at 3 per cent, over and above the proposed crude imports cut, appear to be ambitious,” the Finance Ministry had said. Joint secretaries Neeraj Mittal and Aramane Giridhar cycled 8 km to office. The 200-odd ministry staff also availed the public transport while most PSU staffers either took car pools or travelled by the metro or buses.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) congratulated the minister on taking a step in the right direction. “Moily, make public transport a serious business for all—the rich and the poor—to save fuel, pollution and human lives. This is a good gesture, but the intent of it must not get reduced to a gimmick. It should catalyse significant change in commuting practices in the city,” CSE said.

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Agencies
February 26,2020

Hyderabad, Feb 26: Hyderabad Police on Tuesday registered a case against well-known poet Imran Pratapgarhi for his statement asking why there was "no Shaheen Bagh in Hyderabad".

According to Charminar Police, the complaint was registered by Sub-Inspector S Guruswamy, who was on duty at the QQ Stadium on February 24 where an Ehtaji Mishaira (Poetry Program) against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register Commission and National Population Register was held.

Permission for the said event was granted by Hyderabad Additional Commissioner of Police to the program organisers with certain guidelines including that poetry program should be held on February 24 from 6 pm to 9 pm, and no speaker should give provocative speeches in the program.

However, police said that the program was started by the organisers at 6 pm and continued till 9:48 pm even after police officers asked them to end the event by 9 pm. The program was attended by around 3,000 members at QQ stadium.

According to police, while addressing the meeting Pratapgarhi said: "Mujhe hairath hai us Hyderabad mein koi Shaheen Bagh kyu nahi hai (I am surprised why there is no Shaheen Bagh in Hyderabad)", which is "provocative" and may cause fear to any section of the public.

In this regard, a case has been registered against organisers for disobeying public servants' orders and the poet has been booked for delivering provocative statements under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Further investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir took to Twitter to condemn the police action.

"Hyderabad Police booked a case against poet Imran Pratapgarhi for expressing surprise on why there is no Shaheen Bagh in Hyderabad. For police, this sentence is provocative. Is Shaheen Bagh not a part of India?," Shabbir tweeted.

"Shame on TRS Government and Hyderabad Police for targeting a poet for no-fault," he added.

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News Network
February 1,2020

New Delhi, Feb 1: India on Friday banned the export of personal protection equipment such as masks and clothing amid a global coronavirus outbreak.

It did not give a reason for the ban but it reported its first case of the new coronavirus on Thursday, a woman in Kerala who was a student of Wuhan University in China.

The central Chinese city of Wuhan is the epicentre of the outbreak, and the virus has since spread to more than 9,800 people globally and killed 213 people in China.

Several Indian citizens living in Wuhan will arrive in India by plane on Saturday and be taken to a quarantine centre on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi.

India, the world’s second most heavily populated country after China, has taken measures to ensure that all people arriving from China report to health authorities.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

The Indian Defence Ministry, which had in its document that China intruded into the Indian territory in eastern Ladakh in early May, on August 6 took down the page which it had uploaded on its website.

According to a report by news channel NDTV, the ministry, in its document, had said the Chinese aggression has been "increasing along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and more particularly in Galwan valley since May 5."

"The Chinese side has transgressed in the areas of Kungrang Nala, Gogra and north bank of Pangong Tso Lake on May 17-18," the document, titled 'Chinese Aggression on LAC' stated.

The document revealed that "... a violent face-off incident took place between the two sides on June 15, resulting in casualties on both sides."

After the clash, a second corps commander level meeting took place on June 22 to discuss the modalities of de-escalation. "While engagement and dialogue at military and diplomatic level is continuing to arrive at mutually acceptable consensus, the present standoff is likely to be prolonged," it said.

A defence ministry spokesperson told the news channel that the document "did not go through him".

The opposition Congress, meanwhile, asked the government why the report was taken down with party leader Rahul Gandhi alleging that removal of the document from websites would not change facts.

"Forget standing up to China, India's PM lacks the courage even to name them. Denying China is in our territory and removing documents from websites won't change the facts," Gandhi tweeted.

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