PM dedicates India's largest blast furnace plant to nation

May 10, 2015

Burnpur (West Bengal), May 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dedicated to the nation the upgraded IISCO Steel Plant (ISP), that houses the country's largest blast furnace and has been modernised by the central government at a cost of Rs.16,000 crore.India blast furnace

After modernisation, the plant's production capacity has increased from 0.85 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 2.9 mtpa.

"With immense joy I dedicate to the nation the modernised and expanded IISCO steel plant in Burnpur," Modi said at the function, attended by West Bengal Governor K.N.

Tripathi, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, union Minister of State for Steel Narendra Singh Tomar, union Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo, senior bureaucrats and eminent persons.

Describing the prime minister together with all the chief ministers as "Team India", Modi said the plant showcased that centre and states together can solve all issues.

"This modern plant is an example of how Team India will take the country forward. This plant which was sick, is now standing powerfully on its feet. If the chief minister (Banerjee), the state (West Bengal) government had created hurdles, this wouldn't have been possible.

"This is the effort of team India that we are dedicating this plant to the country," said Modi at the function held at Asansol Polo Ground in Burdwan district.

Tomar said ISP has been reborn.

"(It) has the nation's largest blast furnace with a capacity to produce 2.9 million tonnes of steel. In times to come, the capacity of this steel plant will be increased," he said, adding India plans to attain a capacity to produce 300 million tonnes of steel by 2025 to meet industry demand.

"SAIL has set a target to achieve a production capacity of 50 million tonnes. As its capacity increases, West Bengal will benefit from it," he said.

The minister said the Durgapur steel plant of SAIL in the same district is also very old. "When the expansion and modernisation phase of the Durgapur plant starts, there will be an investment of Rs.35,000 crore in West Bengal."

Banerjee urged the central government to speed up the process of expanding SAIL's operations in Durgapur.

She recalled that there were talks of privatising IISCO in the past."This made the IISCO workers very downcast. In 1998, when we were supporting from outside the first NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, we had asked for a Bengal package. There we demanded that IISCO be modernised. It was then that the project was approved. The work that began in 2006-7 has now been completed."

Banerjee's Trinamool Congress said on its official Twitter handle that the state government has given 3,000 acres of land for the modernisation of the IISCO plant and another project by SAIL.

Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) was taken over by the central government in 1972 as part of a nationalisation drive and made a fully-owned subsidiary of SAIL in 1978. It was thereafter renamed ISP.

The revamped plant in Burnpur is spread across 953 acres. It is the fifth integrated steel plant of SAIL.

A statement from SAIL said: "The modernised and expanded plant would produce high quality steel rebars including earthquake-resistant grades, wire rods and universal sections, including parallel flanged beams, for fulfilling the need of India's growing infrastructure and construction sector."

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Agencies
April 14,2020

Mumbai, Apr 14: Activist and scholar Anand Teltumbde was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday after he surrendered before it in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.

Teltumbde surrendered at the NIA office at Cumbala Hill in south Mumbai following the Supreme Court's directives.

He was subsequently arrested by the NIA and shall be produced before a court here shortly, an official said.

Earlier, the scholar reached the NIA office in the afternoon along with his wife Rama Teltumbde and brother-in- law and Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar.

Anand Teltumbde is the grandson-in-law of Dalit icon Dr B R Ambedkar, whose 129th birth anniversary is being observed on Tuesday.

Civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha, a co-accused in the case, also surrendered before the NIA in Delhi. His anticipatory bail plea was also rejected by the apex court.

According to the official, Navlakha will be produced before the court in Mumbai through video conference.

The Supreme Court on March 17 this year rejected the pre-arrest bail pleas of Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha, and directed them to surrender before the investigating agency.

Teltumbde, Navlakha and nine other civil liberties activists have been booked under the stringent provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for having alleged Maoist links and conspiring the overthrow the government.

The apex court while rejecting Teltumbde and Navlakha's bail pleas on March 17, directed them to surrender before the prosecuting agency withing a period of three weeks.

The duo later sought extension of the time.

On April 9, the Supreme Court extended the time by one week by way of last chance.

The activists were booked initially by Pune Police following violence that erupted at Koregaon-Bhima there.

According to police, the activists made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements at the Elgar Parishad meet held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which triggered violence the next day.

The police also said these activists were active members of banned Maoist groups.

The case was later transferred to NIA. Teltumbde and Navlakha were given interim protection by the Bombay High Court while their pre-arrest bail pleas were being heard.

After the high court rejected their applications, the duo approached the Supreme Court.

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News Network
January 17,2020

New Delhi, Jan 17: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia does not have any car on his name, according to information shared in the poll affidavit filed by him for Delhi elections.

In the affidavit, it is also shown that while his self-acquired immovable property remained roughly the same as in 2015. His wife's self-acquired immovable property is worth roughly about Rs 65 lakh, as per his latest affidavit.

In the papers submitted during the nomination for 2015 Delhi polls, the senior AAP leader had declared that he owned a Maruti Swift car of make 2013.

However, in his 2020 affidavit, he has mentioned "nil" in the column for motor vehicles and other means of transport.

In the affidavit submitted on Thursday, his moveable assets were declared worth Rs 4,74,888 for 2018-19, as against Rs 4,92,624 for 2013-14.

In 2015, Sisodia had informed in his affidavit that he had bought a property in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, worth Rs 5.07 lakh in April 2001. The approximate current market value of self-acquired property in 2015 was Rs 12 lakh.

In his current affidavit, the AAP leader has mentioned the same property. However, the approximate current market value of self-acquired property in 2020 has increased to Rs 21 lakh.

In his affidavit for the 2015 polls, Sisodia had also said that his wife had purchased a property in March 2008 costing Rs 8.70 lakh. At that time, the approximate value of her self-acquired property was Rs 20 lakh.

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Agencies
February 5,2020

New Delhi, Feb 5: Days after a gunman opened fire in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of anti-CAA movement, YouTuber Gunja Kapoor was detained at the protest site on Wednesday after she was caught covertly filming the protests in a burqa.

Kapoor runs the channel ‘Right Narrative’ on YouTube and her pinned tweet on Twitter says she is followed on the microblogging site by PM Narendra Modi.

According to police, the protesters turned suspicious after Kapoor asked them "too many questions". She was caught by some of the women protesters after they identified her as the popular YouTuber. The incident led to a commotion at Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a senior police official said.

She was taken to Sarita Vihar police station where her identity was ascertained, police said.

The incident sparked outrage on social media. Many took to Twitter to question why Kapoor was at the protest in disguise. Others expressed concern about her motives at secretly filming the protests.

Meanwhile, praises flew in for the women of Shaheen Bagh who can be seen defending Kapoor from angry protesters after she was caught.

This is not the first time that a right wing social media activist has landed in trouble in Shaheen Bagh where residents and other women and children have been sitting in protest for nearly two months since the passing of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 in December last year.

In January, Deepa Sharma had posted videos online about the "traumatic" experience she had when she was allegedly heckled and harassed by Shaheen Bagh protesters. While the woman's claim could never be verified, other pieces of rampant fake news aimed at delegitimising and villainising protesters has taken social media by storm.

From doctored videos of women protesters allegedly accepting they were paid Rs 500 to attend protests to alleged fights over biriyani and anti-India sloganeering, trolls on social media seem to be working overtime to taint the ongoing protests.

The latter, however, show no signs of giving up. In fact, as Delhi nears elections on February 8, protesters have arranged for music performances by eminent artists, including pop celebrity Prateek Kuhad, till February 7.

Sit in protests take place 24x7 with women showing up in thousands to spend the night and sing songs of protest. And with polls around the corner, the protests have become an active part of political discourse with Aam Aadmi Party's Manish Sisodia expressing his support for the protesters at a recent press conference.

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