‘Secrecy around Parrikar's health can't be compared to Sonia Gandhi's illness'

Agencies
November 18, 2018

Panaji, Nov 18: The cloak of secrecy surrounding the illnesses of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and former Congress President Sonia Gandhi are not comparable, Congress National Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said on Saturday.

He said that while Parrikar is a Chief Minister of a state, Sonia Gandhi was neither a Prime Minister nor was she holding a cabinet post when she suffered from illness. "Sonia Gandhi was neither the Prime Minister of India, nor was a Minister in the cabinet holding a cabinet post (when the illness occurred)," Surjewala said.

Surjewala was responding to a question on whether the Congress, which is demanding a medical bulletin and a public disclosure of Parrikar`s health status, had been equally transparent when it came to relaying information about Gandhi`s prolonged illness, when she was Congress President and headed the National Advisory Council that had been set up to advise then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Surjewala said that only those in positions of power, especially as heads of state, should disclose the nature of their affliction in public interest.

"I can have five ailments. I have for example high blood pressure and I take medicine for it, but I had not disclosed it till today, till you asked me. That does not mean that I have to describe every problem that I have in the public domain. It is only when you are holding a position of power and a position of power as the head of the state (that one ought to reveal the nature of illness)," Surjewala said.

The Congress spokesperson, who was in Goa to address a press conference, also alleged that in Parrikar`s absence "power-brokers" were running amok and plundering the state`s resources, even as he questioned why a regular health bulletin updating the Chief Minister`s medical status was not being released.

Parrikar is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi for nearly nine months. He returned from New Delhi`s All-India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 14 and has not moved out of his private residence for any official event since.

Goa`s Health Minister Vishwajit Rane last month conceded that Parrikar was indeed suffering from pancreatic cancer, even though the state government has refused to release a regular medical bulletin detailing Parrikar`s health status.

The Opposition, as well ruling coalition allies, have been demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister, claiming that the administration has come to a standstill due to Parrikar`s absence.

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News Network
May 8,2020

Aurangabad, May 8: At least 15 migrant workers, who were sleeping on the railway tracks while going back to their native places, were run over by a goods train between Maharashtra's Jalna and Aurangabad, officials said on Friday.

A senior railway official confirmed that 15 migrant labourers were run over by a goods train between Jalna and Aurangabad of Nanded Divison of South Central Railway.

The official said that the incident happened around 5.30 am on Friday when the migrant workers, who were on way back to their homes and sleeping on the railway tracks.

However, it is yet not clear from where this group hailed and where they were going.

Amid the nationwide lockdown, thousands of migrant workers stranded in several other cities have started their journey to return to their native places on foot.

The interstate bus service, passenger, mail and express train services have been suspended since March 24.

The railways has started running Shramik Special trains to transport the stranded migrants to their native places since May 1.

Till Thursday railways has run 201 Shramik Special trains.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: India witnessed a single-day spike of 52,123 COVID-19 cases as the total cases in the country reached 15,83,792, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Thursday.

The total cases include 5,28,242 active cases and 10,20,582 cured/discharged cases, the Health Ministry added.

A total of 775 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 34,968.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst-affected state as it reported 9,211 new COVID-19 cases 298 deaths on Wednesday. The total number of cases is now at 4,00,651 including 2,39,755 recovered cases, 1,46,129 active cases and 14,463 deaths.

The total number of cases in Tamil Nadu reached 2,34,114.

Delhi reported 1,035 COVID-19 cases yesterday, taking the total number of cases in the national capital to 1,32,275.

The total number of COVID-19 samples tested up to July 29 is 1,81,90,382 including 4,46,642 samples tested yesterday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

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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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