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Union Minister inaugurates ITO skywalk in Delhi, blames AAP for delay

Agencies
October 15, 2018

New Delhi, Oct 15: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurated the ITO Skywalk in New Delhi today and accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led government of stalling it for one year.

The minister also said the Delhi government created hindrance in execution of several other projects including the Metro Phase-IV.

Mr Puri, who also inaugurated a foot over bridge at ITO, alleged that a "false narrative" was being created around these projects and some people who have nothing to do with the project are trying to take credit.

The Union housing and urban affairs minister claimed that when the Delhi government, which was supposed to provide 20 per cent of the project cost, did not give its clearance, his ministry decided to execute it on its own.

The ITO Crossing and 'W' Point Junction are the two busiest crossings in the city.

There are over 25 major offices and other institutions located in this area. Approximately, 30,000 pedestrians cross various roads around ITO Crossing and 'W' Point. The skywalk, which has been constructed with a cost of Rs. 55 crore, has six lifts.

"When I became the minister in September 2017, I was told that the skywalk project, which was cleared in 2016, was still awaiting the Delhi government's nod. We then decided to execute this project on our own," Mr Puri said.

Last week, Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) minister Satyendar Jain said none of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ministers were invited for the inauguration of the project.

According to the Union housing and urban affairs ministry, the project has been executed with the funds provided by the Centre. The PWD of the Delhi government was an executing agency.

The Delhi government issued a statement saying, "No amount of tall claims and rhetoric will be able to mislead the people of Delhi, who will finally judge, whether cutting ribbons will be a substitute for hard work."

It said that bureaucratic queries were raised about the necessity of the project and a former Delhi PWD secretary, now posted outside the city, raised questions about the need for such a project.

"His objections were, however, overruled by Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia who headed the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC), which gave its approval for providing the Delhi government share of Rs. 12 crore for the skywalk project," the statement said.

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Agencies
February 4,2020

Dirbrugarh, Feb 4: Three persons, including two BJP activists, have been arrested for allegedly attacking the residence of Union minister Rameswar Teli during anti-CAA protests in Assam, police said on Monday.

The house of Teli, Union Minister of State for Food Processing, in Upper Assam's Duliajan town was attacked on December 11 during the statewide stir against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

"Based on CCTV footages, Debajit Hazarika, Vicky Sonar and Arup Kahar were arrested. We had picked them up on Sunday," Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police, Sreejith T told PTI.

A total of 18 persons have been arrested so far for allegedly attacking Teli's house, he said.

"These three persons were also involved in pelting stones on a police party during protests in Duliajan," Sreejith said.

A BJP source confirmed that Debajit Hazarika and Vicky Sonar are party activists.

Family members of the accused have given statements to the police on the arrested persons' alleged role in violence and attacking Teli's house, sources said.

When contacted, Teli said, "I do not know for what reasons they were apprehended. But if police arrested them after proper investigation, then there must be some truth. The trio stays near my house. They always attended my programmes with their families."

A total of 88 people have been arrested so far from Dibrugarh district for their alleged involvement in violence during protests against the Act.

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News Network
August 8,2020

New Delhi, Aug 8: The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Friday directed the governments of four states -- Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, to analyse the factors driving the high COVID-19 mortality and devise ways and means to reduce the mortality.

Apart from the higher case mortality, these states account for 17 per cent of India's active cases, high daily new cases, low tests per million, and high confirmation percentage.

In a high-level virtual meeting, Bhushan advised state administrations to adhere to measures suggested by central advisories and guidelines to prevent and reduce mortality due to coronavirus infection.

According to the health ministry, 16 districts in these four states are reporting maximum virus fatalities. It includes -- Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat; Belagavi, Bengaluru urban, Kalaburagi and Udupi in Karnataka; Chennai, Kanchipuram, Ranipet, Theni, Thiruvallur, Tiruchirappalli, Tuticorin and Virudhnagar in Tamil Nadu; and Hyderabad and Medchal-Malkajgiri in Telangana respectively.

"The districts were advised to ensure that the advisories, guidelines and clinical treatment protocols issued by the Health Ministry are adopted and effectively implemented to reduce the mortality among COVID-19 patients and other preventable deaths among all sections of the people, particularly those with co-morbidities, pregnant women, the elderly and children," said the health ministry official.

"States were advised to ensure optimum capacity utilization of testing labs, increase tests per million population and reduce confirmation percentage, in addition to ensuring timely availability of ambulances with target zero refusal," the official further said.

"States were also advised to analyze availability and need for projected beds and oxygen, and plan in a timely manner. States and district administration have also been advised to ensure good infection prevention and control practices to control infection in the healthcare workers," said the official.

Principal Secretary (Health) and MD (NHM) from the four States along with district surveillance officers, district collectors, commissioners of the municipal corporation, Chief Medical Officers, and Medical Superintendent of Medical Colleges participated in the meeting.

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News Network
May 9,2020

Lucknow, May 9: The first patient to receive plasma therapy as an experimental treatment for coronavirus infection in Uttar Pradesh died following a heart attack on Saturday.

The patient, a 58-year-old doctor, was admitted at the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) here.

The doctor, who was on ventilator since the last 14 days, died on Saturday evening following a heart attack, KGMU Vice-Chancellor M L B Bhatt said.

Since he had high blood pressure and diabetes, he was under the continuous observation of doctors in the isolation ward, Bhatt said.

“The patient was in a stable condition. His lungs had improved, but he later developed urinary tract infection. Two reports of his samples came out as negative (for COVID-19) today,” the vice-chancellor said.

“He, however, suffered a heart attack around 5 pm. Despite all efforts, he could not be saved,” he said.

The doctor from Orai in Uttar Pradesh was administered plasma therapy at the state-run KGMU on April 26. He was administered the plasma donated by a doctor from Canada who was the first COVID-19 patient admitted at the hospital and later recovered.

Tulika Chandra of Blood Transfusion Department, KGMU said, "When the patient was given plasma therapy, his condition was very bad. His lungs, however, improved. But as he was an old patient with diabetes, he was kept on the ventilator.”

Convalescent Plasma Therapy is an experimental procedure for treating COVID-19 patients. In this treatment, plasma, a blood component, from a cured patient is transfused to a critically ill coronavirus patient.

The blood of a person who has recovered from COVID-19 develops antibodies to fight the virus. This therapy uses the antibodies from the blood of a cured patient to treat another critical patient.

The Union health ministry, however, had advised against considering the therapy to be a regular treatment for coronavirus, adding it should be used for research and trial purposes till there is a piece of robust scientific evidence to support its efficacy.

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