Cops, Rampal aides clash; 200 injured

November 19, 2014

Rampal clashChandigarh, Nov 19: Over 200 people were injured in a clash after the Haryana Police launched a major but futile offensive on Tuesday to arrest controversial self-styled godman Rampal in his sprawling ashram in Barwala village.

The area turned into a battle zone. The police operation was met with huge resistance from Rampal’s “private army of armed commandos” who fired gunshots from inside and hurled petrol and acid bombs injuring 105 cops, including a station house officer (SHO) who was injured in the neck.

Hours after the operation, the sect spokesperson said the police action had killed four women devotees. Their bodies were on the sect premises.

The hunt for the “godman” turned the area into a warzone, but Rampal’s arrest remained unsuccessful forcing the police to put off the operation.

Soon after the operation began, the sect disclosed that Rampal was not on the 12-acre premises, but in hospital undergoing treatment. Haryana Director-General of Police S N Vashist said: “Rampal is 100 per cent inside the ashram. The operation will now only end with the arrest of Rampal.”

Mediapersons were targeted by the police in the melee. Over a dozen journalists were beaten by the police who broke their cameras, chased them with lathis and pushed them from the scene of action. The police said at least 85 sect followers were injured in the action. Dozens of ambulances kept ferrying the injured to hospitals.

The police used brute force against the agitators. Women were dragged by cops and bundled into buses.

The police resorted to tear gas shells and cane-charge to disburse the women and children who lined up outside the sect to prevent Rampal’s arrest.

Bullet shots, acid pouches and petrol bombs were thrown at the police from inside the high walls of the ashram. Later, the police stormed the ashram . The police had to retreat as they entered the inner zone of the ashram as the area had an LPG dump . Rampal’s supporters burnt an excavator that was brought to dismantle the walls.

Vashist said they received a call from inside the sect on Tuesday morning from a follower who said that many inside the premises were being forced to stay inside and defend a possible police action.

He said babies were being used as shield. Guns, pistols and rifles were used to attack the police. Retired army and policemen owing allegiance to the sect had trained youths inside for a counter-offensive.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government is now under severe criticism for letting the situation escalate. The High Court has set Friday as the deadline to arrest Rampal who is to be produced in a case of contempt of court.

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Agencies
May 17,2020

New Delhi, May 17: With the highest-ever spike of close to 5,000 cases in the past 24 hours, the COVID-19 count in India has crossed 90,000 on Sunday.

With an increase of 4,987 COVID-19 cases being reported in the last 24 hours, the count has reached 90,927, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total number of active cases in the country stands at 53,946 today, while 2,872 deaths have been recorded due to the infection so far, with one patient having migrated. 120 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

However, on the positive side, close to 4,000 patients have also been cured and discharged in the past 24 hours, taking the tally of cured patients to 34,108.

With 30,706 confirmed cases, Maharashtra remains the worst-affected by the infection in the country.

It is followed by Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, with 10,988 and 10,585 cases, respectively.
The national capital, with 9,333 cases, is also one of the regions which is badly affected by the infection.

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News Network
August 8,2020

The Kozhikode International Airport located at Karipur is not safe for the landing of flights in rainy season, according to an air-safety expert, who had warned the aviation ministry and the civil aviation regulator about this in 2011. 

The warning was particularly about the dangers of permitting passenger aircraft to land on runway 10 of the airport during rains and unfavourable wind conditions. 

Nine years later, on August 7, 2020, the warning became a reality when an Air India Express pilots landed in tailwind conditions and the aircraft overshot the tabletop runway to drop off the end and crash.

 “An aircraft landing on runway 10 in tailwind will experience poor braking action due to heavy rubber deposits … All such flights … are endangering the lives of all on board,’’ said Capt Mohan Ranganathan, in a letter sent on June 17, 2011 to then director general of civil aviation Bharat Bhushan and Nasim Zaidi, chairman of a civil aviation safety advisory committee, which was formed after the May 2010 Mangaluru air crash which killed 158 people.

“My warning issued after the Mangaluru crash was ignored. It is a table-top runway with a down slope. The buffer zone at the end of the runway is inadequate,” Capt Ranganathan said. Given the topography, he pointed out, the airport should have a buffer of 240m at the end of the runway, but it only has 90m (which the DGCA had approved). “Moreover, the space on either side of the runway is only 75m instead of the mandatory 100m,” he added.

Capt Ranganathan said there is no guideline for operations on a table-top runway when it is raining. “Runway 10 approach should not be permitted in view of the lack of runway end safety area (RESA) and the terrain beyond the end of the runway. RESA of 240m should be immediately introduced and runway length has to be reduced to make the operations safe,” his letter said.

If an aircraft is unable to stop within the runway, there is no RESA beyond the end. The ILS localiser antenna is housed on a concrete structure and the area beyond is a steep slope. “The Air India Express accident in Mangalore should have alerted AAI to make the runway conditions safe. We have brought up the issue of RESA during the initial Casac-sub group meetings. We had specifically mentioned that the declared distances for both runways have to be reduced in order to comply with ICAO Annex 14 requirement,” Capt Ranganathan said.

He said the condition of the runway strip was known to DGCA teams that have been conducting inspection and safety assessments. “Have they considered the danger involved? Did the DGCA or the airlines lay down any operational restrictions or special procedures?”

The letter also refers to Approach and Landing Accident Reduction (ALAR) training, which is supposed to be mandatory before every monsoon, but airlines don’t follow it, he said. “70% of accidents take place during approach and landing and that is why this training is essential,” he added.

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Agencies
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has termed the government decision to freeze Dearness Allowance of Central government employees for a year as "insensitive and inhuman."

The former Congress President in a tweet said: "Lakhs and crores are being spent on the Bullet Train and New Delhi's Central Vista which should have been suspended, but the government has deducted DA of Central government employees and pensioners... It is insensitive and inhuman."

"The tragic part is that by deducting this amount from January 1, 2020 up to 30th June, 2021 for a period of 1.5 years, the government of India proceeds to deduct almost Rs 38 thousand crore from the income of these middle class government employees and pensioners, who rely completely on the pay and pensions that they receive," said Randeep Surjewala, chief spokesperson of Congress.

There are about 50 lakh such serving government employees and about 62 lakh pensioners.

"Even more tragic and objectionable is the fact that the government of India has not even spared our armed forces. The government has deducted Rs 11 thousand crore of the 15 lakh serving armed forces personnel and nearly 26 lakh military pensioners. What is their fault? They are serving the nation in times of all types of crises," said Surjewala.

The Congress alleged that the government did not spare the savings scheme.

Instead of curbing the wasteful expenditure, the government has been constantly hitting at the income of government employees and the middle class, it added.

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