Pained Pratibha gives up Pune retirement home

April 28, 2012

PrathibaNew Delhi, April 28: President Pratibha Patil on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about her decision not to move into what would have been her post-retirement accommodation in Pune. Her office said she was “pained” at allegations of her taking over land meant for “war widows” and “distortion of facts by the media.”

A controversy had broken out over the choice of land, owned by the Defence Ministry, and the scale on which the residence was being readied. An organisation of ex-servicemen in Pune had claimed that two British-era buildings would be knocked down to accommodate the building. Also, it said, the land was earmarked for war widows, an accusation the President's office claimed “led to a spiralling media attack.”

Negative reports

On Friday, the President's Office said: “She is deeply pained by the allegations about the land-grab. The negative reports about her post-retirement home were distressing and she has decided to forego her accommodation in Pune.”

“The President has not decided yet where her post-retirement home will be. She has just written to the Prime Minister her decision to forego the Pune accommodation,” an official said.

In a statement, the President's Office rebutted allegations that the land was identified for war widows, and cited examples of Ms. Patil's assistance to women and war widows in particular.

“The President has been reading and watching the unfolding of some fallacious observations regarding the accommodation in Pune, which she was to occupy after relinquishing the office of President. She chose not to react as she has always held herself answerable to the Constitution and her conscience. It was expected that once the facts were made public it would convince the concerned people. But despite clarifications given by the President's Secretariat, it is unfortunate that the misgivings continue to persist …” the statement read.

“…What has pained the President the most is the fact that she is now being portrayed by some people as one who, by agreeing to accept a defence accommodation for her post-retirement home, is insensitive to the cause of war widows and ex-servicemen. But facts are to the contrary,” the statement said.

To substantiate her concern for war widows, the statement included instances and media reports of how the President intervened and instructed various government agencies to take affirmative action. A case in point is that she, as Rajasthan Governor, instructed all District Collectors to inform her regularly of the progress in resolving the problems of war widows and that she ensured that the newly constructed ‘War Widows Hostel and Rehabilitation Centre' in Jaipur was allocated Rs. 2 crore from the Amalgamated Fund of the Governor.

The President's Office censured the media for continually running “programmes and polls” on the issue and “refusing to accept the clarification that was issued over the controversy.”

“Even after it was explained that the land owning agency will be the Ministry of Defence and that the land was never indicated as one earmarked for war widows, there was no end to the fallacious reportage. The President's Secretariat had made it clear that the land to be allotted to her was for use as her post-retirement residence only during her lifetime with no rights of ownership, transfer lease, etc.,” pointed out the official.

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News Network
March 31,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 31: Kerala Chief

Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said the government has collected the details of those who took part from the state in recent religious congregations in Nizamuddin and Malaysia and it needs to be examined if they have any health issues.

"Police have already made detailed examination in this regard. Thelist of participants have been given through respectivedistrictcollectors. Necessary precautions will be made in the concerned districts in this regard," Vijayan told reporters here.

The government has the exact number of participants and thedetails of the districts they are hailing from, he said.

Meanwhile, Pathananthitta police said they have identified 6 persons in the district in connection with the Nizamuddin congregation.

"Three persons had taken part in the congregation, of them one hadalready died. One person is in quarantine in the district while theother is located now in Thiruvananrhapuram," a senior police officialtold PTI.

The others are not participants but had travelled to Delhi along with them, he said.

In the nearby Alappuzha district, three persons have been identified in connection with the congregation, police said.

"They have been in quarantine and under the surveillance of thehealth department since they have reached back the state from Delhi," another official said.

Several people, who had attended the religious congregation at Nizamuddin in the national capital are suspected to be having symptoms of Covid19, even as at least 24 have tested positive.

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Agencies
May 30,2020

New Delhi, May 30: The Congress on Friday described the first year of the Modi government as a "year of disappointment, disastrous management and diabolical pain".

Congress leader K C Venugopal said the six years of the Modi dispensation have seen fraying of bonds of empathy, fraternity and brotherhood with increase in acts of communal and sectarian violence.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that at the end of six years, it appears the Modi government is at war with its people and is inflicting wounds on them, instead of healing them.

"It is inflicting wounds on Mother India," he said.

"This government is trying to fill coffers of the select rich and is inflicting pain on the poor," Surjewala said.

On the BJP's charge of the Congress playing politics over the COVID-19 crisis, Venugopal said the opposition party did not indulge in any politics and gave suggestions instead.

"Being a responsible opposition, it is our duty to raise the problems faced by the common people. As opposition, we highlighted the failures of the government," he said.

Venugopal said the government "is totally insensitive" to the plight of migrant labourers and farmers.

Surjewala also demanded that a virtual session of Parliament be convened immediately to discuss pressing issues and the due process be set in motion for holding of meetings of various parliamentary committees.

Modi and his cabinet had taken oath on this day last year for a second term in office.

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News Network
July 5,2020

New Delhi, Jul 5: World's largest, 10,000-bed Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre and Hospital (SPCCCH) at Radha Soami Satsang Beas in Chhatarpur area of the national capital has made operational on Sunday.

Inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal, the facility has been created on an emergency basis by the South Delhi District Administration with support of the Ministry of Home Affairs in a record time of 10 days.
Notably, this coronavirus treatment centre which is set up in Chhatarpur area of the national capital is said to be the "largest" of its kind in the world.
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"The Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre and Hospital has been developed to help the citizens of Delhi and NCR who are affected by the coronavirus. Our team of doctors and medical staffs will take care of this facility. Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre and Hospital will have 10 per cent of beds with oxygen facility," the Delhi LG said after the inaugural.
Talking about the facilities at the new coronavirus centre, Baijal further stated, "We have counsellors for mentally traumatised patients. We have a team of good psychiatrists and specialists in medicine."

The facility will function as an isolation centre for mild and asymptomatic COVID positive patients. 10 per cent of the beds will have oxygen facility in case the patient develops severe breathlessness and requires tertiary hospital care, read a statement.

Operationally, the facility has been linked to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital and Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital. The referral tertiary care hospitals are Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital.

ITBP will be running the first 2,000 beds with their 170 doctors/specialists and more than 700 nurses and paramedics, the statement added.
Most of the basic infrastructure such as beds, mattresses and linen has been donated by various civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations. 

A recreational centre has been made available to the patients along with a library, board games and skipping ropes. People admitted to the facility will be provided five healthy meals a day along with immunity-boosting chawanprash, juices and hot kadha, the statement added.

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