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Mullaperiyar: Chandy banks on Supreme Court

May 19, 2012

chandyThiruvananthapuram, May 19: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy hopes that the long-pending dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar Dam could be resolved through legal processes, as the neighbouring state has not come forward for talks.

“We are always ready for talks, either bilateral or through the Centre’s mediation. But Tamil Nadu has not agreed for that. In this situation, we expect a solution to the issue from the Supreme Court,” Mr. Chandy said.

Making the state’s position clear, he said Kerala wanted a new dam in place of the 116-year-old structure and also to maintain the water level at 136 feet.

The state was opposed to the proposal of the Supreme Court appointed Empowered Committee to raise the water level to 142 feet. Similarly, the proposal to construct a tunnel at 50 feet below the present dam to route water to Tamil Nadu was not acceptable to Kerala, Mr. Chandy said.

The construction of the tunnel will harm the state in many ways including disappearance of the reservoir itself, he said.

“While we hold on to this position, we are not asking for the scrapping of the agreement with Tamil Nadu.Nor do we want to curtail single drop of water flowing to Tamil Nadu. Our persistent stand has been water for Tamil Nadu and safety for Kerala, Mr. Chandy, who completed one year in office, told PTI.

On concerns voiced by some quarters over the panel report, he claimed that the empowered committee had in-principle accepted the demand for a new dam.

The Mullaperiyar Dam is located in Kerala’s Idduki district but managed by Tamil Nadu on a 999-year lease period. Tamil Nadu has been maintaining that the dam was safe and the water level can be raised to 142 ft.

On Tamil Nadu’s demand that the entire power to be produced from Kudankulam Nuclear Plant be allotted to it, he said Kerala was entitled to its share from the plant and it was the Centre’s responsibility to ensure that the state received it.

“It is the responsibility of the Centre to make due share available to the state,” said Mr. Chandy, who had earlier this month written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking 500 MW from the Kudankulam plant.

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News Network
May 12,2020

Srinagar, May 12: Two paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers committed suicide after shooting themselves with their service rifles in Kashmir on Tuesday.

In the first incident, a CRPF sub-inspector on Tuesday committed suicide after shooting himself with his service rifle at Mattan area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. The deceased, identified as Fatah Singh of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, had reportedly left behind a suicide note that read: “I am afraid, I may have Corona.”

Station House Officer (SHO) Akura, Mattan police station Jazib Ahmed said that they have followed the COVID-19 protocol while dealing with the body of the CRPF sub-inspector. “His samples have been taken and post-mortem conducted. Only results would confirm whether he was a COVID-19 positive,” he said.

CRPF spokesman in Srinagar Pankaj Singh said the officer had returned to his unit after performing a day-long duty. “As such, there is no evidence that he had caught COVID-19. Let’s wait for the final report. Details will be shared with the media,” Singh said.

Hours after the first incident, an assistant-sub-inspector of the CRPF posted in Srinagar also committed suicide by shooting himself dead with his service rifle.

Special Director General of CRPF, Zulfikar Hassan said they were trying to find out the reason for the two boys taking this extreme step.

Suicides and fratricide incidents are not uncommon among the CRPF and the Army personnel deployed in Kashmir. In 2006, recognising the rising fratricide and suicide cases among the armed forces, the then Defence Minister had constituted an expert group of psychiatrists under the Defence Institute of Psychological Research in order to suggest remedial measures to prevent suicide and fratricide incidents.

Over the last decade, incidents of fratricide have reportedly reduced in the Army as the force has taken measures to address the issue.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The Centre has written to all states and Union Territories stating that smartphones and tablet devices should be allowed for hospitalised Covid-19 patients so that they can interact with family and friends through video conferencing, which would provide them psychological support.

Though mobile phones are allowed in hospital wards, the missive was issued following some representation from the kin of patients alleging otherwise.

Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) in the Health Ministry Dr Rajiv Garg in the letter to the principal secretaries of health and medical education of states and Union territories said appropriate protocols for disinfecting devices and allotting timeslots can be developed by the hospital concerned to facilitate contact between patients and their family.

He underlined that administrative and medical teams should be responsive to the psychological needs of patients admitted in Covid-19 wards and ICUs of various hospitals.

"Social connection can calm down patients and also reinforce the psychological support given by the treating team. Please instruct all concerned that they should allow smartphones and tablet devices in patient areas so that the patient can video conference with their family and friends," stated the letter issued on July 29.

"Though mobile phones are allowed in the wards to enable a patient stay in touch with his or her family, we received representations from the patient families from some states stating mobile phones are not being allowed by hospital administrations because of which they were not being able to stay in contact with the patient," said Dr Garg.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6 : With a single-day spike of 56,282 new COVID-19 cases and 904 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 tally reached 19,64,537 on Thursday.

With the increase of 904 deaths, the toll due to the disease now stands at 40,699 in the country, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

The COVID-19 count includes 5,95,501 active cases and 13,28,337 cured/discharged/migrated patients.

Meanwhile, as per the MoHFW, the percentage of discharged patients stands at 67.62, while the active cases are at 30.31 in the country as of today.

The deaths reported due to the infection are currently at a little above two per cent of the total confirmed cases in the country.

Maharashtra with 1,46,268 active cases and 3,05,521 cured and discharged patients continues to be the worst affected. The state has also reported 16,476 deaths due to the infection.

Tamil Nadu has 54,184 active cases while 2,14,815 patients have been discharged after treatment in the state. 4,461 deaths have been reported due to COVID-19 in the state.

Andhra Pradesh with 80,426 active cases is the third on the list. There are 1,04,354 cured and discharged patients and 1,681 deaths reported from the state.

The national capital's active cases tally once again crossed the 10-thousand mark with 175 new cases being reported. Delhi now has 10,072 active cases and 1,26,116 cured and discharged patients. 4,044 people have lost their lives due to the disease in the Union Territory so far.

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