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RTI activist rejects Modi's claim of 1880 cr spent on Sonia's foreign tours

[email protected] (NDTV)
October 2, 2012

Modi_Claim_fake

Ahmedabad, October 2: At a rally in Gujarat today, Chief Minister Narendra Modi said that the Centre has spent 1880 crores on foreign trips made by Sonia Gandhi, the Congress president.

The Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhwadia retaliated by saying that Mr Modi should get a Nobel Prize for lying. And the RTI activist whose information was cited by Mr Modi has also refuted the Chief Minister's conclusion.

"He should apologise for false and baseless statement," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

"I do not know where he got this information from. As far as Narendra Modi is concerned, vitriol and untruth come naturally to him. This is his mindset. As the Gujarat election is approaching, he feels the groundswell of support (is) in our favour, and he his losing his sense of balance," Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said.

At his rally, two days before Mrs Gandhi's scheduled visit to Gujarat, the chief minister said, "To those Congress friends, who are accusing our government of uncontrolled expenditure, I want to ask: is it not true that on the foreign travels of the President of the Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, in the past three years, Rs 1,880 crore has been spent from the public exchequer."

He added, "This clearly means that more than the total yearly budget of Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Rajkot Municipal Corporation combined has been spent only on the foreign trips of Sonia Gandhi and on her luxury hotel stays."

Mr Modi cited a report in a local vernacular paper that said the expenditure on Mrs Gandhi's trips had been revealed through a Right to Information applicant based in Haryana. However, the activist, Ramesh Verma, told NDTV that the chief minister has incorrectly attributed the details to him. Mr Verma said that in June, the Central Information Commission, based on his appeal, asked the Prime Minister's Office to reveal expenses on Mrs Gandhi's official tours; however, he said, those documents have still not been shared.

"I never got any information from the RTI. I don't know where Narendra Modi got this information. I did not give any interview and facts to anyone. Nobody has contacted me yet. I think Modi should give clarification on it," Mr Verma said.

Mr Modi has claimed that the Congress is trying to suppress facts by not releasing the information and that if he is proven wrong, he will apologise.

Gujarat votes later this year; Mr Modi is on a pre-election state-wide tour. Mrs Gandhi will launch the Congress campaign in the state by addressing a rally of farmers in Rajkot.


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News Network
April 20,2020

Mumbai, Apr 20: At least 53 media persons from Mumbai have tested positive for coronavirus, a city civic official said on Monday.

During a special camp organised at the Azad Maidan here on April 16 and 17 for COVID-19 testing of scribes, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) collected swab samples of 171 mediapersons, including electronic and print media journalists, photographers and cameramen.

“Out of the 171 mediapersons, 53 tested positive for coronavirus,” BMC spokesperson Vijay Khabale said, adding that most of those who tested positive are asymptomatic at present.

All the mediapersons found infected with coronavirus will be kept in isolation and a process was underway to find out suitable places to the purpose, he said.

Efforts were also on to trace their high and low risk contacts.

Till Sunday, Mumbai recorded 2,724 coronavirus cases and 132 deaths due to the disease.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

Ahmedabad, Aug 6: In a major incident, a fire broke out in a Covid-designated hospital in Ahmedabad killing eight coronavirus patients. The mishap occurred in the wee hours of Thursday.

All the victims were in the ICU ward, where the fire is said to have started. Officials said that they all died on the spot while 41 other patients were shifted to other hospitals following a rescue operation. One paramedic staff of the hospital who tried to douse the fire sustained burn injuries.  

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who is also the health minister, said that primary information has revealed that fire was caused by the short circuit in the ICU ward where eight patients were under treatment. 

He said that 41 other patients were shifted to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel hospital. The incident happened at Shrey Hospital in Navrangpura which is one of the Covid-19 designated hospitals. Over 300 patients have recovered at the hospital in the last two months.

Among the victims were five men and three women. They have been identified as Arif Mansuri, Narendra Shah, Manu Rami, Leelvati Shah, Navneet Shah, Jyoti Sindhi, Manu Rami and Ayesha Tirmizi  

Following the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, "Saddened by the tragic hospital fire in Ahmedabad. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Spoke to CM @vijayrupanibjp Ji and Mayor
@ibijalpatel Ji regarding the situation. Administration is providing all possible assistance to the affected."

Soon after the tweet, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani ordered a probe into the matter to be conducted by Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Home, Sangeeta Singh and ACS (Urban Development) Mukesh Puri. 

They have been asked to submit a report in three days. Meanwhile, the hospital building has been sealed for further investigation. 

The chief minister has ordered a report within three days.

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News Network
March 10,2020

New Delhi, Mar 10: A military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) brought back 58 Indians from coronavirus-hit Iran on Tuesday, official said.

The aircraft, a C-17 Globemaster, was sent to Tehran on Monday evening.

About 2,000 Indians are living in Iran, a country that has witnessed increasing numbers of coronavirus cases in the last few days.

"The IAF aircraft has landed. Mission completed. On to the next," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted.

In an earlier tweet, he said, "First batch of 58 Indian pilgrims being brought back from Iran. IAF C-17 taken off from Tehran and expected to land soon in Hindon."

"Thanks to the efforts of our Embassy @India_in_Iran and Indian medical team there, operating under challenging conditions. Thank you @IAF_MCC. Appreciate cooperation of Iranian authorities. We are working on the return of other Indians stranded there (sic)," Jaishankar added.

The aircraft landed at Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad, from where the passengers were take to a medical facility.

According to latest reports, 237 people have died of novel coronavirus in Iran while the number of positive cases stands at around 7,000.

It is the second such evacuation by the C-17 Globemaster in the last two weeks.

On February 27, 76 Indians and 36 foreign nationals were brought back from the Chinese city of Wuhan by the aircraft of the Indian Air Force.

The C-17 Globemaster is the largest military aircraft in the IAF's inventory. The plane can carry large combat equipment, troops and humanitarian aid across long distances in all weather conditions.

Four days ago, a Mahan airline plane brought swab samples of 300 Indians from Iran to India.

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