SC slams UP for filing draft vision document on Taj

Agencies
July 26, 2018

New Delhi, Jul 26: The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for filing a draft report of the vision document on protection and preservation of the Taj Mahal and asked whether the apex court was supposed to vet it.

A bench comprising Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government and questioned the state's concern in the matter.

"Why have you given a draft plan? Are we supposed to vet it for you? Is it our job to vet it?" the bench asked the counsel appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government.

The apex court said it was "surprising" that the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), responsible for the protection of the 17th-century monument, was not consulted in framing the draft report.

During the hearing, the bench asked Attorney General K K Venugopal whether the Centre or the concerned authorities had submitted the management plan on Taj Mahal to UNESCO's World Heritage Centre in Paris.

"What will happen if UNESCO says that we will withdraw the World Heritage tag of the Taj Mahal?" the bench asked Venugopal.

Responding to the query, the attorney general said the Taj Mahal was one of the seven wonders of the world and it would be a "great, great embarrassment" for the country if the World Heritage tag of the historic monument was withdrawn.

The apex court also asked the AG which department of the Centre and the state government was responsible for maintenance of the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ).

TTZ is an area of about 10,400 sq km spread over the districts of Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur district of Rajasthan.

The top court also asked the state government to supply the draft report to a panel of conservation experts, including INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage), for their comments.

The bench has listed the matter for further progress on the draft report of the vision document on August 28.

The apex court, which has been monitoring development in the area to protect the Taj Mahal built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal at Agra in 1643, will take up the matter on a day-to-day basis from July 31.

The ivory white marble mausoleum is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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News Network
February 14,2020

New Delhi, Feb 14: AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his swearing-in ceremony scheduled to take place at the Ramlila Maidan on February 16, senior party leader Gopal Rai said on Friday.

Rai, the convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi unit, said a letter was sent to the prime minister on Friday morning.

All seven Delhi MPs and eight newly-elected BJP MLAs have also been invited for the oath-taking ceremony, Rai told news agency.

No chief minister or political leaders from other states will be part of the event as it will be a "Delhi-specific" ceremony, Rai had said on Thursday.

Kejriwal, through front-page advertisements in newspapers, has urged Delhiites to attend his oath-taking ceremony as he is set to become the chief minister of Delhi for the third consecutive term.

Kejriwal will take oath as Delhi Chief minister along with his cabinet at Ramlila Maidan at 10 am on Sunday.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Jammu, Jan 25: People in Jammu and Kashmir expressed happiness over the restoration of mobile data services and internet access through fixed-line across the Union Territory on Saturday.

Speaking to ANI Jitendra Sharma, a resident of Jammu said, "The government has taken a good decision. People had been facing hardship for a long period and I think it will improve further."

"It is a big relief to people. People can finish their pending work. I hope that 4G services will also be resumed soon," said a resident of Kashmir.

The internet speed is restricted to 2G only.

"Access shall be limited only to whitelisted sites and not to any social media applications allowing peer to peer communication and virtual private network applications. Directions shall be effective from January 25 and will remain in force till January 31," the statement by the government read.

Earlier on January 15, 2G services were reinstated in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, and Udhampur for white-listed sites.

The Central government had suspended the internet in the region following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5 last year, which conferred special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and its bifurcation into two Union Territories -- Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

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News Network
April 11,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 11: The effective handling of Covid-19 pandemic by the Kerala Government has received a big endorsement in the International media with the latest being a report in Washington Post which suggests that the State’s success could prove instructive to the entire country.

The Washington Post quoted Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja Teacher as saying “We hoped for the best but planned for the worst. Now, the curve has flattened, but we cannot predict what will happen next week.”

"The Minister said six states had reached out to Kerala for advice. She, however, noted that it might not be easy to replicate Kerala’s lessons elsewhere," according to the Minister's office quoting the report here on Saturday.

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