Central call for 3 IPS officers on Nadda duty; state says no

Central call for 3 IPS officers on Nadda duty; state says no

Trinamool MP Protests Against ‘Pressure’ Tactic

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: 13.12.2020

The Union government has “requisitioned” for central deputation the services of three senior IPS officers who supervised BJP national president JP Nadda’s Diamond Harbour rally security, prompting the Bengal government to express its “inability” to relieve them.

The central move comes two days after Thursday’s attack on Nadda’s convoy on Diamond Harbour Road and a day after the Union home ministry asked the state chief secretary and the state director-general of police to meet the Union home secretary in Delhi on Monday.

The Centre usually seeks the state’s consent before such a move, say officials in Kolkata. “These are Bengal cadre IPS officers. This is a unilateral decision taken by the Centre. Bengal, like the rest of the country, is battling a pandemic under specific laws. So, in this backdrop, the state cannot relieve these officers immediately,” a senior state official said.

The officers caught in the centre-state battle are South Bengal inspector-general of police Rajeev Mishra, Presidency Range deputy inspector-general Praveen Kumar Tripathi and Diamond Harbour superintendent of police Bholanath Pandey.

The issue also found mention in a letter Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha chief whip Kalyan Banerjee wrote to Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla on Saturday. Banerjee, also a lawyer, wrote: “You named three IPS officers for central deputation. All three IPS officers were deployed near the place of occurrence (of Thursday’s incident involving Nadda). Your motive is very clear... you want to create pressure on the officers.”

The Centre’s letter to Bengal seeking specific officers for central deputation did not have any “immediate precedence”, officials here said. One senior Bengal officer was transferred to the Union home ministry in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha poll but that move was effected by the Election Commission.

The usual procedure for central deputations starts with the state government sending its “offer list” (a panel of officers), say officials. The Centre then informs the state government which officers can go on central deputation.

3 officers not on ‘offer list’ sent by Bengal to Centre

About a dozen Bengalcadre officers are now on central deputation; they include a special director-general of police in CRPF, a joint secretary in the cabinet secretariat, two CRPF additional directors-general, a National Crime Records Bureau director and another IPS officer on deputation to the ministry of external affairs.

The three officers asked to go on central deputation were not on the “offer list” sent by Bengal to the Centre, officials here said.

The Centre wrote to all states, including Bengal, in April and November this year, mentioning that they were not sending enough officers for central deputation. Both letters added that all disputes would be referred to the Union home ministry, whose decision would be binding.

Bengal has an IPS cadre strength of around 350 officers and 75 are required to be put on the “offer list” for central deputation. But officials say Bengal works with a fewer number of IPS officers, of whom nine are still undergoing training.

“The states have always used this rationale to not allow officers to go on central deputation,” a senior state government officer told TOI.

The Centre and the Tamil Nadu government have been involved in a protracted legal case on this issue that has reached the Supreme Court. Central deputation rules stress on “concurrence” between state and central governments but they add that the Centre’s decision will be binding if there is any dispute, say officials here.

Bengal has an IPS cadre strength of around 350 officers and 75 are required to be put on the “offer list” for central deputation. But officials say Bengal works with a fewer number of IPS officers, of whom nine are still undergoing training. “The states have always used this rationale to not allow officers to go on central deputation,” a senior state government officer told TOI

Docs: Lalu’s kidneys are functioning only at 25%

Docs: Lalu’s kidneys are functioning only at 25%

Sanjay Sahay TNN

Ranchi:  13.12.2020

Doctors treating jailed RJD president Lalu Prasad on Saturday gave a grim prognosis of his hea-lth, saying the former Bihar CM’s kidneys were functioning “only at 25%” and there could be “a medical emergency” at any moment.

Dr Umesh Prasad of Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims), who is overseeing Lalu’s treatment, said the medical team’s concerns over the outcome of the latest kidney function test had been conveyed to the authorities, including the Birsa Munda jail administration.

The senior doctor, however, said 24-hour monitoring of the RJD chief ’s health helped the medical team arrest many other potential complications.

Former Union minister and Congress veteran Subodh Kant Sahay and Bihar MLA Rakesh Kumar Roshan met Lalu at the hospital on Saturday.

Eluru illness: Unanswered questions abound

Eluru illness: Unanswered questions abound

U.Sudhakarreddy@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:  13.12.2020

Despite Friday’s meeting of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy with multiple national institutions confirmed the presence of lead, nickel and organophosphates in the blood samples of patients, the mystery illness in Eluru continues to baffle the authorities.

Though AIIMS New Delhi, Indian Institute of Chemical technology (IICT) and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) have found and confirmed the presence of lead and nickel in the blood samples of residents, there is still no clarity as to how these metals have entered the human body.

Joint collector of West Godavari district Himanshu Shukla said the NIN has also found presence of organophosphate in the blood samples and sought more time to carry out the investigations. “AIIMS Delhi has tied up with other institutions to study the presence of organochlorine and organophosphates in blood,” Shukla said.

He, however, said that out of 40 urine samples sent to AIIMS Delhi, only two samples had shown the presence of lead and nickel.

He said NIN has found the presence of herbicides in vegetables. “But, the test results relating to vegetables, rice, fish, meat and soil are likely to be made available on Dec 16,” he said.

On the other hand, the TDP alleged that chlorine and bleaching powder were present in large quantities in the drinking water supplied by the government to some of the colonies. TDP president and former CM N Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the authorities have not cleaned the drinking water sources for the last one-and-a-half years. “That is why people of Eluru have taken ill after consuming the contaminated water,” he said.

Reacting to social media posts linking him to the Eluru mystery illness, Kamalapuram MLA and CM’s uncle P Ravindranath Reddy refuted the speculations and called them baseless. “I have no connection to the supply of chlorine,” he said. He accused the TDP’s social media wing of spreading misinformation and said he had already lodged a complaint with the state intelligence wing on the posts.

Meanwhile, the authorities have maintained that the water supplied to various colonies in Eluru is treated and clean. They said even the APPCB had given a clean chit to the water samples it had collected and tested.

Officials said AIIMS Delhi and the IICT have not found anything adverse in the water samples and added that water was unlikely to be the source for the mystery illness. “The water supplied in Eluru is potable and fit for human consumption. The NIN is also analysing the water samples and has requested time till Dec 14,” an official said.

STILL A MYSTERY: Patients undergoing treatment at the Eluru district hospital

PhD scholar arrested for illegally manufacturing mephedrone

PhD scholar arrested for illegally manufacturing mephedrone

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: 13.12.2020

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths busted major interstate a mephedrone manufacturing racket and arrested a PhD holder in Chemistry for manufacturing the narcotic substance. The accused has been working for a Mumbai-based cartel for the past year and he has already supplied them with 100 kilos of contraband.

The arrested accused are Srinivasa Rao, 45, a Phd holder in Chemistry and Mohammed Ashraf, an associate of Mumbai-based drug supply gang. Srinivasa Rao has been operating a small drug manufacturing unit independently for the past year based on the directions of the Mumbai-based gang.

Acting on a tip-off, sleuths of DRI’s Hyderabad Zonal Unit raided at the manufacturing unit in Jeedimetla industrial area and arrested both Srinivasa Rao and Mohammed Ashraf on Friday. The DRI team seized 3.1 kilograms of mephedrone worth ₹63.1lakh from their possession. During the subsequent searches conducted at Srinivasa Rao’s house, DRI sleuths seized ₹12.4 lakh cash and 112 grams of mephedrone samples of different purities.

Apart from mephedrone, the law enforcement agency also seized 210.5 kilos of raw materials procured by Rao from the Mumbai gang to manufacture more mephedrone at Jeedimetla lab.

“From the raw material seized, the accused could have manufactured 15-20 kilos of mephedrone,” said a DRI official. During interrogation, Srinivasa Rao confessed that he has a PhD in Chemistry and worked in the pharma sector before ‘breaking bad’. Rao also told the DRI team that he supplied over 100 kilos of mephedrone in the past year.

The DRI believes the gang is exporting the drug, apart from selling some of it in Mumbai, Goa and Delhi. The accused were produced before the court and sent to judicial remand.

State govt not accountable to Union home minister: TMC

State govt not accountable to Union home minister: TMC

Kolkata:  13.12.2020

Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmaker Kalyan Banerjee wrote to Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla on Saturday, saying that West Bengal’s chief secretary and director-general of police (DGP) were summoned to Delhi over the attack on BJP chief JP Nadda’s convoy with “political motive”, asserting that law and order is a state subject.

Banerjee, chief whip of TMC in the Lok Sabha, alleged that the Centre was resorting to coercive means to intimidate the state administration, and the top officials were summoned at the instance of the Union home minister.

BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, however, said that everyone saw how Nadda’s convoy was attacked by alleged TMC workers on December 10 and Banerjee’s letter to Bhalla has “little merit”.

“We want to inform you that law and order is within the domain of the state under 7th Schedule of the State list.... How in respect of the law and order situation you can call both the officers for any sorts of discussion?” the MP wrote. He said that in respect of law and order, the state government is accountable to the legislative assembly “but not to you or to your home minister”. PTI

BJP worker killed, 7 hurt in political clash

A BJP booth committee president, Saikat Bhawal, was killed and at least seven others were injured in an alleged Trinamool-BJP clash during the latter’s Griha Samparka Abhiyan in Halishahahr, about 25 km from Barrackpore, on Saturday, reports Sanjib Chakraborty. Three of the injured are in critical state.

Court tells AI to give £13m to Irish co over non-payment of rent on 5 leased aircraft

Court tells AI to give £13m to Irish co over non-payment of rent on 5 leased aircraft

Naomi Canton

London: 13.12.2020

Air India was on Friday ordered to pay £13 million (Rs 130 crore) to an aircraft leasing company in Dublin for non-payment of rent and related charges on five Airbus A320-200 aircraft it had leased.

India’s national flag carrier has until January 11, 2021 to make the full payment to Aircraft Limited or else it could face enforcement action.

Simon Salzedo QC, sitting as a judge of the high court, entered summary judgment against the airline for the full debt that Aircraft Limited in Dublin is claiming — $17.6 million (£13.4 million). Salzedo criticised Air India for its “unsatisfactory and discourteous conduct” by failing to respond to the application for summary judgment until after the time the skeleton arguments were due to be filed. Air India did not contest the application for summary judgment.

Full report on www.toi.in

Housewife’s road death ‘loss of future prospects’, kin to get ₹17L

Housewife’s road death ‘loss of future prospects’, kin to get ₹17L

Rebecca.Samervel@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:  13.12.2020

Ruling that compensation for “loss of future prospects” can also be granted in the case of a housewife’s death, a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) last week ordered the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) to pay around Rs 17 lakh to the husband and two minor children of a 33-year-old woman who was killed after a bus rammed into their bike at Mankhurd in 2014. “Loss of future prospects” is among the heads covered while awarding compensations in motor accident cases.

The tribunal fixed the deceased housewife’s notional salary at Rs 5,000 per month. A possible future increase in this notional monthly income was pegged at 40%, bringing the loss of future prospects to Rs 7,000 per month.

The tribunal cited a recent Supreme Court judgment and said, “The housewife who contributes for the welfare of the family and upbringing for the children must be given future prospects in as much as with the passage of time, the utility of her services increases in the family.” It stated that a housewife’s services to the family are invaluable. “The housewife renders very important duty. She looks after her husband and children passionately round the clock and creates the comfort zone in the house. In the absence of her in a house for a single day realises her importance (sic) to the other family members,” the tribunal said.

The tribunal refuted the defence that only when the housewife renders skilled services to the family does the question of future prospects come. It said that judgement does not make any distinction between a skilled and unskilled housewife. “In fact housewife is a housewife and with the passage of time her skill in tackling and handling household affairs increases,” the tribunal said, quoting the Supreme Court judgement.

While the victim’s husband and older son will each receive 30% of the compensation amount, the younger son will receive the remaining 40%.It however rejected Archana’s parentsin-law as claimants.

The motor claims tribunal fixed the housewife’s notional salary at Rs 5,000 per month. A future increase in this income was pegged at 40%, bringing the loss of future prospects to Rs 7,000 per month