Panel to scrutinise govt tenders above ₹50 crore

Panel to scrutinise govt tenders above ₹50 crore

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:09.11.2021

To bring transparency and avoid irregularities in the tendering of government works, the Karnataka government has decided to subject tenders costing Rs 50 crore and above to scrutiny by an independent committee headed by a retired judge of the high court.

The state cabinet took a decision in this regard at its meeting here on Monday. Besides the retired high court judge, the committee will have two members with expertise in finances and technical field. “All tenders costing Rs 50 crore and above will go before the committee and they should be cleared in 15 days,” said state law and parliamentary affairs minister JC Madhuswamy.

Sand mining policy gets approval

The set government up two such has committees decided to to speed up the process of scrutiny. Currently, each department has a panel of its own to scrutinise the tenders. But allegations of overestimation of budget, tweaks in qualification of bidders and taking up works deemed not necessary have put a question mark on the functioning of these committees. “The new system will address all these issues,” said Madhuswamy.

The cabinet cleared a sand-mining policy, which seeks to empower gram and taluk panchayats to dispose of sand mined in their jurisdiction.

Under the policy, gram and taluk panchayats can sell sand extracted from streams and lakes at Rs 300 a tonne. Similarly, Mysuru Mines and Minerals and Hatti Gold Mines have been empowered to extract sand from riverbeds and sell it in south and north Karnataka regions, respectively. The sand extracted from rivers will be priced at Rs 700 a tonne. The initiative will help GPs financially as 25% of the royalty will go to them.

SC: States withdrawing consent to CBI ‘not desirable position’

SC: States withdrawing consent to CBI ‘not desirable position’

‘Need To Examine Issues Of Permission Recalls, Court Stays’

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:09.11.2021

Expressing concern over eight states withdrawing their general consent granted earlier for CBI probe within their territories and allowing the agency to probe only 18% of the 150 requests made from 2018 to June, 2021, the Supreme Court on Monday said “it is not a desirable position” and decided to examine the issue.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M M Sundresh took note of an affidavit filed by CBI director S K Jaiswal that informed the court that the CBI’s functioning as an investigating agency and also as a prosecuting authority was being hampered with West Bengal, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram having withdrawn their general consent, forcing the agency to approach the states to get consent on a case-tocase basis, which “is time consuming and at times may be detrimental to timely and prompt investigation”.

Directed by the court to place a “report card” on the CBI’s efficiency as a prosecuting agency, the director said that some of the cases in which permission was denied involved high-stake financial matters with a bearing on the economy. He also said that delays in trials were also caused by stays granted by HCs and furnished details of 367 cases in which proceedings were stayed, some of them in the 1990s.

The bench said that both the issues — states not granting sanction for probe and courts passing stay orders — needed to be examined and issued notice to all states and high courts concerned. The bench referred the case to the Chief Justice to decide on registration of a fresh PIL and for adjudication of the issues raised by the CBI director by an appropriate bench.

Additional solicitor general Sanjay Jain and advocate Sanjay Tyagi, appearing for the CBI, said that the problem faced by the agency was because of the “peculiar nature” of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946 which regulates the CBI. As per the law, the CBI requires the consent of a state government to conduct investigations within its territorial jurisdiction.

“Requests in approximately 78% of cases were pending, which mainly pertained to bank frauds of high magnitude impacting the economy of the country. The delay caused in taking up cases by the CBI due to any of the reasons mentioned above, at times, leads to destruction or dissipation of evidence. This is detrimental not only for the investigation by the CBI but also for subsequent prosecution of cases,” Jaiswal said. He said that the CBI’s legal department was at present handling 13,291 appeals pending in sessions courts, HCs and the SC. He also gave details of pending trials in 9,757 cases — in 500 cases trial had been pending for more than 20 years and in 921 cases for 15-20 years.

Times View: This is what happens when there’s mistrust over the functioning of central agencies. That’s why it is important that agencies are not seen as partisan and do a professional job. States too should only raise objections when necessary, rather than try to score political points.

Kumbh mela Covid testing scam: Main accused nabbed from Noida

Kumbh mela Covid testing scam: Main accused nabbed from Noida

MS Nawaz@timesgroup.com

Haridwar:  09.11.2021

A special investigation team (SIT) on Monday arrested Mallika and Sharat Pant, co-owners of Max Corporate Services, the firm accused of conducting over 1 lakh fake Covid tests during the Kumbh mela at Haridwar earlier this year.

The Pants, who are main accused in the matter, had been evading arrest for the past few months and had been declared 'proclaimed offenders’ by court. They were arrested early morning from their residence in sector 49, Noida. They had also applied for anticipatory bail over a week ago, but their plea was turned down by the Uttarakhand high court.

‘Technical snag’ administers 2nd dose to many on paper

VACCINATION DRIVE

‘Technical snag’ administers 2nd dose to many on paper

VMC Officials Unaware Of The Reason For Glitch

Sachin.Sharma@timesgroup.com

Vadodara:  09.11.2021

The Vadodara city boasts of having the highest percentage of vaccinated persons who have taken both doses of Covid-19 vaccine. But creating doubts regarding this claim are several cases of persons getting certificates for the second dose even when they have not got it.

Covid-19 vaccination in the city had been a largely smooth affair after the hiccups when the vaccination of all adults had started. Incidents, when vaccination was low as doses were not available, have also gone down. But now, a new row has cropped up over certificates of second vaccination being issued without the dose being given.

Ravi Barot, a resident of Gorwa, got the message and the certificate regarding the second dose last month. “I was busy with work regarding property tax on the day I was shown to have taken the second dose. The certificate was complete with the name of the vaccine, date and the name of the vaccinator,” he said.

Barot is not an exception. Such cases are being reported from across the city.

Nilesh Mohite, who was part of a team that organised a vaccination camp said that many who were vaccinated on the camp held on July 11 got messages. “A few persons told me about this initially. Then I happened to meet a functionary from Sanstha Vasahat where the camp was held. He told me that many people were approaching him with similar issues,” said Mohite.

Congress worker from Tandalja, Wasim Sheikh, too said that there were many such cases in Tandalja. “I have gathered details of such persons who met me too,” he said.

The second dose messages and certificates are believed to be snags much like the initial phase of the drive when persons who did not take vaccines got messages. At that time even those who had died were shown as vaccinated.

Vadodara Municipal Corporation’s medical officer (health) Dr Devesh Patel said that the exact reason was not known, but certificates were being generated on their own in some cases. “We ensure that in such cases, the person takes the dose,” said Patel.

Nine flights delayed from city airport

Nine flights delayed from city airport

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:  09.11.2021

Some nine flights from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in Ahmedabad were delayed on Monday.

These included flights to Bagdogra, Bhopal, Kochi, Amritsar, Mumbai, Varanasi, Goa, Jaipur and Chennai, which were delayed due to operational constraints. These flights were delayed by 30 to 240 minutes.

‘Little girls don’t know what rape is, can’t resist’

CHILD PREDATOR

‘Little girls don’t know what rape is, can’t resist’

After Raping Seven-Year-Old, He Decided To Hunt For More

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:09.11.2021

Vijay Thakor, the man arrested by Gandhinagar police for allegedly raping three minor girls and murdering one of them, told police that he stalked little girls as they did not know about rape and would not even be able to say what had happened to them.

He said he targeted small girls because they could not resist. He said he realized this after he raped the first girl, seven years old, who he overpowered easily and no one even found out about his crime.

“The accused targeted small girls as they could not resist and he felt they would also not be able to tell anyone,” an investigator said.

He said that Thakor has a six-yearold daughter and his wife is seven months pregnant. For the past 15 days he could not have sex with his wife and decided to hunt for small girls.

“When he raped the first girl ten days ago, she could not resist and nor did anyone find out about the incident, so he felt emboldened and decided to hunt for more,” said the cop.

On Diwali day, he lured away a five-year-old girl with the promise of new clothes, raped her and dumped her.

“He was further emboldened and thought he could keep hunting for such girls,” said a cop.

The police officer said there was garba organized in a village near his on the night of New Year’s, November 6.

“He saw some young girls doing garba and then went looking for his next target. He roamed about in a few villages but people were awake due to the festival. He only found a sleeping tribal family of about eight near Santej Crossroads. Thakor saw the three-year-old girl sleeping next to her five-year-old brother and picked her up,” said the police officer.

He took the girl to a secluded place but as she woke up, he pressed her mouth and nose for around a minute after which she stopped moving. “The girl may have died by itself. Thakor then raped her, or more likely her body,” said a police officer.

When he was caught, he told the cops that after raping the body, he duped her in the culvert where she was found on Sunday.

Overflowing lakes inundate Avadi, Tambaram

Overflowing lakes inundate Avadi, Tambaram

Residents Demand Deployment Of Special Officers To Drain Out Water From Their Areas

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 09.11.2021

Several areas in the newly formed corporations outside the city limits -- Avadi and Tambaram -- have been inundated with rainwater flooding the streets and entering homes for the second day on Monday.

Residents demand that special officers should be allotted to their neighbourhoods too to ensure that the stagnated water is drained off as the authorities are struggling to handle waterlogging with the limited resources. In the southern suburbs, residents and associations have also been chipping in to drain out water from many areas.

Though the rain intensityhas lessened, water did not drain off in many neighbourhoods because lakes and tanks are overflowing. The upgrade to Corporation exists only on paper and residents are left in lurch in times like flood.

In Ganapathy colony in Kannadapalayam, water overflowing from the Kovilpadagai tank has left the entire area flooded.

“The situation is the same every year. It was worse in 2015. But this time with just one night’s rain, the area is flooded and with forecasts of more rain, it is scary. People cannot venture out in case of emergency as all streets are flooded,” said K J Jeyan, a resident. On Monday, Tiruvallur district collector, Dairy development minister SM Nasar visited the areas.

Residents of Chrompet and Pallavaram near GST road are suffering after a day of intense rain has left roads flooded. Water from the previous day's rain remained in Postal Nagar, Zamin Royapettah, new colony for most part of the day. The authorities used multiple pumps to drain out the water.

However, neighbourhoods of Hasthinapuram like Jain Nagar, Maruthi Nagar, AK Nagar, AGS Colony and nearby areas of had stagnant water on the streets because water from Hastinapuram lake had flooded the area.

MAROONED: Kovil Padagai Tank water flows onto Kannadapalayam Main Road in Avadi; officials inspect waterlogged areas in Chromepet