INDIA

Mumbai, July 8 (IANS) Maharashtra Minister Shambhuraj Desai, who has been assigned the Urban Development department during Monsoon session period, said in the Legislative Council that charity hospitals in Maharashtra will face stringent action if they fail to comply with government regulations. The Minister on Tuesday added that special inspection drives will be conducted by district-level committees to rigorously verify hospital dashboards, the implementation of government healthcare schemes, and compliance with other mandatory conditions.The announcement came in response to a query raised by Member Anil Parab during Question Hour.Several other members, including Neelam Gorhe, Parinay Phuke, Chandrakant Raghuvanshi, Rajiv Potdar, Chitra Wagh, Bachchu Kadu, Niranjan Davkhare, Bhai Jagtap,...

Jaipur, July 8 (IANS) The Central Zone Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) at Bhopal has issued notices to the Union of India and other respondents on an application alleging environmental violations in the construction and operation of Ananta Spa and Resort at Ajabgarh, near the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan's Alwar district. The matter was registered as Original Application on Tuesday.According to the application, the resort has been developed within nearly one kilometre of the Sariska Tiger Reserve boundary without obtaining the mandatory environmental approvals.It is alleged that the project comprises more than 75 rooms, banquet halls, swimming pools and other facilities, with a built-up area exceeding 20,000 square metres, thereby requiring prior Environmental Clearance u...

Bhopal, July 8 (IANS) The Madhya Pradesh Congress has demanded that the Centre immediately increase the state's summer moong procurement target, alleging that the existing quota is far below the actual production and would force thousands of farmers to sell their produce below the Minimum Support Price (MSP). In a letter to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday, Pradesh Congress Committee President Jitu Patwari claimed that procurement arrangements had been made for only about 25 per cent of the state's actual moong production. "Publicly available information and complaints from farmers suggest that procurement arrangements have been made for only about 25 per cent of the actual production. If this is true, the remaining farmers will be...

Jaipur, July 8 (IANS) In wake of delayed elections by the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA), the Supreme Court has declined to interfere with the Rajasthan High Court's order and directed time-bound polls under the supervision of an administrator. During the hearing on Tuesday, the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the delay in conducting elections and questioned the continuation of the ad-hoc committee, which was originally formed as a temporary arrangement. The Court termed the petition filed by members of the ad-hoc committee as "absurd" and asked how long the process of avoiding elections could continue.Following the Court's observations, the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by members of the former ad-hoc committee was withdrawn.With no stay granted against the High Court o...

Bharatpur, July 8 (IANS) Eight passengers were injured after a Rajasthan Roadways bus collided with a stationary sleeper coach on the Agra-Jaipur National Highway near Kadam Kunj Hotel in Rajasthan's Bharatpur, police said. The injured passengers were rushed to the Raj Bahadur Memorial (RBM) Hospital, where they are undergoing treatment, officials said on Tuesday.The accident took place around 4:30 p.m. under the jurisdiction of Chiksana police station when the Roadways bus rammed into the rear of a sleeper coach that had stopped after developing a technical fault. According to the police, the sleeper coach was travelling from Bharatpur towards Agra when it broke down near Kadam Kunj Hotel.The driver parked the vehicle close to the divider and was waiting for a crane to arrive for repairs ...

Jaipur, July 8 (IANS) Rajasthan Congress President Govind Singh Dotasra has launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janat Party (BJP)-led state government over the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC), alleging that the public consultation process is being used to advance the BJP-RSS agenda and divert attention from governance failures rather than seeking genuine public opinion. Addressing a press conference at the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee's State War Room on Tuesday, Dotasra questioned the state government's decision to begin public hearings on the UCC without first releasing a draft or defining the scope of the consultations."The state government has neither prepared a draft nor clarified the framework of these hearings. The exercise is aimed at creating social divisions in...

Wayanad, July 8 (IANS) Rescue operations at the landslide site in Kalladi, Wayanad, will continue on Wednesday, with Kerala Ministers T. Siddique and A.P. Anil Kumar announcing that a comprehensive search will be carried out to trace the five persons still missing.Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan, who is in the state capital, will reach the disaster site at around 1 p.m. on Wednesday.He will leave for Wayanad immediately after briefing the media following the weekly Cabinet meeting.After visiting the affected area, Minister T. Siddique told reporters late on Tuesday night that only three people have been confirmed dead in the landslide, while five others remain missing.The deceased have been identified as Chandrabhan from Madhya Pradesh, Vikas Kumar from Bihar and Anmol from Jharkhand.Those...

Kolkata, July 8 (IANS) A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court has rejected the "exemption petition" from former Trinamool Congress legislator Saokat Molla seeking exemption from the criminal cases registered against him by both the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the West Bengal Police on various charges like involvement in bomb blast, corruption, extortion and sexual offences. Incidentally, on June 5 this year, the NIA arrested Molla in connection with the bomb blast at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, officials said on Tuesday.Later on June 19, the Jibantala Police Station took him into their custody in a rape case filed against him seven years ago.Another rape case was filed against Molla.In the last case, there were allegations of kidnapping the ch...

Patna, July 8 (IANS) Police carried out a major raid against an alleged prostitution racket in the Bharatiya Nagar area of Saharsa district on Tuesday, detaining 18 people, including four minor girls.The operation was conducted by a joint team of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU), the Cyber Police Station, and the Sadar Police Station following a specific tip-off.The raid, led by Cyber DSP Kalyan Anand, was conducted at around 11:30 am after police verified confidential inputs regarding alleged illegal activities at the location.During the search, police recovered objectionable materials and some suspicious tablets. Authorities are examining the recovered items as part of the ongoing investigation.According to the police, 10 women, four minor girls, and four young men were detained ...

Bengaluru, July 8 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, and BJP Karnataka State President B.Y. Vijayendra on Tuesday condoled the demise of Padma Shri awardee Girish Bharadwaj, the renowned engineer popularly known as the "Bridge Man" and "Visvesvaraya of Sullia," describing his death as an irreparable loss to the state and to the cause of rural development.It is worth noting that M. Visvesvaraya (Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya) was one of India's greatest engineers and statesmen, renowned for his pioneering contributions to irrigation, flood control, and infrastructure development.In separate condolence messages, the leaders paid rich tributes to Bharadwaj's pioneering work in rural connectivity through the construction of suspension brid...