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PM Modi inaugurates the much-awaited Whitefield Metro Line in Bengaluru

Bengaluru (IANS) | Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the much-awaited Whitefield (Kadugodi) to Krishnarajapuram (KR Puram) Metro line in Bengaluru built at a cost of Rs 4,249 crore. After inaugurating the 13.71 km long metro line with 12 stations, the Prime Minister took a ride with school children, Bengaluru Metropolitan Railway Corporation Limited (BMRCL) employees and construction workers.

This construction will be helpful in reducing the traffic congestion in the city.

PM Modi stood in the metro to interact with the students. During this, the children also looked very excited.

He also interacted with women drivers of Metro and sat with BMRCL employees, construction workers during the visit. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and others accompanied him in the metro journey.

Prime Minister Modi will also address the public meeting of BJP Maha Sangam in Davanagere city of Karnataka.

Prime Minister Modi will reach Shivamogga airport from Davangere and fly back to New Delhi.

–IANS

March 25, 2023
DA crisis: Employees call off fast, continuing with other forms of protests

Kolkata (IANS) | The United Forum of State Government Employees, which is spearheading the agitation against non-payment of dearness allowance dues by the West Bengal government, on Saturday called off the relay fast, continuing with other forms of protests. However, the Manch representatives clarified that only the relay fast has been called off and that too temporarily, while other forms of protests, including non-cooperation with the state government, will continue.

According to United Forum spokesperson Tapas Chakraborty, the decision to call off the relay fast has been taken after several protesters fell ill, some of whom had to be hospitalised.

Many people were suffering from kidney problems, he said. Therefore, in view of the evolving situation, we have decided to call off the strike temporarily.

However, another agitator Tapas Sinha said that the decision to call off the fast after 44 days of starting the agitation is temporary and if needed, they will launch a similar agitation in future.

The United Forum has already announced that they will go on a mass holiday on March 30 and organize a massive protest rally on the streets of Kolkata on the same day.

On the other hand, the Manch will organize a two-day sit-in demonstration from April 10 at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The ‘Digital Disobedience’ movement is already being demonstrated by the state government employees against the state government on the DA issue.

Show cause notices have already been served to some of the state government employees who participated in the one-day strike. On Tuesday, a crucial hearing on the DA issue in the Supreme Court was adjourned till April 11.

–IANS

March 25, 2023
Five Maoists including TSPC top commander arrested in Palamu

Ranchi (IANS) | Palamu District Police has arrested five Naxals, including Ranjan, the top commander of the banned Naxalite organization TSPC (Third Conference Presentation Committee). It is said that all of them were involved in the incident of attacking brick kilns and burning of five vehicles in Kanda Valley under Nava Bazar police station of the same district on March 21. Please tell that on March 21 at 11 pm, 30-40 armed Naxalites had reached Satyanand Mehta’s brick kiln with the demand of levy. They had set 5 tractors standing on fire after taking hostage the scribe and laborers working in the brick kiln. After this, the Naxalites had told the people working on the kiln to tell the owner to visit, we will come again. In this case, an FIR was lodged against 27 Naxalites. Since this incident, the police was running a siege and search operation in Nava Bazar, Patan, Nava Jaipur, Manatu and Chhatarpur areas. Meanwhile, the police arrested five Maoists. The police is currently interrogating all of them. According to the police, these Naxalites have also been involved in half a dozen incidents of attacks and arson on railway sites in the past months.

–IANS

March 25, 2023
Engine nozzle failure behind launch anomaly of flight NS-23: Blue Origin

San Francisco (IANS) | Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has blamed an engine nozzle failure for an anomaly experienced during its September flight, NS-23, which led the company to abort the mission.

In September 2022, a pilotless New Shepard suffered a dramatic-but-safe in-flight abort, resulting in no threat to human life or property.

All systems designed to protect public safety function as planned. There were no injuries, no damage to ground-based systems and all debris was recovered within the designated threat area.

Soon after, the company launched an investigation and has now announced a failure of the BE-3PM engine nozzle during powered flight.

“The direct cause of the NS-23 accident was a thermo-structural failure of the engine nozzle,” the company said in a statement.

“The resulting thrust misalignment properly triggered the crew capsule escape system, which functioned as designed throughout the flight.”

In addition to the Blue Origin team, the investigation was conducted with US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight and included representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board and NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program and Commercial Crew Office.

They looked at onboard video and telemetry, flight hardware recovered from the field, and the work of Blue Origin’s materials laboratories and test facilities.

According to the company, they also tested the BE-3PM engine and conducted a forensic evaluation of the recovered nozzle pieces and found that the nozzle operated at a hotter temperature than the previous design configuration. It showed clear evidence of thermal damage and hot streaks as a result of the increase in operating temperature.

They noted that the increase in nozzle heating was a result of design changes made to the engine’s boundary layer cooling system.

Blue Origin said it is ‘implementing corrective actions including design changes to combustion chamber and operating parameters to reduce engine nozzle bulk and hot-streak temperatures.’

The company said it now hopes to resume flights soon with the re-flight of the NS-23 payload.

–IANS

March 25, 2023
Karnataka: Maha Police inspects Hindalga jail after Gadkari receives threat calls

Belagavi: The Maharashtra police have conducted raids at the Hindalga prison in this district of Karnataka in connection with threat calls to Union Minister for Highways Nitin Gadkari, police sources said on Saturday.

According to police, the raid was conducted on Thursday evening. The calls were made from Hindalaga prison to the office of Gadkari in Nagpur city on March 21. The office has received three calls of threatening and extortion, the sources said.

The caller has been identified as Jayesh Poojari, an inmate of Hindalga prison. He had demanded Rs 10 crore extortion money from the minister. Gadkari will have to bear the consequences if he fails to pay up, the miscreant added. The calls were made to Gadkari’s office in the month of January also.

The team from Maharashtra seized the mobile possessed by Jayesh Poojari illegally in the prison. Security has been tightened at the office and residence of Gadkari in Nagpur.

According to police sources, two sim cards and as many mobiles were found in the prison. Nagpur police will shortly take Jayesh Poojari into custody for investigation. The accused Jayesh Poojari is convicted of life imprisonment. He was initially awarded a death sentence in connection with dacoity and murder case. Later, the punishment was reduced to life imprisonment.

March 25, 2023
Telangana: Nizam ear silver coins found in Karimnagar

Hyderabad: 23 ancient silver coins of the Nizam era were found in two earthen pots in Gollapalli of Thimmapur mandal by MGNREGS labourers.

After retrieving the ancient coins, the labourers reportedly shared them equally among themselves on the spot.

However, the news spread to Tahsildar Kanakaiah who along with other officers visited the village on Friday and conducted an inquiry.

The coins, which were said to have been in circulation from 1869 to 1911, were examined by SI Pramod Reddy, MPDO Ravinder Reddy, and RI Anil.

The labourers were later asked to hand over the coins to the government.

March 25, 2023
Telangana: Over 3K saplings planted at Medipally under Green India Challenge

Hyderabad: As part of the Green India Challenge Initiative, Rachakonda Police in association with the Rotary Club of Hyderabad Elite and Neuland Labs, conducted a mega sapling plantation of over 3000 saplings on Saturday at Medipally village.

Commissioner of Police D.S. Chauhan who was a part of the drive elaborated on the significance of trees in restoring oxygen levels of the environment.

Lauding chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s Haritha Haram initiative for being the inspiration behind the Green India Challenge, the commissioner attributed that MP J. Santosh Kumar’s contribution has enhanced the forest cover in Telangana.

“Telangana tops in enhancing the forest cover. There is a definite need to promote and make people aware of the significance of planting trees and its overall impact on the environment,” the commissioner said.

Neuland Labs HR Head P Hemachandra said that their company is happy to be associated with this mega project.

200 plus volunteers including Neuland Labs employees and students of Aurora College participated in the event.

The Rotary Club which is the implementation partner of this plantation project has been instrumental in bringing together the stakeholders, a press release said.

Rotary Club of Hyderabad Elite afforestation project chairman Rtn. Himanshu Guptha and president Rtn. Rohit Agarwal took part in the program.

The event further saw the participation of commissioner of police V. Satyanarayana, DCP Malkajgiri D Janaki, addl. DCP Admin C. Narmada, addl. DCP CAR Shameer, ACP Malkajgiri Naresh Reddy, SHO Medipally, G. Govardhanagiri, and others.

March 25, 2023
Rs 2 lakh crore roads for Jharkhand

Union road transport and highway ministerNitinGadkarilaidthe foundation stone of the “country’s first double-decker elevated corridor” near Jamshedpur and promised road infrastructure worth Rs 2 lakh crore before 2024 in Jharkhand.

The Union minister on Thursday afternoon inaugurated and laid foundation stones of nine projects in Jamshedpur which entailed an estimated investment of Rs 3,378 crore, while he launched another 21 projects in Ranchi later in the evening incurring an expense of Rs 9,453 crore.

“This is the first four-lane double-decker elevated corridor in the country which would be built at a cost of Rs 1,876 crore. Once it is completed, it will ease traffic movement on the NH-33 connecting Ranchi and Calcutta. Today (Thursday) I am launching nearly Rs 13,296-crore projects in Jharkhand. But this is only a trailer for the film. I assure you that before 2024, road infrastructure worth Rs 2 lakh crore will be gifted to Jharkhand,” Gadkari said in Jamshedpur.

According to National Highway Authorities of India’s regional officer in Ranchi, S. K. Mishra, the bottom (ground) lane of the 10.4km-long double-decker corridorwillbeused by locals, while the first lane will be used by heavy vehicles moving between Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand and they can enter Jamshedpur through rampway alongside the elevated corridor.

The second lane will be used by only long-distance vehicles which do not have to touch Jamshedpur.

“Jharkhand is rich in mineral resources and the country needs a state like Jharkhand to be developed. Development can only happen in the form of four pillars — water, power, transport and communication. The double-decker elevated corridor and NH-33 projects are a step in this direction. We had a long history in the construction of the widening of NH-33 between Ranchi and Jamshedpur. But I am happy that the project has finally been completed,” said Gadkari who laid the foundation stones of nine road projects covering different districts of the Kolhan region.

Officials said that the double-decker corridor project will take over two years to be completed after the commencement of work. A 44km stretch between Jamshedpur and Mahulta on National Highway-33, constructed at a cost of Rs 465 crore, was among the projects unveiled in Steel City.

A senior National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) official said that this stretch would provide Delhi-Calcutta and Bombay-Calcutta connectivity via Jamshedpur, significantly reducing travel time between the destinations.

The project will also drive commercial development in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha, he stated. As part of a Bharatmala package, a four-lane access control road will be constructed on the Raipur-Dhanbad economic corridor of NH-320, the NHAI official said.

“After completion of the project, Raipur will be commercially connected to Dhanbad and travel time between Ranchi and Bokaro will reduce drastically, leading to the social and industrial development of both the states,” the official added.

March 25, 2023
Officials of Baikunthpur Forest Division seized teak wood worth Rs 50 lakh

Officers of the Baikunthapur forest division seized an illegal consignment of timber from the outskirts of Jalpaiguri on Friday.

A team led by Belakoba range officer Sanjoy Dutta was patrolling NH27. They got a tip-off and soon spotted a container truck at Mohitnagar near Jalpaiguri early in the morning.

As they tried to intercept the truck, the driver tried to escape with the vehicle. “They chased the vehicle for around 5km along NH27 and could stop it at Dashdarga. It was taken to the forest beat office in Mantadari. As the container was opened, logs of Burmese teak worth Rs 50 lakh were found,” said a forester.

Niraj, the driver who is from Uttar Pradesh, was arrested as he failed to provide any document to prove that the timber is being transported in a legal manner. The timber, the foresters said, was loaded at Guwahati and was supposed to be smuggled into Delhi and Noida.

In the past few months, a number of illegal consignments of Burmese teak were seized in and around Siliguri. In most cases, the smugglers have used various items, ranging from bamboo to shredded glass pieces, to conceal the timber in trucks.

According to the data available with the department, from June 2022 till Friday, teak worth Rs 6.88 crore was seized from 22 vehicles. Also, 34 persons, who are suspected to be associated with timber smuggling have been arrested.

March 25, 2023
Cough syrup seized in Raiganj, three people arrested

Police in Raiganj seized 4,000 bottles of cough syrup on Friday while the consignment was allegedly being smuggled into Bangladesh.

“The cough syrup bottles were on the way to Malda and were supposed to be sent to Bangladesh. Three persons have been arrested,” said a police source.

The police said they had intercepted a pickup van on NH12 in the Shilpinagar area of Raiganj after receiving a tip-off.

As the vehicle was searched, packages of syrup bottles were found in sacks.

“The sacks containing the bottles were concealed under bags stuffed with potatoes. Those were loaded in Bihar and were on the way to Kaliachak of Malda,” said the police source.

The arrested were Mohammad Isha, Wahid Sheikh and Senaul Haque. All of them are residents of Kaliachak.

BSF personnel posted at Hili I border outpost on the Bangladesh border in South Dinajpur intercepted Surajit Barman, a resident of Dakshinpara village, and seized around 300 bottles of cough syrup.

The bottles were supposed to be smuggled into Bangladesh.

Later, he was handed over to the Hili police station.

March 25, 2023