चंडीगढ़ से फ्लाइट्स ऑपरेट होनी शुरू

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आज शनिवार तड़के हुई बारिश से आसमान पर धूल का गुब्बार कम होने के बाद चंडीगढ़ से फ्लाइट्स सामान्य हो गई हैं। एअर पोर्ट ऑथारिटीज ने ने इस बात की पुष्टि की है। दो दिन से आसमान में धूल के कण और प्रदूषण हाेने के बाद अब फ्लाइट्स ऑपरेट होनी शुरू हो गईं।

एअरपोर्ट अथॉरिटीज के प्रवक्ता के मुताबिक कुछ फ्लाइट्स देरी से ऑपरेट हुई हैं, लेकिन अब धीरे धीरे सभी फ्लाइट्स सामान्य हो जाएंगी। शनिवार को इंटरनेशनल फ्लाइट भी ऑपरेट हुई है। गौरतलब है कि बीते दो दिनों में पुअर विजिबिलिटी के कारण शिमला हेली टैक्सी समेत करीब 30 फ्लाइट्स को रद्द करना पड़ा था। दुबई जाने वाले यात्रियों को सड़क मार्ग से दिल्ली पहुचाया गया था।

चंडीगढ़ में शुक्रवार को एयर क्वॉलिटी इंडेक्स 800 के आसपास पहुंच गया था। लोगों को सांस लेने में परेशनी का सामना करना पड़ रहा था। चंडीगढ़ की हवा में धूल के कणों की मौजूदगी पहले कभी इतनी ज्यादा नहीं रही। चंडीगढ़ की तरह पंजाब, हरियाणा, दिल्ली और पश्चिमी यूपी में भी धूल की वजह से लोगों को सांस लेने में दिक्कत हुई। मौसम विभाग के मुताबिक, शनिवार को धूल कुछ छंट जाएगी। रविवार को बारिश से धूल से पूरी तरह राहत मिल सकती है।

Congress leaders opposed Sidhu’s demolition bid.

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At least two senior Congress leaders in Punjab have openly opposed their own minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s drive against illegal colonies in Jalandhar .

Congress MLA Sushil Rinku on Friday climbed atop a bulldozer and stopped a team of Jalandhar municipal corporation  officials from going ahead with demolish of an illegal colony on Kala Sanghian Road. Later Punjab food and supplies minister Bhart Bhushan Ashu too took exception to, what he called, the unusual haste shown in trying to raze unauthorised buildings in Jalandhar.

Ashu told TOI that as local bodies minister, Sidhu was heading the sub-committee on onetime settlement of unauthorised structures and the action could have waited till building owners were given another chance to comply with the new policy.

“Even though I am not aware of local details, I am not convinced about the timing of the demolition drive, especially when a policy will be ready by the month end,” Ashu said.

Ashu said that he would take up the issue in the next cabinet meeting.

Sidhu had, on Thursday, cracked the whip against officials of Jalandhar municipal corporation when he found many illegal colonies being developed in the city in violation of building bylaws. Many of the buildings had come up in upscale areas of the city.

Rinku termed the action as ‘anti-people’. “I am with the people and the government works in public interest,” he said, standing atop the bulldozer. “The government should make a favourable policy. We can’t give employment to people but when people are already involved in small businesses, we should facilitate them. Many of the so-called illegal colonies have been built by small builders or by the residents themselves and I will not allow any damage to them.”

Sidhu, who was in Phagwara on Friday, said “We will explain our stand to Rinku. He is our own man and his concerns would be addressed, but the action will continue.” He clarified that his orders were only against colonisers and that public interest was not being hurt.

The government intends to give relief to more than 8,000 unauthorised colonies and more than one lakh plots within these colonies that can be regularised once the new policy is approved. On Thursday, housing and urban planning minister had announced that the new policy would be in the public domain by June 30. The earlier cut-off date for regularisation of colonies was April 1, 2013. This has been extended to March 19, 2018. The colonies developed before April 1, 2013 will be regularised in non-compatible land-use zones of master plans.

The stalemate continued for a couple of hours as several Congress workers also accompanied Rinku and then the municipal team returned without executing the demolition orders

More regional parties have expressed their support to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal

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photo for representational purpose only

More regional parties have expressed their support to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s protest against the Lieutenant Governor with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) being the latest.

JMM’S working president and former chief minister Hemant Soren, in a tweet, said: “I salute to the fight by Delhi for its rights. The AAP government in Delhi is forced to come on the street for its rights, which kind of democracy is it? Jharkhand is with the people of Delhi and with Kejriwal.”

Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu expressed solidarity with the “elected” Delhi government.

“The trend of using the Governor’s office for political benefits of the ruling party at the Centre goes against the spirit of the Constitution,” he said in a statement.

Kejriwal’s protest has already been backed by West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Bihar’s Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav, along with former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, and actors-turned-politicians Kamal Hassan and Shatrughan Sinha.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Communist Party of India were also supporting Kejriwal.

She is not appeasing any community clears Mamta

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West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said those who accuse her of appeasing Muslims are friends of neither the Hindus nor the Muslims.

“Some accuse me of Muslim appeasement. My question to them is whether loving Hindus means you have to hate Muslims. I respect and love all communities and religion. This country belongs to everybody,” she said.

“Those who say I appease Muslims are friends of neither the Hindus nor the Muslims,” Banerjee said while addressing a special prayer gathering on Red Road to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr.

The BJP and some other organisations have been charging Banerjee with appeasement of Muslims for political reasons. The chief minister said it was due to her protest that the Niti Aayog meeting which was earlier scheduled for Saturday was changed to Sunday.

“My question to the central government officials is whether they are not aware that Eid is scheduled to be celebrated on 16 June. Why was the Niti Aayog meeting kept on that day? I had written to the central government urging it to change the date so that it doesn’t clash with Eid,” she said.

Banerjee had confirmed her participation in the Niti Aayog’s rescheduled governing council meeting in New Delhi on Sunday. The meeting, which will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was earlier scheduled for Saturday, the day when Eid-ul-Fitr is being celebrated.

Banerjee and a few other chief ministers had expressed unwillingness to attend the meeting in view of Eid, following which it was postponed by a day.

Modi wants bureaucrats to spend time in field, be innovative

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File Foto

While pushing for innovative ideas from senior bureaucrats in the ministries, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that a certain budget of each department should be allocated for innovation. PM Modi has made a set of observations in a recent meeting with the senior officials of the ministries.

The PM has also observed that officers have lost field focus and asked that officers may be mandated to spend at least 5-6 days in a month in the field.

The PM has also asked to develop in-house capabilities in the ministries and government departments to do away with consultants. Recruiting consultants for different works or projects under government schemes is quite a general practice in various ministries and departments.

Analysis of set of observations made by the PM suggested that his focus is on quick delivery of projects in the country and all the hurdles coming in the way of this be removed. The set of observations have been made by the PM in a recent meeting with senior officers of various ministries.

Keeping in view the delay in implementation of some flagship projects in the country, the PM has observed, “Speed of decision making is critical-officers should constantly endeavour to reduce delays in processes.” The observation has been made in respect of all the central ministries.

Speaking about the need of innovations in government working, the PM has observed that innovations need not be big always and small changes can bring in big impact. “An award to innovation among officers…Innovation needs system flexibility. 1 % of each department may be considered to be allocated for innovation,” the PM observed.

Focusing on performance, the PMO has also noted that there is need to move from process based administration to performance based administration and each officer should be given clear task with freedom and responsibility.

The PM has also talked about team work as he observed, “Need to reach out to everyone in the team. Break the habit of working in silos. Knowledge sharing is necessary and helps better decision making.”

Speaking further on works, the PMO has observed, “Need to have a positive attitude towards work-behind every file are people. Whatever you do or not do, impacts the entire country. Need to aware of this always.”

It has also been said that successful experiments in governance should be documented and developed into a framework for replication across the country and institutions of repute may be engaged in this regard.

Apart from this, the PM has also asked for simplification of rules in government working. “Simplification of rules needs immediate attention—annual validation of all government circulars and orders is a must.”

The PMO has also asked the ministries to focus more on ‘soft copies’ as it has said that “hard copies of government orders or guidelines should be an exception.”

Speaking about coordination among seniors and juniors in the government departments, the PMO has observed, “there is need for communication between seniors and juniors. Need for a department vision and not just project plans. Need to align all employees of the organization to the vision of the organization.”

 

De Facto President’s Rule in Delhi : Kejriwal

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Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today alleged that there is de facto President’s rule in Delhi because of what the AAP government describes as an ongoing IAS officers’ strike.

Kejriwal made the allegation as his sit-in along with three cabinet colleagues at the waiting room of Lt Governor Anil Baijal’s office entered its sixth day.

Kejriwal accompanied by his deputy Manish Sisodia and ministers Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai have stayed put at the office demanding that Baijal direct IAS officers to end their “strike” and approve doorstep ration delivery scheme.

In response to a tweet about IAS officers withdrawing from work being de facto President’s rule, Kejriwal tweeted, “I agree. It is de facto President’s rule in Delhi thro IAS strike (sic).”

Jain and Sisodia have been sitting on hunger strike at the waiting room of the L-G Secretariat since Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

The Chief Minister has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to work with his officers not attending his meetings.

In his letter to Modi yesterday, Kejriwal urged him to end IAS officers’ strike so that he can attend a meeting of NITI Aayog on Sunday.

However, the IAS officers’ association has maintained that no officer is on “strike”.

Also, Sisodia yesterday released a video warning that if they are forcibly removed from the L-G Secretariat, they will stop drinking water too.

Sources said the L-G, who has been working from his residence after the sit-in by AAP ministers, has constituted three teams of doctors to examine the health of ministers.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court yesterday agreed to hear on June 18 a plea seeking direction to the L-G to ensure that the alleged informal strike by IAS officers of Delhi is called off and they perform their duties as public servants.

The petition comes in the backdrop of another plea filed on Thursday in the court seeking that the sit-in by Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues at the L-G office against the “strike” by the IAS officers be declared unconstitutional and illegal.

This plea against Kejriwal’s sit-in was also listed for hearing for June 18.

RTI act being reconsidered for revision

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Even as the central government has confirmed that the matter regarding amendment in the Right to Information (RTI) Act is under consideration, the Department of Personnel and Training refused to provide details of the proposed amendment bill.

An RTI reply received by Anjali Bhardwaj this month from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said: “The matter regarding amendment in the RTI Act, 2005 is under consideration and has not reached finality. As per section 8(1)(i) of the RTI Act, 2005, information requested by you cannot be supplied at this stage.”

Among the questions which were asked in the RTI application include: the date on which the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005 was prepared by the DoPT; the date on which the DOPT forwarded the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005 to the cabinet and the date on which the cabinet has taken a decision regarding the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005.

It also asked for a copy of the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005, prepared by the DOPT and a copy of the decision of the cabinet regarding the proposal to amend it.

Bhardwaj said under the Pre-legislative Consultation Policy (PLCP) of 2014, the government is supposed to put out all the legislations, policies etc that it is planning in the public domain for one month for consultation.

“The government is not wanting to make the amendment public at all. Unfortunately, we are finding that any amendment or laws that they are bringing in, there is no pre-legislative consultation on these.

“Even in the case of the Whistleblower’s Protection Amendment Bill, they didn’t put anything in the public. We filed an RTI application, but they didn’t give us any information,” Bhardwaj said.

“From media reports, we got to know that an RTI amendment was being planned and there was an RTI Amendment bill. So, we filed this RTI to know the content of the bill. They have denied it to us,” she added.

Bhardwaj said there was a clause in the RTI Act Section 8(1)(i), which says that cabinet papers cannot be given under the RTI.

“But we didn’t ask for cabinet papers, we have asked for what the DOPT has prepared and the date on which the proposal to amend the RTI Act was prepared. What is so secret about the date. They have denied all the information related to the amendment,” she said.

“The government has confirmed that it is planning to amend the RTI Act but has illegally refused to share details of the amendment bill in response to an RTI application.”

Bharjwaj also said: “It has refused to even disclose the dates on which the proposal to amend the RTI Act was prepared by the DoPT and date on which it was forwarded to the cabinet by the DoPT, which cannot be covered under Section 8(1)(i).”

Expressing concern over the media reports that the amendment the government was planning to bring was regressive, Bhardwaj said: “What is worrisome is they are planning to reduce the stature of the Information Commissioners and weaken the Information Commissions in the country.

“At the moment, the salaries and allowances of the Commissioners are same as that of a SC judge. But, now the government will have the discretion to decide their salaries. That is very dangerous. It erodes the independence of the Commission.

“There is a powerful law in place. There is no need to make changes. What the government should instead do is appoint Information Commissioners. At the CIC, there are four vacancies and four more to come this year including the Chief Information Commissioner who is retiring. Why is the government trying to tinker with the law and amend the law and dilute it.

“We need to know as citizens what is the government planning. They are not telling us. Even this is hearsay. There might be more amendments also,” she added.

Rakesh Math Summoned in Gauri Lankesh’s Murder

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The SIT probing the killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh has summoned Rakesh Math, the Vijayapura district president of fringe right-wing outfit Sri Ram Sene, for questioning, a senior police official said on Saturday.

The SIT decided to question Math since the suspected shooter of Lankesh, Parshuram Waghmore, was an active member of the Hindutva organisation linked to moral policing in parts of Karnataka.
The official, from the SIT, said they wanted to find out whether Math was involved in Lankesh’s assassination and whether he “brainwashed” Waghmore to participate in the plot.

Math and Waghmore were allegedly involved in hoisting a Pakistani flag outside the tahsildar office in their hometown Sindagi of Vijayapura district in Karnataka in January 2012.

The SIT believes Math has a strong support base in coastal regions, including Mangaluru, and parts of north Karnataka.

“We have summoned Rakesh Math. He has not come yet,” the official said.

Sri Ram Sene founder and chief Pramod Muthalik has distanced himself and his organisation from Waghmore and the killing of Lankesh and other rationalists.

Lankesh was shot dead at the entrance of her Bengaluru residence on September 5 last year.

“There is no connection between Sri Ram Sene and Waghmore. He is neither our member nor our worker. This I say very clearly,” said Muthalik.

The Sene chief said when the Pakistani flag hoisting issue had come to light, it was said that Waghmore was a member of Sri Ram Sene. However, he said he has proved that Waghmore was not a member of Sri Ram Sene but of RSS.

“I had shared his pictures sporting RSS uniform. I had said at that time that he is an RSS worker and not of Sri Ram Sene,” Muthalik said.

Conceding that Math is the district head of Sene, Muthalik said he has been summoned for inquiry because all of them are from Sindagi town and were involved in the Pakistani flag hoisting incident.

Since both Waghmore and Math were involved in the Pakistani flag case and were from the same town, the police might have summoned the latter for interrogation.
“Rakesh Math is our district president. However, the organisation has its own constitution according to which it functions. If somebody does something privately in his personal capacity, it cannot be held responsible,” he said.

Parashuram Waghmore’s father Ashok Waghmore, who had come from Sindagi to Bengaluru to see his son, said he was innocent but could not recall where he (Parashuram) was on September 5, the day Lankesh was shot dead.

“I think he was at home,” Ashok Waghmore told a Kannada news channel.

Rakesh said he came to Bengaluru following a notice to appear for the inquiry.

“I received a notice stating that my presence was required for the investigation (of Lankesh murder case),” Math told the channel.

He also said he has been Parashuram Waghmore’s friend and his arrest was quite shocking.

He said he came to know about his (Parashuram Waghmore’s) arrest after the police picked him up.

Rakesh was confident that his friend would come out clean.

He denied his involvement in the killing and said he has only been doing organisational work.

Eid in Valley

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Despite the Ramzan truce initiative by the Centre, attacks on security forces have continued in the Valley. Sporadic protests were also seen in several areas, inviting retaliation by security forces. Here’s how violence rocked the Valley in the days leading up to Eid

  • Aurangzeb, a soldier with Rashtriya Rifles was abducted from Pulwama on Wednesday. His bullet ridden body was recovered a few hours later

    * Aurangzeb’s father, an ex-Serviceman, demanded that his son’s murder be avenged in 32 hours, otherwise he would venture out himself to do the job

    * On Eid morning, a protester was killed in clashes with security forces in Anantnag. Terrorists also fired at security forces outside Srinagar, injuring four.

    * There was disquiet on the Pakistan border and LoC as well. Breaking from the usual tradition, Indian forces stationed at border did not exchange sweets with their Pakistani counterparts this year.

    * On Thursday, Shujaat Bukhari, editor of Rising Kashmir daily, was shot dead by bike borne terrorists outside his office in Lal Chowk, Srinagar.

    * Bukhari was instrumental in organising conferences for peace in Kashmir. He was also part of the ‘Track II process’ with Pakistan. Thousands attended his funeral in Baramulla. Chief ministerMehbooba Mufti and former CM Omar Abdullah were among the ones present.

* India on has rejected a UN report alleging human rights violations in Kashmir as “fallacious, tendentious and motivated.” Ministry of External Affairs said the report is “overtly prejudiced” and seeks to build a “false narrative.”

* On Friday night, PM Modi and home minister Rajnath Singh discussed the security situation in Kashmir.

* Security for the annual Amarnath Yatra, that starts later this month is also being reviewed. A bus carrying pilgrims came under attack from terrorists last year.

* The Centre is expected to monitor the situation for some more days before taking a decision on extending the ceasefire. Some sections within the security establishment are believed to be against an extension, contending that it allows militants to regroup.