H D Devegowda upset for not inviting on the inaguration of Bogibeel bridge he laid the foundation of

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PM Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the 4.9 km long bridge at Bogibeel across Brahmaputra river.

BENGALURU: While the inauguration of the Bogibeel Bridge by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Assam on Tuesday was welcomed by many, it reportedly brought disappointment for former Prime Minister and JD (S) supremo HD Deve Gowda, who had laid the foundation stone of the longest rail-cum-road bridge, over not being invited to the event.

Though the PM inaugurated the 4.9 km long bridge at Bogibeel across Brahmaputra river, built at a cost of Rs 5,900 crore, its foundation stone was laid by Gowda when he was the prime minister in 1997.

“Railway line to Kashmir, Delhi Metro and Bogibeel rail-road bridgewere among the projects I had sanctioned (as prime minister). I had sanctioned the budget of Rs 100 crore for each of these projects and laid their foundation stones. People have forgotten today,” Gowda said.

Replying to a question from reporters on the sidelines of a function in Bengaluru as to how he felt about the inauguration of the project started by him, the former prime minister said he had given the nod for many projects.

To a question whether he received an invitation, Gowda quipped, “Aiyo Rama! Who will remember me? Some newspapers might have mentioned about it.”

On the enormous delay in completing the project, he said, “That is where I differ. I completed the Hassan-Mysuru project in 13 months. I completed two bridges on time. Anagwadi bridge (across Ghataprabha). Go and see the bridge on Krishna river.

“Some people from Bombay Karnataka region say that Deve Gowda did not do anything (for the north Karnataka region), go and see it,” he added. 

Amid much fanfare, the Prime Minister on Tuesday inaugurated the country’s longest rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra river at Bogibeel near Dibrugarh in Assam.

The PM, who reached Dibrugarh in the afternoon from New Delhi, flew directly to Bogibeel in a chopper and dedicated the 4.94-km-long double-decker bridge to the nation from the south bank of the river.

After greeting people, standing on the foothold of his vehicle, PM Modi deboarded the car and walked a few metres on the bridge along with Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

The PM crossed the bridge in his cavalcade to the north bank of Brahmaputra, where he flagged off the Tinsukia-Naharlagun Intercity Express.

The train will run five days a week. 

The 4.9-km bridge will cut down the train-travel time between Tinsukia in Assam to Naharlagun town of Arunachal Pradesh by more than 10 hours.

The strategically important bridge, which begins at Dibrugarh and ends at Dhemaji districts of Assam, will remove communication bottlenecks to several districts of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Bogibeel Bridge, which was a part of the Assam Accord and sanctioned in 1997-98, is also likely to play a crucial role in defence movement along the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh.

The foundation stone of the project was laid by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda on January 22, 1997, while work commenced on April 21, 2002, under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government. The Congress-led UPA government had declared it a national project in 2007.

December 25 happens to be Vajpayee’s birth anniversary.

Due to an inordinate delay in its implementation, the cost of the project escalated by 85 per cent to Rs 5,960 crore from the sanctioned estimated cost of Rs 3,230.02 crore. The total length of the bridge was also revised to 4.94 km from the earlier 4.31 km.

The bridge is part of the infrastructure projects planned by India to improve logistics along the border in Arunachal Pradesh.

“The bridge will enhance the national security of the eastern region by facilitating the swift movement of defence forces and their equipment. It was constructed in such a way that even a fighter jet can land on it in case of emergency,” a source said.

A senior army official had earlier said the biggest advantage of the bridge will be an easy movement of troops from southern to northern bank.

“This means travelling to the farthest most point of India’s border with China will be shortened by several hundred kilometers,” he had said.

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer Pranav Jyoti Sharma had also said that the bridge will provide logistical support for the Indian Army manning the border.

The road distance from Dibrugarh to Itanagar will be reduced by 150 km and the railway travel distance between these two points will shorten by 705 km, he had said.

The bridge and the train will be a boon for the people of Dhemaji as major hospitals, medical colleges and airport are in Dibrugarh, the third-largest city in the Northeast. 

Small parties should be respected and given due importance by their bigger allies: Ashish Patel

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Apna Dal (S) is not happy with the treatment given to its leader and MoS (Health) Anupriya Patel by the BJP.

Mirzapur: Small parties should be respected and given due importance by their bigger allies, Ashish Patel, national president of Apna Dal (S) party, a constituent of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), said on Tuesday.

He also cautioned the saffron party that a tie-up between the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh would pose a challenge to it in 2019 Lok Sabha election.

“We small parties, like the Apna Dal(S), want some respect to be shown to us. We, our leaders and workers feel hurt if due importance is not given to us,” Ashish Patel told mediapersons here.

He added that his party was not happy with the behaviour of the BJP-led state government with Union Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel, also his wife.

The Apna Dal (S) chief claimed that she was not given adequate importance and not even invited for inaugurations of medical colleges.

Ashish Patel’s remarks come days after Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RSLP) Chief Upendra Kushwaha walked out of the NDA. He was upset with the BJP after it asserted that the RLSP would not be given more than two seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Earlier in March, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ended its four-year-old alliance with the NDA over the Centre’s refusal to grant Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.

Asked how many seats his party would like to contest in in Uttar Pradesh in 2019 Lok Sabha election, Ashish Patel said it would be revealed when the time comes.

He asserted that the Apna Dal(S) had widened its base during the last five years.

The party’s candidates Anupriya Patel and Harivansh Singh won from Mirzapur and Pratapgarh respectively.

Responding to a question, Ashish Patel denied that the BJP’s defeats in the recently concluded assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh had weakened the party.

“However, the defeat is a matter of concern. The BJP leadership should review the poll outcome in-depth,” he said. 

He added his party would like to see Narendra Modi as the prime minister again after next year’s general election.

The Apna Dal(S) chief said the NDA partners should be ready to face a BSP-SP alliance.

“Such a tie-up will pose a challenge before the BJP,” Ashish Patel said.

To be able to face the situation, the NDA members should sit together and discuss the scenario, he said.

He also expressed concern over the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh. 

Nationalised Banks on Strike today: 26 Dec, 2018

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Services of state-owned banks are expected to be impacted Wednesday due to a nation-wide strike call given by unions to protest against the proposed amalgamation of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda. This will be the second bank strike in less than a week.

Last Friday (December 21), an officers’ union of state-run banks observed a day-long strike to protest against the merger and also demanded immediate settlement of wage negotiations. Most of the banks have already informed customers about the strike.

Private sector banks will continue to function as usual.

The strike is being organised by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine unions, including the All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE) and the National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW). The UFBU claims membership of 10 lakh officers and staffers.

According to AIBEA General Secretary C H Vekatachalam, the conciliation meeting called by Additional Chief Labour Commissioner did not lead to any assurance and so the unions are going ahead with the strike.

During the meeting, neither the government nor the concerned banks came forward to assure that they will not go ahead with the merger, he added.

The unions claim that the government wants banks to grow in size by such mergers but even if all public sector banks are bundled into one, the merged entity will not find a place among the top 10 globally.

The government in September approved the amalgamation of Bank of Baroda (BoB), Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank — the first three-way merger in the public sector banking space.

The move follows top lender State Bank of India last year merging five of its subsidiary banks with itself and taking over Bharatiya Mahila Bank, catapulting it to among the top 50 global lenders.

On wage revision, NOBW Vice President Ashwani Rana it is due since November 2017. So far, Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has offered 8 per cent wage hike which is not acceptable to UFBU, he said.

PM inagurated country’s longest rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra at Bogibeel near Dibrugarh in Assam

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the inauguration of India’s longest rail-cum-road bridge, Bogibeel bridge, at Dibrugarh in Assam on December 25, 2018. 

At 4.94 km, the double-decker structure is India’s longest.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25 inaugurated the country’s longest rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra at Bogibeel near Dibrugarh in Assam.

After reaching Dibrugarh in the afternoon from New Delhi, Mr. Modi directly flew to Bogibeel in a chopper and inaugurated the 4.94-km-long double-decker bridge from the southern bank of the river.

Mr. Modi along with Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also walked a few metres on the bridge.

The strategically important bridge over the mighty Brahmaputra will remove communication bottlenecks to several districts in Arunachal Pradesh.

The bridge, which begins at Dibrugarh and ends at Dhemaji districts of Assam, will connect parts of Arunachal Pradesh by road as well as the railway.

bogibeel-bridge why is it so important

he Bogibeel Bridge, which was a part of the Assam Accord and sanctioned in 1997-98, is likely to play a crucial role in defence movement along the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh.

‘NDA govt changed dilly-dallying work culture of the past’

After inaugurating the bridge, the Prime Minister flagged off the Tinsukia-Naharlagun Intercity Express, which will run five days a week and use the 4.9-km bridge to cut down the train-travel time between Tinsukia in Assam to Naharlagun town of Arunachal Pradesh by more than 10 hours.

Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh is just over 15 km from Naharlagun.

Addressing a rally at Kareng Chapori after inaugurating the bridge, Mr. Modi said said completion of projects within a given time frame is no longer confined to paper but has become a reality.

“We have changed the earlier latkane bhatkane (dilly-dallying) work culture… Completion of projects within a time frame is no longer confined to paper but has become a truth in the real sense,” he said in an apparent dig at the previous Congress-led UPA government.

If former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had a second term, Bogibeel Bridge would have been ready by 2008-09. After his government, no attention was paid to the project till 2014, the Prime Minister said.

Asserting that the Bogibeel bridge will strengthen the country’s defence prowess with movement of vehicles and trains, he said, it is not only a bridge, it is a lifeline for crores of people in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

The bridge will cut down rail distance (between Dibrugarh in Assam to Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh) to below 200 km from 700 km now, Mr. Modi said.


Bogibeel Bridge why it is so important

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Bogibeel will span the Brahmaputra in eastern Assam

The Brahmaputra was till 1962 the only river in India that had not been bridged along its entire length either for road or railway, according to a 1988 book co-authored by former railwayman and IIT Madras teacher S. Ponnuswamy.

The river, more than 10 km wide in several stretches, now awaits the completion of its fourth and easternmost span — the country’s longest road-rail bridge at 4.94 km — that India’s defence forces and residents of the eastern half of the Northeast have been demanding for almost five decades.

“The Bogibeel bridge will usher in a new era of economic development in the region, apart from strengthening national security in the border areas,” AssamChief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, following a recent visit to inspect progress on the construction of the bridge.

Sited about 17 km downstream of Dibrugarh town, the bridge will facilitate road and rail connectivity between the north and south banks of the Brahmaputra in the eastern part of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

“A lot of emotion is attached to this bridge because it was part of the Assam Accord of 1985, but it is taking a long time,” said Lurinjyoti Gogoi, general secretary of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU).

For the construction wing of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) that is undertaking the project, it is better late than never given the unpredictability of the Brahmaputra and instability of its banks.

Training the river

While former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda laid the foundation stone for the Bogibeel bridge in January 1997, work started only in April 2002, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the construction.

With several deadlines having been missed over the past 16 years, impatience has grown in the area. The NFR had set a June target, which was pushed back to October, and the latest indications are that the formal inauguration might be delayed by another couple of months more.

The protracted delay has resulted in the project’s cost increasing more than threefold to ₹5,800 crore, from the initial estimate of ₹1,767 crore.

At Bogibeel, the unpredictable river needed to be trained first for diversion through a narrower channel by constructing a total of 4.83 km of guide bunds, while flood dykes had to be raised and strengthened 9 km upstream and 7 km downstream on both banks.

Strategic span

“The actual work on the bridge began in 2011, and by that time we knew the guide bunds and dykes could withstand the river’s might,” a railway engineer, who did not wish to be named, said. The bridge has been designed for carrying very heavy loads and features dual broad-gauge tracks and a three-lane road.

“This is very strategic from the defence point of view, and the Army has been demanding it for years,” retired Brigadier Ranjit Barthakur told the media persons “The bridge classification is on the higher side for movement of heavy military equipment. It will drastically cut time for induction of troops and logistics during a war-like situation,” he added.

At present, troops moving between Dhemaji and Dibrugarh — districts on opposite banks — have to travel more than 600 km via the 3.015 km Kaliabhomora bridge, west of Bogibeel.

Ferry services could be hit

The Inland Water Transport (IWT) Department of Assam fears that the Bogibeel bridge will impact ferry services to a large extent. At present, one government vessel and 24 private boats ferry 2,500 people, 146 cars and 84 two-wheelers on an average every day, said Bharat Bhushan Dev Choudhury, director, IWT Department.

“We have to think of other ways to remain in business, such as long-distance cargo movement that works out cheaper than road transport,” Mr. Choudhury said.

Till results we are apart; Mayavati

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This comes after the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, wherein the BSP and the Congress fought separately, but the former extended its support to the grand old party after the declaration of the results.

Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) seems to have put the plans for a grand alliance of opposition parties on hold by declaring that the party would contest on all seats in Madhya Pradesh during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. According to an announcement by party’s vice president Ramji Gautam, the BSP is preparing to contest on all 29 Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh.

Notably, this comes shortly after the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, wherein the BSP and the Congress fought separately, but the former extended its support to the grand old party after the declaration of the results.

Ahead of the Assembly elections in the state, Mayawati had in October declared that she would not get into pre-poll alliance with the Congress party, blaming leaders like former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh. She had, however, said that the intentions of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi for a BSP-Congress alliance was “honest”.

But after the Congress party fell short of majority by winning 114 seats in Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, Mayawati extended support to ensure that a Congress-led government was formed in the state. She had said that the BSP had decided to support the Congress party so that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could be kept out of power.

This comes even as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has said that talks are on among all opposition parties for a Mahagathbandhan ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2019. He also suggested that seat sharing discussions were also underway at different levels, saying that parties that are powerful in a particular state would be given more seats in that region.

“All opposition parties have decided to come together and form a Mahagathbandhan. Talks are on for the same. Whichever party is more powerful in a state will be given more number of seats,” the veteran leader wrote on microblogging site Twitter in Marathi.

In another significant political development, Telangana Rashtra Samithi supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday met Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Following the meeting the Telangana Chief Minister said that soon a “concrete plan” would be formulated.

The TRS chief, who had declared after the Telangana Assembly elections that he would play an active role in national politics, is also slated to meet Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Earlier, he had met Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik.

Daily Update

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Narendra Modi to inaugurate India’s longest rail-road bridge in Assams

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Bogibeel Bridge, India’s longest rail-cum-road connecting the north and south banks of the turbulent Brahmaputra in the eastern parts of Assam, on Christmas Day. The 4.6-kilometre-long structure will be the fourth rail-road bridge on the Brahmaputra river in Assam, the others being the Saraighat Bridge, Naranarayan Setu and the New Saraighat Bridge.

Bogibeel’s inauguration comes a year after Modi inaugurated the country’s longest bridge, the Dhola-Sadiya, over the Lohit river in 2017.

Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda had laid the foundation stone for the Bogibeel Bridge in January 1997, but work on the project began only in April 2002 when former prime Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the construction. Today is also the 94th birthday of the former prime minister.

K Chandrashekar Rao to meet Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav in New Delhi to push for third front

Telangana chief minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) will remain in New Delhi today and meet leaders of political parties in a bid to push for a non-Congress non-BJP alternative third front. On Monday, he had met met his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and said that they would soon come out with a “concrete (political) plan” while asserting that the dialogue for a federal front will continue. He had also met Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik in Bhubaneswar to stress on the a “dire need” for unification of regional parties to provide an alternative to the Congress and the BJP ahead of the 2019 general elections. “I can say certainly that there is a dire need for unification of regional parties in the country. We strongly believe that there has to be an alternative to the Congress and the BJP,” Rao told reporters after meeting Patnaik.

BJP accused Congress of “duping” farmers in states ruled by it by “not” waiving off their loans as promised and dubbed the party as “anti-farmers”. BJP alleges that Congress had promised waiver of all farm debt in the five states of Karnataka, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan but has now turned back on its promise.

Industrial activities, construction work to remain shut in Delhi today

All industrial activities and construction work will remain suspended today following an order from the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA). The EPCA had on Monday imposed a three-day ban on all such activities in pollution hotspots across Delhi-NCR in view of the national capital’s ‘severe’ air quality. Delhi is facing its highest pollution level since Diwali. On Monday, 32 areas in the city recorded ‘severe’ air quality while it was ‘very poor’ in five areas, the CPCB data showed.

In NCR, Noida recorded the worst air quality with an AQI of 464. Faridabad and Ghaziabad also recorded ‘severe’ air quality and Gurgaon recorded ‘very poor’ air quality, the data showed.

The overall PM2.5 level — fine particulate matter in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometer — was recorded at 407 and the PM10 level at 581 here, the CPCB said.

Rift in Karnataka Congress

In an attempt to pacify its disgruntled MLAs, the Congress seems to have come up with a formula of revaluation and rotation. The Cabinet, which went through a second round of expansion and a rejig last week, will be revaluated after a year leading to the removal of non-performing ministers. This comes amid news of discontent within the ranks and file of the JD(S) and Congress both of which had been postponing the expansion for a long time to steer clear of such controversy. Nonetheless, as HD Kumaraswamy dropped two of his sitting ministers, but signs of discord appeared soon after as former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi hinted that there are other Congress MLAs who may follow him. Seven-time MLA Ramalinga Reddy said, “I am disappointed with the yardstick for certain people. It’s not the same for everyone. I’ve never lobbied for a ministerial post. I will not either. But yes I’m disappointed.”

Bethlehem boasts largest Christmas in years; Pope urges Christian community to share more this season 

Pilgrims from around the world flocked to Bethlehem for what was believed to be the biblical West Bank city’s largest Christmas celebrations in years. Hundreds of locals and foreign visitors milled in Manger Square as bagpipe-playing Palestinian Scouts paraded past a giant Christmas tree. Crowds flooded the Church of the Nativity, venerated as the traditional site of Jesus’s birth, and waited to descend into the ancient grotto. The West Bank has seen a spike in violence in recent weeks, set off by a pair of deadly shootings targeting Israeli soldiers and settlers claimed by the Islamic militant group Hamas. Israel has ratcheted up security at checkpoints as it presses on with its manhunt for suspected Palestinian assailants. However, other visitors seemed unconcerned by recent violence in the area. Palestinian tourism officials and hotel operators have reported their strongest season in years.

Meanwhile, the Pope Francis on Monday assailed the “insatiable greed” of today’s consumerism, calling on people in his Christmas homily to make “sharing and giving” more a part of their lives. “Mankind became greedy and voracious,” the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics said in an address to thousands of followers in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Samsung Galaxy S9 to start receiving Android Pie update

South Korean giant Samsung has finally started to roll-out the very first Android 9.0 Pie-based update for its Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus smartphones launched earlier this year. The update is in the form of the brand new OneUI which Samsung had been beta testing for the past month on the Galaxy S9 smartphones. The update is currently rolling out in Germany and a subsequent roll-out globally should follow soon.

Global oil prices sink 6% as economic slowdown fears grip market

Oil prices plunged more than 6 percent to the lowest level in more than a year on Monday, pulling back sharply late in the session as fears of an economic slowdown rattled the market. US crude futures and global benchmark Brent hit their lowest levels since 2017 during the session, putting both benchmarks on track for losses of about 40 percent in the fourth quarter. The fourth-quarter price decline is likely to cause producers to throttle back on their output, said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia agreed this month to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day from January. Should that fail to balance the market, OPEC and its allies will hold an extraordinary meeting, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said on Sunday

“Khan sahab learn something from us about inclusive politics & minority rights,” Owaisi

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Unlike Pakistan, India has seen multiple Presidents from oppressed communities, says Mr. Owaisi

Member of Parliament and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi hit out at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan over the latter’s remark that he would show the Narendra Modi government “how to treat minorities”.

In a tweet on Sunday, Mr. Owaisi said Mr. Khan should instead take a lesson from India’s inclusive politics and minority right.

“According to the Pakistani Constitution, only a Muslim is qualified to be President. India has seen multiple Presidents from oppressed communities. It’s high time Khan sahab learns something from us about inclusive politics & minority rights,” he said.

Addressing an event in Lahore on Saturday, Mr. Khan referred to actor Naseeruddin Shah’s remarks on mob violence in India and said, “We will show the Modi government how to treat minorities. Even in India, people are saying that minorities are not being treated as equal citizens.”

SC to hear Ram Mandir title dispute on January 4

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Appeals are listed before a Bench of CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S.K. Kaul

The volatile Ayodhya dispute appeals have been listed before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India on January 4, 2019.

The Supreme Court’s main cause list for January 4 shows that an application for early hearing and the appeals are listed before a Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S.K. Kaul. On October 29, a three-judge Bench led by Justice Gogoi had ordered the appeals to be listed in January 2019 before an appropriate Bench to fix a date for hearing.

The October order had come when the parties had sought an early hearing. At the time, Justice Gogoi had orally told them that the decision when to start hearing the appeals would be in the realm of discretion of the “appropriate Bench” before which the matter would come up in January.

“We have our own priorities… whether hearing would take place in January, March or April would be decided by an appropriate Bench,” the Chief Justice had remarked.

Majority opinion

On September 27, the apex court, in a majority opinion, had declined the plea made by Islamic bodies and individuals to refer the question as to whether prayer in a mosque is an essential part of Islam to a seven-judge Constitution Bench.

The majority verdict, in its last paragraph, had further directed the Supreme Court to start hearing the pending cases from October 29. This direction had triggered questions whether the court intended to deliver a judgment in the appeals before the May 2019 elections.

In 2017, when the court had started to hear the appeals after a hiatus of over seven years, senior advocate Kapil Sibal had suggested it to adjourn the hearings to after the general elections in May 2019.

HC verdict

The Ayodhya appeals are against the September 30, 2010 decision of the Allahabad High Court to divide the disputed 2.77 acre area among Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and the Ram Lalla. The High Court had concluded that Lord Ram, son of King Dashrath, was born within the 1,482.5 square yards of the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid premises over 9,00,000 years ago during the Treta Yuga.

PM’s Foreign Visits Proving Fruitful

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Positive and constructive discussions were held on full operationalisation of the Trilateral Transit Agreement

A crucial trilateral meeting of officials from India, Afghanistan and Iran on the strategically-important Chabahar port was held on Monday during which they agreed on the routes for trade and transit corridors between the three countries.

The first meeting of the follow-up committee for implementation of the trilateral Chabahar agreement between India, Afghanistan and Iran at the level of Joint Secretary or Director General was held in the Iranian port city of Chabahar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

On the occasion, India Ports Global Limited company opened its office and took over operations at the Shaheed Behesti port at Chabahar.

Positive and constructive discussions were held between the three sides on full operationalisation of the Trilateral Transit Agreement for international transit and transport through the Chabahar Port. They agreed on the routes for the trade and transit corridors between the three countries, the MEA said.

It was agreed to finalise at the earliest, the protocol to harmonise transit, roads, customs, and consular matters.

Chabahar Agreement

During the meeting, it was agreed to allow cargo movement at Chabahar using Transports Internationaux Routiers Convention provisions, the MEA said.

It was decided to hold an event to promote and popularise the potential of Chabahar on February 26, 2019.

A study would also be initiated for determining measures to make the route attractive, decrease logistic costs and pave the way for smooth operationalisation of the Chabahar Agreement.

The next Follow-up Committee meeting, followed by the second Coordination Council Meeting at the level of secretaries or deputy ministers, will held in India.

Transit and Transport Corridor

In May 2016, India, Iran and Afghanistan inked a pact which entailed establishment of Transit and Transport Corridor among the three countries using Chabahar Port as one of the regional hubs for sea transportation in Iran, besides multi-modal transport of goods and passengers across the three nations.

The port in the Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich nation’s southern coast is easily accessible from India’s western coast and is increasingly seen as a counter to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, which is being developed with Chinese investment and is located at distance of around 80 km from Chabahar.

The Chabahar Port is considered a gateway to golden opportunities for trade by India, Iran and Afghanistan with central Asian countries besides ramping up trade among the three countries after Pakistan denied transit access to India.