Breaking News, March 5

Delhi Water Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday inaugurated a huge Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) at Coronation Pillar site with a capacity of treating 31.80 crore liters of waste water per day. The inauguration of this plant is a major step forward in cleaning the river Yamuna, said Jain on the occasion. The newly built Coronation Pillar Wastewater Treatment Plant will cater to the requirements of sewage treatment for the coronation pillar drainage zone.

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has said the show cause notice issued in the name of a deceased person is null and void and thus liable to be quashed. The Delhi bench of the ITAT was dealing a plea of the wife of the deceased assessee against the revisional order passed under Section 263 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, whereby the assessment order under Section 143(3) read with Section 147 of the Act was sought to be set aside for reframing the assessment in terms of supervisory jurisdiction. As per the record, the return of the assessee was Rs 1,35,682.

Delhi on Friday reported 302 fresh Covid infections, as well as four deaths in the last 24 hours, the Health Department bulletin said. The fresh infections and deaths took the tally to 18,61,189, and the death toll to 26,134, said the Health bulletin on Friday evening. Meanwhile, the Covid infection rate has reduced to 0.63 per cent, and the number of active cases to 1,466.

Three people including a minor were held for attempting to rob money from an Automated teller machine (ATM) in the national capital, an official said on Saturday. The accused, identified as Kundan Kumar (22) and Papu (22), both residents of Bihar's Muzaffarpur and a minor, told police that they committed the offence after getting inspired from a video that they had seen on YouTube. They were booked under sections 457, 380, 511 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hailed the contribution of Sulabh International to the cleanliness movement in the country as the organisation celebrated its 52nd foundation day.

Milk brand Mother Dairy has announced to increase the milk price by Rs 2 per litre in the Delhi NCR area. The price hike will come into the effect from Sunday. The milk brand has said that the price has been increased because of rise in the procurement cost.

Jayanth Mukund Tinekar, a social activist who brought a sensational fake stamp paper case to light and saved thousands of crores to the state exchequer, was attacked in Belagavi district of Karnataka on Saturday. The police are yet to ascertain the exact reason behind the attack. The 62-year-old social activist has been attacked by a gang of eight persons with iron rods. After seriously assaulting Tinekar, the miscreants escaped from the spot. Later, the truck drivers shifted him to Belagavi Civil Hospital and his condition is said to be serious.

Vaccination drive for children aged up to two years old will be intensified in the limits of the Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) in Maharashtra's Thane district in the next three months, a civic official said. 

Islamic State terror group claims responsibility for Shia mosque attack in Pakistan as death toll rises to 62 said a hospital official

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister P.T.R Thiagarajan has said that after the DMK government assumed office in May 2021, the finances of the state have made a remarkable turnaround. He was addressing a meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) through a live video session. The event titled "Tamil Nadu: $ One trillion economy by 2030- Business and Government working together", is part of the CII Tamil Nadu chapter's annual meeting.

Over 1,200 people fell ill and hospitalised after they consumed food at the wedding of a local Congress leader's son in Mehsana district of Gujarat, police said on Saturday. The incident occurred at Savala village in Visnagar taluka late on Friday night, a Visnagar rural police station official said. More than 1,200 people fell ill and had to be hospitalised after they ate food at the wedding, Mehsana Superintendent of Police Parthrajsinh Gohil said. People started vomiting and complained of diarrhoea, following which they were rushed to different hospitals in Visnagar, Mehsana and Vadnagar, he said. Samples of the food served at the function have been collected by the Forensic Science Laboratory and the Food and Drug Department for further examination, he said.

A Special CBI court in Delhi on Saturday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Chitra Ramakrishna, the former CEO-MD of National Stock Exchange (NSE), in connection with a fraud case. Ramakrishna, through her counsel, had approached the court seeking relief from her arrest. Her plea was opposed by the prosecution. After hearing the argument of defense and the prosecution, the court dismissed the plea. On February 24, the CBI arrested Anand Subramanian, the ex-Group Operating Officer of NSE. He was later sent to CBI's custody till March 6.

The Supreme Court has stayed a Delhi High Court order which laid down guidelines regarding feeding of stray dogs while observing that citizens have the right to feed community canines. A bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose issued notices to the Animal Welfare Board of India, Delhi government and others on an appeal filed by an NGO against the High Court order. "Issue notice, returnable in six weeks. Meanwhile, operation of the impugned order shall remain stayed," the bench said. The top court was hearing an appeal filed by the Humane Foundation for People & Animals challenging the June 24, 2021 order of the High Court. The NGO contended that the High Court's directions can lead to an increase in the menace of stray dogs.

The Delhi Forest Department is working on a policy that will allow institutions and individuals to adopt a tree and maintain it, according to officials. "Considering Delhi is the national capital and people are aware of the importance of trees, we are keen on having a tree adoption policy for Delhi on the lines of Sikkim. However, it is still at the discussion stage and may take some time," a senior forest official said. The move is aimed at strengthening conservation policies and the relationship between people and nature, he said, adding that an individual or an organisation may adopt more than one tree. The department will also conduct a survey to identify trees that are "very old and need care", and prepare a database, the official said.

The Environment Ministry has proposed that at least one tree be planted in every 80 square metres of land to ensure residential and commercial construction sites have at least 10 per cent of their plot area under tree cover. The ministry issued a draft notification on "Building Construction Environment Management Regulations, 2022" on February 28 seeking public suggestions and objections on the proposal within 60 days. The regulations will be applicable on projects involving construction of new building projects and expansion, renovation or repair of old existing buildings having a built-up area of more than 5,000 square metres.

The union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands did not record any fresh COVID-19 case in the last 24 hours, a health department official said on Saturday. The COVID-tally in the archipelago remained at 10,020, he said. One more person recovered from coronavirus, taking the total number of recoveries to 9,887, the official said. The union territory now has only four active COVID-19 cases. The COVID-19 death toll remained at 129 as no fresh fatality was reported in the last 24 hours, he said. Andaman and Nicobar Islands had reported one new COVID-19 case and two recoveries on Friday. The administration has so far tested 7,02,143 samples for COVID-19 and the cumulative test positivity rate is 1.43 per cent. A total of 6,07,989 beneficiaries have been inoculated with COVID-19 vaccine, the official added.

The national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 13.5 degree Celsius, two notches below the season's average, on Saturday morning, the India Meteorological Department said. The humidity was 85 per cent at 8.30 am. The city's air quality was recorded in the ''moderate'' category on Friday morning with the AQI clocking 120 at 9 am, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed. An Air Quality Index (AQI) between zero and 50 is considered ''good'', 51 and 100 ''satisfactory'', 101 and 200 ''moderate'', 201 and 300 ''poor'', 301 and 400 ''very poor'', and 401 and 500 ''severe''. The city is expected to see strong surface winds during the daytime, and the maximum temperature may reach up to 26 degrees Celsius, the weather department said.

With the addition of 29 coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra mounted to 7,08,431, an official said on Saturday. These new cases were reported on Friday , he said. The COVID-19 death toll in the district remained unchanged at 11,877 as no fresh fatality was reported. The mortality rate is 1.67 per cent, he added. In neighboring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,63,412 while the total death toll is 3,392, a local official said.

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Jammu-Srinagar National Highway blocked at Panthyal due to shooting stones. Clearance work going on: J&K Traffic Police

The Gujarat government on Friday put on record the details of the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar Metro Rail project, where it was found by the internal auditor that land admeasuring around 20 hectares for the project was "questionable" in nature. During the ongoing Budget session of the Gujarat Assembly, the Urban Development Department tabled the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) Limited's annual report for the year 2020-21. According to the independent auditor's report, "It was observed that the GMRC did not have valid documents of the title deeds of a freehold land situated at Survey No. 525 at Kathwada, Vastral in Ahmedabad, admeasuring 18,000 sq mt that is around two hectares, whose market value as on March 2021 was over Rs 16.82 crore." Other than that, the auditor also noted that land situated at final plot No. 56 and 285 at Ahmedabad Apperal Park (SEZ), admeasuring 17.62 hectares, was allotted by the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) to the Metro company for the construction of a depot, "however the mode of transfer of this land from GIDC to the company has not been decided by the Gujarat government and according to the auditor, the land transfer is questionable". The Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar Metro was a dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat Chief Minister. The project was conceptualised initially in 2003 and it was put on a paper in 2005. After 16 years and umpteen number of route changes, the Corporation has been able to run it on only a 6 km stretch. The 39.26 km stretch of Ahmedabad Metro Phase-1 project comprises two lines and 32 stations. It is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 10,773 crore. GMRC is reportedly planning to commence trial lines in all sections of Line-2 by August, coinciding with 75 years of India's Independence, and just ahead of the state elections scheduled to be held in December.

A law officer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has filed a case on behalf of the civic body with Azad Maidan police station against a person who tweeted that civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal was to be probed by the Income Tax department for irregularities. Sumeet Thakkar had tweeted at 5.07 pm on Friday that Chahal would be probed by the IT department in the case involving BMC standing committee chairman Yashwant Jadhav, civic officials said, adding that this information was completely false and malicious. "The tweet is totally false, malicious and defamatory in nature and maligns the image of BMC commissioner Chahal. Police authorities are requested to immediately lodge an FIR against the person who has tweeted so irresponsibly without having knowledge of any facts of the issue," the BMC complaint stated. It said strict and exemplary action should be taken against Thakkar so that no one puts out such defamatory breaking news without verifying facts. An Azad Maidan police station official confirmed a complaint had been received from the civic body and a probe had begun.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday directed officials to ensure adequate availability of coal at power stations in the state. He said storage of coal should be done as per the rule at coal-based power stations of Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam so that there is no obstacle in power generation anywhere in the state. Chairing a review meeting of the Energy Department, he directed the officers to have regular coordination with the Union ministries concerned for the supply of coal and its early lifting, a press release said. Energy Department officers told the CM that the price of imported coal is continuously increasing. The rate of imported coal a year ago was around USD 87.5 per tonne, which rose to USD 220 per tonne last month and currently is around USD 440 per tonne, they said.

Four Naxals belonging to the banned People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) outfit have been arrested in Jharkhand's Khunti district and arms and ammunition seized from their possession, police said on Friday. Acting on a tip-off, police teams conducted raids on Binda and Gullu villages in Murhu police station area on Thursday and nabbed the Naxals while they were collecting levy, Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Shekhar said. Two country-made carbines, one country-made rifle, several cartridges, 12 mobile phones and Rs 62,800 in cash were seized from their possession, he said.

The Delhi Police has registered a case over an alleged attack on a Class 10 student outside a school in Burari area, officials said on Friday. According to the police, the incident took place on Monday and a video of it has gone viral. The case was registered on Thursday based on a complaint filed by the Class 10 student's father that his daughter was assaulted outside the school by one Riya (18), a juvenile (16) and others, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said. It was alleged that the Class 10 student had posted something on social media against another girl of her school, who informer her brother about it. Her brother Sujal (18) brought Riya, one juvenile (16), Himanshu (21) and Rahul (20) to confront the Class 10 girl. Rahul, Sujal and Himanshu also beat up a schoolmate of the Class 10 girl, the police said.