Kozhikode, July 30 (IANS) Locals living in and around the Chaliyar River in Kerala’s Malappuram district, around 100 km from Wayanad, were shocked to find around 10 bodies floating in the river on Tuesday.

The bodies, which have been recovered from the river, are of children, some men and a female.

The locals said the bodies could belong to natives of the Pothukalu area in Wayanad district, which has been affected by the landslides and flooding after heavy rainfall.

A local on condition of anonymity told IANS that 10 bodies had been recovered from the river which is in spate.

With the recovery of these bodies, the death toll in the Wayanad landslides tragedy has reached 56. However, the official confirmation was awaited.

The worst affected areas in the Wayanad district are Churalpara, Velarimala, Mundakayil and Pothukalu. The locals from these areas, who managed to escape, are deeply shattered by the intensity of the devastation. Almost all have lost their houses and some of their dear ones.

“There are hundreds of people living in Mundakayil where I have been living for the past 24 years. What happened is terrible. I am deeply saddened. In this hospital there is no one from the area where I live,” said a deeply upset Kunju Mohammed, who said he had lost his house.

“I hail from the Pothukalu area and this is going to be the worst tragedy that Wayanad has witnessed. None has a clue of the number of lives lost as the entire place is ravaged by the landslides,” said a local who was inconsolable while searching for his immediate family members in the hospital.

The landslides were reported to have occurred at around 2 a.m.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M), Congress and other parties have given a call to their cadres to reach the affected areas to help the people.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 30 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday extended greetings to Mata Prasad Pandey, the newly appointed Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly, and also took a veiled jibe at Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav, popularly referred as ‘chacha’.

“I congratulate you on becoming the Leader of the Opposition in the House,” the Chief Minister said while beginning his speech in the Assembly.

“Yeh ek alag Vishay ha ki aapne chacha ko gaccha de hi diya. Chacha hamesha hi maat khaata hai. Unki niyati hi aisi hi (Though, it’s a different matter that you nudged the chacha (referring to Shivpal Yadav) to the margins. Chacha often gets treated in the same way. This is their character,” the UP CM said, taking a dig at SP’s culture.

Notably, Shivpal Yadav is the brother of former CM Mulayam Singh Yadav and the uncle of SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav. Following the demise of Mulayam Singh, the uncle-nephew fell out over the ‘control of the party’. Their rift and tussle grabbed headlines. Later, Akhilesh got full control of the party and Shivpal went to form his own party.

Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government is presenting a supplementary budget of about Rs 30,000 crore in the Assembly on Tuesday, the second day of the Monsoon session of Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

Earlier in the day, the UP cabinet meeting was held at the Chief Minister’s residence which was attended by both Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak. The cabinet approved the supplementary budget of Rs 30,000 crore.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 30 (IANS) UPSC aspirants who had been on a silent protest in Old Rajendra Nagar in protest over the recent deaths of three coaching students due to sudden waterlogging in the basement of RAU Coaching Centre, on Tuesday asked the Delhi Government to increase the compensation amount to be given to the next of kin of the deceased.

They want the compensation to be in the range of Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore each for the families of the three UPSC aspirants who died in the July 27 incident, as against the Rs 10 lakh promised by the Delhi Government.

UPSC aspirant Daksh Sharma told IANS, “We are on a silent protest. We don’t have any strategy to fight with anyone. We just want some answers and compensation for the deceased. Rs 10 lakh is not the value of a life. The three people who died, their families should receive Rs 1 crore at least.

“The PWD, MCD, BSES, and Delhi Jal Board should be held accountable for the poor conditions here. We need to force these agencies to follow proper SOPs or they won’t improve. LG VK Saxena visited us and asked about our demands. We told him that the living conditions here are terrible and the families of the three deceased students should get Rs 1 crore each as compensation. He assured us that he would raise the issue in Parliament and form a committee to address it.”

Sharma added, “To prevent such incidents from happening again, the government should shut down unauthorised underground coaching centres. The MCD should also check PG accommodations and buildings with illegal expansions. Our protest will continue until proper SOPs are established. We haven’t made any demands to political parties. Some leaders visited but didn’t ask us anything. Durgesh Pathak, our representative, hasn’t taken responsibility either, despite knowing about the waterlogging issue for the last 20-30 years.”

Another UPSC aspirant, Robin told IANS, “We have many demands. First, provide Rs 5 crore compensation to the family of each deceased student. Second, a committee from the Ministry of Home Affairs should quickly take action on this. Third the MCD should come and apologise along with the MLA and MP.

“LG Saxena visited us and spoke to us regarding the issues we face but there has been no action as yet. The problem of the poor drainage system here is decades old, and the MCD only comes to collect bribes. We shouldn’t wait for such tragedies to happen again. Strict action is needed to prevent future incidents.”

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 30 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail on medical grounds to former Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik, an accused in a money laundering case, valid till the Bombay High Court decides his plea for regular bail.

A bench presided over by Justice Bela M. Trivedi passed the order after NCP leader Malik’s lawyer submitted that his lung had collapsed and required medical treatment.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED), said that the anti-money laundering agency has no objection if Malik’s interim medical bail is made absolute.

Senior advocate Arunabh Chowdhury, assisted by advocate Jayant Mohan, appeared on Malik’s behalf in the matter.

Malik was ordered to be temporarily released on bail by the Supreme Court in August last year solely on medical grounds for a term of two months on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the trial court.

Later, it extended the interim relief for three months noting that Malik was suffering from chronic kidney ailments and his medical condition had not improved.

In January this year, the top court had ordered that the temporary bail granted to Malik on medical grounds be extended for six months.

The ED had arrested the senior political leader of the state in February 2022 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a money-laundering case arising out of an alleged under-valued property deal with underworld links.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 30 (IANS) The Yogi Adityanth-led government has introduced the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in the Assembly, which proposes harsher punishment, leading up to life imprisonment in ‘love jihad’ cases.

The proposed amendments have been welcomed by the BJP as a step in the right direction while the Samajwadi Party has termed it a ‘divisive’ move, aimed at creating ‘animosity’ in society.

UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya who reached the Assembly, this morning told reporters that the legislation should be welcomed as this would act as a ‘deterrent’ against such practices.

BJP leader Mohsin Raza said that the law, when amended, will help greatly in tackling illegal religious conversions as many ‘love jihad’ cases have emerged where impersonators marry a girl by hiding their identity and then force her to convert.

“If any impersonator plays with the life of your daughter, why shouldn’t the culprit be held accountable? If an imposter marries any girl by hiding his identity and with malicious intent, why can’t such people be brought to book,” asked the BJP leader.

Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, slammed the Yogi Adityanath government for brining amendments in the existing laws regarding ‘love jihad’ and said that it nothing but negative politics and motivated by the BJP’s ‘aversion’ towards a particular community.

SP leader Fakhrul Hasan Chand in a video message said, “UP has already a law on love jihad. If someone traps someone in his/her love trap with some motive, then there is a law for it but the BJP only wants to do negative politics. It does not want to do anything about unemployment and paper leak.”

UP BJP leader Mohsin Raza also hit out at the Opposition parties for ‘smelling a conspiracy’ in the proposed law.

“A strict regulation is required to put an end to such practises. The BJP believes in ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas.’ It’s unfortunate that the Opposition finds it communal and discriminatory. Their opposition to the ordinance is driven by their appeasement policy towards a certain religion,” Mohsin Raza pointed out.

As per the existing law, the punishment for such cases of an imposter marrying someone with a concealed identity ranges from one to ten years while religious conversions done only for marriage are held invalid.

When the ‘revised’ law comes into force, the guilty will be subjected to life imprisonment. The amendment is likely to be passed in the Assembly by voice vote on August 2, as per reports.

— IANS

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