New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has initiated proactive steps to ensure preparedness in areas prone to floods and landslides to enable emergency response as the monsoon has advanced across India, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said on Wednesday.

NHAI is working in close coordination with local authorities and administration to quickly mobilise machinery and manpower for flood or landslide-affected locations. In addition, to ensure availability of resources for effective disaster preparedness, the NHAI is mapping the availability of key machinery for timely deployment.

To avoid water logging or flood-like situations on National Highways, NHAI is undertaking joint inspections along with various state irrigation departments to ensure that flow of any running channel or stream is not hindered by a newly constructed highway.

Recently, on Delhi-Katra Expressway and other projects, a special drive was conducted in consultation with the irrigation department, according to the Ministry’s statement.

In the case of National Highways passing through urban areas, adequate pumping arrangements will be made on sections wherever there are chances of water logging. Leveraging technology, Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS), along with Rajmargyatra app will be used to disseminate information regarding any hindrance on the stretch to National Highway users, the statement added.

In hilly regions, dedicated emergency response teams equipped with sufficient manpower and machinery have been mobilised at each landslide prone site in close coordination with the district administration.

This will help to immediately clear the rubble from the National Highway to enable 24×7 connectivity and provide safe & smooth movement of traffic.

NHAI officials are also inspecting various structures which have a history of flooding to identify damage on abutments/ piers of the bridges.

Warning signs will be installed at vulnerable locations to caution road users.

In cases where there is a possibility of a national highway getting blocked due to a landslide, an alternative diversion plan has been chalked out with the district administration.

Besides, Geotechnical Instrumentation including real time monitoring at a few vulnerable slopes and tunnels is being implemented as a pilot project.

–IANS

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To ensure smooth and safe passage

Chandigarh, July 3 (IANS) To ensure smooth and safe passage to devotees going for the Shri Amarnath Yatra, Punjab’s Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla on Wednesday chaired a meeting of security agencies to take stock of the arrangements.

The meeting, which was held in Pathankot, focused on strategic preparations for the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, encompassing diverse aspects such as police deployment, security measures, traffic management, and disaster management.

The review also focused on recent incidents involving sightings of armed suspects in Kot Bhattian village and an encounter with an armed suspect in Kathua district.

The meeting was attended by senior officers from the Punjab Police, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Himachal Pradesh Police, the Army, the Air Force, the Border Security Force and other Central agencies.

Shukla deliberated on securing the international border and ensuring the safety of the devotees going for the Shri Amarnath Yatra.

He said the Punjab Police has boosted the security with the deployment of 550 personnel, sniper detachments, bomb disposal and other commando units. A high alert has been sounded with an eight second line of defence checkpoints established by the police.

He said the route has been divided into five sectors for effective management and four companies of CAPF have been stationed along the route. Special security arrangements have been made at ‘langar’ sites.

–IANS

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Kolkata, July 3 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday acquitted a person who was arrested on the charge of criticizing a state minister on social media.

A single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha directed that Ershad Sultan be released immediately.

The matter related to a meeting of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with members of her cabinet, bureaucrats, police officers and heads of the different municipalities in the state on June 28.

The administration arranged for the live streaming of the entire meeting. During the meeting the arrested person made a comment accusing West Bengal minister Arup Roy and some local Trinamool Congress leaders of encouraging illegal constructions in Howrah by illegally filling up the water bodies.

The police registered a FIR against Sultan the same day and he was arrested on June 30. His family members approached the High Court against the arrest and the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday.

During the hearing Justice Sinha raised some questions on the arrest. Her first question was whether the police can arrest anyone if the latter complains or expresses a grievance against anyone. She also questioned whether the arrest was prompted by a complaint from the minister?

Finally she observed that the police has unnecessarily intervened in the matter on the basis of a complaint by a third person.

–IANS

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Bengaluru, July 3 (IANS) The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Karnataka Assembly, R. Ashoka, on Wednesday called CM Siddaramaiah the most “corrupt Chief Minister” the state has ever seen.

“CM Siddaramaiah is the most corrupt, narcissist and is indulging in the loot,” Ashoka said in a post on X.

The senior BJP leader said this after the CM’s name cropped up in the alleged multi-crore Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam.

“Mr Hypocrite Siddaramaiah, why did your close confidante Urban Development Minister Bhyrathi Suresh not initiate action even though the District Commissioner of Mysuru City wrote to him 15 times asking him to cancel the site allotments under the 50:50 scheme through MUDA,” Ashoka questioned.

“Who decided to allot sites on a 50:50 scheme to the land owners without the subject being presented and consented to in the Cabinet meeting? To whose benefit was the decision of allotments of sites by the MUDA made? Who is responsible for the huge losses incurred in the process of granting compensation, allotment of parallel sites, and granting of land which was done without the knowledge of the authority,” Ashoka asked.

“Mr Siddaramaiah, you have got 14 sites measuring 38,824 square feet in prime locality in the name of your wife as compensation for the 3.16 acres of land owned by your wife in Kesare village. Is this not corruption?” the BJP leader said.

Karnataka BJP alleged the involvement of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a Rs 4,000 crore land scam on Tuesday. However, the Chief Minister has refuted the charges, calling them baseless.

Karnataka BJP leaders, including state unit chief B.Y. Vijayendra and Ashoka, were detained by the police at the Kumara Krupa Guest House in Bengaluru on Wednesday while preparing to march to the CM’s residence demanding a probe into his alleged role in the MUDA scam.

–IANS

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Chandigarh, July 3 (IANS) Amid speculation about the reinstatement of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) constable Kulwinder Kaur, who allegedly slapped actor-turned-politician and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut at the Chandigarh Airport last month, media reports quoting the CISF said on Wednesday that she has been transferred to Bengaluru but “remains under suspension”.

“Constable Kulwinder Kaur is still suspended and a department inquiry is underway,” the reports quoting a CISF statement said.

Kulwinder Kaur’s brother, Sher Singh Mahiwal, also told the media that his sister and brother-in-law have been transferred to Bangalore and the inquiry “is still underway”.

Kulwinder Kaur’s husband, also a CISF jawan posted at Chandigarh Airport, has also been transferred to Bengaluru, sources said.

After the incident at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport near Chandigarh on June 6, Kulwinder Kaur was suspended and booked under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The CISF constable was initially detained and later suspended after Kangana told CISF officials on her arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi that she was slapped and abused by a woman constable at the Chandigarh Airport before she boarded the flight to Delhi.

The constable, who was on duty at the Chandigarh airport for the past two-and-a-half years, was caught on camera saying she was upset because of the kind of statements made by Ranaut during the farmers’ agitation.

–IANS

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