Lucknow, July 6 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday arrested Dev Prakash Madhukar, the key accused in the tragic stampede at a ‘satsang’ (religious congregation) in Hathras that claimed the lives of as many as 121 people, mostly women.

Madhukar, the ‘Mukhya Sevadar’, was named as the main accused in the FIR filed by the police. Earlier, a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information regarding his whereabouts was also announced.

The arrest comes a day after the police nabbed six people in connection with the stampede. They were all members of the satsang organising committee.

The stampede took place on July 2 during the satsang by self-styled godman and preacher Narayan Sakar Hari alias ‘Bhole Baba’.

According to the FIR, over 2.50 lakh people attended the congregation while the administration had permitted only 80,000 people.

Satsang organisers, according to the FIR, tried to hide the actual number of people at the event by concealing evidence and throwing slippers and other belongings of the followers of the godman in nearby fields.

The stampede occurred when several devotees scrambled to collect the soil from the preacher’s feet, which they believed could heal all their ailments. Eyewitnesses recalled how people fell one after one, with their bodies lying atop each other.

Meanwhile, the police are actively gathering information on Narayan Sakar Hari’s background, and teams have been dispatched to cities where he has potential criminal records. However, his name has not been mentioned in the FIR.

–IANS

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Chandigarh, July 5 (IANS) The Punjabi Cultural Council (PCC) and the World Gatka Federation (WGF) on Friday greeted 10 Sikh MPs, including second-time MPs Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Preet Kaur Gill, for their victory in the British general elections

The Labour Party’s landslide victory has secured significant representation for community members in the UK House of Commons.

In a statement, Punjabi Cultural Council Chairman Harjeet Singh Grewal expressed pride in the historic achievement of the Sikh community in the elections. He said a record 10 Sikh members, comprising five women, have been elected to the Parliament, all from the Labour Party.

Notably, Dhesi from the Slough constituency and Preet Kaur Gill from Birmingham Edgbaston have been re-elected for the second consecutive time, continuing their advocacy for the Sikhs and broader community issues within the UK Parliament.

Additionally, eight newly-elected Sikh MPs are entering Parliament for the first time, marking a significant milestone for their community.

World Gatka Federation General Secretary Baljit Singh also thanked the British voters and supporters for placing their trust in Sikh leaders who champion change, unity, and progress in Britain.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, July 5 (IANS) Amid the ongoing protests by unemployed youth and student bodies over job recruitments in Telangana, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Friday announced that a job calendar will be released after discussions during the upcoming budget session of the state Assembly.

He made it clear that the government is committed to filling all the vacancies in the government departments and ready to take decisions to address the issues raised by the job aspirants.

In a statement, the Chief Minister urged the unemployed youth not to fall prey to the conspiracies hatched by some political parties and vested interest groups, as he assured that the government will take appropriate decisions to ensure that no legal hurdles are faced due to the sudden change of rules during the examination period.

The statement came on a day when various groups, including the student wing of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), staged protests outside the Telangana Public Service Commission, demanding an increase in Group-2 and Group-3 jobs, allowing 100 candidates for every post in Group-1 main exams and release of a job calendar.

Revanth Reddy cautioned that the unemployed will be meted out injustice and the present job notifications will also be cancelled if the government takes wrong decisions like the previous BRS regime.

The Chief Minister said the government has already issued notifications to fill 28,942 posts as promised to the unemployed. It has also cleared all legal hurdles pending for years to fill Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3 posts, he claimed.

The Chief Minister assured that the job calendar will be prepared in such a way that the job aspirants will not face any difficulties in appearing for other recruitment exams which are being conducted by the Central government and other recruitment boards.

Revanth Reddy also accused the opposition parties of playing with the lives of the unemployed for political gains when the government is striving hard to render justice to the job aspirants.

He said the unemployed youth will suffer more and the official process for recruitment will be stalled if the government takes decisions contrary to the provisions in the notifications under the pressure of political conspiracies.

He also held a meeting on job notifications with the leaders of Congress, Youth Congress, Teachers’ Joint Action Committee, and Osmania University student leaders.

After the meeting, the Chief Minister called Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari and other top officials and discussed the demands raised by the unemployed youth and the ways to solve them.

The meeting reviewed the demand for the selection of candidates at the rate of 1:100 in the place of 1: 50 in the Group 1 mains exam. The officials explained to the CM that the Group 1 exam was postponed twice due to paper leak and wrong decisions taken by the previous government.

Four lakh candidates appeared for the Group 1 prelims exam which was conducted after a gap of 12 years. The TGPSC (Telangana Public Service Commission) conducted the preliminary exam recently. According to the notification, the selection for mains will be done on the basis of merit in the prelims at the rate of 50 candidates for each post.

Officials explained to the CM that the present rules permitted 50 candidates, based on merit in the prelims, for each post to appear for mains . The threat of court intervention is not ruled out if the rules are amended to select 100 candidates for each post and the risk of cancellation of notification is also there.

The officials told the CM that changing provisions in the notification will also not be legally valid, as they brought to the CM’s notice the comments made by the high court when the Group 1 exam was cancelled for the second time.

The officials said the high court cancelled the exam for the sole reason that the biometric system was not followed as per the then notification issued.

The officials also explained the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court in the case of UPSC vs Gaurav Dwivedi in 1999 when the top court made it clear that giving opportunity to more people than mentioned in the notification will do injustice to those who have already qualified.

The CM and the officials also deliberated on the increase in Group 2 and Group 3 posts.

The officials informed Revanth Reddy that increasing the posts when the examination process is on will amount to violation of the notification and the chance of court intervention will be plenty.

The government increased the number of Group 1 posts because the Group 1 notification was issued afresh. There is no such flexibility to increase the posts in Group 2 and Group 3 notifications, officials said.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, July 5 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu arrived in Hyderabad on Friday to a warm welcome by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders and his supporters.

Naidu was received by party leaders on his arrival at Begumpet Airport by a special aircraft from New Delhi.

Holding TDP flags and banners and raising slogans of “Jai Jai Babu”, his supporters cheered as he came out of the airport and boarded his vehicle. They had also brought a huge garland for him.

Standing out of his car’s sunroof, the Chief Minister waved at the crowd.

Amid tight security and despite the rain, the rally continued from the airport, passing through the busy Begumpet road, Panjagutta, and Banjara Hills to reach NTR Trust Bhavan, the TDP headquarters.

Huge cutouts of Naidu and banners were put up at NTR Trust Bhavan to welcome Naidu on his first visit after assuming office as the Chief Minister last month.

Naidu, who had served as the Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh for two terms between 1995 and 2004, reached his residence in Jubilee Hills.

He is scheduled to meet his Telangana counterpart A. Revanth Reddy on Saturday to discuss post-bifurcation issues between the two states. This would be the first meeting between the two leaders.

Naidu had proposed the meeting with Revanth Reddy and the latter accepted and invited him for the meeting at Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule Bhavan on July 6. Naidu had written that he looks forward to working closely with him to resolve post-bifurcation issues, enhance cooperation, and facilitate progress in both the Telugu-speaking states. Revanth Reddy had agreed that it was imperative to resolve all pending issues of the bifurcation act.

–IANS

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Patna July 5 (IANS) In response to the frequent bridge collapses in the state, the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government suspended 17 engineers on Friday.

The decision was announced by Chaitanya Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary in the Water Resources Department, and Deepak Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary in the Rural Works Department, who emphasised the state government’s seriousness about the issue.

Out of the 17 suspended engineers, 11 are from the Water Resources Department, including executive engineers Amit Anand and Kumar Brijesh; assistant engineers Raj Kumar, Chandramohan Jha, Simran Anand, and Neha Rani; and junior engineers Mohammad Majeed, Ravi Kumar Rajneesh, Rafi-Ul-Hoda Ansari, Ratnesh Gautam, and Prabhat Ranjan.

Additionally, six engineers from the Rural Works Department have also been suspended, including executive engineers Anjani Kumar and Ashutosh Kumar Ranjan; junior engineers Virendra Prasad and Manish Kumar, and two others.

“Nine bridges collapsed in different districts recently, six of which were very old while three were under construction. On July 3 and 4, six culverts built on the Chhadi and Gandaki Rivers collapsed in Siwan and Saran districts,” said Chaitanya Prasad.

“Action is being taken against the contractors, including initiating the blacklisting process to prevent them from being allotted any future work. Recovery of payments made to the contractors is underway, while the pending payments to all the contractors have been stopped for now,” Prasad added.

Deepak Kumar Singh said: “Three culverts under the Rural Works Department have been damaged. A four-member team led by chief engineer Nirmal Kumar was formed to investigate the matter. Based on its report, six engineers of the department have been suspended.”

–IANS

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