Patna, July 31 (IANS) The Patna district administration has given coaching institutions a one-month time period to rectify safety guideline violations, officials said.

Chandrashekhar Singh, the Patna District Magistrate (DM), confirmed this decision, stating that failure to comply with safety parameters within the district would result in action against the institutions, including the potential cancellation of their registrations.

“We have called a meeting of coaching institutions in Patna on Wednesday, and several coaching operators were present. They have urged us to give them a month, which I have granted,” Singh said while speaking to media persons here.

This move comes in response to the tragedy in New Delhi’s Old Rajender Nagar.

The Patna district administration had decided to inspect all coaching institutions from Monday, with inspections currently underway since Tuesday.

The inspection team, led by an SDM rank officer, has discovered many deficiencies in safety aspects.

The investigation team in Patna is scrutinising several aspects of the coaching institutes, including registration status, safety arrangements, compliance with building bylaws, availability of fire exit facilities, emergency operation services, and others.

The District Magistrate highlighted several critical issues unravelled during the ongoing inspection of various coaching institutions.

“We have found overcrowded classrooms in majority of the coaching institutions. Additionally, many of them have only one entry and exit gate, lack cross-ventilation, and do not have safety equipment like fire extinguishers. Some institutions have two gates but use only one for entry and exit. We have asked them to make both gates operational. Those with only one gate have been instructed to create an additional gate,” Singh said.

Several coaching institutes in Patna operate in densely populated and highly congested areas such as Makhania Kuan, Khajanchi Road, Annie Besant Road, Thakurbari Road, Bhikhana Pahadi, Musallahpur Haat and other places.

“We have suggested them to establish coaching facilities on the outskirts of the city with all necessary safety parameters,” the DM added.

“In response, coaching operators have demanded that their business be recognised as an industry. Since this matter relates to the state government, the decision will be taken by the relevant authorities,” Singh said.

–IANS

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Bhopal, July 31 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Sudhir Saxena on Wednesday instructed officials to remain very vigilant while verifying the documents for passports.

DGP Saxena asked the officials to ensure that all mandatory norms are followed during the verification of the documents as the subject is related to internal security and the integrity of the country.

He also directed police officials to ensure the people do not suffer.

Saxena made this assertion while addressing a workshop regarding the rules and regulations for the passport at the regional passport office in Bhopal on Wednesday.

He informed us that the passport act in India was introduced in 1967, and since then it has progressed across the country.

“Passport is a very important document… but it is also very sensitive. It has a direct relation with the security of the country, and therefore, mandatory rules need to be strictly followed during the verification of the documents,” Saxena said.

Meanwhile, Saxena also suggested that workshops holding discussions on passports should be organised on a regular basis.

More than 75 officials from different regional passport offices in Madhya Pradesh attended the workshop in Bhopal.

It was the first time a workshop related to this particular subject was organised in Bhopal.

In the last 10 years, as many as 24 regional passport offices have been established in Madhya Pradesh.

In 2023, more than 3 lakh passports were issued from Madhya Pradesh, officials said.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, July 31 (IANS) The Telangana High Court on Wednesday upheld the order of a lower court which sentenced, to death, the convict in the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Hyderabad.

The high court dismissed an appeal by the convict against the order of the Metropolitan Sessions Court in the 2017 case, agreeing with the lower court that it is the rarest of rare cases.

Dinesh Kumar Dharne, a migrant worker from Madhya Pradesh, had kidnapped, raped, and murdered the girl at Narsingi in December 2017. He had lured the girl with chocolates, took her to the bushes, and raped her. Fearing that she would inform her parents about it, he bludgeoned her to death.

The victim was the daughter of a couple who had migrated from Bihar for work.

Dharne, who was then aged 23, and the victim’s parents were working at the same construction site in Narsingi and knew each other well. When the girl was playing outside her hut, he took her to a nearby grocery shop on the pretext of buying her chocolates. On not finding their daughter for long, they questioned Dharne, who said he had dropped her back at the construction site and hadn’t seen her ever since.

The police took up the investigation after the victim’s parents lodged a complaint. During the questioning by police, Dharne confessed to the crime and was charged under Sections 363, 366, 376(A) and 302 of the IPC and the POCSO Act.

In February 2021, the Metropolitan Sessions Court in Ranga Reddy district had found him guilty and sentenced him to death. This was the first death sentence in the Cyberabad Commissionerate limits since its formation in 2003 and also was the first delivered by the Ranga Reddy district court in over three decades. Then Commissioner of Cyberabad V.C. Sajjanar had termed it a landmark judgement and said it was a result of a watertight case made against the accused.

–IANS

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Bengaluru, July 31 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday that the people of the state must question the “anti-Dalit” Union government for not using the Budget funds meant for the development of the community.

“What moral authority does the Union government have to question our (Congress) government when it unjustly uses the budget funds meant for the rightful development of Dalits by not implementing the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan/Tribal Sub-Plan (SCSP/TSP) schemes at the national level?” Siddaramaiah asked.

“Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is shedding crocodile tears for Dalits, has called for questioning the Karnataka government regarding the welfare of the SC/STs. Nirmala Sitharaman, if you care so much about Dalits, implement the SCSP/TSP scheme and allocate 25 per cent of the Union Budget in proportion to the Dalit population, then question us. Until then, it would be wise for you to remain silent,” the Chief Minister said.

The Karnataka government’s budget for the current year is Rs 3,71,383 crore, of which Rs 39,121 crore has been allocated for SCSP/TSP schemes. However, the Union government’s Budget for the current year is Rs 48.21 lakh crore, of which only Rs 2,90,401 crore has been allocated for the development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Siddaramaiah added.

“Nirmala Sitharaman, your budget clearly shows whom you are favouring. This is exactly what our leader Rahul Gandhi pointed out in the Lok Sabha. You are depriving 75 per cent of the population and feeding ‘halwa’ to 25 per cent. It is the fear of your “anti-Dalit” policies being exposed that makes you oppose the Caste census,” he said.

There were no widespread protests in Karnataka to implement the SCSP/TSP Act. However, the Congress government in the state included it in the 2013 poll manifesto out of genuine concern for the Dalit community, he added.

After coming to power, the Congress-led Karnataka government implemented the SCSP/TSP Act in 2014-15 fulfilling its poll promise, Siddaramaiah said.

“For the past 10 years, I have been urging the Union government to implement the SCSP/TSP Act at the national level, just as it is in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has consistently rejected this demand. It is laughable that those who have ignored this demand for so long are now shedding crocodile tears, claiming the Congress government in Karnataka is being unjust to Dalits,” he slammed the Union government.

Before the implementation of the SCSP/TSP Act, the special component plan for the welfare of the Dalit community in the state allocated Rs 8,616 crore in the year 2013-14. In the year 2014-15, when the SCSP/TSP Act was implemented, the allocation was Rs 15,894 crore. This amount has now reached nearly Rs 40,000 crore which shows that the Congress government’s concern for the Dalits in the state, Siddaramaiah said.

“Not only this, but our (Congress) government has also increased the reservation for Scheduled Castes from 15 to 17 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes from 3 to 7 per cent as per the recommendations of Justice H.N. Nagamohan Das Committee.”

“We have reserved 24.1 per cent of government contracts up to Rs 1 crore for SC and ST contractors, decided to apply reservation to contract-based appointments, amended the PTCL Act to prevent unauthorised transfer of land granted to SC/ST families, and provided a 75 per cent subsidy for industrial plots allocated to SC/ST entrepreneurs. All these measures have been implemented only in Karnataka,” Siddaramaiah added.

“Now, tell me, Nirmala Sitharaman, who should the Dalits question first? The state government, which has implemented a series of schemes for the welfare of Dalits, including the SCSP/TSP Act, or the Union government, which has committed injustice by not giving even the rightful share to Dalits in the Budget?” the Chief Minister asked.

–IANS

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Kolkata, July 31 (IANS) BJP legislators staged a walkout from the West Bengal Assembly on Wednesday as soon as Minister for Municipal Affairs & Urban Development, Firhad Hakim, rose to speak on the eighth day of the Monsoon Session.

The Chief Whip of BJP’s legislative party, Shankar Ghosh, said a decision was taken earlier that the party MLAs will boycott any speech by Hakim as a mark of protest against the latter’s comment at a recent event that there is a “need to spread Islam among non-Muslims”.

On July 26, the BJP legislators staged a similar walkout after Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay rejected an adjournment motion moved by the leader of the opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, demanding the termination of Hakim as an MLA for his remark.

“Boycotting his speech on the floor of the House is the decision of our party. We will reconsider our decision only after he (Hakim) withdraws his remark made at a public gathering,” said Ghosh.

The BJP legislators returned to the House only after Hakim, who’s also the Kolkata Mayor, completed his speech.

The Speaker, meanwhile, said that such developments are not suitable for the sanctity of the Assembly as he made a plea to the BJP’s legislative team to reconsider its decision.

Hakim later told mediapersons, “I have always been a secular person, and continue to be so. What I said at a religious gathering cannot be the subject of discussion in the Assembly. The BJP always tries such divisive tactics.”

–IANS

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