Hyderabad, July 6 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) received another jolt when its MLA joined the Congress on Saturday, just a day after six of its Members in the Legislative Council crossed over to the ruling party.

Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, the MLA from Gadwal constituency, joined Congress in the presence of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.

The Chief Minister welcomed the MLA into the party.

Krishna Mohan represents the Gadwal constituency in Revanth Reddy’s home district of Mahabubnagar.

Krishna Mohan is the seventh MLA to switch to the ruling party since BRS lost power in December 2023.

BRS’ strength in the 119-member Assembly has come down to 31. It also lost the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly by-election to Congress.

The tally of Congress party has now gone up to 72.

The main opposition party has lost several senior leaders to Congress during the last seven months.

–IANS

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Pune (Maharashtra), July 6 (IANS) In another shocking incident in Pune, a drunken man allegedly poured petrol and attempted to set ablaze a woman traffic police officer who had stopped him during a drunk-and-drive combing operation, an official said here on Saturday.

The incident happened at around 8 P.M. on Friday night when the traffic police officer, API Shailaja Jankar, along with other colleagues, was on duty at Laxmi Road in the jurisdiction of the Faraskhana Traffic Police Station.

The traffic police team stopped one person riding a motorcycle but finding his attitude suspicious, they asked him to get down and accompany them to the nearby traffic police station.

Apparently furious at being stopped, the man Sanjay F Salve, 32, fled from the spot but returned an hour later with some petrol.

Sanjay F Salve suddenly lunged at the woman officer and poured petrol on her, whipped out a lighter and tried to set her on fire, but her colleagues pinned him down.

“Fortunately, the police officer is unharmed. The other police personnel on duty rushed to her help and caught the accused, and further investigations are on,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Rohidas Pawar, told IANS.

The accused Sanjay F Salve is a resident of Pimpri-Chinchwad.

The Vishrambaugh Police Station, Senior Police Inspector Deepali Bhujbal told mediapersons on Saturday that they registered a case against Sanjay F Salve on various charges, including attempt to murder, drinking-and-driving, obstructing a public servant, etc. and arrested him. A further probe in underway.

Following a series of driving-related offences, starting with the Porsche drunken driving and hit-and-run case of May 19, the Pune Traffic Police stepped up vigil on roads against such offenders, and a check post was organised at Laxmi Road from 5.-8 P.M. on Friday.

–IANS

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Hubballi (Karnataka), July 6 (IANS) Reacting over the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land scam allegedly involving Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs Pralhad Joshi asked the Congress-led state government that if no corruption took place within the government body then why was the Mysuru District Commissioner transferred.

Speaking to the media in Hubballi, Union Minister Joshi said: “The MUDA scam involves massive corruption and it is evident at the outset. In 2017, the decision was taken and the MUDA land scam took place with the full knowledge of CM Siddaramaiah.”

He added that Rs 4,000 crore corruption took place involving MUDA land which the Congress government claims was awarded during the previous BJP government.

However, the transactions happened between 2013 and 2018 during the first term of Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister, the Minister said.

“This is a major scam committed for self-gains. The investigation has to be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). If CM Siddaramaiah claims that he has done nothing, then the scam must be handed over to the CBI,” Union Minister Joshi added.

“The Congress dubbed the BJP government as a 40 per cent government without any basis. The defamation suit was filed in the court. Now, there is the role of CM Siddaramaiah in two scandals — the MUDA scam and tribal welfare board scam,” he alleged.

“On the one hand, there is the Valmiki tribal welfare board’s scam, on the other hand, the MUDA scam has come to light. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) had arrested a few persons to hide the case. Former Minister B. Nagendra is served notice only on Friday. There is a conspiracy to hush up everything. CM Siddaramaiah’s government is mired in corruption,” Joshi said.

“There is no development work under CM Siddaramaiah-led government. No development works are taken up in the name of bogus guarantee schemes. The funds reserved for Dalits are being used for guarantees,” the Minister claimed.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 7 (IANS) The Centre’s Department of Consumer Affairs has asked automobile manufacturers to enhance efforts towards democratisation of repair manuals and videos accessible to all, fostering a robust ecosystem for third-party repair services and upholding consumer rights.

The issue was taken up by Secretary, Department Consumer Affairs, Nidhi Khare at a meeting with Automobile Associations and their partner companies in the Automobile Sector with the objective of onboarding auto companies onto the Right to Repair Portal India, according to an official statement issued on Saturday.

The meeting was attended by various representatives of Automobile Associations like ACMA, SIAM, ATMA, EPIC Foundation and companies including Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, TVS, Royal Enfield, Renault and Bosch, Yamaha Motors India, Honda Car India were also present.

The Government has launched the Right to Repair Portal India (https://righttorepairindia.gov.in/) to provide consumers with easy access to information for repairing their products and enabling them to reuse it, thereby contributing to the circular economy as well as reduction of e-waste in a hassle-free manner.

In the meeting, it was emphasised that products that cannot be repaired or are subject to planned obsolescence—designed with an artificially limited lifespan—contribute to e-waste and compel consumers to purchase new products due to lack of repair options or extremely expensive repair options for reuse. Therefore, the goal is to eliminate obstacles such as restricted access to tools or repair information, ensuring that consumers have complete ownership of the products they purchase.

“Over time, it has been noted that repair services are increasingly constrained due to significant delays in service and absence of repair documentation for vehicles. Additionally, products are sometimes repaired at excessively high costs, leaving consumers dissatisfied with repair services which often delays repairs, even if necessary, due to limited repair options,” it was pointed out at the meeting.

A major constraint is also the availability of genuine spare parts at affordable prices. Often their unavailability at affordable prices forces consumers towards purchasing counterfeit spare parts from the grey markets. Further, lack of accessible information for minor repairs or do it yourself guides, exacerbates consumer distress, adding to their financial burden and overall dissatisfaction.

Stress was also laid on offering roadside assistance to consumers, especially on highways and introducing a repairability index of the vehicle that provides information on the life of the product, easy repair ecosystem, availability of spare parts, detailed manual on self-repair, warranty on different parts.

These measures aim to empower consumers with informed choices regarding the post-sales service of their products, besides ease in enjoying their products fully. The meeting concluded with the consensus to onboard the Right to Repair Portal and adopt a greater collaborative approach in providing a vibrant post-sale services to the consumers.

The discussions also covered topics such as aligning standardisation of parts along with standardisation of skilled workmanship, companies developing catalogues that should benefit consumers for post-purchase service and longevity of product life, and measures for addressing deceptive practices in repair workshops in the name of motor insurance that contribute to unnecessary generation of plastic waste.

It was stressed that details of Companies Service Centre across India and Recognition third-parties repairers, if any, by the companies and Information on country of origin to be explicitly mentioned.

Some companies like TVS have shared their post-onboarding experiences on the portal. Companies including Tata Motors and TVS discussed how, based on complaints received from the National Consumer Helpline, they identified key repair issues and subsequently created repair videos accessible to consumers via their official YouTube channels.

–IANS

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Shivamogga, July 6 (IANS) At least three persons were killed and two others injured as two cars collided head-on in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district on Saturday.

The deceased were identified as Chandru, Siddanna and Imam Saab, all residents of Belagere village near Challakere town in Chitradurga district.

The injured were shifted to the Meggan Hospital in Shivamogga.

According to police, the incident occurred due to overspeeding.

One of the cars was en route to Sagara town from Shivamogga and the other car was coming towards Shivamogga from Sagara town.

Kumasi Police have rushed to the spot and taken up the investigation.

Both vehicles were severely mangled in the crash.

Details are awaited.

–IANS

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