Thiruvananthapuram, July 30 (IANS) As the Wayanad landslide toll reached 84, Kerala Chief Secretary, Dr V Venu, in a statement said that taking into account the grave tragedy, the state will observe two days’ official mourning on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On both these days the National Flag will fly at half mast and all official engagements of the Kerala government have been postponed.

The state government expressed deep sadness over the landslide that occurred at Churalmala in the wee hours of Tuesday leaving 84 dead, many injured and missing and causing huge destruction of public and private property.

The worst affected areas are Churalpara, Velarimala, Mundakayil and Pothukalu and the locals from these areas who managed to escape are shattered as hundreds of homes have been totally buried or destroyed.

Rescue operations under the aegis of the NDRF, Navy, Army, police and the fire department along with the local people, are continuing.

A special ropeway has now been put up at Churalmala and the rescue teams have managed to reach the marooned area. They hope to rescue the people trapped in the area shortly.

Meanwhile, rescue teams are now arriving with more men and material to erect a Bailey Bridge at Churalmala where a bridge was swept away during the landslide.

A 50-member Naval team from Kochi with expertise in crossing swollen water bodies have started their work.

Meanwhile, food packets and medicines have also started to arrive and are being given to people who have been badly affected by nature’s fury.

The Centre is closely monitoring the operations and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has deputed Union Minister of State for Fisheries, George Kurian, to Wayanad to coordinate the rescue and relief operations.

–IANS

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Kolkata, July 30 (IANS) The Trinamool Congress will move a special motion to condemn the alleged ongoing “conspiracies to divide West Bengal” on the floor of the Assembly on August 5, which will be the last day of the Monsoon Session.

State Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, said the decision to move the motion was taken at a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee in the Assembly on Tuesday.

“The BJP seems confused and divided on this issue. While one group is for the division of Bengal, the other group is against it. So we are bringing this motion so that the BJP legislators can participate in the debate on it and express their views,” Chattopadhyay said.

The decision to move the motion on this issue comes a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her address in the House on Monday said that the Trinamool Congress will resist all attempts to divide West Bengal.

Her comments came in the wake of a recent observation made by a BJP Lok Sabha member from Jharkhand, Nishikant Dubey demanding formation of a new Union Territory through the bifurcation of certain districts of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, which was seconded by BJP legislator from Murshidabad Assembly constituency Gouri Sankar Ghosh.

It is learnt that the Chief Minister will be present in the Assembly on August 5 when the motion is moved and discussions sought.

Party insiders said that with the Chief Minister being present in the House on that day, it is natural that she will be the principal speaker on behalf of the Treasury Benches.

Although the BJP’s Chief Whip in West Bengal Assembly, Shankar Ghosh, described the proposed motion as a move to create political controversy over the issue, the party’s legislators will still participate in the debate so that their views can be highlighted and recorded.

Meanwhile, speaking on the decision by the BJP to move a No Confidence Motion against the Speaker on Monday, Chattopadhyay said that anyone has the right to do that.

“However, there is a procedure for submitting that motion,” Chattopadhyay said, referring to the development that instead of moving it on the floor of the House, the BJP MLAs submitted the proposal on the No Confidence Motion to the office of Assembly Secretary Sukumar Roy.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 30 (IANS) The Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav and BJP MP Anurag Thakur engaged in a heated war of words in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, over the issue of Agniveers and their ‘sub-par treatment’ as compared to regular jawans in the Armed Forces.

Their verbal duel prompted the Chair to intervene but the duo kept having a go at each other and also went to recall their association with military establishment to buttress their claims. The no-holds barred altercation saw the duo citing their links with the military.

Akhilesh claimed that the Agnipath scheme has turned out be a ‘disaster’ for the youth and the Central government is also realising its mistake of late.

He alleged that many state governments are being pushed and pressurised to ‘absorb’ the Agniveers by providing ‘quotas’ in respective police and Provincial Armed Constabularies.

“If the Agnipath scheme had no shortcomings and loopholes, then why BJP-led state governments are announcing programmes to enroll them, one after another,” Akhilesh asked.

Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur objected to SP Chief’s statement and said there is provision for 100 per cent employment under the Agnipath scheme.

He also cited the history and legacy of Himachal Pradesh, his home state, in serving the Armed Forces and said the state has a rare distinction of getting awarded the country’s first Paramvir Chakra.

“In Kargil war, too, the maximum number of soldiers who made supreme sacrifice came from Himachal Pradesh,” he said.

The SP Chief said that he could also list the number of military honours and asked the BJP MP not to throw a challenge at him as he is a passout from the military school.

Anurag Thakur, in a quick tit-for-tat rebuttal, advised the SP supremo not to ‘lecture’ him on matters related to Armed forces as he himself was a serving officer.

“I am serving as Captain in the Territorial Army. Akhilesh ji, don’t just keep dishing out gyan like Rahul Gandhi,” the BJP MP said.

Akhilesh, who led his party in fetching a whopping 37 MPs in Lok Sabha, further took a jibe at the Treasury benches, saying “he could understand their pain over loss in a state like Uttar Pradesh”.

He also asserted that the INDIA bloc, whenever it comes to power, won’t refrain from repealing the controversial Agnipath scheme.

–IANS

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Imphal, July 30 (IANS) A woman and her infant son died following a landslide triggered by heavy rain in Manipur’s Tamenglong district, police said on Tuesday.

A Police official said that the incident took place at Dimthanlong village and police constable Ringsinlung Kahmei was also injured after his house was swept away in the landslide.

The injured police constable has been shifted to a hospital in Imphal for medical treatment where his health condition is stated to be critical.

Many districts of Manipur have recorded heavy rainfall in the past 24 hours.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh condoled the deaths and wished speedy recovery of the injured policeman.

–IANS

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Chennai, July 30 (IANS) The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Ministry of Civil Aviation to make announcements in Tamil mandatory in all domestic flights operating to and from the airports in Tamil Nadu.

The court directive came following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a person, C.Kanagaraj, the World Tamil Research Trust President, who urged the court to make announcements in Tamil mandatory in all flights operating from the airports in the state.

Acting Chief Justice D. Krishnakumar and Justice K. Kumaresh Babu said that courts could not issue a positive direction as sought in the PIL.

The division bench said that the Central government could be directed only to consider a representation made by the litigant within a period of 12 weeks.

The first division bench issued such a direction and disposed of the PIL petition pending since 2021.

The petitioner had contended that announcements in Tamil were being made even in foreign countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

In the submission before the Madras High Court, he asked why should such announcements could not be made mandatory in all domestic flights operated to and from Tamil Nadu.

–IANS

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