Author: Indmedia

Nearly 50 families live in these rows of one-room shanties in a settlement behind the mall Ghaziabad: A tin sheet separates a jhuggi settlement from a mall being built 200 metres away, where a seven-year-old girl was raped, savagely assaulted and murdered earlier this month. The child was snuck away by two men, both workers at the mall site, people she knew.Nearly 50 families — mostly migrant workers from Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, brought in by contractors to plaster, paint, and lay wires and bricks for the mall— live in rows of one-room shanties. Many of these…

Union minister Nitin Gadkari and CM Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday lay the foundation stone for three elevated road corridors in Pune district in the presence of deputy CM Sunetra Pawar Pune: A long-awaited solution to one of Maharashtra’s most congested industrial corridors moved a step closer to reality on Saturday with the laying of the foundation stone for the 53.2km Talegaon-Chakan-Shikrapur elevated corridor by Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.“The Talegaon-Chakan junction is notorious for endless congestion. Heavy industrial traffic often brings movement to a standstill for hours, affecting even travellers on the…

Don Bosco HS Class IV students designed their own jerseys and displayed sketches a day ahead of the FIFA World Cup final Panaji: Everything seemed different at Don Bosco High School in the city on Saturday morning.Ditching their regular uniform and instead sporting jerseys of their favourite teams, students were filled with intense energy as they made their affiliation known, ahead of the high-profile FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and Spain at the New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday.Even teachers were not to be left behind; they too joined the party as the school celebrated the Sports Jersey…

Bathinda: Fresh complaints are surfacing in the alleged Australian student visa scam, with nearly 30 students approaching the Barnala police claiming they were defrauded. The TOI on Friday highlighted a Ludhiana-based immigration firm in the centre of the alleged immigration fraud. The complainants include students whose visas were cancelled, those served notices over fraudulent documents used to obtain visas, and others who have either been deported from Australia or face imminent deportation.According to the sources, though only 30 students have come out in the open, the arrested immigration firm co-owner has confessed to have prepared files of nearly 200 students…

A 51-foot-tall statue of Lord Ram at Rambagh Dham being virtually unveiled by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, unseen, in Sambhal on Saturday Lucknow: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said every person living in India must respect its culture and traditions, adding that those who still consider themselves descendants of Babur should understand that New India will neither live with nor accept a “slave mentality”.“Double-engine govt will not spare, at any cost, those who play with the safety of our sisters and daughters. The Turk’s tyranny will no longer prevail. In Sambhal, only what the Harihar Mandir decrees will happen,”…

CM Samrat Choudhary hands over a ticket to a passenger during the inauguration of the ‘Patna Joyride’ helicopter service on Saturday Patna: The whirr of helicopter blades and sweeping views of the Ganga marked a new chapter in Bihar’s tourism sector on Saturday as CM Samrat Choudhary inaugurated the ‘Patna Joyride’ under the “Mukhyamantri Bihar Heli-Tourism and Air Tourism Service Scheme-2026”. The initiative offers residents and visitors a chance to see the state capital from an altitude of 1,200 feet.The service will operate exclusively from Patna airport every Saturday and Sunday with flights scheduled after 3pm. Four rides will be…

Jaipur: The Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) has made fire clearance mandatory before approving building plans, aligning its process with the urban development and housing department’s Fire Safety Provisions-2026. The step follows a series of fatal fires reported in coaching centres, hotels, restaurants and apartment buildings across the country.Officials said all building proposals covered under the new provisions will first be scrutinised by Jaipur Municipal Corporation’s chief fire officer. JDA will issue the sanctioned plan only after the fire wing grants its no-objection certificate.“We are not going to grant any such approvals without the NOC of the JMC’s fire wing. In…

According to EC officials, field verification and digital processing are slower in urban settlements due to households frequently changing their address, voters migrating to other areas in search of employment Nagpur: The poll panel’s 10-day extension to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state is significant for urban Nagpur, where digitisation of enumeration forms has lagged rural areas.While rural assembly constituencies digitised 46.18% electors, urban constituencies managed only 14.15%, pulling down the district’s progress to 29.28%, with 13.58 lakh of 46.38 lakh electors digitised so far.In the revised schedule, the house-to-house enumeration exercise will now continue till Aug 8,…

Rajkot: A special Pocso court in Bhuj sentenced a 22-year-old man from Pune to prison for the rest of his natural life after convicting him of repeatedly raping a minor after threatening her, misusing her photographs on social media and pressuring her to convert to another religion.Special Pocso judge J A Thakkar convicted Jiyad alias Samir Latif Sheikh, a resident of Kalthan village in Pune district, of aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act; Sections 3 and 4 of the amended Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act; rape and criminal intimidation under the IPC…

Around 150 cultural groups from different districts will participate in the programme Ranchi: The festive spirit of the Rath Mela here is set to extend beyond the chariot procession this year, with the art and culture department curating a six-day cultural extravaganza from Monday. Around 150 folk and classical artists and cultural groups from across the state will transform the mela grounds into a vibrant stage, presenting music, dance, theatre and folklore every evening.Organised as part of the Rath Mela celebrations, the event will celebrate indigenous cultural heritage while introducing audiences to classical art forms. The performances are expected to…