Browsing: India

Inaugurated on May 1, the 13.3km corridor has been opened exclusively to passenger vehicles and buses Pune: The Mumbai-Pune Expressway’s ‘Missing Link’ corridor is unlikely to be opened to heavy vehicles even after the planned six-month review. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has indicated that the current traffic arrangement was functioning effectively and might continue.Inaugurated on May 1, the 13.3km corridor has been opened exclusively to passenger vehicles and buses. MSRDC had initially planned to review the arrangement after six months before taking a call on allowing trucks and other heavy vehicles. Officials, however, now suggest that the…

Panaji: Questioning the idea of building a 12-storey hotel-cum-casino in the heart of the city, corporator Jack Sukhija said that the centrally located building should be converted into a multi-level parking facility to address the traffic and parking crisis.He said that a casino and a hotel in the core business zone will aggravate the parking problems.“At least 70% of this building should be for parking,” the corporator said.Sukhija said that the highest and best use of the site was a parking facility, not a commercial structure driven by revenue considerations. “We should look at what the city wants and not…

Chandigarh: The UT will launch a month-long voter enumeration drive from June 15 to July 14 under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the photo electoral roll with July 1, 2026 as the reference date.Chief electoral officer Prerna Puri Thursday said Chandigarh has 5,16,427 registered voters and preparations for the exercise are complete, with enumeration forms printed and ready for distribution. Officials, including EROs, AEROs, BLOs, BLAs and supervisors, have been trained.BLOs will undertake door-to-door visits to distribute and collect forms, providing two copies to each voter along with assistance. In locked houses, forms will be left and at least…

Lucknow: With the aim of making the education employment-oriented, the cane development department has taken steps to link the youth with skill development and self-reliance.The department has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Wadhwani Foundation’s Skills Development Network (SDN) with an objective to equip students studying in educational institutions run by cooperative sugarcane societies with modern skills aligned with industry requirements alongside their traditional education. “This is enabling them to successfully pursue careers in employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship,” a state govt spokesperson said.Cane commissioner Ministy S said that approximately 15,440 students are currently enrolled in nine inter-colleges and…

Patna: Energy minister Shailesh Kumar on Thursday inspected the State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) and reviewed key aspects of power management, including electricity demand and supply, grid operations and real-time load handling across the state. He directed officials to remain prepared to meet rising demand and ensure uninterrupted power supply to consumers.Officials briefed him on the functioning of the power system, grid management mechanisms and forecasting processes. The minister was also apprised of electricity availability and the status of transmission and distribution networks.During the visit, the minister held discussions with officials on measures to further strengthen the state’s power infrastructure.…

SOG arrests JEN with forge degree Jaipur: The Rajasthan Police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) Thursday arrested a junior engineer (JEN) posted with the public health engineering department (PHED) after an investigation found that he allegedly used a forged MTech degree in recruitment-related applications and to secure employment.Additional director general of police (SOG) Vishal Bansal identified the accused as Durgashankar Menaria, a resident of Bhinder in Udaipur district, and currently posted as a JEN with PHED.Bansal said the accused allegedly used a fake MTech degree purportedly issued by a university in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, and investigators are probing how he obtained…

Nagpur: Days before the June 18 Legislative Council polls in three Vidarbha local bodies constituencies, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was hit by an internal storm in Amravati on Thursday, with former MLA Yashomati Thakur of Congress alleging Rs15-20 crore “horse-trading” even as the party candidate Harshjeet Deshmukh remained hospitalised in Nagpur for cardiac treatment. Thakur, the party’s election observer for the seat, said, “The election has moved away from grassroots workers and is now marked by corruption. Money power is influencing the process,” she said taking exception to Deshmukh giving media interviews from hospital. Deshmukh, likely to undergo angioplasty,…

Kolkata: The character of a witness is never a principal issue in a criminal trial — it is the accused who is on trial, not the witness, the Calcutta HC on Thursday held while upholding the life sentence of two of the six convicts in a gruesome 2010 political murder, where a CPM worker was killed in front of his son in Katwa. The convicts were all Congress workers, reports Srishti Lakhotia.The sentence of the other four, one of whom died during the pendency of the case, was set aside by the division bench of justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Rai…

Union home minister Amit Shah NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the entire northeast region, barring one or two states, may be out of purview of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act by next year.Speaking at the signing of a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) among the Centre, govt of Assam and govt of Nagaland for oil and mineral exploration along the Assam-Nagaland border, Shah said that in PM Narendra Modi’s efforts to establish lasting peace and push development in the north-east, a dozen peace pacts had been signed since 2019, with violent incidents down 80% and…

Mumbai: A major tragedy was averted at the Shivajinagar BEST depot in Govandi on Tuesday when, moments before a slab crashed inside one of the buildings there, 25 drivers and conductors rushed out sensing danger and escaped without getting hurt. Staffers said they were having lunch when they heard a creaking sound from the ceiling. The warning lasted only seconds, they said, but it was enough to send them rushing out of the room.The slab came down almost immediately after the staffers stepped outside, leaving debris scattered across the space they had just occupied. Though no injuries were reported, the…