A meeting of the Empowered Groups of Officers, to tackle the challenges emerging as a result of spread of COVID-19, was held today under the Chairmanship of Principal Secretary to Prime Minister. The meeting was the latest in a series of periodic reviews at various levels by the Prime Minister’s Office to monitor the ongoing efforts to counter the impact of the pandemic. Principal Secretary reviewed the efforts undertaken by the Empowered Groups. The issues related to supply chain and logistics management for availability of necessary items, efforts undertaken for the benefit of stakeholders involved, steps to assist farmers harvest…
Author: Our Correspondent
Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah reviewed border guarding arrangements, at India – Pakistan and India – Bangladesh borders, with BSF Command and Sector Headquarters through video-conferencing yesterday. Shri Shah directed that vigil on border may be intensified, especially along the unfenced area, to ensure that no cross border movement is allowed. The Home Minister further directed that farmers in the border areas must be educated about COVID-19 and the preventive measures to be taken to prevent its spread in these areas. Also, in coordination with District administration, BSF must ensure that the people do not venture across the border…
The petrol pumps across Odisha, on Friday came out with a stringent rule, No Mask, No Petrol/Diesel /CNG, in a bid to strictly enforce government’s order making wearing of face masks mandatory while going out of homes. The fuel outlets decision was announced by Utkal Petroleum Dealers Association general secretary Sanjay Lath here. There are about 1600 fuel outlets across Odisha. “The decision has been taken to ensure that people follow the governments guidelines”, Lath said. Reports from Bhubaneswar and various parts of the state said that grocery and vegetables shop owners are also denying sell of items to the…
A woman in Telangana rode nearly 1,400 km on a scooter over three days amid the nationwide lockdown to bring her stranded son home from Nellore in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Razia Begum (48) set out on the arduous journey on Monday morning armed with local police permission. She rode solo to Nellore and returned with her younger son on Wednesday evening, showing an endurance level even seasoned rallyists would find hard to match. “It was a difficult journey on a small two-wheeler for a woman. But the determination to bring my son back overtook all my fears. I packed rotis…
The Uttar Pradesh Police have filed a case against unnamed persons and are trying to trace the people who have recorded and circulated a video on WhatsApp, calling for boycotting the vendors of the minority community in colonies. The case has been filed under section 66 (computer-related offences) of the IT Act soon after the circulation of the video asking people to “stop entry of minority community’s vending carts by checking their identity cards, as they were spreading coronavirus”. Ashutosh Kumar, Station House Officer (SHO) of the Nauchandi police station here, said, “An FIR has been filed against unknown persons…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has admitted an error in its “situation report” on the coronavirus spread in countries that showed India at the stage of community transmission. The organization has told that the error has been fixed. India has a cluster of cases and not community transmission, WHO has said. While the India column in the report had said “community transmission”, China, the first country where COVID-19 erupted late last year, showed a “cluster of cases”. India has 6,412 cases of coronavirus, including 199 deaths. Thirty-three deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours. The government has firmly…
The Mumbai Police on Friday cracked the whip on Social Media against fake content and Group Admins of WhatsApp groups as personally liable if such misleading stuff is found circulating. The city police commissioner has issued orders – valid from April 10 to April 24 – prohibiting any kind of fake or distorted information on all social media platforms like WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instragam, etc. It has also banned derogatory or discriminatory messages towards any community, or causing panic and confusion among the people, said the order signed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Pranaya Ashok. The order also…
A parcel train carrying masks arrived in Jammu on Friday as part of bringing the essential medical supplies to Jammu and Kashmir. It is the first such consignment to come by train to Jammu ever since the lockdown was enforced last month. Other materials, including sanitisers and medicines, are being brought by such trains over the next few days. “This is the first day of the parcel train which has brought masks, tomorrow medicines and sanitisers will be brought to Jammu,” said an officer who was accompanying the train. “It is a part of the arrangements being made to bring…
The Tablighi Jamaat Markaz episode has had India shook — in the face of the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the entire country. Experts say had it not been for the unearthing of the hundreds of people in the building, India would have been in a much better state in terms of number of cases and death toll from COVID-19. The Tablighi Jamaatis returnees have been found in almost all parts of Uttar Pradesh. These Jamaatis, majority of them confirmed as ‘Corona carriers’, returned to various cities and spread the virus. It has now been found that while returning from the Tablighi…
BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday took a jibe at the Uddhav Thackeray-led state government after 23 people, members of the Wadhawan family of DHFL Group, were placed under institutional quarantine for violating COVID-19 lockdown orders. The 23 people had travelled to the Wadhawan’s farmhouse in Mahabaleshwar from Khandla amid a nationwide lockdown. “No lockdowns for mighty and rich in Maharashtra? One can spend holidays in Mahabaleshwar with official permission from the police. It is not possible that a senior IPS officer would do such gross mistake knowing the consequences on his own,” Fadnavis tweeted.…