21 killed in road mishap in Panchmahal
AHMEDABAD: Twenty-one people, including 11 women were killed, while over 20 others were injured in a head-on collision between a speeding truck and a tractor in Panchmahal district here on Friday.The incident occurred near Veganpur village of Godhra taluka after midnight when a tractor trolley carrying devotees returning from a religious function, was hit by a truck with a Madhya Pradesh state registration, coming from the opposite direction, police said.While 18 people died on the spot after being crushed under the trolley, one person died at the Godhra civil hospital and two others succumbed to their injuries at the SSG Hospital in Vadodara.Over 20 persons injured in the incident are undergoing treatment at Godhra civil hospital and SSG hospital in Vadodara city, police said, adding all the bodies have been sent for post-mortem at the Godhra civil hospital.The victims were returning to their native village Malukatu in Godhra after visiting a nearby temple when the mishap occurred, police said.A case has been registered against the driver of the truck who is absconding, they said.(PTI)
Delhi school children to get free medical treatment
NEW DELHI: Nearly 14 lakh school children in the city will be provided free medical treatment and health check-ups by Delhi Government under an ambitious scheme which will be rolled out on Children’s Day on November 14. The scheme was announced by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit while presenting Delhi government’s budget for 2011-12 in March and a corpus fund of Rs 100 crore was set up for its implementation. Dikshit on Friday reviewed preparation for launch of the ‘Chacha Nehru Sehat Yojana’ to provide universal and free health care to children up to the age of 14 years. Initially, the scheme will be implemented in 100 schools and later it will be extended to the remaining 854 government-run schools. Under the scheme, the government will prepare comprehensive health profile of all the school children and will keep them in an electronic format. In the meeting, Dikshit was briefed by Health Minister A K Walia and officials of Education Department about the preparations to implement the scheme. (PTI)
SC notice to TN, Kerala on ex-CJI assets row
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has issued notices to Tamil Nadu and Kerala on a plea seeking to make them parties in a PIL making allegations of corruption against former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan. The interlocutory application filed by an advocate had alleged that Balakrishnan was alloted two prime plots of land in Chennai under a benami transaction by then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and of amassing illegal assets in Kerala. A bench of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar issued notices on the application moved in connection with a PIL seeking a judicial inquiry into the alleged illegal assets possessed by Balakrishnan, presently chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). “Issue notice on the interlocutory application seeking impleadment of States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu as respondents, subject to office objections,” the bench said in an order. (PTI)
Brother kills family for practising witchcraft
RANCHI: In a bizarre incident, a couple was Friday killed by their relatives in Jharkhand’s Gumla district on the suspicion of practising witchcraft, police said.The victims were identified as P. Oraon and his wife Champa Devi, a police officer said.The alleged culprits were identified as P. Oraon’s brother Kisun and nephews Aitwa and Hari.Police arrested Aitwa while Kisun and Hari managed to escape. (IANS)
‘Don’t remove AFSPA from Kashmir’
NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley Friday said the Armed Forces Special Powers Act should not be removed from any part of Jammu and Kashmir as this will affect security.Days after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah suggested withdrawal of the act from certain parts of the state, Jaitley, who is also leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said any such move will strengthen the separatists.”The withdrawal of this law (AFSPA) would leave the administration of the unprotected districts only in the hands of the local police and thus incentivising the separatist and violent groups to increase their activities in these areas,” Jaitley said in a statement here.”It would, therefore, be politically more prudent for the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir not to initiate a debate at a stage when circumstances still warrant the continuation of the operation of the law,” he said.(IANS)