Sandal smugglers kill Cong leader
Rajgarh (Biaora): A local Congress leader and former chairman of Sarangpur Municipality was on Saturday mowed down by some unidentified sandal smugglers with their jeep when he tried to prevent them from taking away sandal woods, police said. The miscreants barged into the garden of Satyanaryan Rathi in the wee hours and tried to steal sandalwoods. As Rathi and his brother Kamalesh woke up, they rushed to the garden. About a dozen thieves then tried to flee with the jeep but they hit Rathi killing him on the spot and injuring his brother before fleeing. Critically injured Kamlesh was admitted to hospital, police added. (UNI)
17-year old girl murdered by brothers in honour killing
Tirunelveli (TN): In a case of honour killing, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly murdered by her two brothers for falling in love with a Dalit boy in the district, police said on Saturday. The two brothers poured acid into the mouth of their sister Gomathy and hanged her at their house in Seevalaperi village last night. They have been arrested on a complaint from the Village Administrative Officer Regina, police said. They said the duo confessed to have killed their sister. According to police, Gomathy had fallen in love with Murugan of Tiruvengadapuram, who was working in a fish processing unit. A few days ago, she had gone to his house and stayed with his family there. Her brothers Murugan and Sudalaimuthu, who were angry by her conduct, went to Thiruvengadapuram and persuaded her to come back home and later killed her, polie said, adding further investigation was on. (PTI)
TN govt. to appoint 16,726 sanitary staff in Panchayats
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday ordered appointment of 16,726 more sanitary staff posts in Panchayats across the state in a bid to ensure cleanliness in villages. The sanitary staff would be paid a consolidated sum of Rs 2,000 per month and Dearness Allowance of Rs 40 each, . according to an official press release here. The state government has been taking efforts to ensure cleaner villages in the state. “To prevent defecation in public, the Chief Minister had ordered construction of combined health complexes for women during her previous regime. As they were not properly maintained by the subsequent government, after assuming charge for the third time Ms Jayalalalithaa has sanctioned Rs 170 crore to repair and rectify them. Also she ordered construction of 770 health complexes for men at a cost of Rs 35 crore,” the release said. Ms Jayalalithaa also announced a cash award of Rs five lakh for villages which achieve 100 per cent cleanliness. (UNI)
MP seeks pair of white tigers from Odisha
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has written to his Odisha counterpart, Naveen Patnaik, seeking a pair of white tigers from Nandankanan zoo for the zoo-cum-rescue centre that is coming up at Mukundpur, near Govindgarh, in the state. Chouhan said in the letter, sent yesterday, that Madhya Pradesh can gift a pair of normal (coloured) Bengal tigers to the zoo in Bhubaneshwar in return. In 1953, a white male tiger was captured by Maharaj Martand Singh of Rewa princely state in Madhya Pradesh. This tiger, after mating with a normal coloured tigress, fathered white tiger cubs in captivity. The breeding programme went on for long, and the cubs were sold or donated to various zoos in India and outside, the letter mentions. The new zoo-cum-rescue centre at Mukundpur would have a breeding centre, which would be named for the late Martand Singh, to acknowledge his efforts for the captive breeding of white tigers, Chouhan adds in his letter. Nandankanan Zoo has 3 male and 7 female white tigers, and the zoo has become famous for its successful breeding program, the letter notes. (PTI)
Big Temple elephant dies
Thanjavur (TN): The 63-year-old elephant “Velliammal” of the famous Brahadeeswarar temple died here on Saturday. The elephant, suffering from arthritis in the knee for the past eight years, was in an immobile condition. This year, it was not sent to the annual rejuvenation camp organised by the government for temple elephants. The elephant’s condition had worsened last week and the animal died this morning, temple officials said. (PTI)
‘Encephalitis Express’ bus flagged off in eastern UP
Gorakhpur (UP): With eastern Uttar Pradesh grappling with encephalitis which has claimed over 200 lives in the region this year, a special bus was on Saturday flagged off to bring awareness about the disease in the affected areas. The ‘Encephalitis Express’ bus will cover seven districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh to disseminate messages for checking the vector-borne disease. The bus was today flagged off by Gorakhpur District Magistrate Ravi Kumar NG from St Joseph’s Schools campus. Sensitisation items like thematic posters, models on use of bleaching powder in drinking water, use of mosquito net, recorded announcements etc have been displayed in the bus. (PTI)
The initiative was taken by a voluntary organisation PGSS which has been working for the past six years to check the disease. (PTI)