16 injured in explosion in Tata Steel plant
Jamshedpur: At least 16 contractual labourers were injured when an ammonia scrubber blew up during maintenance work in the Coke Plant of Tata Steel on Monday, an official said. “They suffered splinter injuries after the top portion of the ammonia scrubber exploded during maintenance work in the Coke Plant of Tata Steel,” A K Mishra, Chief Inspector of Factories, Government of Jharkhand, said. All the injured were admitted to hospital, he said. Earlier, Amresh Sinha, Head of Corporate Communication of Tata Steel, had said that 12 people were injured in the explosion. (PTI)
Odisha to set up 335 fire stations
Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday said the state government has decided to set up 335 fire stations, with the objective to open at least one fire station in each block. He said this will be the highest among all states in the country. “The state government has been making efforts to make fire service more accessible to the villages and also reduce the response time in case of any mishap,” Patnaik said. He was speaking at a seminar here on fire safety measures in high-rise buildings. “It has been decided to set up 335 fire stations with an objective to open at least one fire station in each block of our state,” he added. Informing that as many as 1,042 fireman drivers have been recently recruited to meet the additional man power requirement, Patnaik said that the government has also sanctioned three training institutes at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri to facilitate training and professional responsiveness in fire prevention and fire fighting and rescue and rehabilitation. He said the government would modify the rules under the Odisha Fire Service Act soon for ensuring adequate precautionary measures by owners and occupants of the buildings to prevent fire mishaps. (IANS)
Nitish Kumar invites Mamata Banerjee for swearing-in
Kolkata: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday invited his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee for the swearing-in ceremony on November 20 and she has agreed to attend it. “Nitish Kumar called up our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and invited her for the swearing in ceremony and she has agreed to attend the ceremony,” Trinamool Congress national spokesperson Derek O’ Brien told PTI. Last week, the two leaders had spoken over phone after the Bihar results were announced and Kumar had thanked Banerjee for supporting the grand alliance in Bihar in their fight against BJP. Banerjee had congratulated Kumar over twitter and termed the victory of grand alliance in Bihar as a defeat of “intolerance”. The JD-U leadership had last week extended its support to Banerjee in her fight against BJP and had said that along with AAP and TMC it would fight for strengthening cooperative federalism in the country. (PTI)
Man killed in fire mishap
New Delhi: A 38-year-old man died when a fire broke out at his residence in central Delhi’s West Patel Nagar area on Monday. The deceased, identified as Rinku, was the owner of the four-storey building in which the fire broke out and was a scrap dealer. The residential building had a scrap-storage facility from which the fire is suspected to have originated, said a police official. The fire was reported around 8.30 AM and three fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Teams of police and Delhi Disaster Managament Authority followed, said a senior government official. A rescue operation was launched and Rinku was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead, said police. The fire was doused in around 45 minutes, after which a cooling operation was launched by the fire department, said a fire official. A case under relevant sections of law has been registered against unknown persons and investigation is underway, police added. (PTI)
SC dismisses plea for death sentence to Katara killers
New Delhi: Dismissing the Delhi government’s plea for death sentence to Vikas and Vishal Yadav, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Nitish Katara murder case, the Supreme Court today said it will conduct further hearings on the quantum of life sentence to be awarded in February. A two-judge division bench, comprising Justices Jagdish Singh Khehar and R Banumati, directed that the matter be listed for further hearing in the first week of February next year. Vikas, Vishal and others were sentenced to 30 years of rigorous jail term without any remission by the Delhi High Court for murdering Nitish. Earlier, the Supreme Court on October 9 had dismissed the plea of Neelam Katara, mother of Nitish Katara, for enhancement of the sentence to death by hanging, and ruled that the murder did not come under the “rarest of rare” category. The apex court had on August 17 had upheld the conviction of Vikas Yadav, Vishal Yadav and Sukhdev Pehalwan in the 2002 Nitish murder case. (UNI)
Highway robbers’ gang busted, kingpin arrested from Haryana
Jaipur: A gang of inter-state highway robbers was busted by Rajasthan Police after its kingpin was arrested from Haryana, a senior police officer said on Monday. Sheru Khan, the leader of the gang which operated across Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, was arrested from Utavara village in Palwal district of Haryana yesterday. “Sheru, 22, the mastermind of the gang, active in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, was arrested after raid on his hideout in Utavara village,” Inspector General of Police (Jaipur range) D C Jain said here. “About 15 members of his gang have been identified and they would be arrested with help from Haryana Police soon,” Jain said. “An SUV was recovered from Sheru against whom nine cases were pending in Jaipur and Alwar districts,” the IGP said. “Sheru has confessed to his involvement in the highway robberies along with his gang members and gave vital links for arresting his remaining accomplices. “This gang was also reportedly active on Jaipur-Delhi, Jaipur-Ajmer, Delhi-Mathura, Jaipur-Dausa, Rewari-Gurgaon highways covering states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,” he added. Elaborating the gang’s modus operandi, the IGP said that the gang members, hailing from Haryana, used to loot people travelling in private cars of jewellery and cash. “Hundreds of Rajasthan Police personnel are camping in Utavara village and surrounding areas to arrest the remaining gang members,” he said. (PTI)
