‘Indefinite blockade’ on Indo-Nepal border in Bihar cripples trade
New Delhi: An ‘indefinite road blockade’ by residents in Bihar’s Jogbani has brought trade between India and Nepal to a halt on the Jogbani Land Customs Station for the past 48 hours. Over 2,000 trucks, including oil and gas tankers, are stranded on either side of the Indo-Nepal border. An SOS report dispatched to Union Finance Ministry said: “Non-movement of the import-export consignments on account of indefinite traffic blockade and closure of market” by the local people in border town of Jogbani in Araria district. The report said import-export was affected since 6 a.m. on Tuesday, when the Jogbani Nagrik Manch started its complete “chakka jam” in the area. “Following the closure of the Customs Station at Jogbani for the past two days, international trade with India has been brought to a halt. Besides mutual trade, Nepal also uses this route to transport goods imported from Kolkata and Vishakapatnam ports. Under a treaty, Nepal a landlocked country, is allowed to import its goods freely from the third country,” said a customs official. “Nepal customs officials, based across in the border town of Biratnagar, have requested their Indian counterparts to break the deadlock so that movement of essential goods, oil and gas can resume,” the customs official added. (IANS)
TikTok videos of nurses in Odisha hospital go viral
BHUBANESHWAR: Some TikTok videos of a group of nurses dancing in Malkangiri district headquarters hospital in Odisha have gone viral, prompting the administration to inquire into the matter. The nurses were found recording TikTok videos inside Sick and New Born Care Unit (SNCU) of the hospital. The nurses, dressed in their scrubs, are seen dancing to the tunes of songs and lip-syncing to funny dialogues. The Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) has initiated a probe into the matter and issued show cause notice to the nurses seen in the videos. Hospital’s officer-in-charge Tapan Kumar Dinda said an enquiry is being conducted into the incident and the probe report will be submitted to the CDMO for necessary action. (IANS)
Four die of asphyxiation in septic tank in Haryana
Rohtak: Four part-time municipal sweepers hired by a private company to clean a septic tank died of asphyxiation on Wednesday here in Haryana after inhaling toxic fumes, the police said. The company had not provided gas masks or safety belts to the sweepers. The police have registered a case and investigations are underway. (IANS)
Women to be made owners of PMAY houses in MP
Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to make women owners of the houses provided under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). “The government will now issue certificates and register the houses in the name of a woman of the family. The authorities have been instructed in this regard. The move is to empower women,” Minister for Panchayat and Rural Development Kamleshwar Patel told IANS. The Kamal Nath government targets to build 5 lakh houses under the scheme this year. In 2018, 3.5 lakh houses were built. The previous government led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had decided to have Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chouhan’s images on the tiles used in these houses. But the present government has scrapped the decision. (IANS)
Lord Ram image found in Iraqi mural
Lucknow: A mural in Iraq, dated circa 2000 BC, is said to represent an image of Lord Ram. According to the Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan, an Indian delegation that recently visited Iraq has confirmed this. The mural is etched into the Darband-i-Belula cliff, overlooks a narrow pass in Iraq’s Horen Shekhan area. It depicts a bare-chested king holding a bow, a quiver of arrows at his side and a dagger or short sword in his belt, and a supplicant with folded hands which resembles the image of Hanuman. Iraqi scholars, however, are of opinion that the mural depicts Tardunni, the head of a mountain tribe. Similar etchings elsewhere in Iraq show kings and kneeling supplicants believed to be slaves. The delegation, headed by Indian ambassador to Iraq Pradeep Singh Rajpurohit, acted on a request by the Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan, a research body under the Uttar Pradesh Department of Culture. (IANS)
Rajasthan police station ranked 1st among 15,666 in country
Jaipur: Kalu police station in Rajasthan’s Bikaner leads the list of the top 10 police stations in the country in 2018, officials said on Wednesday. They were selected from 15,666 police stations across the country. In the list released by the Home Ministry on Tuesday, Kalu police station earned the top rank for its facilities such as drinking water, wi-fi servers, a women help desk and recreational activities for police personnel. Campbell Bay police station in Andaman and Nicobar Islands was ranked second, while Farakka police station in West Bengal’s Murshidabad stood third on the list. The other police stations on the list were Nettapakkam in Puducherry, Gudageri in Karnataka, Chaupal in Shimla, Lakheri in Rajasthan’s Bundi, Periyakulam in Tamil Nadu, Munsiyari in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh and Curchorem in South Goa. Surprisingly, no police station from Delhi found a place on the list. Last year, Delhi’s Kirti Nagar police station was placed 10th on the list. (IANS)
26,000 Anganwadi centres in MP face closure
Bhopal: Nearly 26,000 Anganwadi centres in Madhya Pradesh are facing closure over unpaid rents. “Of the 97,139 Anganwadi centres in MP, 29,383 are run from private buildings. Of these, 26,000 centres haven’t paid monthly rents of Rs 3,000 for several months. Thus, the building owners have locked many of these premises,” said Vidya Khangar MP chief of the All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers. In Jabalpur, the Anganwadi workers had to stage a protest to get the rent for their buildings from the government, Khangar added. In Aagar-Malwa, the Anganwadi workers paid the rent from their own wages to save the centre from closure. (IANS)