Women hold catwalk protest
Bhopal, Sep 5: A group of women held a ‘catwalk’ on the potholed roads of a locality in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh to get the attention of the authorities, with videos of the event going viral on social media soon after. Since Danish Nagar, where the catwalk protest was held on Saturday, is a posh area, higher prices were paid for plots bought three decades ago, but despite paying higher taxes as well, no development work has taken place, event organiser Anshu Gupta told PTI. “We organised this catwalk on the potholed and water-filled roads of Danish Nagar. If our problems are not addressed, we will not vote or pay taxes,” she asserted. In videos circulating on social media, woman and children can be seen walking on the roads filled with potholes, with some of them falling as well. (PTI)
Staff blocks ISRO truck
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 5: Barely a couple of days after the Kerala High Court directed the State to get rid of the practice of ‘nokku-kooli’ which literally means ‘gawking wages’, a truck of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) was blocked on Sunday by workers allegedly demanding the wages. Police said they received a complaint from ISRO based on which they reached the spot and found the workers preventing from entering the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) facility at Thumba here. The issue was settled and the workers left the area after the intervention of police officers, including the Commissioner, an official of the Thumba Police Station said. Nokku-kooli is an euphemism for extortion by organised labour unions. (PTI)
Mehbooba criticises Centre
Srinagar, Sep 5: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday flayed the central government for the filing of an FIR over the draping of hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s body in a Pakistani flag and the alleged raising of “anti-national” slogans after his death. The Budgam Police registered the FIR against unnamed people under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code, taking cognisance of a video clip which showed Geelani’s body draped in a Pakistani flag. However, as the police moved in to take over the body, the late separatist leader’s aides removed the flag. Criticising the filing of the FIR, Mehbooba tweeted, “Having turned Kashmir into an open air prison, now even the dead aren’t spared. A family isn’t allowed to mourn & bid a final farewell as per their wishes. Booking Geelani sahab’s family under UAPA shows GOI’s deep rooted paranoia & ruthlessness. This is New India’s Naya Kashmir.” (PTI)