Ex-UP min, wife released from jail after 16 yrs
Gorakhpur, Aug 25: Former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani, serving life sentences in the poet Madhumita Shukla murder case, were released on Friday evening, ahead of the completion of their terms. The Uttar Pradesh prisons department on Thursday issued an order for their premature release, citing the state’s 2018 policy on remission, since they have completed 16 years of their sentences. The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the couple’s release. The couple is currently admitted in the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur. The prisons department had also cited the couple’s old age and good behaviour. Amarmani is 66 and Madhumani 61, Gorakhpur district jailor A K Kushwaha said, adding that though the duo has been released, they will continue to remain at the BRD Medical College. Amarmani Tripathi, who was elected from the Nautanva constituency, was a minister in the state’s BJP government in 2001 and also in the BSP government formed in 2002. The Supreme Court also issued notices to the UP government, Tripathi and his wife, seeking their replies within eight weeks on a plea filed by the poet’s sister Nidhi Shukla. (PTI)
AQ monitoring van to be used in Punjab
Chandigarh, Aug 25: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, an air quality monitoring van will be deployed in Punjab to monitor air pollution levels and to create awareness to understand the type of air they are breathing. Announcing it on the sidelines of India Clean Air Summit (ICAS) 2023 in Bengaluru, Adarsh Pal Vig, Chairman, Punjab State Pollution Control Board (PSPCB), said it was important for people to understand the air they were breathing. The van will be operated by a local industry under the corporate environment responsibility (CER) under the direction of the PPCB. The journey of the air quality monitoring van will start from Khadoor Sahib in Tarn Taran district near Amritsar that already has a forested patch created by Baba Sewa Singh, a social worker and environmentalist. The air quality of this place will be recorded and then the van will move to other cities across the state. (IANS)