New Delhi : Over 7,000 buses, a majority from neighbouring states, were booked for flouting pollution norms in the national capital in the last six years, the Delhi government informed the state Assembly.

A total of 7,219 buses were challaned for not having valid pollution under check (PUC) certificates, from 2012-13 till February 2018, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said during the ongoing session of the Assembly.

The highest number of buses, 3,328, that were challaned for the lack of valid PUC certificates, came from Uttar Pradesh, followed by 2,064 from Rajasthan.

The number of buses registered in Delhi that were challaned for violating pollution norms, was 643, during the period.

According to the minister, action against buses causing pollution picked up manifold in last one year. A total of 5,086 buses were challaned for lacking valid PUC certificates, from 2017-till February this year.

The number was quite low in the previous years -- 244 in 2012-13, 216 in 2013-14, 506 in 2014-15, 189 in 2015-16, and 978 in 2016-17, he said in a written reply.

The enforcement wing of the Transport Department carries out regular checks of pollution standards of the buses coming to Delhi from neighbouring states. Buses not having valid PUC certificates are challaned, the minister said.

The fine for not having a valid PUC is Rs 1,000.

The State Transport Authority of Delhi has no power to cancel permits of buses from other states violating norms in the city under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988.

The Transport Department corresponds with their counterparts in other states in case offending buses belong to government undertakings.

As per a joint agreement among states sharing the National Capital Region (NCR), it is mandatory that buses entering Delhi are run on CNG.

Patna : The Bihar Cabinet has reduced the fee for various competitive examinations for women candidates of all categories of the state.

The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday, Cabinet Secretariat Department’s Principal Secretary Arun Kumar Singh told reporters.

The fee reduction would be applicable to the examinations conducted by Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) and Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC), he said.

The examination fee has been reduced from Rs 600 to Rs 150 for preliminary test and from Rs 750 to Rs 200 for mains examination.

The cabinet also gave its nod for creation of posts for reconstitution and restructuring of the Bihar Administrative Service (BAS) cadre, Singh adding that the number of various posts of BAS had gone upto 1634 from current 1150.

The decision would increase the number of posts such as deputy collector, senior deputy collector, under secretary, deputy secretary, joint secretary and special secretary, he added.

It also gave its nod to Road Construction Department’s proposal to construct four state highways at a cost of Rs 1482 crore, Singh said and adding four SHs are - Kadiraganj-Khaira (SH-82), Akbarnagar-Amarpur (SH-85), Udakishanganj-Bhatgama (SH-58) and Bihiya-Jagdishpur Bihta (SH-102).

In an another decision, the Cabinet enhanced the corpus of Bihar Contingency Fund (BCF) from Rs 350 crore to Rs 7079.61 crore till March 30, 2019 for carrying out relief work in the event of natural calamities, the principal secretary said.

The Cabinet also gave its nod to certain amendments to ‘Affordable Housing and Slum Rehabilitation and Redevelopment Policy 2017’ for lower income group, he added.

Katni (MP) : Eight people were killed and five others injured when a speeding truck hit two auto-rickshaws near Majhgavan in Katni district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday morning, a police official said.

The incident took place around 10 am, an official from Badwara police station told PTI.
Eight passengers in two auto-rickshaws were killed and five others were injured, he said.

Katni District Collector KVS Choudhry and Superintendent of Police Atul Singh had reached the spot, and the injured were being taken to a nearby hospital, he said.
The auto-rickshaws were heading to Katni from Majhgavan when they were hit by the truck coming from the opposite direction, he said, adding that more details were awaited.

Giridih : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will examine the documents, including hundreds of Aadhaar Cards, recovered from the Maoists during anti-Naxal operations in Giridih district last month, a police officer said.

The Jharkhand government has recommended NIA probe into the recovery of Aadhaar cards, ATM cards and documents related to bank accounts recovered from the Naxals during the operations, Additional Director General of Police RK Mallick said here on Friday.

As many as 15 Maoists, including Sunil Soren who carried a reward of Rs 25 lakh on his head, Sub-zonal Commander Shekhar alias Charlie and Sohan Manjhi, were arrested during the operations, he said.

Apart from a large quantity of arms and ammunition, the security personnel had seized 1,125 Aadhaar cards, 60 ATM cards and documents related to 200 bank accounts in course of subsequent search operation, he said.

Mallick said the number of Naxals in the state had drastically come down due to intensive anti-Naxal operation launched jointly by the state armed police and the CRPF in the state.

“We’ll crush the Naxal menace as only 500 to 600 Naxals are present in the state,” he said.

Asked about senior Maoist leaders operating in the state, Mallick said all top ranking leaders, including Prayag Majhi, Misir Besra and Prasant Bose who carried a reward of Rs 1 crore each on their heads, were on police radar and they would be apprehended soon.

Gurdaspur : Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh distributed debt waiver certificates worth Rs 156 crore among 26,998 farmers of six districts at a function here on Thursday.
The CM stated that debt relief to the tune of Rs 457 crore had been disbursed so far to about 1.02 lakh farmers in three phases, covering 16 districts.
Capt Amarinder added that after completing debt waiver of cooperative loans, the government would soon begin writing off farm loans taken from commercial banks, which, too, would be completed by the end of this year.
“The government has also decided to give financial assistance worth Rs 50,000 each to landless labourers to bail them out of the agrarian crisis,” he said.
Earlier, PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar accused the Centre of overlooking the interests and rights of SCs and referred to the 10 per cent reduction in the scholarship budget.
Medical college for Gurdaspur
Accepting a demand of the locals, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced the setting up of a medical college-cum-hospital in Gurdaspur. He asked Gurdaspur MP Sunil Jakhar to identify site for the college. Welcoming the move, Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa said the college would prove beneficial for people of Gurdaspur and Pathankot. He said he had written a letter to the CM on the issue in February and stressed on border areas that lack medical facilities. Meanwhile, the CM announced to revamp the old Batala sugar mill with increased capacity. He said funds had also been allocated to cooperative mill at Paniar.