A high-level inter-ministerial team conducted a six-hour investigation in Badhaal village, Rajouri district, Jammu and Kashmir, to ascertain the causes of death of 17 members of three families under mysterious circumstances. The team, led by a director-rank officer in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, collected samples and briefed by senior district, health and police officers. The team's visit follows the deaths of 16 people between December 7 and January 19. The investigation is ongoing, with authorities focusing on potential neurotoxins and a spring that tested positive for pesticides.
A mysterious illness has claimed 17 lives in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, with the latest victim being a young girl named Yasmeen Kousar. The deaths have sparked concern and an inter-ministerial team has been sent to investigate the cause. The patients experienced symptoms such as fever, pain, nausea, and loss of consciousness before dying within days of hospitalization. The J&K government has ruled out a communicable disease of bacterial or viral origin.
'This extremely high mortality rate is a clear indication of low testing, weak surveillance and tracking,' Inter Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) leader Apoorva Chandra said in the letter.
In a letter to Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, the central team in north Bengal, led by senior bureaucrat Vineet Joshi, said more field officers are required to monitor and provide feedback about the effectiveness of various measures undertaken by the government.
The home ministry said the West Bengal government is not cooperating with the central teams visiting the state to assess the ground situation and are specifically restraining them from interacting with health workers and touring the affected areas.
The central government has constituted six Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) to make an on-spot assessment of the COVID-19 situation in these places and issue necessary directions to the four states -- Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal -- for redress.
To assess relief and rehabilitation requirements of violence-affected people, a team of seven senior central officials will visit Assam on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 1,600-crore assistance package for flood-hit Punjab after reviewing the damage. He also announced ex gratia for the deceased and injured. The state is battling its worst deluge since 1988.
IMD data shows in the 24 hours between September 1 and 2, Haryana received 806 per cent more rainfall than normal, Punjab 759 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 510 per cent, Delhi 740 per cent, Chandigarh a staggering 1,638 per cent, and Rajasthan 193 per cent.
Parts of Bengaluru that were battered by torrential rains for the last couple of days appeared to be slowly returning to normalcy with floodwaters by and large receding in some areas.
In view of the 'unidentified illness' in Rajouri's Badhal village, the village has been declared a containment zone, and the affected families' homes sealed; a few patients brought to Government Medical College (GMC) in Rajouri on Thursday.
These include over 60 troops, who were deployed for law and order duties in the Jamia and Chandni Mahal area of the national capital, and six from the escort team of the inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) that toured West Bengal to check COVID-19 containment measures in the state.
The ministry had sent the six previous teams to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal to review the implementation of the lockdown measures after the assessment of ground situation in identified select districts.
Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, better known as P S Golay, on Friday said that the Himalayan state has incurred damages worth thousands of crores of rupees in the flash flood.
The funds will be released to West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Sikkim as assistance for the damage caused by cyclone, floods and landslides during the year.
The flash flood affected 25,065 people in four districts - Mangan, Gangtok, Pakyong and Namchi, the report said.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday expressed concern over China's proposed mega hydropower project on the upstream of Siang River in Tibet, stating it will have a cascading effect on India and Bangladesh in the near future.
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions for the prime minister ahead of his rallies in Karnataka.
In keeping with the committee's directives, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has been asked to arrange for more beds and increase testing across Mumbai, Tope said, adding that tents can also be put up in open grounds if needed. The IMCT on Wednesday visited quarantine facilities and transit camps at Dharavi to assess the corrective measures taken by the state government.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday announced an interim assistance of Rs 1,000 crore each for Andhra Pradesh and Odisha for relief and rehabilitation in the wake of destruction caused by cyclone Phailin.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday created an uproar in the Lok Sabha over the government's 'failure' to provide long-term solutions to the recurring problems of droughts and floods in various parts of the country. "I assure the House that the inter-ministerial group and central teams will carefully look into the reports of floods and droughts and take a view sympathetically and compassionately," Home Minister P Chidambaram said.
Many parts of Cachar district's severely affected Silchar town are still waterlogged.
Modi highlighted the fact that normal rules and procedures have been set aside in view of the emergency nature of requirement in Kerala.
The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 543 and the number of cases climbed to 17,265 in the country on Monday, according to the Union health ministry.
'There has been no significant increase in the number of fatalities.'
On day three after a flash flood wreaked havoc in Sikkim's Teesta basin, the number of bodies recovered from the river and mud embankments downstream rose to 22, including seven army men.
The assurance came hours after the Centre accused the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government of obstructing a central team deputed to assess the coronavirus ground situation.
The action came after investigations carried out by an inter-ministerial committee formed by the home ministry in 2020.
'They are doing a good surveillance job.' 'It is not easy to undertake this task on such a huge scale given the risks.' 'But home quarantine is not effective.' 'Only institutional quarantine can bring good results.'
The inter-ministerial committee will coordinate investigation against Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.
States have been told to prepare in advance to counter any impact of an adverse southwest monsoon.
DroughtThe Centre is expected to discuss issues related to drought management and also review the progress of major central schemes like soil health cards, irrigation programmes
In a stern two-page letter to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said stricter enforcement of lockdown norms was necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus in the state.
'The situation is especially serious in major hotspot districts or emerging hotspots like Ahmedabad and Surat (Gujarat), Thane (Maharashtra), Hyderabad (Telangana), and Chennai (Tamil Nadu),' the MHA statement said.
Asked during a press briefing if special trains and private vehicles will also be allowed to transport these people as demanded by some states and others, Joint Secretary in the Union home ministry Punya Salila Srivastava said the orders issued at present were for 'using buses and for group of persons'.
A greater payment security mechanism for power generation companies to ensure timely payouts for supply of electricity will be in focus in 2022 as stricter rules are on the anvil for 24x7 power supply amid discoms' outstanding dues at a whopping Rs 1.56 lakh crore. Mounting outstanding dues of distribution companies (discoms) to electricity generation companies (gencos) have been a perennial issue affecting the entire value chain in the power sector and are also a hindrance for the ambitious goal of 24x7 power supply across the country even when the payment for coal is made in advance. The situation persists despite the fact that discoms' dues become overdue after 45 days of generating bills and they also have to pay penal interest on the overdue amount in most of the cases to gencos.
'Does it mean that till the COVID-19 fight is over, the governor should be non-functional, in sleep mode, and fiddling in the Raj Bhavan while the state is burning?'
Empowerment of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) with extra territorial jurisdiction and declaration of Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Dawood Ibrahim as terrorists after legislative amendment were counted among its achievements by the MHA, headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
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