Five cow vigilantes in Faridabad have been charged with mob lynching in the death of a student who they mistook for a cattle smuggler. The Faridabad police filed a 600-page chargesheet against the accused, including statements from 30 witnesses. The chargesheet includes sections for murder, criminal conspiracy, and intentionally concealing evidence.
According to police, the alleged stone pelters came on two bikes and sped off. Following the incident, heavy police deployment has been put in place.
Thousands of devotees traveling to the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, were stranded on the border between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh due to massive crowds. The Madhya Pradesh government provided food and accommodation for the stranded devotees in Rewa district. The situation arose due to the influx of pilgrims for the Mauni Amavasya holy bath.
The National Highways Authority of India has decided to slow down the process of awarding contracts for new highway projects. This would further delay the process of modernisation and expansion of the national highways by a few months.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off two specially designed Vande Bharat trains between Katra town and Srinagar city, reducing travel time between the two places by two to three hours and ensuring all-weather surface connectivity with the Kashmir valley.
The vehicle, a Tavera, was on its way to Jammu from Srinagar and it fell into a 300-foot gorge at the Battery Cheshma area of the district around 1.15 am, they said.
A purported video of a submerged garden on the premises of the ivory-white marble mausoleum was doing the rounds on social media since Thursday after heavy rains.
The convoy was on its way to violence-hit Jiribam district.
According to him, the Supreme Court monitoring committee on road safety took note of the accident and informed the state government that over-speeding is rampant and is leading to loss of lives.
The IMD issued a "Nowcast" warning, forecasting thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and intense spells of rain with gusty winds reaching 50-60 kmph at isolated places in Mumbai in the next three to four hours.
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was on Sunday closed for vehicular traffic due to heavy snowfall around Jawahar Tunnel area, official sources said.
Political parties held protests against the ban on April 7 as well as Wednesday.
The restriction will continue between Srinagar and Udhampur on the NH-44 as earlier.
Toll booths may be kept 50 km apart for seamless travel
In the India-Pakistan situations, off-ramps have come either through foreign mediation (after months of kinetic warfare over Kargil, and a long stand-off with Op Parakram) or when a situation made it possible for both sides to claim a win, explains Shekhar Gupta.
When Nitin Gadkari took charge as Road Transport and Highways Minister in 2014, he had set a target of constructing 40 km a day in two years. But construction at this point is a mere 16 km a day. Megha Manchanda on what ails the road sector.
India has the second largest road network in the world, stretching across a distance of 33 lakh kilometres.
The government had planned to complete the bidding process and award the final contract for these projects by December 2008. An official from the National Highway Authority of India said, "Now that PPPAC had given approval to these 21 highway projects, we will be speeding up the bidding process."
The Amarnath yatra was suspended on Saturday due to closure of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in the wake of a landslide triggered by heavy rains in Udhampur district of the state.
Heavy rains lashed parts of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, triggering flash floods and landslides that blocked the strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway with hundreds of vehicles stranded, and prompted authorities to shut schools in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said that India and Pakistan came closer to resolving the Kashmir issue during the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. He added that he does not expect a return to that situation in his lifetime. Abdullah lauded Singh's efforts on Kashmir, including the setting up of working groups on the issue, and said he practically initiated measures for the return of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. The chief minister also praised Singh's contribution to India's economic development.
The Superintendent of Police in Manipur's Kangpokpi district was injured after a mob attacked his office on Friday evening over the officer's alleged failure to remove central force from Saibol village bordering Imphal East district. Kuki organisations have been protesting against the alleged baton charge on women by security forces on December 31 in Saibol village. The attackers threw stones and other projectiles towards the office to vent their anger over the continued deployment of central forces, particularly the BSF and the CRPF in the village. Several others, including police personnel and protesters, also suffered injuries during the clash between security forces and attackers.
An old bridge across Kali river in Uttara Kannada district collapsed in the small hours of Wednesday, resulting in heavy traffic along National Highway 66, connecting Goa to Karnataka.
Two years after ethnic violence erupted in Manipur, thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) continue to live in overcrowded camps, struggling to rebuild their lives and facing an uncertain future. Despite the sacking of the Chief Minister and the imposition of President's rule, peace remains a distant hope. While hill-based Kukis demand a separate administration, Meiteis seek implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and deportation of those they consider illegal immigrants. The IDPs, grappling with severe psychological distress, feel forgotten by the government and are forced to depend on the mercy of others for basic needs.
About 10,000 km of state highways were declared national highways during the last 10 years.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor welcomed the extradition of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 case, and said everyone associated with the conspiracy of the Mumbai terror attacks must face the court of justice. He described Rana's extradition as a "step forward for justice." Rana, a Pakistan-born Canadian national and close associate of David Coleman Headley, is being brought to India after his last-ditch attempt to evade extradition failed. Tharoor expressed hope that the interrogation of Rana would provide more details about the Mumbai attacks and said he was "very glad" that Indian authorities managed to get Rana's custody.
If India had a road regulator in the late nineties, the capacity-building model based on public-private partnerships would not have been in tatters.
CCI has also raised the ceiling of 4,000 km of four-laning under the National Highways Development Project phase-IV to 8,000 km on a build, operate and transfer (BOT-toll) mode.
The Bharti Kisan Union (Krantikari) has criticized the Punjab government for issuing arrest warrants against 25 farmers and adding an attempt to murder charge in the FIR related to the 2022 prime minister security breach incident. The union claims the farmers were protesting peacefully and had no knowledge of the prime minister's route. They argue the government is acting under pressure from the central government.
To meet the exigencies on highways, the civil aviation ministry has suggested to the surface transport ministry to earmark space for helipads every 100 kilometres on major national highways.
Donald Trump is catering to the basest fears and prejudice of unenlightened Americans -- yes, there are those too, in sizeable enough numbers to elect one of their own as president. That would most certainly not Make America Great Again, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
At least 11 people were killed and 35 others injured in the accident in Balochistan province, over 100 km from Karachi.
The Delhi police had on Saturday increased security arrangements by deploying additional personnel and placing more concrete barriers.
'Currently, EVs are about 30-50 per cent more expensive than ICE vehicles. I believe the inflection point for EVs will come when this price gap narrows to 20-25 per cent. That's when people will start coming in.'
India has world's second largest road network with its National Highways covering a distance of 92,851.07 kms.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday asked the industry not to perennially demand a reduction in taxes as the government needs funds to implement welfare schemes for the poor. Addressing an event, the road transport and highways minister said the logistics cost in India will come down to 9 per cent within two years.
The 31st meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, held in December 2018, deferred a decision to reduce the GST rate for cement from 28 per cent to 18 per cent. This was despite recognising that cement - along with automobile parts - remained among the few mass-consumption items still taxed at the highest slab, which was originally meant for luxury and sin goods.
Can a culture survive as a way of life, even as the language and writing at its core, alter with time? Can we be rational and Malayalee or do we have to necessarily be religious and proudly cultural to be Malayalee? asks Shyam G Menon.
On Monday, the agitators blocked NH-11 and continued their blockade from previous days at other places. Since the agitation began on Friday, it has affected the movement of more than 250 trains.