Politics of name and colour costs exchequer Rs 5.50 crore in Rajasthan

Source: newindianexpress.com

JAIPUR: Shakespeare has asked, “what’s in a name?” But politics over the name of two former PMs of the country, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Rajiv Gandhi, have come to haunt the people of Rajasthan financially. Gehlot Government had changed the name of Atal Seva Kendra to Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra again which now has cost the exchequer crores.

After coming to power, Gehlot Government had announced in January that government sewa centres at 9894 Gram panchayat and 295 Panchayat samitis will undergo a name change. At the time it was said that all the other Seva centres around the country have the name Rajiv Gandhi whereas the previous BJP government had unnecessarily changed the names in the state to Atal Seva Kendra.

Sources in the department say that around 2000 rupees have been spent per gram Panchayat and 5000 Rupees have been spent per Panchayat samiti. The total cost has come to 5.50 crore rupees.

Earlier between 2008 to 2013, Ashok Gehlot Government had kept the name of these centres as Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra which at that time had costed Rs 1.5 crore.

In 2013 when BJP government came to power the name was again changed to Atal Seva Kendra which costed 1 crore 85 lakh rupees. Currently, 2 crore rupees have been spent with the name changing back to Rajiv Gandhi from Atal. Sources also say that there is no separate provision made in the budget for this.

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot had earlier said that both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Rajiv Gandhi are Bharat Ratnas and they wanted to keep the names of both of them. ” We wanted the name to be Rajiv Gandhi Atal Seva Kendra. But the Supreme Court has said that in these programs no name can be added or subtracted. As such, in the law, the name is Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra. This is the reason why we had to keep that name”, he added.
BJP says that in comparison to Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Behari Vajpayee was a greater leader and it is not right to change his name. ” If they wanted to change the name, they should’ve done for other projects. This shows the amateurish behaviour of the Government. ” Said Vasudev Devnani, former Education minister in BJP government”

The names shouldn’t be changed with the changing of the Governments. To change the name of a popular leader like Atalji is unfortunate. If Atalji’s name had stayed, it would have saved the government money and started a new tradition as well.” Added Devnani

While the politics of name has increased the expenditure of the government, the politics of colour have saved some extra crores. The cycles given to the school going girls by the education department will now be painted black from the saffron colour, which will save 8.50 crore Rupees. In 2007, the BJP government had changed the colour to saffron. The change of colour to saffron and putting a basket in the front increases the cost of a bicycle by 200 to 300 rupees.

Not just the colour of the cycles but the name of the RSS idealogue Deendayal Upadhyaya has been removed from the scholarships given by the education board. In fact, his name has been removed from all previous paperwork in the Government which are now redundant and lakhs of rupees have been wasted due to this.

“BJP had made education an RSS propaganda laboratory. The coloured cycles saffron and made it expensive. Now they are coming out with baseless statements against us”, said Govind Singh Dotasara, State Minister of Education, Rajasthan.

Bihar’s affidavit in SC depicts poor state of healthcare facilities in state

Source: business-standard.com

In a shocking revelation about medical care facilities in Bihar, which is facing an outbreak of acute encephalitis syndrome, the state government Tuesday told the Supreme Court that there are only 5,205 doctors in government-run health centres against the sanctioned strength of 12,206.

The state government, in an affidavit filed in the apex court, said that only 5,634 nurses were there in government run hospitals and health centres against sanctioned strength of 19,155.

The court had on June 24 directed the state to apprise it about the status of public medical care facilities, nutrition and sanitation within a week in view of deaths of over 100 children in Muzaffarpur due to the outbreak of AES.

Regarding AES cases, the state government said 824 cases have been reported and the number of deaths was 157.

It, however, said that it was not known whether 24 deaths out of 215 cases were due to AES.

“State of Bihar had already taken all possible steps to prevent the spread of the disease by providing additional medical facilities at the affected region, public awareness campaign at the village level, involving various agencies to assist the government etc,” it said.

Giving details of the status of available clinical human resource, the Bihar government said there was 57 per cent and 71 per cent vacancy of doctors and nurses respectively.

In case of lab technicians and pharmacists, the vacancy stands at 72 per cent and 58 per cent of the sanctioned strength, the affidavit said.

“It is respectfully submitted that the overall human resources available in health system in the state is not as per standard norms,” the affidavit said, adding that health department has taken steps to recruit medical officers, para-medical and other technical support staff.

It said that requisition for recruitment of 4,012 general duty medical officers and 2,425 specialist doctors has been sent to the Bihar technical services selection commission.

The state government said that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar himself “is personally involved and actively engaged in finding ways and means to control and treat the dreaded AES disease” in Bihar.

It said that the state, in cooperation with the Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences and other agencies, has simultaneously provided all medical facilities to treat the affected children.

“The steps taken up by the State has prevented spread of the disease and has reduced the fatality rate arising out of the AES disease,” it said, adding, “In view of the steps taken by the state of Bihar, the fatality rate has come down to 19 per cent whereas the global fatality rate of AES is around 30 per cent”.

“In view of the constant and consistent efforts taken by the state of Bihar and in view of the change in weather conditions, there is a substantial reduction in number of reported cases of AES and JE in the State. The state of Bihar would continue its efforts to prevent any such condition in future,” it said.

The state government said that malnutrition is associated with the issue of sanitation and safe drinking water and they are already working on sanitation and hygiene issues under the ‘seven-nischay yojana’.

“It is respectfully submitted that the state government has initiated a socio-economic survey in affected areas to ascertain socio-economic factors behind AES incidence to initiate vigorous and coordinated campaign with the active involvement of the concerned departments to bring about speedy improvement/change in the socio-economic status of the relatively poor people who are mainly susceptible and vulnerable to the threat of AES disease,” it said.

The state government said that they are fully aware and “quite conscious of recurrent resurfacing” of AES cases in Bihar and has been continuously taking steps to protect and save precious human lives.

Besides Bihar, the apex court had also asked the Centre to file response on the issue.

The apex court is hearing a petition filed by advocate Manohar Pratap who has said that he was deeply “pained and saddened” by the deaths of more than 126 children, mostly in the age group of one to 10 years, in Bihar due to AES.

“The deaths of children are a direct result of negligence and inaction on the part of the respective state governments of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Union of India in handling the epidemic situation which arises every year due to outbreak of AES also called Japanese encephalitis,” the plea said.

The petitioner has also sought directions for all possible steps to stop the disease outbreak in the earlier epicentre, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, and to create awareness about preventive steps and first aid.

Symptoms of AES include high fever, convulsions and extremely low blood sugar levels. Among the factors said to trigger the syndrome are malnutrition.

There were more than 44,000 cases and nearly 6,000 deaths from encephalitis in India between 2008 and 2014, said a 2017 study published in The Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR).

Researchers said the patients often report acute onset of fever and altered consciousness, with a rapidly deteriorating clinical course, leading to death within hours.

Litchis grown in Muzaffarpur, the country’s largest litchi cultivation region, are said to contain a toxin which can cause a drop in blood sugar levels if consumed by a malnourished child.

People vs Govt: The Bihar Residents Arrested for Demanding Water

Source: thecitizen.in

NEW DELHI: Today we kick off a series of stories revolving around the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India. Through field reports, interviews, photo essays, histories and analysis, we discover these rights of strength and their shortcomings.

On June 25 police lodged an FIR against 39 people in Harivanshpur village in Bihar’s Vaishali district for carrying out the protests over the lack of water supply and the deaths of several of their children from the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome.

Residents of the village have been booked under IPC Sections 147, 148 and 149 (rioting and unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience of orders), 283 (obstruction of public ways), 353 (assault) and 504 (breach of peace).

Even the parents of encephalitis victims have been charged with these crimes.

It was following the deaths of seven children from AES over two weeks that the residents of Harivanshpur staged a protest on June 23 and again two days later.

They also staged a protest demanding water tankers for their village, reports say, as there is an acute shortage of drinking water in the area and all the hand pumps have dried up.

The farmers and livestock of Vaishali district are the worst affected. There is no irrigation water available in the region, and with no groundwater left to tap, standing crops in the farms are drying up according to several reports.

Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution of India guarantees the right “to assemble peaceably and without arms”. Freedom of peaceful assembly resembles the idea of a democratic government.

It is also reported that the residents of Harivanshpur have announced a missing person award of Rs.15,000 for Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Speaking to The Citizen, Amresh Kumar the area’s Block Development Officer said, “On June 23 the villagers staged a protest when the Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras and Lalganj MLA Rajkumar Sah came to the area and tried to hold them hostage. Following the incident, orders were given to the local officers to keep vigil and report any form of nuisance in the area.”

Ashok Kumar Singh, the Block Panchayati Raj Officer told The Citizen that “villagers blocked the highway for four hours and created nuisance. Most men have fled the village fearing rule of law after an FIR was filed against them.”

According to The Hindu “most of the children who died in Harivanshpur belong to the extremely backward Mallah community and the Dalit Musahar community.” One among them, Ganesh Manjhi, lost two sons within 24 hours due to suspected AES. They were 7 and 2 years old.

Man lynched near Patna’s Vaishali village on theft suspicion, no arrest yet

Source: hindustantimes.com

A 35-year-old unidentified man, suspected of a theft at Akhtiarpur Patedha village falling under Sarai police station of Vaishali district, was beaten to death by a mob in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Sources said the police arrived on the spot around 3 am after a tip-off that six dacoits had barged into the house of one Sant Lal Paswan and injured him along with his wife.

The police found the victim with multiple bruises lying lifeless on the outskirts of the village.

He was taken to the Sadar hospital where doctors declared him dead. The body has been sent for autopsy.

“Two separate cases have been lodged with the Sarai police station. One of the FIRs has been lodged in connection with the murder of suspect on the basis of the statement of the SHO against unidentified persons while second is on the basis of Paswan’s statement against dacoits,” said Vaishali SP Manavjit Singh Dhillon.

In Vaishali, there have been several incidents of theft, burglary and dacoity.

According to villagers, the Paswan family raised an alarm after which people gathered, chased the dacoits and caught one of the man. The villagers beat the man using bamboos and sticks. The police are trying to identify the man and the locals involved in the incident.

SHO of the Sarai police station Dharmjit Mahto said police recovered cutters and a mobile from his possession.

In a first for Indian Railways, eight trains from Bihar to have ‘Entertainment-on-Demand’ facility soon

Source: newindianexpress.com

PATNA: In a first for the Indian Railways, the Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR) has come up with an ‘Entertainment-on-Demand’ (EoD) facility for passengers through an in-coach video and audio streaming platform.

The facility will allow the passengers onboard to watch videos and listen to audio of their choice from a large digital library to kill the boredom during the journey. More interestingly, it would be free of cost for the entire journey.

On Monday at Danapur divisional HQ, a formal demonstration of this first-of-its-kind service was made by senior divisional commercial manager Aahdar Raj following the direction of DRM PK Thakur.

Spokesperson of Division, Sanjay Kumar Prasad said: “This kind of entertainment facility can be availed by passengers on board initially in select eight long journey express trains including the Patna-New Delhi Rajdhani through their devices like laptop, smart mobile phones using local wireless connectivity within the coaches without wasting their data”. Prasad said that EoD is being provided by Danapur division for the first time in the history of Indian Railways.

“The said facility will be made available for use in the Rajdhani express and the Sampooran Kranti express by July and in six other express trains by August 15 this year”, he claimed, adding that the objective behind launching this facility is to make the train journey memorable and to give an experience similar to that of an international flight. There would a digital hub of around 7000 Bollywood, Hollywood new and old movies and 12000 different programs under various subjects of public interest also.

Besides video and audio delights, Prasad said: “special category for elderly passengers will be available which includes devotional songs, movies, artis, bhajans. For kids, videos and audios on culture, general awareness, education and other healthy information would be available”.

The six express trains slated to have the facility from August are the Patna-Mumbai Suvidha express, Patna-Bandra Humsafar express, Patna-Kota Express-I, Patna-Howrah Jan Shatbdi express and Patna-Ranchi Janshatbdi express and the Patna-Kota express-II.

Prasad said that the process for launching this facility is near completion. “Following the response of passengers after the initial launch in eight trains, it can be considered to provide this facility in 70 other mail and express trains of the division in future”, he said.

Patna High School turns 100; VP Naidu to attend centenary bash of school, PU Library on August 4

Source: indianexpress.com

Patna High School, one of the oldest educational institutions in the country established in 1919, on Tuesday turned 100 and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu is slated to attend its centenary celebrations on August 4, officials said.

On the same day, the vice president will also be the chief guest at the centenary celebrations of the Patna University Library, which is currently in its 100th year.

“Patna High School was established seven years after the creation of the new province of Bihar and Orissa (in 1912) and initially, it mostly served the children of ‘babus’ (bureaucrats) and clerks who worked at the Patna Secretariat and other government offices. It was set up as Patna High English School,” the institute’s principal, Ravi Ranjan, said.

Located in a sprawling campus in Gardanibagh area of central Patna, the school’s oldest building is an E-shaped main block, constructed in 1919, which is getting a facelift ahead of the celebrations in August.

“We feel proud that this historic institution, which has produced illustrious alumni, has turned 100 and VP Naidu has consented to attend the centenary celebrations here on August 4. It is a matter of great honour for the school,” Ranjan told PTI.

The word ‘English’ was dropped from the name of the school, soon after Independence, and in 2008, it was rechristened to Shaheed Rajendra Prasad Singh Rajkiya Uchh Madhyamik Vidyalay, but it is still popularly known as Patna High School, he said, adding that it was established on July 2, 1919.

“Rajendra Prasad Singh was a matric student of this school and was one of the seven youths who was killed in the infamous Patna Secretariat firing case during the Quit India Movement in August 1942. Hence, the school was renamed by the Bihar government in his honour,” Ranjan said.

Patna’s famous Shahid Smarak in front of the state assembly building complex commemorates the sacrifices made by the seven persons for the nation’s freedom. A bust of Singh was also installed in the campus a few decades ago.

“On the day of the centenary celebration which will be held at Adhiveshan Bhawan, Vice President Naidu will felicitate the widow of Rajendra Prasad Singh, who is in her 90s, and the most aged alumnus (old boy student) and alumna (old girl student) of the school. A centenary souvenir will also be launched by the vice president during the function,” the principal said.

Ranjan said arrangements are also being made to set up a replica of the bust of Singh at the function venue.

Naidu will pay homage to Singh, as per the plan, he said, adding that the event will end with a cultural programme.

“The function is slated to take place late afternoon. So, an alumni meet will be held in the school’s campus in the first half of the day, where old boys can gather and celebrate the occasion, among themselves, to relive old times,” he said.

According to Ranjan, who completed class 9 and class 10 (1978-79) from the school and later in 1989 returned to the campus as a Physics teacher, Patna High School began as a co-educational institution, and in the 1960s, it became a boys school as a separate school was started for girls at a nearby campus.

“For the centenary, a special logo has been created and it will be unveiled by the vice president. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, an alumnus of Patna High School, will also be attending the function,” he said.

The school counts a number of noted personalities among its alumni, including Gauba, Governor of Sikkim Ganga Prasad, veteran politician Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Rajya Sabha MP R K Sinha, and several top government officers, Ranjan said.

“About eight-nine serving DMs of various districts who passed out of this school will also be present on the occasion,” he added.

According to an old succession board hung on a wall in the principal’ office, located in the century-old building of the school, Ambika Charan Mishra was its first principal.

A portrait of Rajendra Prasad Singh, flanked by those of B R Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru, hangs on a wall behind the principal’s desk.

A cabinet full of trophies won by its students highlight the achievements of its current and former students while a double-lock colonial-era safety vault installed in a corner of the high-ceiling room evokes an era gone by.

Ranjan points to the prancing horse logo of the ‘Das & Co of Chitpur, Calcutta’ on the vault and the ‘Patna High School’ metallic plate placed at its bottom.

“This E-shaped building is a heritage of Bihar and this old vault, which is still functional tells the story of this building. On August 4, this building will be illuminated to mark the centenary,” he said.
Patna University Library, which was also set up in 1919, two years after the university was established, is celebrating its centenary this year.

“The library was set up on September 24, 1919. A number of programmes are being organised to mark the centenary. And, on August 4, Vice President Naidu will be the chief guest for our main centennial celebration that will be held at the historic Wheeler Senate House in the university campus,” PU Vice Chancellor RBP Singh told PTI.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief guest at the main centenary function of the university in October 2017. And, now the vice president has consented to grace the centenary celebration of its equally historic library. We are deeply honoured,” he said.

Tejashwi Yadav finally surfaces in Patna but still can’t make it to Bihar assembly

Source: theprint.in

Patna: Under fire for the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD’s) dismal campaign in the Lok Sabha elections, Tejashwi Yadav is still to return to the political arena even though he was back in Patna Sunday evening after spending a month in New Delhi.

Yadav’s absence is all the starker as he is the leader of opposition in the Bihar assembly, where the monsoon session commenced Friday. On Monday, the treasury benches allowed a rare adjournment motion on the death of around 180 children in Muzaffarpur due to the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).

Adjournment motions are an opportunity for the opposition to censure the government on its lapses, but Tejashwi, the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, wasn’t present in the House despite his home in Patna being less than a kilometre from the assembly building.

That prompted Parliamentary Affairs Minister Srawan Kumar to gesture at Tejashwi’s empty chair even as Speaker Vijay Choudhary remarked, “Let’s focus on the members who are present”, leaving RJD MLAs red-faced.

“This must be the first time in parliamentary history that the leader of the opposition has been absent on such an important issue,” an angry RJD MLA later told ThePrint.

The onus was then on a few senior opposition leaders such as Abdul Bari Siddiqui of the RJD and Sadanand Singh of the Congress to grill the JD(U)-BJP government on the issue but they targeted Health Minister, the BJP’s Mangal Pandey, as opposed to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The Nitish government has been pulled up by the Supreme Court and the media over the Encephalitis deaths but was virtually handed a walk-over in the assembly as the opposition allowed Pandey to read out the steps taken by his department without questioning him.

Family, party unsure of whereabouts
Tejashwi had gone off the radar after addressing a press meet in Patna on 28 May following the Grand Alliance’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. There was much speculation on his whereabouts with some RJD leaders even claiming that he may have gone to London to watch the Cricket World Cup as he is a former cricketer himself.

On 28 June, exactly a month later, Tejashwi tweeted accusing the media and his political opponents “of cooking up spicy stories” of his absence and stating that he was away as he had an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

He then went on to reiterate his party’s “commitment to the poor” and added that he was “following up on” the death of children due to Encephalitis.

But there is little clarity on his whereabouts, with family members showing irritation when asked the question. Tejashwi’s brother Tej Pratap surfaced in the assembly Monday but shrugged off the question. “He must be at his home,” Tej Pratap said. Their mother, former chief minister Rabri Devi, Friday snapped back at a reporter over the same question. “He is at your home,” she said.

RJD MLAs, however, told ThePrint that Tejashwi was yet to interact with them. “When a few MLAs telephoned him they were told that he would call back. But that call never came,” a senior RJD MLA said, adding that the party was yet to hold its routine meeting of legislators to discuss its floor strategy for the monsoon session.

“The result is that in the assembly we are going soft on CM Nitish Kumar, but in the state legislative council, Rabri Devi is demanding his resignation,” he added.

Opponents mock RJD leader
NDA leaders have been taking jabs at Tejashwi ever since his tweet on 28 June.

“Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj made their illness public while they were in office,” said deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi. “Tejashwi Yadav made his absence mysterious and has disrespected his party and its legislators.”

The RJD leader is also facing flak from his own party colleagues. “The manner in which he runs the party raises questions on if the party will survive. He refuses to meet his supporters and leaders,” said another RJD leader. “All this is happening when the party has to gear up for the assembly polls next year.”

The leader further said that Tejashwi is living up to his reputation as a “non-serious political leader who did not even cast his vote in Patna during the Lok Sabha polls”.

Re 1 stamp duty scheme misused, Jharkhand loses Rs 1.07 crore

Source: newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: The Jharkhand government has suffered a loss of Rs 1.07 crore due to widespread misuse of a scheme that allows registration of property worth Rs 50 lakh by women at only Re 1 stamp duty.

Launched by the state’s Raghubar Das government in June 2017, the scheme made registration of immovable property worth Rs 50 lakh in the name of women free of stamp duty save for a token amount of Re 1. For property above Rs 50 lakh, women had to pay Rs 50 lakh as registry charges.

The stamp fee was waived only if the property was registered in the name of women.

“So far, 1,52,521 women have benefitted from the Re 1 registry scheme,” Jharkhand Land and Revenue Minister Amar Bawari told reporters on Tuesday.

“But the scheme, which aimed to empower the women in the state, has also been misused. Till now 238 cases have come to our notice where women have benefitted from the scheme more than once. The state government has suffered a loss of Rs 1.07 crore. We have recovered Rs 27.90 lakh from the violators and process is on to recover more,” Bawari added.

BJP MP from Jharkhand demands railway zone in Ranchi

Source: business-standard.com

A BJP MP from Jharkhand has demanded a railway zone in state capital Ranchi, close on the heels of the railways approving a separate zone, South Coast Railway, despite an internal committee advising against the move.

Sanjay Seth the MP from Ranchi met Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav on Tuesday and listed 31 demands of the state relating to railways.

A letter submitted to Yadav demanded, “Immediate creation of a new zonal office at Ranchi in pattern of South Coast Railways, which is the newest zone of of Indian railways created just before general elections.”

“Jharkhand gives more than Rs 20,000 crore per year of only freight revenue, which makes the state more than deserving to have a zonal headquarter in state capital of Ranchi,” it stated.

The letter said that the zonal headquarters can be created by either shifting the present headquarter of South Eastern Railway from Kolkata to Ranchi or by merging certain portions of East Central Railway like Dhanbad division with Ranchi.

“If a zonal office is not created immediately, Jharkhand will never be able to harvest the benefit of its mineral resources and will always be remotely controlled by Bihar and West Bengal,” it said, adding, “Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar on a similar logic and now it is high time to separate its railways from the two states.”

The South Coast Railway, the new railway zone in Andhra Pradesh with headquarters in Visakhapatnam and covering the jurisdictional area of Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal divisions, was carved out by the railways with the former Waltair division being merged with Vijayawada division.
Seth has also demanded a Rail Neer plant at Aragada, connectivity to smart city, running the Ranchi Rajdhani on all seven days of a week, licensing of coolies, ambulance services, LHB rakes for trains among other amenities.

Protests over Jharkhand lynching leads to tension, stone pelting in Agra

Source: indiatoday.in

major confrontation was averted between the Hindus and Muslims in Agra on Monday when a large group of Muslims, who had taken out a protest march against the mob lynching of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand, decided to shutdown a market. The protests and shutdown was opposed by the shopkeepers belonging to the Hindu community.

Violence broke out and both the communities resorted to stone pelting. Local police managed to bring the situation under control. However, situation remains tense and a large contingent of police has been deployed in the violence-struck area.

According to sources, a huge group of Muslims had gathered at the royal Jama Masjid in Agra on Monday to lead a protest march against the killing of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand.

Despite prohibition orders under Section 144 of CrPC, the group continued to move towards the collectorate.

Police tried to stop them and used light force to push back the crowd. In the midst of this, rumours spread that a Muslim woman and her child had been abducted by the Hindus.

Enraged by the rumour, a group of Muslim youngsters splintered from the main group and tried to force shut a market in Sadar Bhatti area of the city. Soon, it led to stone pelting.

Police officials present at the spot managed to bring the situation under control.

Hindustani Biradari activists who were present at the scene quickly intervened and prevented the situation from growing worse. A large police contingent led by the SSP Joginder Kumar arrived and took control of the situation.

However, following the stone pelting, Sadar Bhatti, Nai Ki Mandi, Subhash Bazar, Mantola, Fawwara, Kinari Bazar areas remained closed. SSP Joginder Kumar assured that all rioters will be identified from the videos of the incident and will be arrested.

Surprisingly, the Local Intelligence Unit of the police failed to assess the situation despite there being clear indications about possible tension on Monday.