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“Delhi govt never offered any help”: Says Olympian Sarthak Bhambri referring to hoardings put up by AAP govt asking them to bring medals

The Arvind Kejriwal government had put up huge hoardings of table tennis star Manika Batra, shooter Deepak Kumar and two 400m runners, Amoj Jacob and Sarthak Bhambri all over Delhi just ahead of the Tokyo Olympics 2020. However, now one of them has informed that apart from the advertisements, the Delhi govt didn’t provide any help to the athletes ahead of the just-concluded Olympics.

These posters had read, ‘Delhi bole jeet ke ana’, but “kaise jeet ke ana? (Delhi says win medal at Olympics. How to win this way?)” asked 22-year-old runner Sarthak Bhambri reacting to the hoardings.

Bhambri came down heavily on the Delhi government for not offering any support to the athletes and sportsmen. Seems like the promises and initiatives of the Delhi government are limited just to the city hoardings. 

“I can tell you that Delhi government never came to my help, no monetary help was ever offered to me,” said the athlete who earned a spot in the India 400m relay team after a string of medal-winning performances at multiple national events.

Lamenting on the hoardings featuring him, Bhambri said, “I saw somewhere that crores have been spent on hoardings and posters for the Olympics. Even If they gave us 10-15 per cent of that for our preparations months before going to the Olympics, we could have put it to good use on our performance.”

Bhambri also blew the lid of the Delhi government’s Mission Excellence scheme which claims to financially aid top athletes from the national capital. Alleging no benefit from the scheme, the young athlete said, “Mission Excellence is a good scheme they have but they need to really revamp it because if I do well today in the Olympics and I want to prepare for Asian Games and Commonwealth Games next year, then I won’t have any funding until 2023, then what’s the use of it?”

“I have 8-10 months left for CWG but if no funding is going to come then how will we grow,” he added. 

The athlete, however, released a Tweet saying that he fully supports the state government and that he wasn’t aware of the government policies after the article went viral. 

“My recent interaction with media was not shown in a healthy way.  I am in full support of the Delhi Government. I was earlier not aware of the policies & hence couldn’t apply for mission excellence scheme,” Bhambri Tweeted. 

This is not the first time the state government has received criticism for unhelpfulness. As per reports, World Championship bronze medallist boxer Gaurav Bidhuri and wrestler Divya Kakran had also slammed the government for not providing any help.

Who is Sarthak Bhambri?

The 22-year-old sprinter, Bhambri is a resident of Delhi’s Rajouri Garden and is an undergraduate student. Bhambri and Jacob were members of the 400m relay squad, the team that set the Asian record at the Olympics with a timing of 3:00:25 seconds. 

Bhambri came a long way after suffering a career-threatening knee injury five years ago. He made his come back in 2020 and won two gold medals in 200m/400m sprints with a meeting record at the Delhi State Athletics Championships.

Saif’s sister Saba, chief trustee of Bhopal’s waqf properties, defends him and Kareena for naming their second son ‘Jehangir’

Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor Khan was earlier this year blessed with another baby boy and this time, she and her husband Saif Ali Khan named their newly born Jehangir Ali Khan. As expected, the news created quite a flutter on social media, with netizens slamming the duo for naming their son Jehangir, a namesake of barbaric Mughal emperor who imprisoned 5th Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan, tortured and executed him.

Now, Kareena Kapoor Khan’s sister-in-law, Saba Ali Khan, has come to her rescue. She took to her Instagram and asked what’s in the name. “Jeh… JAAN. What’s in a name? Love… live and let it be. Children are God’s blessings,” Saba wrote in her Instagram story.

Until some time back, various media reports suggested that the younger Pataudi is named ‘Jeh’. Even Kareena’s father, veteran actor Randhir Kapoor, recently called the little one ‘Jeh’. The unforgiving social media went on speculating on what the name could be and ended up trolling the couple again. From Jehlaluddin to Aurangzeb and from Jehangir to made-up names, a lot of possible names were shared by social media users.

However, it was revealed during a recent live session conducted by Kareena on her Instagram page that her son’s real name is Jehangir Ali Khan, who is affectionately called ‘Jeh’ by his parents and other relatives. Kareena has reportedly made the disclosure while hosting the live Instagram session on her newly launched book ‘Pregnancy Bible’. The little one’s real name is also mentioned in the book. As per reports, in one of the photographs of the newborn shared in the book, she has used the name ‘Jehangir’ in the caption and not just Jeh.

Kareena had her second baby back in February 2021. In April, she shared a picture of Saif and Taimur looking at the newborn but covered the face with a babyface emoji. The world is yet to see how the ‘new baby sensation’ in the B-Town looks like. The couple has so far avoided sharing his pictures or any details in public, unlike Taimur, who had all the limelight since the first day when he was born in 2016.

The name Jehangir, mainly spelt as Jahangir or Jangir, is of Persian origin. Jahan means the universe or the world. The name means “king of the world”. The Mughal emperor Jahangir was the son of Akbar and ruled the empire from 1605 AD to 1627 AD. He was responsible for the imprisonment and killing of the fifth Sikh Guru Arjan Dev Ji.

Who is Saba Ali Khan?

Saba Ali Khan is sister of Saif Ali Khan and aunt of Taimur and Jeh. Following the death of Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, his daughter Saba Ali Khan was made the mutawalli or the custodian of Auqaf-e-Shahi in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh on 25 October 2011. Nawab Pataudi’s mother Sajida Sultan was the daughter of the last Nawab of Bhopal. Auqaf-e-Shahi-Mutawali has assets worth about Rs 1200 crores and it oversees the properties of the Waqfs of the royal house of Bhopal.

In the year 2016, Auqaf-e-Shahi had bought a new building for Bhopal Rubat in Mecca Mukarrama. The new building was purchased at a cost of Saudi Riyals 18.5 million and is in the name of Auqaf Bhopal and not in the name of any individual. The property is a 7-storied building with a few shops and is located in the Al Nuzha area of Makkah Mukarramah.

Delhi CS assault case: Charges to be framed against Amanatullah Khan, Sisodia celebrates as Kejriwal and himself get discharged

On Wednesday, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia claimed victory in the former Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash assault case despite Delhi High Court framed charges against two Aam Aadmi Party MLAs – Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal.

According to the reports, the Delhi High Court ordered framing of charges against two AAP MLAs – Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal in the 2018 manhandling case against the then Chief Secretary of Delhi Anshu Prakash.

Even though the Delhi High Court discharged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and nine other MLAs in the case, it had ordered framing of charges against two AAP MLAs for attacking the then Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash.

Following the verdict, Manish Sisodia addressed the press conference claiming that it was a day of victory of justice and truth. He further claimed that the court said that allegations in the matter were false and baseless.

“The court has said that all allegations were baseless and false. We were saying from the first day these allegations are false. There was a conspiracy against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,” the AAP leader Manish Sisodia said.

Further, the AAP leader claimed that the Delhi Police hatched a conspiracy at the behest of PM Modi and BJP.

“A false case was made (but) today the court refused to frame charges. Today is the day of Satyamev Jayate (truth always wins), today the trust in the judiciary has increased even more,” the Deputy CM said.

A total of 13 people were accused in this assault case, including nine AAP MLAs – Nitin Tyagi, Rituraj Govind, Sanjeev Jha, Ajay Dutt, Rajesh Rishi, Rajesh Gupta, Madan Lal, Praveen Kumar and Dinesh Mohaniya. The nine MLAs, including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, have been discharged even as two other AAP leaders continue to be accused in the assault case.

Chief Secretary assault case:

On the stroke of midnight of 19 February, when the national capital slept, AAP MLAs were very much awake at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence to attend a meeting where Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash too was invited.

The meeting, though, bore witness to extraordinary scenes as when Prakash raised questions regarding the AAP government’s excess spending on advertisements, Kejriwal’s aides got enraged and allegedly proceeded to assault him. These versions of events were also corroborated by Kejriwal’s aide VK Jain who was reported as claiming that he found AAP MLAs Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal assaulting the Chief Secretary when he returned from a washroom break.

Initially, Kejriwal was not named as an accused in the FIR, however, he was later named along with other MLAs.

‘What if Raj Kundra goes the Nirav Modi way?’ Fear consumes Mumbai Police as they oppose his bail plea

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On August 10, Mumbai Police opposed the bail plea of actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra’s husband, Raj Kundra, stating that he is a flight risk and may leave the country to escape trial. Raj Kundra, a British citizen, was arrested in July for allegedly creating pornographic content and distributing it via paid apps. Police added that granting him bail would give a wrong message to society.

Kundra is currently in judicial custody. In his bail plea, it was stated that a charge sheet was filed in the month of April in which his name did not appear. It added that there is no FIR against him in the case and the accused who were named in the charge sheet are currently out on bail. It stated, “The entire order is based on conjectures and surmises and deserves to be set aside. The magistrate failed to appreciate that there is no material against the applicant to even show his alleged involvement in the alleged offence.”

‘Victims may not come forward if he is out on bail’

In reply to the bail plea, the Mumbai Police said that the crimes of Raj Kundra are of serious nature, and the investigation is still underway to find out all the apps where the videos were uploaded. The Police further told the Court that if the accused gets bail, there is a possibility he would commit similar crimes by uploading obscene videos. Granting him bail would send a wrong message to society and would impact the culture.

The police also mentioned that Kundra is a relative of Pradeep Bakshi, who is currently absconding. There is a possibility that he might get in touch with Bakshi and help him evade the probe. Police said that as the victims in the case belong to poor financial backgrounds, they might not come forward with evidence if the accused is out on bail.

Police argued that the possibility that Kundra may try to destroy evidence while being out on bail could not be ignored. They informed the Court that after search and seizure at the office of Kundra, he refused to sign the panchnama. He also refused to accept the notice issued to him under Section 41A(1) of the CrPC. Police claimed that he was non-responsive during interrogation. The Police further alleged that Kundra tried to delete data from his mobile that implies he was not interested in cooperating in the investigation.

Police added that Kundra is a British citizen, and he may flee the country in case bail is granted. There is no denying to the possibility that the videos are being uploaded from outside India as Kundra is well connected to the film industry.

The court rejected anticipatory bail plea in 2020 case

The Court adjourned the matter and set August 20 as the next date of hearing. Meanwhile, a sessions court also rejected an anticipatory bail plea of Kundra in connection to a case registered by the Mumbai Police in 2020 related to pornographic content.

Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi fled country to escape trial

Notably, criminals with good financial back have a habit of fleeing the country to escape trial. It was seen in the cases of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi who fled the country after the PNB scam came to light. Similarly, Vijay Mallya also fled the country to escape the trial in the case of financial fraud against him.

Delhi: Adarsh Nagar SHO Bhardwaj suspended, video of him bullying citizens protesting against mazar on flyover had gone viral

Delhi Adarsh Nagar SHO CP Bhardwaj has been suspended for lack of duty compliance and in view of several complaints against him.

Earlier this month, a video had gone viral where he could be seen bullying citizens who were protesting against a mazar that had appeared over a flyover in Delhi’s Azadpur area which caused problems to commuters.

Mazar in middle of flyover

Sikandar, who manages the mazar, claimed that this mazar was built before 1950, and his grandfather and father also managed the mazar. He added that there is a mazar under the flyover with the grave of a Pir baba, and the one that is above the flyover was built later around 1982-83. When that reporter told him that the flyover didn’t exist in 1982, he claimed that it was built when the construction of the flyover had started, which according to him had started in 1982. He further claimed that no construction had taken place since 2009.

It may be noted that while Sikandar claimed that the mazar was built on the flyover in around 1982-83, the fact is that the flyover was opened to traffic only in 2009. And the construction for the flyover didn’t start in 1982 as he is claiming. The flyover was built to ease traffic movement during the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

People have a complaint of heavy traffic jams due to the allegedly illegal construction, but the administration has failed to take any action.

Suspension not related to bullying video over mazar

According to reports, the suspension of the SHO does not have anything to do with the video in which he could be seen bullying. Police sources have told some media houses that there were various complaints against him because of which SHO CP Bhardwaj has been suspended. However, as per sources, due to the mazar incident, he caught the eye of the senior officials.

Rahul Gandhi’s tweet publishing pictures of minor rape victim’s parents violated our policy, locked his account: Twitter tells Delhi HC

Social media behemoth Twitter on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that it had locked the Twitter account of Rahul Gandhi because the senior Congress leader had violated its policy by sharing the pictures of the minor rape victims in a tweet posted by him.

During the hearing of the PIL seeking direction to National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and police to take action against the Gandhi scion for his tweet where he allegedly disclosed the identity of Delhi minor rape-murder victim, Twitter said it has removed the said tweet and locked his account.

A PIL has been filed by social activist Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar in Delhi High Court seeking action against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for disclosing the identity of the 9-year-old rape victim and her family on Twitter.

In the petition, Maharashtra-based social activist Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar alleged that Rahul Gandhi has violated section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and section 23(2)the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012. Both the provisions mandate that the identity of the child victim of a crime shall not be disclosed. The petition also sought legal action against Rahul Gandhi by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for making public the identity of the minor victim.

Despite Twitter informing the court that they have removed the tweet and locked the account, the petitioner insisted that the social media company should file an affidavit. However, the court rejected that demand, saying that there was no reason why Twitter would be lying. The court said that Twitter has acted responsibly, and there was no reason to disbelieve them. The court posted the matter for hearing on 27 September.

Rahul Gandhi refrains from tweeting despite the end of temporary ban, wants Twitter to ‘apologise’ for the snub: Sources

Shortly after sharing the picture, Gandhi’s account was temporarily locked, following which Twitter issued a statement saying that the action was taken as per the information shared by the National Commission of Women (NCW) according to the guidelines under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Reportedly, the account was subsequently restored but Rahul Gandhi is yet to make any post on Twitter following the incident. Sources in the Congress IT cell tell OpIndia that the party wants Twitter to either come out and say that they ‘locked out’ Rahul Gandhi’s account under pressure from the Government of India or to at least issue a regret note for doing so.

The sources further added that the party has threatened that they will ask all Congress supporters and workers to quit the platform if the social networking giant does not publicly apologise for ‘wrongly suspending’ Rahul Gandhi’s account. As a mark of solidarity with Rahul Gandhi, various Congress leaders took to sharing the same image that got the Gandhi scion’s account locked out over violation of the POCSO Act.

‘Second Lalu’ Tej Pratap Yadav threatens to file ‘PIL’ against journalists: I listened to his monologue so you don’t have to

Fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad Yadav’s elder son (who is actually his younger son officially because of birth dates goof up) Tej Pratap Yadav is awesome. While there are many reasons for his awesomeness, one such is his last night’s live session on Facebook page by the name ‘Second Lalu Tej Pratap Yadav’.

‘Second Lalu’ Tej Pratap Yadav first thanked the new recruits of RJD student union. He first hailed all the students of Bihar for being part of RJD and sent his ‘adaab, salam and pranam’ in his true secular self. He also said ‘salam’ and ‘pranam’ to their revolutionary trait by joining the RJD.

He then talks about how everyone, whom he just offered salam and pranam to, came together to ‘fight’ the ‘enemies’ and ‘opposition’ who are constantly ‘attacking the RJD’. “You must have seen through Facebook and TV how a conspiracy is being hatched. Opposition knows that Tej and Tejashwi are the only two alternatives Bihar has who will not leave any stone unturned to make sure Bihar scales newer heights,” he says.

Bihar, under his father Lalu Prasad Yadav’s rule, was synonymous with ‘Jungle Raj‘ where nothing but crime and chaos ruled. Kidnappings were an ‘industry’ for the fifteen years ‘First Lalu’ ruled Bihar.

Tej Pratap Yadav then talks about rumours about strife between the two brothers and said that Tej is Tejashwi and Tejashwi is Tej. “I know RJD Students Union has no money to put up hoardings. I know who have put them up and doing these dirty tricks. Tejashwi Yadav who is on his way to become the Chief Minister of Bihar, I have already announced that I consider him my Arjun (referring to himself as Lord Krishna), some have sold themselves for money and alcohol. They take names of Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi, Tej Pratap Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav and Misa Bharti, they drink ‘laal paani’ (alcohol) while sitting under the banner of Lotus,” he said.

Bihar currently has alcohol prohibition and selling and consuming liquor is a criminal offence.

He reiterated yet again that Tejashwi is first the leader of RJD and then his brother. “I have always made it a point to forward Tejashwi’s point. Whether on roads or in Assembly, I have always maintained that Tejashwi is my Arjun. If someone is jealous that our Tejashwi is Arjun, he is our Chief Minister (factually incorrect, he has never been Bihar CM), they can continue to be jealous. We must move on,” he said.

Sometimes the photos are missing from hoardings and one must not read too much on it, he said. “You know, during the general elections, our father’s photo was not there on the hoardings. My mother’s photo was not there, Misa Bhartiji’s photo was also not there. Even my photo was not there. Did we create a ruckus? Was the media sleeping? Were they on a leave? Today media remembers posters and banners?” the angry ‘Second Lalu’ roared.

“The media has sold itself to the Central government fully. I throw an open challenge to Bihar media <garble, garble garble> were asking obscure questions. When someone asks such obscure questions to you, you would know how the politicians go through,” he says.

Tej Pratap Yadav then goes on to naming the journalists who had asked him uncomfortable questions. “Saket Kumar, Bureau Head, Times Now, Alok, Reporter, News Wing. Raman, Reporter, Bharatvarsh ‘portal news’. There is one Bharatvarsh portal news which is an RSS channel. They never written good news about Lalu ji, my father the god or anyone from our family,” he said.

“They tried to ruin my reputation. And one more is one Divyanshu from News4Nation. This is also a soldout media. Why don’t you show the truth? Why are you after the family members of Lalu Yadav and his family? I throw an open challenge to your owners who have sold themselves like Adani and Ambani who have run away with black money. All the time ‘Lalu Family’, ‘Lalu Family’, full Bihar is ‘Lalu Family’. What is your aukat?” he asks.

The then threatens to file a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) against the journalists and followed it up with a threat of FIR (First Information Report) against them. He even threatened with a defamation notice against everyone. “It is because my father let you off. All the time ‘chara ghotala, chara ghotala‘ (fodder scam, fodder scam). Why don’t you show Modi ji, Nitish ji, and Sushil Kumar Modi ji? So many posters of Sushil Kumar Modi ji, put focus on them and show them too,” an agitated Tej Pratap screamed.

“Nitish Kumar ji has murdered Sitaram ji and is still here. Why not show that? Why drag my father? I will file an FIR and a defamation suit. I will call my lawyer and file FIR against all media persons in Bihar. Just wait and watch,” he said.

It is towards the end that one realises the monologue was about the alleged rift between the two brothers. There have been rumours of Tejashwi and Tej Pratap not getting along too well since past few years. Ahead of 2019 general elections, Tej Pratap had launched his own political party ‘Lalu Rabri Morcha’ where he had said he would contest as independent candidate. Prior to that, in June 2018, he had asserted that he would quit politics, only to change his decision in a matter of hours and ended up blaming the RSS for reports of a rift with Tejaswi. Later, in October that year, his sister Misa Bharti, Lalu’s daughter, had also confirmed the rift between the two brothers only to call it a ‘media twist’ later.

Over time, Tej Pratap had made a habit of attracting media attention, although for rather unusual reasons. His marital life has been going through a rough patch as well and he can be often seen at various places dressed up in colorful attire. After 2019 elections were over, he had given himself a monicker ‘Dusra Lalu‘ and had declared himself as Lord Krishna equivalent to Tejashwi (who was the Arjun) and he would slain anyone who comes to destroy him with a Sudarshan Chakra.

Now, it seems the ‘Sudarshan Chakra’ will be the PILs. For the record, Supreme Court has said that frivolous PILs are not permitted.

Google rolls out ‘pay calculator’, employees who work from home may suffer salary cuts due to reduced living expenses

Google has recently introduced an internal pay calculator that helps explain the breakdown of the potential cuts to employees’ salaries if they chose to work from home permanently, a hot button topic more than a year after the pandemic revolutionised the workplace.

According to the reports, Google is presiding over an experiment that entails adjusting salaries based on cost-of-living where workers are located rather than their office locations. As a result, a large number of employees working out of the same location may witness varying salaries, based on their remote work locations.

Screenshots obtained by Reuters suggest that long commuters might be hit particularly hard by the new pay calculator. The company may slash the salaries of employees who work remotely, away from cities where the Google offices are.

For instance, employees living within the five boroughs of New York City who chose to work from home permanently will have nothing to worry about as they will have no pay cuts.

However, employees who commuted to Google’s Manhattan offices from nearby Stamford, Conn., would see their salaries reduced by 15% if they choose to continue working from home.

Furthermore, the screenshots also showed 5% and 10% differences for commuters living in the Seattle, Boston and San Francisco areas.

The employees of the company have been further warned that moving away from the company’s offices could invite even harsher pay cuts. An employee who left San Francisco for Lake Tahoe would have his salary slashed by much as 25 per cent.

Google employees who move even farther away from the company’s offices have been warned they could face even harsher pay cuts. A worker who left San Francisco for Lake Tahoe, another expensive area of California, would have their pay cut by a whopping 25%.

As per Google, the calculator uses US Census Bureau metropolitan statistical areas or CBSAs.

As Google conducts the experiment of slashing salaries based on employees’ locations, other companies in Silicon Valley are also expected to follow the suit. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have already warned their employees who plan to leave expensive cities like New York and San Francisco that their pay will be reduced.

Bihar: Man kills 8-year-old minor girl for human sacrifice on the advice of occultist Parvez Alam, mutilated body recovered

The Special Investigation Team in Bihar’s Munger has arrested four people including an occultist Parvez Alam for killing a minor girl for human sacrifice. The police on Friday had recovered a mutilated body of an eight-year-old girl with both eyes gouged out.  

As per reports, the police had initially registered it as a case of rape and murder but later during the investigation found that it was a case of human sacrifice. Sharing details of the case, the SP had informed that one Dilip Kumar a resident of Padham village had visited occultist Parvez Alam for his pregnant wife.

As per a Dainik Jagran report, Kumar’s wife had suffered a miscarriage while carrying their fifth child. Kumar, who had been visiting Alam for the past ten years, went to the occultist once again for a solution to avoid another miscarriage. Alam first had advised Kumar to get the eyes of a fish and then of a chicken. Despite this, his wife suffered a miscarriage. 

As informed by SP Jagannath Reddy, Kumar once again approached Alam to seek a solution for his pregnant wife. This time Alam asked Kumar to get the eyes of a minor girl (less than 10-years-old).  

It was revealed during the investigation that Alam had advised the expectant mother to wear an amulet consecrated with blood and eyes of virgin blood. To prepare for the human sacrifice, Kumar sought the help of his co-resident Tanveer Alam. It was Tanveer who had introduced Kumar to the occultist. 

Kumar along with his associate made arrangements for performing rituals at his poultry farm located at Pardah village. As per Gaurav Kumar, SHO of Safiabad police, the girl was picked up by the accused while whe was returning home alone after delivering lunch to her father who is a fisherman. 

The minor was then killed, her eyes gouged out, after which Alam made an amulet to be worn around the neck by Kumar’s wife. The police had initially arrested only Kumar, his associate and Tanveer. Later, Parvez Alam was also taken into custody.

The Times of India quoted the SP as saying, “Dilip’s wife had conceived after many unsuccessful years of pregnancy. Hence, he acted on the suggestion of the tantrik from neighbouring Khagaria district which led to the gruesome killing of the minor girl.”

The case has been listed for speedy trial as all the accused have been arrested. “Instructions have been issued to submit the charge sheet in the case at the earliest,” informed the SP.

‘Third wave will wait for at least six months’: Netizens mock Kejriwal govt’s ‘war footing’ preparation for ‘makeshift hospitals’

The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government on Tuesday announced building seven makeshift hospitals with 7,000 ICU beds to prepare for a potential third wave of the Chinese virus pandemic. Only, the government has said that it will take six months to ready these makeshift hospitals.

The announcement, however, has not gone down well with the netizens who mocked the Delhi government for its sluggish approach. 

Twitter user Darshan Pathak took a jibe at the government by saying that the third wave will wait for Kejriwal’s party to complete the construction of the makeshift hospitals. 

A user by the name Rakesh Tiwari questioned AAP what is it going to do with the hospitals after six months when two waves have already ravaged Delhi and the third is predicted to arrive soon.

Another netizen reminded Arvind Kejriwal’s party that the pandemic has been around since February 2020 and these makeshift hospitals should have been built last year itself.

One Vivek Bansal slammed the AAP government for fooling people and said that makeshift hospitals should not take that long to construct, defying the purpose.

Delhi’s Health Minister seeks approval

Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Tuesday sought approvals from deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s finance minister for the project.

“The hospitals will be completed within the next six months positively and all the concerned departments will be working on a war footing. Though these hospitals will be temporary, they are being constructed from a long-term perspective as Covid-19 is here to stay at least in the near future,” said Jain sharing the plan. 

Reportedly, the government after facing two waves of the pandemic is still planning to set up 37,000 Covid beds, excluding those in Covid care centres.

DRDO sets up makeshift hospitals in record time

On the other hand, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had built a 1,000 bed coronavirus facility in the national capital in a record time of 11 days. The facility was equipped with 250 ICU beds as well. 

Amidst the second wave this year, the DRDO had built a 900-bed full Covid care facility in Ahmedabad in 15 days. 

Jain claims third wave to be mild

The Delhi Health Minister on Tuesday had said that he believes the third wave if it comes, will be milder than the second wave in Delhi. As per his reasoning, the majority of the Covid-19 cases that emerged in the second wave this year were caused by the Delta variant hence most of that population may already have antibodies.

“Analysis of the reports from Delhi that were sent to ICMR also pointed out that Delhi was battling the Delta variant during the second wave. Therefore, I don’t think that the Delta variant should be a cause of concern for us anymore as the entire second wave was because of the Delta variant,” the minister claimed. 

“Since the Delta variant originated in India, we have already faced the wrath of this variant during the second wave. The other countries need to prepare themselves now as the variant is spreading there. Delhi has already battled and overcome the Delta variant wave,” he added.

AAP govt’s lax attitude in setting up Oxygen plants

During the worst phase of the second wave, when Delhi’s CM was making continuous TV appeals to play victimhood over lack of Oxygen and blamed everyone from the centre to neighbouring states, it was revealed from government data that the AAP government had neglected setting up oxygen plants even though money was allotted from the PM CARES fund.

The Union Health Ministry had informed the Delhi High Court that the central government had sanctioned funds from PM CARES Fund to Kejriwal Government in December 2020 to set up eight PSA (Pressure Swing Absorption) oxygen plants in Delhi. However, since December, only one such plant has been set up by the Kejriwal govt.