SRINAGAR: People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), after holding a meeting away from the media on Monday, said that they will talk to other political parties in Jammu and Kashmir so that there is a single voice for the common goals like restoration of statehood before holding of elections. PAGD said that they were disappointed by the outcome of the meeting held with the Prime Minister recently and said that they will continue to struggle peacefully and constitutionally to get back what has been snatched from the people of Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019.

PAGD released a statement on Monday stating, “The PAGD reiterated its commitment to fight together to reverse the unconstitutional and unacceptable changes foisted on the people of J&K on 5th August 2019 using all constitutional, legal, and political means at its disposal. PAGD’s struggle for undoing these changes will continue as long as it takes while striving to achieve this objective as early as possible”.

“All the members of the PAGD expressed their disappointment at the outcome of the Delhi meeting especially at the absence of any substantial Confidence Building Measures such as releasing political and other prisoners from jails and taking concrete steps to end the siege and atmosphere of suppression that has choked J&K since 2019,” the PAGD statement further said.

“This would have initiated the much-needed process of reaching out to the people of J&K who are the biggest stakeholders and sufferers of the J&K problem. As far as the restoration of statehood is concerned, it has been BJPs commitment on the floor of the Parliament, and they must honour their word. So, any assembly election must be held only after the restoration of full statehood for J&K. To this end the PAGD has decided to reach out to other political parties in J&K to take a common position on the issue,” it added.

Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit Mukherjee has joined TMC. The longtime Congress leader went to the Trinamool Bhavan on Monday and raised the party flag in the presence of Partha Chatterjee and Sudip Bandopadhyay. After joining the TMC, Abhijit said, “I am here today with the permission of my sister, with the permission of Abhishek Babu. Today I joined as an early member of the TMC. From one Congress to another, from root to grass but I am in the Congress. ”

For several days now, there have been rumours of TMC’s closeness with former Jangipur MP Abhijit and Nalhati MLA. On 9 June, Pranab’s son met several leaders, including the TMC district president and Jangipur MP, at his Jangipur residence.

After that, rumours spread all over the district that is Abhijit also ready to strengthen Mamata Banerjee’s party? On that day, the seal fell on that speculation.

Joining the TMC, Pranab putra reminded everyone that he left the government service in 2011 and joined the Congress. At that time there was an anti-left wind across the state. ‘Mamata didi was his leader’. Due to his struggle, Congress demolished the 44-year-old left fort in Nalhati. In Abhijit’s words, “I have no calibre in that victory. I joined, rode and crossed the storm that Mamata Banerjee raised against the CPM.”

Abhijit mocked the BJP after this incident. “Recently, we have seen communal forces like the BJP trying to dominate here,” he said. Abhijit added, “Mamata has stopped it. The country’s veteran Congress leader also paid tribute to her achievement. I think that he, who has been able to stop the BJP in West Bengal, will be able to do so in the whole of India in the future with the help of many more under her leadership. ”

On this day, a little warmth towards the Congress was also heard in Pranab’s son’s voice. He said,“I am currently a former Congress MP, a former MLA. I was not appointed to any post in Congress. There was no initial membership. And that too usually lapses after three years. There may not be any new renewals yet. I joined the TMC as a loyal soldier. I will do whatever the team tells me to do. ”

A former Congress MP from Jangipur and an MLA from Nalhati, TMC may offer Abhijit the Jangipur Assembly seat which is due at the by-poll as a candidate there had passed away just before the elections.

While moving the Supreme Court for protection against coercive action by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the embattled ex-Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh skipped ED summon for the third time in a week. This time, he accused the central agency on Monday that its probe against him is ‘not transparent’.

In a letter to ED Assistant Director Tassine Sultan, Deshmukh said that he had devoted his entire life to public service and would not hesitate to render any assistance that may be required in the conduct of the ongoing investigations.

“However, a series of events have given rise to a bonafide apprehension in my mind that neither the procedure of law is being followed nor any objective, impartial or transparent investigations are being carried out,” the 72-year-old senior Nationalist Congress Party leader said in his eight-pager missive.

Deshmukh said that he has moved a petition in the Supreme Court which would be listed in a few days and the ED to wait until its outcome in the apex court.

“I am sanguine that your good self will, in fact, dispel the impression of any bias or prejudice that has accumulated in my mind by carrying out investigations in a more transparent and objective manner. I am only taking recourse to my legal remedies in view of the peculiarities of the circumstances,” he said.

This is the third time in barely a week that Deshmukh — who was raided by the ED on 25 June, and at least two of his close aides were arrested — has spurned the ED summons to join the probe.

Meanwhile, ED has called Deshmukh’s son on Tuesday for interrogation.

The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned to next week yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s plea seeking the clubbing of the multiple FIRs registered against him in different states over his alleged remarks that Allopathy cannot cure Covid-19. The FIRs were registered in the states of Bihar and Chhattisgarh based on complaints by Indian Medical Association (IMA).

During the hearing, the Supreme court stated that yesterday night at 11’o clock they received a bulky volume of documents, CD, etc.

Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Baba Ramdev, requested that the Court may hear the matter on Friday then. “We are not doing anything. We’re posting it next week.” the Bench said.

The Supreme Court had asked yoga guru Baba Ramdev on 30 June to submit his original video and transcript of his statement made on allopathy.

The yoga proponent had filed a petition in the Supreme Court on 23 June seeking a stay of proceedings in multiple FIRs lodged against him in various states for his alleged remarks against allopathy terming it to be ineffective against Covid-19. Ramdev also sought protection from coercive actions and stay of proceedings in FIRs lodged by IMA’s Patna and Raipur branches.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at 40 locations in Uttar Pradesh and one each in Rajasthan and West Bengal in connection with the Rs 1,513-crore Gomti Riverfront Park “scam”—a flagship project of the previous Samajwadi Party government.

The searches started on Sunday night and were underway at some locations till late on Monday. The crackdown came after the CBI filed a fresh FIR in the case on July 2 naming 16 public servants and 173 firms and private entities as accused.

The development months ahead of the 2022 UP Assembly elections, where the Samajwadi Party, under Akhilesh Yadav, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, and the Congress, among others, will try to wrest the state from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Sources in the CBI said the FIR was lodged following revelations that surfaced while probing the original FIR in the scam lodged in 2017 in which only eight engineers were named as accused.

The searches were carried out in Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Gorakhpur, Agra, Etah and Moradabad. The CBI teams also searched a property each in Alwar district of Rajasthan and Kolkata.

The premises searched included properties of two chief engineers, four superintending engineers, an executive engineer, assistant engineers who were posted with the irrigation department between 2015 and 2017 and had been associated with execution of the project. Premises of private entities associated with the scam were also searched.

The July 2 FIR, on the basis of which searches were conducted, relates to the work related to the Gomti Riverfront Park that was executed between 2015 to March 2017 amounting to Rs 407 crore. It included repairing and painting of bridge, removal of sludge, construction of amphitheatre, installation of swings for children, landscaping and horticulture work from Nishatganj Bridge to Baikunth Dham, audio system, food plaza on Gomti Setu, Rubber Track and Jogging Track.

“Probe revealed that Notice Inviting Tenders for these jobs were not published in national newspapers as required and fake letters were allegedly sent to the information department instead,” the CBI stated in the FIR. The FIR cited investigations to state that tenders were awarded to the firms only on papers, while the proprietors of these firms have denied signing or submitting any document related to the project. It has also been revealed that committees constituted to allocate work related to the project floated fake tenders and awarded contracts to shell firms registered in the names of their relatives or family members.

The FIR also mentions a French firm, Aquatic Show, which was given a contract fraudulently. “Without due permission of the government, the accused engineers misused their official position and gave contract to the French firm on quotation basis, though the accused engineers, in the official records, had shown that tenders were floated which could not be corroborated,” the FIR stated.

Pink stones are being sent from Mirzapur to Ayodhya for the construction of the Ram temple. Speaking to The Daily Guardian, Mirzapur DM Praveen Kumar said, “18-19 thousand stones will be sent from Mirzapur for the construction of the Ram temple. Today, 27 stones have been sent in the first consignment. We will take 8-10 months for this work.”

There is a need of 19,000 pink pillars in the Ram temple of Ayodhya, four feet long and two feet wide. Apart from this, square pink stones are needed for the pathway. DM Praveen Kumar further said that first, four feet long and two feet wide pillars will be supplied. After this, other stones will be supplied as per the requirement. The supply of these stones will be completed in seven to eight months. 

Last month, speaking to The Daily Guardian, Champat Rai, general secretary of the Ram Mandir Trust, said that three different types of stones would be used in the construction of the Ram temple. Different stones will be used in the base plinth of the temple, the spire including the temple and the walls, in which the base plinth of the temple will be made of 4 lakh cubic stones of Mirzapur and the stone of Banshi Pahar Pur of Rajasthan will be used for the construction of the temple. 

The Daily Guardian is the first newspaper which has brought exclusive pictures and videos of Ram temple construction to its readers. At the same time, there are elaborate security arrangements in the Ram temple complex. The premises are being monitored 24 hours a day. For this, watch towers and CCTV cameras have been installed, so that the construction and surrounding activities are monitored at all times. 

About 50 layers of 10-inch-thick mixture of building material will be laid in about 50-feet deep foundation measuring 400 feet long and 300 feet wide. Six layers of building material mixture have been placed one on top of the other over the foundation land spread across 2.77 acres.

The work of about 8 feet, i.e. 9 layers, has been completed. And the filling of the 10th layer has also been done which will now be compacted. The Ram Janmabhoomi complex in Ayodhya is of 70 acres of land, but at present, the construction work is going on in 5 acres of land. The work of filling the foundation with engineering field material is being done by digging 400 feet long, 300 feet wide and 40 feet deep.