Navi Mumbai, July 27 (IANS) Two persons were rescued and 24 people managed to rush to safety when a three storey building collapsed in Belapur, Navi Mumbai, in the wee hours of Saturday, a police officer said.

The incident occurred at around 4.30 A.M. when residents of the Indira Nivas building were sleeping in their homes.

NRI Sagari Police Station, Senior Police Inspector, Satish Kadam said that barring the two injured who were rescued from the debris, there is no information of more people being buried under the rubble.

Minutes before the collapse, the residents were rudely awakened by tremors, rumbling sounds and household articles rattling, said one of the survivors.

Anticipating a disaster, most residents rushed out of their homes leaving everything behind and shortly afterwards the entire structure crashed.

As the teams of the NRI Sagari Police Station, the Navi Mumbai Fire Brigade, SDRF and NDRF rushed to the spot, they were informed that two persons were trapped under the rubble.

After nearly four hours of effort, both the victims were dug out of the debris and were rushed to a nearby hospital as they had sustained injuries in the crash.

–IANS

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Srinagar, July 27, (IANS) An encounter has started between terrorists and security forces in Trehgam sector in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, officials said on Saturday.

Sources said that three army soldiers have been injured as the gunfire rages on.

Additional reinforcement has been brought in.

The operation started after a joint team of police and security forces got input about the presence of terrorists in that area.

There have been a series of encounters between terrorists and security forces across Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past in which many terrorists have been eliminated.

–IANS

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Bhubaneswar, July 26 (IANS) In a significant development, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday announced 10 per cent reservation for Agniveers of his state.

Speaking to mediapersons at Lokseva Bhawan before leaving for Delhi to attend the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting, CM Majhi said: “All the soldiers of Indian armed forces are our pride. The Agniveers, who are trained by our defence forces, are qualified to serve the nation in various security-related sectors.”

He further said that Agniveer Scheme is a historic initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“This initiative has made our youth able and fearless so that they can face various challenges in life. That is why, the Odisha government has decided to recruit Agniveers in the state’s uniformed services.

“The state government will provide up to 10 per cent reservation in its Uniformed Services for those Agniveers from the state who are not absorbed in the defence forces. There will also be 5 years of age relaxation for them,” the CM announced.

The uniformed service of the state includes the police, fire services, forest department, etc.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, July 26 (IANS) The Telangana government on Friday announced that it will bring a new comprehensive legislation to overcome problems regarding land ownership and find a permanent solution to the issues created by the Dharani portal introduced by the previous BRS government.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said that the new legislation will be formulated after an all-party meeting and extensive consultations.

At a review meeting on the Dharani portal with his Cabinet colleagues and senior officials, he called for suggestions from people for a system to address land-related disputes. He asserted that a detailed study needs to be conducted to find a permanent solution to every problem which is being faced in the use of Dharani.

The Chief Minister wanted officials to formulate a comprehensive Act in view of the increasing land ownership problems every day in the state. He observed that after the introduction of the Dharani portal by the previous government, the land records which were once available at the village level were shifted to the state headquarters, and all powers to solve land issues were delegated to the district Collectors in the place of village and mandal authorities. Further, the Collectors ‘ decisions have become unilateral and the land issues are not being solved in the Dharani portal. To overcome all such challenges, the Chief Minister asked the officials to hold extensive consultations with people and seek their suggestions.

The Revenue officials have been asked to select a mandal where Bhudan, Poramboku, Bancharayi, Inam, and Kandishika land issues have been pending and prepare a comprehensive report to get clarity on each land-related issue.

The CM also said that if required a debate will be taken up on Dharani in the ongoing budget session of the Assembly and a final decision taken.

The Congress, in its election manifesto, had promised to scrap Dharani and replace it with the ‘Bhumata’ portal by amending the Record of Rights (ROR) Act.

During his Budget speech on Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka accused the previous government of having brought in Dharani with a mala fide intention of robbing some of the rightful owners of their land. The illegalities, and errors committed during the feeding of land information in the portal have resulted in hardships for innumerable landowners and farmers, he said.

He mentioned that as per the assurance given to the people, the government constituted a committee to study the problems that arose due to Dharani. As per the recommendations of the committee, in the first phase, a special drive for resolution of grievances was taken up from March 1 to 15, 2024 under the supervision of District Collectors. A total of 2,26,740 applications were pending as on March 1 and 1,22,774 were received during the drive taking the total to 3,49,514.

He said since March 1, a total of 1,79,143 grievances have been resolved.

“We have brought in 10 informative modules pertaining to 35 types of transactions in the Dharani portal. These modules will solve the field-level problems to some extent. We are reviewing the status of these grievances with Collectors from time to time. After a complete study by the Dharani committee, a final decision will be taken for a permanent resolution of the problem,” he had said.

–IANS

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Aizawl, July 26 (IANS) The Chief Ministers from all the eight northeastern states will attend the 9th NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting in the national capital on Saturday, officials said on Friday.

Officials in different northeastern states said that all the eight Chief Ministers would attend the NITI Aayog meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre on Saturday.

The Chief Ministers include Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), Lalduhoma (Mizoram), Conrad Sangma (Meghalaya), Neiphiu Rio (Nagaland), N. Biren Singh (Manipur), Pema Khandu (Arunachal Pradesh), Manik Saha (Tripura), and Prem Singh Tamang (Sikkim).

An official from the Mizoram Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said that Lalduhoma, President of the ruling Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), left for Delhi on Friday afternoon.

He said the Chief Minister is expected to highlight the issues related to the state’s financial needs at the meeting.

The ZPM is neither an ally of the BJP-led NDA, nor a partner of the Congress-led INDIA bloc.

–IANS

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