Alliance Air would resume flights to five north-eastern cities, including Guwahati, with immediate effect, as the North-Eastern Council (NEC) has decided to fund the viability gap for these operations.
A memorandum of understanding to this effect was today signed in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and DoNER Minister Gen V K Singh, under which the Air India subsidiary would provide air services to Shillong, Tezpur, Lilabari, Silchar and Guwahati with turbo-prop ATR-42 aircraft till March 2016.
Alliance Air chief Anil Mehta, who signed the agreement with the Ministry, told PTI that services have already been launched on some routes and all the five stations would be connected with immediate effect.
Under the viability gap funding (VGF) arrangement, NEC would assist Alliance Air in obtaining concessions on jet fuel, landing, Route Navigation Facility charges and other costs. VGF is essentially to meet the gap between the actual cost of operations and the revenue earned from the flights.
The cost of operations would be reviewed every three months based on the proposed cost and VGF amount would be determined accordingly, an Air India spokesperson said.
The airline has been operating flights to the North-East since January 2003 under the VGF system. Till the end of 2012, it was operating 65 flights each week in the region.
From January 2013, due to outstanding VGF, the airline restructured its ATR operations in the North-East and discontinued these services on certain routes.
However, it continued operations between Kolkata-Silchar, Kolkata-Guwahati and Silchar-Imphal with ATR aircraft. In July 2013, it also restored five times weekly flights on the Kolkata-Shillong route.
Besides the ATR flights, Air India has been operating flights in the North-East with its Airbus family aircraft between Kolkata and Silchar, Dimapur, Dibrugarh, Aizawl, Imphal, Agartala and Guwahati, besides the Delhi-Guwahati route.
Scottish National Party gets 11,000 new membership requests in the 75 hours following the referendum
Scottish pro-independence parties reported a surge in membership over the weekend as campaigners vowed to continue to fight after a split with the United Kingdom was rejected in a referendum.
The Scottish National Party said its servers were struggling to cope with 11,000 new membership requests in the 75 hours following the referendum on Thursday, when it had 25,600 members.
The SNP’s leader Alex Salmond announced he would step down as Scottish First Minister after 55% of voters rejected independence, and British Prime Minister David Cameron said the question had been settled for a lifetime.
However, supporters of independence vowed to continue the campaign on social media, many including the figure “45” in their profile pictures to represent the percentage that voted for the split.
“As a former Labour councillor of 15 years I have today joined the SNP,” wrote pro-independence aviation consultant John Baillie on Twitter, who was previously the Labour Party leader on South Ayrshire Council.
“On Friday I mainly felt angry, yesterday I just felt sad, today I joined the SNP. Never give up on what you believe in,” wrote @Kels450 yesterday.
The pro-independence Scottish Green Party said its membership had increased by 2,000 since Thursday.
The referendum campaign had seen a huge rise in engagement in politics, and voter turnout of 84.5% and over 90% in some areas broke previous records in Britain.
New Delhi:Narendra Modi “spoke like a Prime Minister” when he said that Indian Muslims would live and die for the country, but he should check the Sangh Parivar from promoting communal polarization to back his message of national unity, the CPI said on Monday.
It is good that he (Modi) spoke like a Prime Minister. But his words should translate into action as the Sangh Parivar have been raising issues of religious divide and so-called ‘love jihad’ to create tension.
“There is a big campaign unleashed by the RSS-BJP. The Prime Minister should restrain these forces,” CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy told a press conference in New Delhi. He claimed that even BJP President Amit Shah has made certain statements in the past to “provoke tensions” while the Sangh Parivar have been “intensifying their offensive for communal polarisation through hate campaigns”.
“The Indian Right has become brazen and aggressive (enough) to use the state apparatus to push through its agenda. The change in rhetoric and demagogy does not hide the sinister designs of the BJP-led rule,” charged the senior CPI leader.
On Modi’s upcoming visit to the US, Reddy said the government should tread “carefully” during negotiations and “not fall into the American trap” of furthering the strategic partnership under which Washington may try to sell India old nuclear reactors which have not been in use for two decades.
“In the name of helping India’s power sector, the US will try to push India into accepting such reactors. We don’t know yet as to what is on the agenda for the defence sector. Our experience with the US has not been good,” he said.
CPI National Secretary D Raja said the US has been pressuring India to dilute the provisions of the nuclear liability law, which would benefit American companies to the detriment of Indian interests.
PTI
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MUMBAI: Shiv Sena today made it clear that it won’t make any more concession for BJP, offering to cede it only 119 out of the total 288 seats in Maharashtra Assembly for the next month’s polls, and said this was “the final attempt” to break the logjam over seat-sharing.
Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi that late Sena supremo Bal Thackeray had backed him in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
“Today I am making a final attempt to ensure that the Mahayuti (grand alliance of opposition parties) stays intact. Sena had initially asked for 160 seats. But now we are ready to part with nine seats. Shiv Sena will fight on 151 seats, leaving 119 seats for BJP. The remaining 18 seats will be given to our allies,” he said.
“I cannot go any further,” said Thackeray, who addressed his party workers this morning after a meeting of the party’s state executive.
“Maharashtra will be the number one state in the country if Sena comes to power. I want power and I will take it at any cost. But this power is to give Maharashtra something and not to take away, like other parties do,” he said.
“Everyone knows how terrible the situation was when the Godhra riots took place. Everyone was saying that Modi should be immediately removed from the Gujarat CM’s post. At that time, it was only Balasaheb who told LK Advani that Modi should stay on as he pursues the Hindutva ideology,” he said.
Thackeray said that state BJP chief Devendra Fadanvis met him last night and proposed that Sena should contest 140 seats while BJP should get 130 (the rest going to smaller allies of Mahayuti). However, he couldn’t accept this as it would frustrate the aspirations of many Sena candidates, he said.
Reacting to senior state BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar’s allegation that the Sena did not support BJP in the last two Presidential elections, Thackeray said he was “proud” of the decisions then.
“BJP said we did not support them during the Presidential election by backing Pratibha Patil. But we backed her as she would be the first President from Maharashtra. We also backed Pranab Mukherjee as P A Sangma was not from NDA. He was originally an NCP leader,” he said.
Just as Sena did not play a spoilsport in BJP’s “Mission 272′ in the Lok Sabha polls, BJP should now respect Sena’s `Mission 150′ for the Maharashtra polls, he said.
“There are Shiv Sena workers in UP, Rajasthan and MP as well. They all wanted to fight elections saying they have been with Sena for long and thus deserve a chance. But we didn’t let them contest (against BJP/NDA candidates). Now it is Shiv Sena’s turn. It is our mission to send at least 150 MLAs to the Vidhan Sabha. BJP should consider this,” he said.
“I feel from the bottom of my heart that the alliance should stay as this alliance is not for the Chief Minister’s post but for Hindutva. But whatever happens will be my destiny. We are ready to contest all the seats,” the Sena chief said.
Delhi government has invited applications for scholarship and reimbursement of half of the tuition fee for socially and economically backward students in non-technical professional courses in universities of Delhi for the current academic year.
The Delhi Higher Education Aid Trust of Directorate of Higher Education has asked the eligible socially and economically backward students studying in different universities of the capital to apply for the scholarship under the ‘Yuva Nirman Scheme’.
In 2009-10, an amount of Rs 3,36,750 was disbursed to 15 students, in 2010-11, Rs 1,72,250 to 8 students, in 2011-12 Rs 2,02,400 to 7 students and in 2012-13 Rs 6,97,450 to 27 students as a part of the scheme.
The concerned university or institute have been directed to constitute a Committee of at least three officers at their own level to scrutinise the applications and to forward the same with their recommendation to the Director, Directorate of Higher Education along with the requisite attested documents.
Jitu Rai celebrates with his coach Mohinder Lal after winning the Gold Medal in the final of the 50m Pistol Men at the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range for the 17th Asian Games in Incheon.
Fresh from his 50m Pistol silver in the World Championships, the Lucknow-based shooter completed a grand double as he had won a gold in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow earlier this year.
Jitu Rai, who serves the Gurkha regiment, was on target from the word go after moving into the finals even as compatriot Omkar Singh failed to cross the qualification hurdle.
In the finals though, Rai was tested by Vietnam’s Nguyen Hoang Phuong, who had to settle for silver and bronze medallist Wang Zhiwei of China.
Rai accumulated 186.2 points in comparison to Phuong’s 183.4 and Zhiwei stood a distant third with 165.6 points. This was India’s second medal at the ongoing Games after Shweta Chaudhry’s bronze in the 10m air pistol event.
PANAJI: The Goa tourism department here said that it is open to tie up with Bollywood films that are shot in Goa, in order to target NRI tourists.
State tourism director Amey Abhyankar said that initiatives to tie up with films depicting beauty of Goa can result in the increased footfalls of the NRIs.
“NRIs are large communities outside country and our films have large fan following there. We might be surprised to see large number of NRIs coming in after watching Goa in the films,” Abhyankar, told PTI yesterday.
Goa tourism department has tied up with latest Bollywood release of Deepika Padakone, Arjun Kapoor starrer ‘Finding Fanny’.
The film, which is in both Hindi and English, has a potential international audience and Goa has been extensively showcased in it.
“Films definitely have spill over on tourism. State has single window system to make film shootings more convenient. We will be open to such ventures in near future,” Abhyankar added.
He said the film has explored areas which tourists might not have seen during their visit to Goa.
“You get to see glimpses of different parts of Goa (in the film). These are places which a person who has been before might not have seen,” he said.
Congress today deliberated on selection of candidates for 174 seats in Maharashtra, which it had contested in the last assembly polls, with no seat arrangement still decided with Sharad Pawar’s NCP for the October 15 vote.
State Congress chief Manikrao Thakre said that it was for the high command to decide on the issue of seat sharing with NCP.
In the last Assembly elections, Congress had contested 174 seats while the NCP had fought in 114 seats in the 288 member Maharashtra Assembly.
This time, the NCP is pitching for as many as 144 seats contending that the two parties should share 50:50 share in the wake of in the results in the Lok Sabha polls.
In the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress could secure only two seats while NCP had won four out of total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Thakre evaded questions on whether Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan will be contesting the polls and, if yes, from which constituency.
Chavan had been saying that he will be contesting from Karad South seat in his home district of Satara.
Currently, he is a member of the state legislative council.
The development came as the process of filing nominations for the October 15 election to the state Assembly began today with authorities issuing the poll notification.
Maharashtra’s over 8.28 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the single-phase election for its 13th assembly.
September 27 is the deadline for filing nomination. After scrutiny of papers, the last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 1. Counting of votes will take place on October 19. The existing assembly’s term expires on November 8.
GUWAHATI: Days after al-Qaeda issued a video threatening to carry out its campaign in India, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said the terror group is trying to set up base in the state and had “tacit understanding” with ULFA.
“We have got some information that al-Qaeda is trying to gain access to Assam. We have taken steps to prevent any such development and asked all concerned to remain cautious,” Gogoi told a press conference here.
The global terrorist outfit had earlier too tried to set up links in the north east and Assam in association with insurgent groups here but failed to do so, he said.
Asked specifically if al-Qaeda has any link with the banned ULFA, Gogoi said, “I think they have links. Even if there is no direct link as of now, they have tacit understanding … They never criticise each other.”
The Chief Minister said security forces have received intelligence report that there are possibilities of some incidents during the forthcoming Durga Puja.
Asked if repeated violence in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts and other parts of the state, where primarily one community has been affected in recent years, are to be blamed for Islamic fundamentalist groups like al-Qaeda’s possible entry to Assam, Gogoi said “These are in any case disturbing factors. These incidents help them.” ..
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said Indian Muslims will live and die for the country and would not dance to the tune of al-Qaeda.
On September 4, the Centre had sounded a country-wide alert after an al-Qaeda video surfaced in which the terror outfit threatened to carry out campaign in India and the initial assessment of Intelligence Bureau found the tape to be genuine.
The US media and intelligence agencies had said al-Qaeda has established a new branch to wage ‘jihad’ in India, return the Islamic rule and impose sharia in the Indian sub-continent
SRINAGAR: At a time when almost the entire healthcare infrastructure in Srinagar city has been rendered ineffective by the devastating floods, the Army’s 92 Base Hospital here has saved the lives of more than 300 people including 35 newborns.
The army doctors without caring about their own houses and families affected by the floods have been working day and night at the 600-bed facility, the biggest army hospital in the entire Kashmir Valley.
The family of Riyaz Ahmed, whose three-month-old daughter was suffering from encephalitis, was preparing to face the worst as the doctors at the district hospital in Anantnag gave up hope of saving the infant.
“Doctors in Anantnag told us that they won’t be able to save our daughter and that we should take her home and be prepared for the worst,
” Riyaz who is a driver by profession told PTI. However, after flood waters entered his village, an army helicopter rescued the family. “They brought us at the army hospital here and since then the treatment of my daughter is on,” Riyaz said.
The doctors treating the infant say that she has fully recovered and was now out of danger.
“She was brought here in a critical condition but the baby girl is fine now and we will discharge her in a day or two,” said Brigadier NS Lamba, the commander of the 92 Base Hospital located at the Badami Bagh cantonment area.
Riyaz said that the army doctors have performed a miracle by saving the life of his daughter. “Even if I have to give my life for them a thousand times, I will happily do that.
“These men here have given a new lease of life to my entire family,” Riyaz said.
Brigadier Lamba said that as soon as the water started entering the GB Panth children hospital in the Srinagar city, the army hospital opened its doors for the infants who were undergoing treatment at the hospital and had to be rescued.
“The babies coming to our hospital from the GB Panth hospital were in the age group of one day old to a few months old.
“They were undergoing treatment for various diseases. Some of these babies were brought in critical condition as some were cases of pre-mature deliveries and had to be kept in ICU,” he said.
Despite the floods, he said, the army doctors have been regularly reporting on duty to save the lives of the patients who were brought to the hospital.
“The houses of 17 of my officers including doctors and paramedics are still under water, but they are regularly coming to save the lives of the patients who were brought to this hospital,” Brig Lamba said.
Ghulam Rasool (70), a resident of Nowgam whose 27-day- old grandson is undergoing treatment at the ICU of the base hospital, said that he was indebted to the army for their timely help.
“They haven’t charged us a single penny and besides providing free treatment, medicines to the sick baby they are also taking caring of our family by giving us food and shelter here,” Rasool said.
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