Bhopal Diary

Express News Service

IIT staffer to be part of Divyang cricket team IIT Indore’s non-teaching staff Brajesh Dwivedi will be taking part as a member of the Indian Divyang cricket team in the Bangabandhu series T20 tournament organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Association for the physically challenged from March 27 to 31. This four-nation tournament is organised under the aegis of the Paralympic Committee of Bangladesh, in the memory of the father of the nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Teams from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are participating in this tournament. Brajesh Dwivedi, Senior Assistant at IIT Indore, is part of the Indian team and the only player from Madhya Pradesh.

Liquor consumption grew despite lockdownThe latest statistics of the MAadhya Pradesh excise department could render a rude reality check to the sustained campaign by former chief minister and senior BJP leader Uma Bharti for total alcohol ban in the central state. As per the statistics, tipplers in the state guzzled liquor, including country-made, Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and beer, worth `8,869 crore in 2021-22, which was 7.25% more than the 2020-21 figure of Rs 8,269 crore. The spurt in liquor sales/consumption happened despite the liquor vends across the state were closed due to second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in the last year. The maximum jump in consumption was reported in the IMFL segment (13%), followed by country-made liquor (11%) and beer (10%).

Famous dancing cop to train Ladakh traffic police Head Constable Ranjeet Singh, the famous dancing traffic cop of Indore, is set to train the newly established traffic police of the Union Territory of Ladakh. He will fly to Ladakh on the request of Ladakh SP (Traffic) Mohd Rafi Giri on April 1 and spend the next five days training the traffic police personnel in Leh and Kargil towns in effectively regulating movement of vehicles in the towns, which witness heavy rush of tourists in summers. Singh, who originally hails from Varanasi, has been the popular face of Indore Police with his inimitable dancing cop style at the country’s cleanest city’s High Court Crossing over the years. 

Thumbs up to Shivraj as leader for 2023 pollsSpeculations of any leadership change in MP have been put to rest by BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who has long been seen an alternative in case of BJP replacing its longest serving CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. “No decision has been taken by the party for changing leadership in the state, as things stand now the next polls in the state will be fought under the leadership of Chouhan, who is doing a great job as MP CM,” Vijayvargiya said recently. The next Assembly poll in MP is slated in 2023. With Chouhan having been used for campaigning in other states, there were speculations about possibility of him being given bigger role in Delhi.