News Analysis India

Tag: Lucknow

  • Lucknow Diary: City to host Kiwis after T20 World Cup, eco-tourism spot and more

    Express News Service

    Eco-tourism spot for Lucknowites

    Acknowledging the potential of the wetland just behind the Atal Bihari Vajpayee International (Ekana) Stadium in Lucknow, the state forest department and Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) have agreed to develop it into an eco-forest. Spread across nearly 37 acres (nearly 4 km), the wetland is inhabited by over 100 species of indigenous and migratory birds, including some listed in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act. Besides the regular presence of ducks, bee-eaters, kingfishers, sparrows, parakeets and jacanas, deer, golden jackal, monitor lizards, water snakes and butterflies, some extremely rare and shy migratory birds also make this place their home every winter. Worried that the oasis barely a few kilometres from Hazratganj may lose to rapid urbanisation in the area, the eco-warriors urged authorities to save the place.

    Would be mothers beware of food

    The presence of pesticides in our food and the environment not only disrupts the hormones and brings about developmental changes in growing years but also affects children even before they are born, a pioneering study by the biochemistry department of King George’s Medical University has found. The study, which has featured in a high impact environmental research journal, has also found correlation between lower birth weight, caesarean sections in preterm births and the level of pesticide toxicity. According to study, pesticides can disturb hormonal balance in women by decreasing the hormone progesterone and alter antioxidant defence mechanisms during normal uncomplicated pregnancies which can also steer to preterm birth.

    Tokyo triumph inspires

    After India’s brilliant performance in the recently-concluded Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the Uttar Pradesh government has shifted its focus to the promotion of sports by providing grounds, equipment and logistics to players and organizing competitions in rural areas. The department of youth welfare has been holding zonal level competitions in rural areas from September 16-30, followed by state-level competitions in October. The events mostly involve athletics, volleyball, kabaddi, wrestling, weightlifting and other sports. Currently, 21 multipurpose halls are being constructed in rural areas in different districts of the state. Four of these are in Mohanlalganj in Lucknow, Panchali Khurd in Meerut, Nagwan in Sonbhadra and Milkipur in Ayodhya. These will be ready within the next six months as per the instruction.  Under the Khelo India scheme, the department of youth welfare is also constructing 20 mini stadiums in various districts with special focus on training youth in rural UP. The youth welfare department is augmenting sports facilities to improve fitness of rural youth.

    Lucknow to host Kiwis

    The City of Nawabs is set to achieve another feat by being named as a cricket test match venue after nearly 28 years when New Zealand team will tour India after the T20 World Cup. The five-day match is also set to be the first Test match at the newly built Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium after Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) opened it for first class cricket in 2016. So far, the match against Sri Lanka at KD Singh Babu stadium in January 1994 remains the only test match that the state capital hosted. BCCI is believed to have already finalised the venues for both the test matches with Kiwis. One will be played in Lucknow and the other at Chinnaswamy stadium at Bengaluru.

  • UP woman dies after doctors leave piece of cloth in stomach during C-section

    By PTI
    SHAHJAHANPUR (UP): A woman, who was taken seriously ill after doctors at Government Medical College here allegedly left a piece cloth in her stomach during a cesarean operation, has died during treatment in a Lucknow hospital.

    The woman, who was admitted to the trauma centre of King George’s Medical College in a serious condition and was on ventilator, died on Monday, her husband said on Wednesday.

    Taking note of the matter, the principal of the medical college, Rajesh Kumar, had formed a three-member inquiry committee to investigate the allegation. The husband claimed that the committee has not taken his version yet.

    The woman’s husband Manoj, a resident of Ramapur North under the Tilhar police station here, had alleged that his wife Neelam (in her 30s) had given birth to a baby girl on January 6 during which a piece of cloth was left in her stomach.

    Talking to PTI over phone, Manoj said that his wife died during treatment at the Lucknow trauma centre on Monday night. Manoj said after the birth of their daughter, his wife used to complain of stomach pain.

    With no relief from treatment by private doctors, he claimed that he got her admitted to a private medical college in Shahjahanpur during which a piece cloth was found in her stomach which was removed through an operation. She was later admitted to Lucknow trauma centre after her condition did not improve, he said.

    Medical College spokesperson Dr Puja Tripathi, however, said that earlier when the inquiry committee tried to take the statement of the concerned doctor over phone, he did not give a satisfactory reply.

  • Uttar Pradesh ATS arrests two suspected Al Qaeda terrorists, claims major terror plot foiled

    By Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Just four days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s possible visit to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi, the Uttar Pradesh police claimed on Sunday to have foiled an alleged plot by global terror outfit Al- Qaeda’s Indian arm to carry out serial blasts and lone-wolf human bomb attacks in various parts of the state.

    Carrying out day long search operations at houses of suspects in Dubagga (Kakori) and Mandiyaon areas of Uttar Pradesh’s capital Lucknow’s outskirts, the state police’s anti-terror squad (UP ATS) claimed to have busted the alleged UP module of Al Qaeda’s in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)’s Indian arm Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (Helpers of the Conquest of India) by arresting two men, identified as Minhaz Ahmad (30) and Masiruddin alias Mushir (50).

    According to the UP Police’s additional director general (ADG Law and Order) Prashant Kumar, the UP ATS team under supervision of IG-ATS GK Goswami foiled the plot of the UP module of the AQIS’s Indian arm to carry out serial blasts-human bomb attacks across the state, including Lucknow before the Independence Day.

    “The two men arrested from separate police station areas on Lucknow’s outskirts were among the three key members (a man named Shakil being the third one) of the global terror outfit’s UP module, which has members in other parts of UP also. The arrested duo and their aides were being handled by their AQIS handler identified as Umar Al-Mandi, who has been handling them from Quetta and Peshawar cities of Pakistan close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” the UP ADG(L&O) added.

    The search operation at Minhaz and Masiruddin’s house has led the police to explosives and a pistol. The seized explosives included fully finished and preparatory pressure cooker borne Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), which are being defused by the bomb detection and disposal squad of state police, Kumar maintained.

    “Similar search operations are being carried out in other parts of the state also by the ATS units in association with local police forces to track and nab remaining members of the busted module, including men from Lucknow and Kanpur,” Kumar informed.

    As per the police officials, the preliminary questioning of the arrested men has revealed that men across the state were being radicalized by this module at the behest of module’s handler Umar-Al-Mandi, who is presently heading the AQIS’s India operations under the banner of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (Helpers of the Conquest of India).

    Importantly, the AQIS (Indian subcontinent arm) of Al-Qaeda was formed by the global terror outfit’s head Ayman-al-Zawahiri in September 2014 with Asim Umar (a native of Sambhal district of West UP) as its Emir. Five years later, AQIS chief Asim Umar was killed during a joint US-Afghanistan military raid in Helmand province of Afghanistan.

    “During interrogation, the accused persons said that their accomplices ran away from their house. The ATS team along with the local police has undertaken intensive checking,” Kumar said and added that a case has been registered in this connection at the ATS station.

    They will be produced before a court, and then taken into police custody.

    The official said that an improvised explosive device (IED) was found at Ahmed’s house along with a huge amount of explosive and a pistol. Explosives were also seized from Maseeruddin’s residence, he said.

    The IED is being defused by the bomb squad, the ADGP said.

    He said that in 1988, at the time of Soviet-Afghan war, Osama Bin Laden and some of his associates had formed the Al-Qaeda, a militant Sunni Islamic multi-national terror organisation.

    The module of the Indian sub-continent was announced by then head of the terror group Ayman al-Zawahiri on September 3, 2014.

    Maulana Asim Umar, who headed the Al-Qaeda in the sub-continent was killed on September 23, 2019 in an US-Afghan operation, Kumar said.

    He had links with Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh, Kumar said.

    Umar Halmandi had started the work of recruiting men for the Al-Qaeda in India, and radicalise them, he said.

    “For this, he had identified some aggressive persons in Lucknow, appointed them, and built the Al-Qaeda module. This module was made to unleash terror activities under the Ansar Ghazwatul Hind. Prominent members of the module are Minhaz Ahmed, Maseeruddin and Shakeel,” he said.

    (Inputs from PTI)

  • Gomti river front project irregularities: CBI registers second FIR, 189 officials booked

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CBI has booked 189 officials and contractors in its second FIR related to irregularities in the Rs 1,437-crore Gomti river front development project in Lucknow, which was undertaken during the tenure of the previous Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Monday.

    Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav was the chief minister then. After registering the fresh FIR on Friday, following a preliminary inquiry, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday carried out searches at 42 locations spread across 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Alwar in Rajasthan and Kolkata in West Bengal, they said.

    The officials said that the operation, which started early in the morning, is going on and it may be expanded during the course of the day. This is the second FIR related to the project by the CBI. An earlier FIR has already covered work orders worth over Rs 1,031 crore.

    In the present FIR, in which 16 officials, including chief engineers, and 173 contractors are accused, the CBI has alleged that 30 notices inviting tenders have come under the scanner. Out of these, only five were published in newspapers while the remaining 25 forged letters were sent to the Department of Information and Publication to show compliance, it alleged.

    The agency has listed several similar irregularities, including award of tender on the basis of forged documents and forgery in publication of notices inviting tender, according to the present FIR.

    The preliminary inquiry also showed that 27 work orders each over Rs 1 lakh, including one for import of an international standard musical fountain, worth over 55.95 lakh Euros (Rs 49.3 crore at the present exchange rate), from the Aquatique Show in Strasbourg, France, were issued without any tender, it alleged.

    The CBI said that this was in violation of government orders which stipulate that no order of above Rs 1 lakh can be awarded without an tender. The quotation notice for the fountain was issued by Akhil Raman, the then superintendent engineer, and it was genuinely published, it said.

    “However, prior to issuance of quotation notice a normal tendering process notice was shown by Raman. This notice was not published and forged receipt letter, release order and copies of newspaper clippings were placed in the records,” an official said.

    The estimate was approved on the basis quotations in 2016. Roop Singh Yadav, another the then superintendent engineer, directly wrote to the French company for signing the contract. He recommended for issuance of supply order for the company, the CBI alleged.

    SN Sharma, the then chief engineer, sought prior permission to import the material on August 27, 2016, and issued supply order after four days without obtaining prior permission, it alleged. The CBI has alleged that Sharma, Raman and Yadav abused their official position and issued the supply order on quotation basis instead of tender basis giving undue benefit to Aquatique Show.

    In Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district, CBI sleuths raided the residence of contractor Rakesh Bhati in connection with the case, officials said. Bhati is also a member of the Congress unit in Uttar Pradesh. In the 2022 UP assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, the Congress, among others, will try to wrest the state from the BJP.

    Uttar Pradesh Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said that CBI searches indicate to the misdeeds of the previous Akhilesh Yadav government. “We had requested the CBI earlier to speed up its probe in such scams.

    The CBI is a central agency and working in its style. In the Gomti river front scam, the searches are on at places of 16 engineers and 173 contractors,” the minister said when asked about it by reporters here in Lucknow.

  • Former Uttar Pradesh CM Kalyan Singh admitted to ICU of SGPGI in Lucknow

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences here on Sunday evening, according to an official statement.

    The statement from the institute said that a panel of experts, from the nephrology, cardiology, neurology, endocrinology and neuro-otology departments, has been formed to attend to Singh.

    The former Rajasthan governor was admitted to the intensive care unit of Critical Care Medicine of the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences on Sunday around 5.30 pm.

    He was feeling unwell for the past two weeks, it said.

    “On his arrival here, his blood pressure and heartbeats were found normal, but the level of consciousness was a bit low. Keeping in mind his earlier ailments, he has been admitted to the ICU of the CCM,” the statement said.

    Prior to this, the 89-year-old veteran leader of the BJP was admitted to the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences.

    Earlier in the day, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya and UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh visited Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences and enquired about the well being of Kalyan Singh.

  • Former Uttar Pradesh CM Kalyan Singh admitted ICU of SGPGI in Lucknow

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences here on Sunday evening, according to an official statement.

    The statement from the institute said that a panel of experts, from the nephrology, cardiology, neurology, endocrinology and neuro-otology departments, has been formed to attend to Singh.

    The former Rajasthan governor was admitted to the intensive care unit of Critical Care Medicine of the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences on Sunday around 5.30 pm.

    He was feeling unwell for the past two weeks, it said.

    “On his arrival here, his blood pressure and heartbeats were found normal, but the level of consciousness was a bit low. Keeping in mind his earlier ailments, he has been admitted to the ICU of the CCM,” the statement said.

    Prior to this, the 89-year-old veteran leader of the BJP was admitted to the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences.

    Earlier in the day, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya and UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh visited Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences and enquired about the well being of Kalyan Singh.

  • COVID positive Azam Khan, son being shifted to Lucknow hospital from Sitapur jail: Officials

    On May 2, the jail administration tried to convince Azam Khan for treatment at Lucknow #39;s King George #39;s Medical University but the SP leader refused to move out of the jail.

  • UP CM Yogi Adityanath inaugurates Atal Bihari Vajpayee hospital in Lucknow

    Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday inaugurated the Atal Bihari Vajpayee hospital COVID-19 hospital set up by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Lucknow.

    “This hospital is being started by DRDO and Army. In the first phase, 250 beds are being started out of which 150 beds will be in ICU and 100 isolation beds will be oxygen facilitated,” said CM Yogi.

    The 500-bed COVID-19 hospital of DRDO will be manned by medical officers and paramedical staff from the Armed Forces Medical Services.

    The hospital has 150 are ICU beds with ventilator facilities and 350 beds are with oxygen facility.

    There will be no charges for facilities available at the hospital. Food will also be provided to the patients free of charge.

    With the help of the state government, DRDO has made arrangements for oxygen and medical supplies which will also be providecd free of charge.

  • Four arrested for black-marketing of remdesivir injections in Lucknow

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Four people were arrested here on Friday for alleged black-marketing of remdesivir injections, police said.

    After receiving a tip-off, a team from Naka Hindola police station arrested Ram Sagar, Amandeep Madan, Ankur Vaishya and Anshu Gupta near the Charbagh Metro Station, Police Commissioner D K Thakur said.

    Police have recovered 116 remdesivir injections and Rs 1.94 lakh from the accused, he said, adding that an FIR was registered against them.

    ALSO READ: 8 basic things to know about the high-demand COVID-19 drug

    Remdesivir injections are currently in high demand as the drug is used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

    Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had earlier directed officials to take strict action against those involved in the black-marketing of remdesivir and oxygen cylinders in the state.

    He had ordered them to take action under the National Security Act (NSA) and the Gangsters Act against those involved in the practice.

     

  • Authorities tin-fence Lucknow cremation ground after video of Covid pyres goes viral

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: A day after a video showing mass funeral pyres at Lucknow cremation ground  — Bhainsakund– surfaced on social media platforms, the Lucknow Municipal authorities got the cremation ground fortified with tin sheets erected all around the area to block the view of the cremation ground from the general public.

    On Thursday, a number of videos went viral on social media showing men fitting the tin sheet wall around the crematorium boundary.

    Tin sheets are being set up as a cover to prevent people taking pictures at Bhainsakund cremation site in Lucknow. Yesterday the videos and pictures of burning pyres at Bhainsakund had created a furore. pic.twitter.com/1RWlnYDxo9
    — हैदर ‏حیدر Haidar Naqvi

    Lucknow has been topping the list of fresh active cases contributing around one-fourth to the total number of fresh active cases on state tally on adaily basis. Lucknow reported 5,183 fresh cases of COVID with 26 deaths on Thursday.

    Till Thursday, Lucknow had a total of 35,885 active Covid cases and has already registered 1,420 deaths.

    In Lucknow, there has been a huge rush of bodies to crematoriums and people are being made to wait for hours to cremate the body of their dear ones.

    The city civic body has decided to procure more electric crematoriums to make sure the families of Covid victims do not face problems in conducting the last rites. To meet the rush, Lucknow municipal authorities have also decided to keep around 50 pyres ready on a daily basis to handle the rush.