Delhi Business Information Directory

An increase in the average speed of the Ahmedabad-Delhi Rajdhani Express and Ashram Express will reduce travel time by 45 minutes, starting April 1.          The travel time will further reduce, and go below the 12-hour threshold, once the speed of Rajdhani Express is increased from 110 kilometres per hour (kmph) to 130 kmph in the next phase. With an average speed of about 60 kmph, Rajdhani Express used to take about 13 hours to reach Delhi from Ahmedabad and vice versa. Following phased elimination of railway crossings, officials said it has now been possible to cut the travel time for one of the three premium trains in the country. Ahmedabad Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Tarun Jain said an approximately 7% increase in the average speed of the train had led to a 45-minute reduction in journey time. Instead of 5.45 pm, the Rajdhani Express will now leave Ahmedabad station at 6.30 pm in the evening. Similarly, the returning train will reach Ahmedabad from Delhi at 8.45 am instead of 9.30 am. With the cut in travel time, the Ahmedabad Railway Division has revised timings not only of the Rajdhani, but a total of 24 trains from April 1.

After its spectacular victory in Punjab, AAP has now set its sight on Gujarat. A war of words has now broken out over the education system in Gujarat and Delhi. The BJP in Gujarat and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia took to social media to compare the education system in Gujarat and Delhi. This resulted in Sisodia challenging Gujarat Education Minister Jitu Vaghani for an open debate on the Education Model of Delhi against that of Gujarat. Vaghani was also invited along with the Gujarat Chief Minister to visit the schools in Delhi to witness the education model. In a press release shared by AAP, Gujarat, Sisodia said that it is good to openly discuss education and welcomed the Education Minister to come forward and discuss what has been done by the BJP in the government schooling system in Gujarat in the past 27 years. The Delhi education minister would also share what the Kejriwal government did in Delhi in the past 7 years to make the schooling system better. “Let us see who is performing better in government schools and is making the country stronger through government schools,” Sisodia said. Inviting Vaghani to Delhi, the education minister said that he would personally show him how government schools in Delhi have become better than private ones, how Delhi schools have improved results, how the children are clearing exams like JEE-NEET without any coaching, and developing great business ideas. Sisodia said that he would then like to visit Gujarat and see the work done by the BJP government in government schools in the state. The Delhi Dy CM shared his sincere hope that BJP will not run away from it and BJP workers will encourage their minister for an open debate on education.

Even as Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel himself is personally monitoring the illegal immigration racket cases being investigated by the Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad Crime branch, the investigators are looking for the Delhi-based mastermind and his Mehsana-based associate. A team has been dispatched to Delhi to catch hold of him while one team is trying to nab the Mehsana associate. The two extorted large sums of money to illegally send aspirants abroad. Meanwhile, the city crime branch has handed over details of the accused held in the case and about 150 persons belonging to 30 families of Kalol, Mehsana and Ahmedabad — who illegally entered the US through Mexico — to the office of US consulate General in Mumbai. The US and Mexican authorities are also looking for Indian agents’ Mexican counterparts who helped Indians cross into the US through the Trump wall and barbed wires. Gandhinagar SP Mayur Chavda said the whole racket came to light after a few people approached the CMO and complained about six prospective immigrants who were  held hostage for money by  some people in Delhi. “We got instructions from the CMO to investigate the case. We immediately contacted our counterparts in Delhi police and found out that 15 Gujaratis were held hostage in West Bengal. We rescued all 15 of them and brought them to Gujarat. We registered one case and the rest of the cases were handed over to Ahmedabad police. The CMO is directly monitoring the case,” Chavda said. He further said one of the families in Kalol, whose member was earlier sent to the US illegally, was threatened by these agents by firing guns in the air. The accused, who were trying to extort money from the family, have been arrested. Chavda appealed to the citizens to come forward if they have been cheated by such agents and assured that they would be treated as victims and not law-breakers. “It is essential to break the chain of these agents and put them behind bars so that no one is cheated in future,” he said.  

A man was held with 610 kilograms of ganja  (cannabis) worth Rs 40 lakh by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police, officials said on Thursday. A senior police official said the accused has been identified as Jasbir. The police got a tip-off that a huge consignment of ganja was being transported by a truck and the consignment was supposed to reach Delhi. A trap was laid and the truck was intercepted near Nirankari Grounds, Mukherjee Nagar. During the search of the truck, bags containing ganja were recovered. The police found a secret cavity created inside the truck, which was specially designed for the purpose of smuggling. Jasbir told tbe police that he along with his other associates Neeraj Pandey, Sandeep and others used to smuggle ganja from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. They have bought and sold ganja from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha several times since 2021. Jasbir has a past criminal record and was involved in a number of cases, including bootlegging, robbery and vehicle theft. He was produced before the court, which sent him on eight days police remand. The police have launched a man hunt to nab Neeraj Pandey, Sandeep and others in Panipat. The Crime Beanch will also visit Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh to locate the source.  

Two criminals allegedly made a failed attempt to abduct a minor girl in the national capital, a police official said here on Wednesday. According to the police, the incident occurred on January 31, Monday at around 7.30 p.m. in the evening at Begampura area of south Delhi.  Deputy Commissioner of Police Benita Mary Jaiker said a PCR call was received on Monday at 8.40 p.m. from Begampur area that an 11-year-old girl was taken away by two unknown persons. "Immediately, the police staff reached the spot where mother of the victim girl reported that at about 7.30 p.m. she was inside her home and her daughter was standing on stairs outside," the DCP said.  As the accused duo tried to forcibly abduct the minor girl, she started screaming and crying loudly.  "On hearing the screams of her daughter, the mother came outside the home and found that two boys, aged about 25-26 yrs, were taking away her daughter," the official said. After this the lady raised an alarm and the people immediately gathered and nabbed one of the accused from the spot while the other person managed to flee away amid the pandemonium. The police said they have registered a case under section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and the accused which was caught by the public has been arrested. "Identity of the absconding accused has also been revealed and further efforts are being made to arrest him," Jaiker informed. She said that further investigation is underway to get the motive behind the incident.  

#NEWDELHI When over 1,000 drones, dazzling in different colours, lit up the sky over Lutyens’ Delhi during the Beating Retreat Ceremony, the Indian startup success story once again took the world by storm. The 10-minute drone light show was conceived, designed and produced by BotLab Dynamics, a start-up incubated by IIT Delhi, which is now being run by Tanmay Bhunkar, Anuj Kumar Barnwal and Dr Sarita Ahlawat. According to IIT Delhi director, Professor V Ramgopal Rao, he personally witnessed the trials and tribulations the startup went through in building drones. “The Institute helped them at every stage. The Department of Science and Technology (TDB), FITT and IHFC from IIT Delhi provided them financial and technical support through various government of India schemes,” Rao said in a tweet. With this, India has become the fourth country in the world to have indigenously developed such a technology, he informed. The key focus areas of the startup is to use drone technology for defence and media and entertainment. In early 2012, co-founder Bhunkar took his first UAV flight and by 2014, he and his team were asked to deliver eight drones that would join the Delhi Police. In 2016, BotLab Dynamics was incorporated at the Technology Business Incubator Unit at IIT Delhi. In the same year, BotLab Dynamics sold heavy-lift systems to IARI (the Indian Agriculture Research Institute). In 2017, BotLab Dynamics was awarded Nidhi-SSS (DST, Govt of India) of Rs 50 lakh for future research and development. The following year, BotLab Dynamics got selected by Army Design Bureau (ADB) to demo the heavy lift drone in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. BotLab Dynamics demonstrated a swarm of 10 drones with obstacle avoidance capability to the Army at NorTech, Udhampur. It later received the Prime Minister’s award and iDEX grant of Rs 1.5 crore for R&D. The 1,000 drones were used to depict 75 years of Independence or what is known as ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ under the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested a sharpshooter of interstate gang, who was wanted in a recent case of firing on a property dealer in the national capital, an official said here Tuesday. The accused was identified as Shekhar alias Sonu, 28, a resident of Rohtak, Haryana. According to the official, the accused Shekhar was wanted in a recent case of firing on a property dealer of Uttam Nagar, Delhi to extort money on the behest of gangster Kapil Sangwan, alias Nandu, who is running his gang from his base in Europe. Notably, Sangwan is involved in more than two dozen cases of murder, attempt to murder, robbery and extortion. On January 11, in broad daylight, two persons came on a bike and fired indiscriminately on the office of property dealer Rahul Goel at Dayalsar Road, Uttam Nagar, Delhi. The firing was committed to extorting money from the property dealer in the name of Kapil Sangwan.  Subsequently, the police registered a case under sections 387, 336 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 37, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act."On January 20, a tip-off was received that the accused Shekhar would come to meet his other gang member near Surhera More, Najafgarh Dhansa Road, Delhi," the official said. Accordingly, a team of Special Cell was constituted and in the course of operation accused Shekhar was arrested. One .32 bore pistol and 5 live cartridges were recovered from his possession. During investigation, the police recovered one more .32 bore automatic pistol along with three live rounds which was used in the above mentioned firing incident.  "Further investigation of the case is in progress," the official added.

#New Delhi Pakistan has decided to skip the summit on democracy to be convened by US President Joe Biden on Thursday and Friday, The Express Tribune reported. The Biden administration has invited leaders from over 100 countries and Pakistan was among the four South Asian nations besides India, Maldives and Nepal to receive an invite. China and Russia were excluded, while Taiwan extended an invitation, drawing a strong reaction from Beijing. Islamabad’s move is seen as a clear snub to the White House that could entail serious implications for the already strained relations between the two countries, The Express Tribune report said. It is understood that multiple factors have played their part as is obvious from the fact that it took Pakistan days of consultations before finally deciding not to attend the summit. Pakistan said that it values its partnership with Washington but proposed engagement to be done on the subject “at an opportune time in the future”. Initially, Pakistan was thought to be part of Biden’s initiative at the ministerial level but it decided to skip the summit altogether because of a variety of reasons. One of the reasons includes the exclusion of China from the summit. The overall state of relations between the two countries is another major factor, compelling Islamabad to stay away from the summit, the report said. It is believed that President Biden’s move to continue to ignore Prime Minister Imran Khan also made it difficult for Islamabad to attend the summit on democracy. President Biden is yet to speak to the Prime Minister directly since taking over the White House earlier this year. But his invitation to Pakistan was seen as ice breaker. It was not clear if China had anything to do with Pakistan’s decision, but official sources confirmed that Islamabad did consult Beijing on the issue, the report said. The move by Pakistan to stay away from the summit indicates the nature of current relations between Islamabad and Washington. During last month’s briefing to the lawmakers on Afghanistan, it was informed that the ties between Pakistan and the US were at the lowest ebb. Pakistan also fears that the US may resort to some punitive action as the Treasury Department announced ahead of the summit that sanctions would be imposed on people undermining democracy.   

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has slammed the Centre's decision to shift the national headquarters of the 63-year autonomous body, Dattopant Thengadi National Board for Workers Education & Development (DTNBWED), from Nagpur to New Delhi. The move came in a terse letter - with a punitive threat - from the Union Labour Ministry to the Director-General of DTNBWED, ordering to initiate the shifting process, from Nagpur to the body's swank new building at Rohini in the capital. "A compliance report in this regard may be furnished to the Ministry. Appropriate action shall be initiated for any disobedience of the orders of the Ministry," said the November 25 letter signed by an Under Secretary Atul Kumar Singh. Slamming the Centre, Shiv Sena's Kishore Tiwari, accorded a MoS status, demanded why all Bharatiya Janata Party's union ministers from the state like Nitin Gadkari, Narayan Rane, Piyush Goyal, Raosaheb Patil-Danve, Bharati Pawar, Kapil Patil and Bhagwat Karad, besides Ramdas Athawale are "mum" on the major move. "If they don't have the courage to speak up for the state, it is clear they are willy-nilly supporting the Central move and are acting against their home-state," said Tiwari sharply. Sena's labour leader Dr Raghunath Kuchik - holding a MoS rank - said Maharashtra is the country's hub of finance, trade, commerce and industry, which employs huge labour, and the decision reeks of a 'conspiracy' between the Centre and the Opposition state BJP leaders. "Why didn't they do it when Devendra Fadnavis was the CM? It indicates the sheer desperation of the BJP which lost power here in 2019 and now they are working against the interests of the workers, the people and the state," Dr Kuchik said pointedly. Nationalist Congress Party National Spokesperson and Minister Nawab Malik termed the move "as another example of the BJP government's animosity" towards the state in the past two years. "Maharashtra is creating waves on all fronts and developing at a fast pace which some people cannot digest. Now, they are going all-out to degrade the state's importance by such moves, but they will not succeed," Malik said grimly. Strongly condemning the move, State Congress General Secretary Sachin Sawant said right from the beginning the BJP-led Central government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been diluting the importance of Maharashtra and the DTNBWED move is the latest in the series. He pointed out that since 1958, the DTNBWED - with 50 branches in India - has been engaged in empowerment of organised/unorganised labour by creating awareness on various socio-economic issues and implementing government schemes. "All these years, no Central government had any problem with its (DTNBWED) headquarters remaining in Nagpur. The Modi government's decision is out of a grudge against Maharashtra and must be opposed," urged Sawant. Incidentally, the movement started over five years ago when the then Union MoS Labour Bandaru Dattatreya renamed the erstwhile Central Board for Workers Education as 'DTNBWED', and former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had inaugurated its new building in Rohini (New Delhi), in August 2016. Its mission is to educate the country's workforce for their effective participation in the country's socio-economic-industrial development, create awareness on various best practices for employers-employees and government, train them in trade unionism techniques, conduct programmes for the labour in all sectors in national, regional unit and village levels, etc. DTNBWED is named after the late Thengadi - a RSS Pracharak from Wardha (Maharashtra) - and a right-wing trade unionist, who was a vocal proponent of 'Swadeshi Economics'. He passed away in Pune in 2004, aged 83.

A 17-year-old class-12 arts student who was ‘kidnapped’ by four unidentified persons while returning home after giving exams on Thursday in Delhi was on Friday found by the Vastrapur SHE team. He was standing right outside the police station. His parents, who had registered a kidnapping complaint at the Model Town police station in Delhi, are on their way to Ahmedabad. According to police, the boy had his examination centre at the Guru Teg Bahadur School in Model Town and while returning home after giving examination, he was approached by four unidentified people. They allegedly kidnapped him and brought him to Ahmedabad by train on Friday morning. He was taken to an unidentified location here in the city but somehow managed to escape from the clutches of the kidnappers. As the city was unknown to him, he was roaming on the streets and while standing on the road outside SAL Hospital, the SHE team of Vastrapur police station came across him. He was brought to the police station where he narrated his ordeal. Later, the boy’s parents were contacted in Delhi and it was found that a kidnapping complaint was filed at the Model Town police station. As per a senior police official associated with the case, the child is traumatised and police are going through the CCTV footage of the railway station as well as the surrounding areas to ascertain the route they took in the city. DCP Zone-1 Ravindra Patel said, “The boy was discovered by the Vastrapur police SHE team on Friday afternoon outside SAL Hospital. His parents and a team of Delhi police are coming to the city. We will know more once they arrive and talk  to us.”

Following the Commission for Air Quality Management's (CAQM) order, the Delhi government will shut down about 40 malls that are using diesel generator sets for power backup to curb national capital's air pollution. The V3S mall in east Delhi's Nirman Vihar is one of the very first names revealed, a source told IANS. "Only malls using diesel generator sets (DGS) for power have been closed," a CAQM official said. This move came after the Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR & Adjoining Areas to take a decision on relaxing ban on construction activities and restrictions on industrial activities, after examining representation of various bodies. Since 2015 onwards, with the onset of winter, Delhi's air quality starts deteriorating and goes on to settle in the "very poor" and "hazardous" category. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 to 100 "satisfactory", 101 to 200 "moderate", 201 to 300 "poor", 301 to 400 "very poor", and 401 to 500 is considered "severe". According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), vehicular pollution comprises more than half of all sources, followed by household pollution between 12.5 and 13.5 per cent. Industry contributes 9.9-13.7 per cent of the pollutants, construction 6.7-7.9 per cent, waste burning 4.6-4.9 per cent, and road dust 3.6-4.1 per cent. According to a compiled Action Taken Report (ATR) prepared by the Department of Environment & Forest, from November 17 to December 6, a total of 4,245 sites using diesel generator sets were inspected, of which 48 were found using the sets, 18 were shut down, and a fine of 5.4 lakh was imposed on them for not adhering to the anti-dust pollution guidelines. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), in October, banned the use of diesel generator sets and ordered enhancing parking fees by up to four times in Delhi-NCR. This measure was listed under the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) when the air quality settled in the "very poor" category.

Amid an ongoing crackdown against foreign nationals residing in the national capital illegally, the Delhi Police have apprehended 12 Africans with expired visas, an official said here on Tuesday. According to the official, a police team of the Dwarka district apprehended the 12 Africans in two separate operations.  The culprits have been identified as Fidelis Nnadozie Imafidon, Cletus Iweriebor, Saturday Okhale Oligbi, Orakwube Paul Nwachukwu, Kingsley Uche Osuji, Augustine Ogochukwu Okafor, Oumar Diaby, Ogbonna Remigius Nwabuisi, Jude Okeke, Maxwell Obagha, Karim Syylla and Gift Ameze Omoruyi.  "After verification of their credentials, it was found they were overstaying in India without a valid visa," the official said.  They were produced before the Foreigners Regional Registration Officers (FRRO) along with their original passports after which the FRRO ordered their deportation on Monday.  Recently, the Dwarka district police launched 'Operation Varchasva' in their mission to make the area crime-free.  Since the launch, several gangsters, snatchers and robbers have been arrested in a small period of time. The police are also keeping a tab on illegally staying foreigners in the area.  Pertinently, some African nationals living in and around the national capital are involved in the illicit drug trade and are being regularly caught by the police.  According to a Delhi Police official, the growing number of African nationals are looking for money-earning opportunities in the national capital. Uttam Nagar police station has a mixed population of approx 3.75 lakh.  A lot of African nationals are residing in the area and some of them are living here with fake/expired visas.  "There are also cases of the NDPS Act registered against them for supplying drugs to locals and people from other areas. In addition, a few cyber fraud cases have also surfaced in which African nationals are involved," the official added.  Meanwhile, all the 12 foreigners have been sent to the detention centre at Lumpur.

A girl from Delhi has accused an IAS officer serving in Karnataka of cheating her on the pretext of marriage, posted the issue on her social media accounts and marked them to state as well as Central leaders. The victim alleged that Snehal Lokhande, an IAS officer discharging his duties as Commissioner of Kalaburagi City Corporation, has cheated her. "Snehal Lokhande has betrayed me. I have met the DC madam of Kalaburagi and told her everything but nobody helped me, just because it was against an IAS officer," the victim claimed. She also alleged that the IAS officer has spent time with her in a hotel. She claimed that they became friends through Facebook. "The accused had come to New Delhi and spent three days with me," the girl said. The victim has marked the post containing her complaint to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and state ministers Murugesh Nirani and K. Sudhakar. Lokhande refuted all allegations against him and lodged a complaint against the girl at CEN police station for maligning his reputation and threatening his parents. He claimed that he does not know her and complained to the managements of social media platforms. Kalaburagi Commissioner of Police Y.S. Ravikumar stated that there is no written complaint by the woman.  "She had come with her family. The incident has taken place in New Delhi and no complaint has been lodged there," Ravikumar added.    

The Delhi Police have busted a gang  dealing in illegal weapons and arrested four criminals in this connection, an official said here on Friday. Deputy Commissioner of Police Benita Mary Jaiker said the  Narcotics Squad staff, South District, kept a strict vigil on the movement of public vehicles and set up checkpoints regularly at strategic locations.  On November 18, they received information about a person involved in supplying illegal firearms. "More details about the person were obtained by the police from social media platforms," the official said. Acting on a tip-off about the presence of the accused near a primary school, Rajpur Khurd, the police team laid a trap and apprehended two people identified as Pawan and Ankit. On searching, two pistols including one country-made with five live cartridges, were recovered from their possession. On sustained interrogation, the duo disclosed that they had purchased the arms and ammunition from a person named Raju. At their instance, Raju and another person, identified as Manish, were also arrested. At the instance of both Raju and Manish, one revolver and one long barrel gun with four live cartridges and a motorcycle used in transporting the weapons were recovered.  The official said that during interrogation, it was revealed that the recovered weapons were brought from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to sell them in Delhi-NCR at high rates. "Further investigation is underway," the official added.  

#Gandhinagar In a curtain-raiser event for the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) to be held in January next year, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Thursday met top business leaders in Delhi. The three-day summit will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 10, 2022. VGGS is being organised on the theme of “Atmanirbhar Gujarat to Atmanirbhar India”. On Thursday, Patel met MD of Maruti Suzuki Kenichi Ayukawa, Avaada Energy Private Limited chairman Vinit Mittal, PI Industries MD and vice chairman Mayank Singhal, JCB CEO Dipak Shetty, Urban Company CEO Abhirajsinh Bhal, DCM Shri Ram Industries chairman and senior MD Ajay Sharma and OYO hotels and homes managers. Kenichi Ayukawa of Maruti Suzuki spoke about the company’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Gandhinagar and investment of Rs 16,000 crore in Gujarat. Avaada energy private limited chairman Vinit Mittal expressed interest to include Gujarat in the company’s plan to invest Rs 20,000 crore in the non-conventional energy sector in the next 5 years. OYO is associated with 750 hotels in Gujarat. PI Industry MD and vice chairman Mayank Singhal showed willingness to participate in the VGGIS 2022 and invest. Patel invited everyone to the upcoming Summit and invest in Gujarat. He also said Gujarat has emerged as a thriving and vibrant economy in the last two decades under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. “PM Modi came up with the unique thought of organising the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in 2003. In less than two decades, the Summit has become a global knowledge-sharing and networking platform,” Patel said. In 2021, Gujarat has managed to attract Foreign Direct Investment worth $21.9 billion, he said. He also spoke about Dholera SIR, Dedicated Freight Corridor, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, GIFT City, Dream City, and other mega projects that are poised to take Gujarat’s growth to the next level.                     

Delhi Police have seized a huge quantity of heroin in the national capital worth approximately Rs 106 crore in the international market, an official said here. According to the official, the contraband, weighing 10.688 kg, was recovered by the Anti Narcotic Cell of the Dwarka district police. Details about the whole operation are yet to be furnished by the Delhi Police.  Notably, the Dwarka district police had recently launched 'Operation Varchasva' in their mission to make Dwarka area crime free. Since the launch of the operation, several gangsters, snatchers and robbers have been arrested in a small period of time. The police are also keeping a tab on illegally staying foreigners in the area. Earlier five days ago on November 20, a Nigerian national was held in the same district with heroin worth Rs 2 crore in the international market.  

All eyes on Delhi ???????Last week when Principal Secretary to Chief Minister K Kailashnathan was in Delhi, rumour mills worked overtime and speculation was rife that there will be a shocking overhaul in the state bureaucracy. All wondered what 1987 batch officer Raj Kumar, who has been repatriated to parent cadre, would be given.  There were talks that the incumbent Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar might be changed and given chairmanship of some PSU. An omission of his name in a function of Vibrant Gujarat next week led to more rumours. Another senior level officer was also in Delhi to meet the high command, keeping everyone curious here in Gujarat. Senior babus have made it a point to stay in touch with each other and try to keep tabs on what’s happening in New Delhi. All they can do is keep their fingers crossed. Chief Minister conveys his stand with subtlety, sense of humour Various sections of the industry are getting a taste of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s sense of humour. The soft-spoken CM speaks less but when he speaks, he speaks his mind. At times, he conveys his stand subtly. And at times he’s blunt. At a function held by the Gujarat chapter of National Real Estate Development Council, Patel told builders that they should take BU permission in a timely manner. Citing the example of certain hospitals getting sealed due to lack of BU, he said soon the drive may be expanded and no wrongdoing would be spared. He did not stop there and had more advice for builders. His message was: Don’t focus on building more on one plot (read: Earning money should not be life’s focus).  On a serious note, he assured builders that his government was always there to resolve the issues they were facing. Wanted: Pied Piper for Sachivalaya It seems only a Pied Piper can alleviate rodent menace prevalent in the Sachivalaya. Rats have become a nuisance in some offices with traps visible in every corner. Sources said the rodents have developed a liking for the sarkari offices and survive on official files. They also treat themselves to the snacks the staff members keep for themselves. Recently, they feasted on a large quantity of peanuts in the cooperative department. Some rats have grown so big that the traps set for them prove to be too small to catch them, keeping the staff wondering how to get rid of them. Strain simmers The rift between former CM Vijay Rupani and C R Paatil was evident during the latter’s visit to Rajkot. BJP had organised sneh milan (workers’ meet-and-greet) programmes in each district, including Rajkot. However, the Rupani camp organised its own event and did not invite anyone from the Paatil camp. This led to verbal spat between Rupani and MP Ram Mokariya. Two days later, Paatil visited Rajkot and local BJP unit planned a get-together of party workers. Rupani did not attend because he was not in town while senior BJP leader Vajubhai Vala refused to attend the function. The cold-shouldering led Paatil to call on Vajubhai and send the signal that all was well. However, Rupani had already done the damage by leaving for Surat to attend another function. Later, senior party functionaries intervened with Rupani issuing a statement that Paatil had his full support.??????? Came, saw, but yet to conquer It has been two months since Bhupendra Patel and his government took over reins of Gujarat. Almost all the time has been spent by the CM attending functions here and there. He also attended a series of BJP sneh milan (meet-and-greet) programmes in several districts on the occasion of Diwali.  These were followed by Atmanirbhar Yatras where he spoke about the achievements of the successive BJP governments in Gujarat. The spare time was spent by him visiting religious places and seeking blessings. Sachivalaya circles are abuzz with talks that nothing significant has happened in the last two months and that the Patel government has nothing to showcase as its achievement.  As one of the senior party leaders remarked, one needs to be presentin the office regularly to do something new.

Newly elected Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel called on President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. On a day’s visit to New Delhi. Patel also met  Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP president J P Nadda

Actress Huma Qureshi says playing the protagonist Rani Bharti in the upcoming web series "Maharani" was exciting because it involved 'forgetting' a lot of what she knows, in order to become the character. She says moving from Delhi to Mumbai to be an actress was an experience that in some way helped her understand Rani. Rani is an illiterate village woman, oblivious to most things in the world outside, and yet she finds herself in the centrestage of Bihar politics after a twist of fate, and ends up being chief minister of the state. Like Rani's ignorance about the world of politics, Huma says she had no idea what it meant to be a part of Bollywood when she was growing up. "Rani Bharti has never stepped outside her village. To play her was a big challenge. She's absolutely opposite to how I am. That was the exciting part. If you know something how, do you forget about it? How do I show in Rani's eyes if she doesn't know something despite me knowing it? That was fun and challenging. The look and costume really helped," she told IANS. "Moving from Delhi to Mumbai has been a turning point. It changed my life completely. I was living a different life in Delhi. I never thought that this was the world I belonged to. I grew up in Delhi, my friends are also from there. I dared to be somebody I was told I can't be. For me and my family, me moving to a different city was a big change," she says. The actress is happy to be able to entertain people during this tough time. "The world is shut down. I was talking to my cousins, and two years of the kids' lives are gone. They can't go out to play, meet school friends. Their childhood has gone. Theatres have shut down, the industry has shut down. Of course, it's sad but we have to make the best of the situation. I am happy that I am blessed that I can put out some work where people can forget all this for a while and watch something. So, maybe I can help in this way," she said. In fact, she adds that social media has been a big help right now. "This pandemic has shown us the worst that is there. It is heartbreaking and shocking. This pandemic has also shown us humanity. So many people have used social media to help people, get someone a bed, get plasma. I have done that for people on my social media. I have seen the goodness of human beings. That has been my one takeaway from this time," she says.  

Prithvi Shaw's blistering 105, after an impressive show by the bowlers, set up Mumbai's seven-wicket win over Delhi in an Elite Group D match here on .

State govt’s urban health programme gets in-principle approval; Rs 80 crore earmarked for Deendayal clinics, which are aimed at serving the urban poor

The Ahmedabad cyber crime branch has arrested a 25-year-old Delhi resident in a money transfer fraud wherein he duped a cyber cafe owner of Rs 3 lakh.

Six forensic experts, including 5 from NFSU, will help Delhi cops with analysis of video footage of incident

The Sola High Court police have arrested three persons who had come to the city

The trio conned a Krishnanagar resident out of Rs 1lakh on pretext of sending him laptop, cellphone, jewellery and watch from the UK