‘BJP leader offered 4 crore to AAP MLA’

The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday released footage purportedly showing Delhi BJP vice-president Sher Singh Dagar and his close associate Raghubir Dahiya allegedly offering Rs.4 crore and other perks to its MLA Dinesh Mohania in exchange for backing the BJP’s efforts to form a government in the Capital.

Claiming that four to five AAP MLAs were ready to jump ship, Mr. Dagar is heard convincing Mr. Mohania to resign from the Assembly. These resignations would reduce the total strength of the Assembly, thus helping the BJP obtain a majority even with a lower numerical strength.

Among the offers Mr. Dagar allegedly made to Mr. Mohania in exchange for resigning were payment of a sum of Rs.4 crore and chairmanship of some authority. He is also seen saying all MLAs who accept the offer would be made BJP candidates in the by-polls necessitated after their resignations.

In the footage, Mr. Dagar is also heard claiming that his party high-command as well as the RSS was on board in sealing the deal that would lead to senior BJP leader Jagdish Mukhi becoming the Chief Minister.

The alleged meeting took place on Sunday afternoon at Mr. Dagar’s residence in South Extension. Mr. Mohania was accompanied by his party colleague Vivek Yadav.

HC directs Madurai Collector to preserve waterbodies around Alagar hills

The Madras High Court Bench here has directed the Madurai Collector to preserve three waterbodies — Murugakone Kanmoi alias Muruganeri, Puthukanmoi and Nayakkankulam kanmoi — on the foothills of Alagar hills near here though a settlement tahsildar had granted patta (land ownership document) with respect to them to private individuals way back in 1970.

Allowing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition, a Division Bench comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice V.M. Velumani held that the ‘patta’ would stand cancelled automatically in view of an amendment made in 1975 to Section 3 (b) of the Tamil Nadu Inam Estates Leaseholds and Minor Inams (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act 1963.

Prior to the amendment, the Section stated that every minor Inam including communal land, poromboke, wastelands, pasture lands, forests, mines and minerals, quarries, rivers and streams, fisheries and ferries shall stand transferred to the Government.

The amendment introduced the words ‘tanks and ooranis (including private tanks and ooranis) and irrigation works’ in to the Section.

Further, the amendment introduced Section 10-A which stated that no ‘ryotwari patta’ could be granted in respect of any private tank or oorani.

It also made it clear that any patta granted in respect of private tanks or ooranis, before the amendment, would cease to be in operation from the date of the notification of the amendment to the Act.

Again through another amendment to the legislation in 1976, it was declared that the provisions of the Amendment Act, 1975 shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or any custom, usage or contract or decree or order of a court or other authority.

Death toll in J&K floods mounts to 160

There was no let-up in the flood fury in Jammu and Kashmir with incessant rains feeding the already overflowing rivers and streams and pushing up the death toll to 160.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the State on Sunday.

The rivers Jhelum in Kashmir and Tawi in the Jammu region continued to flow far above the danger mark, flooding houses along the embankments and submerging more villages and towns.

Authorities struggled to rescue thousands of trapped villagers as rain continued to lash the state and officials ran out of boats to reach the marooned. At least nine Army personnel, including an officer, got trapped in the strong currents of Jhelum as their boat capsized during a rescue operation in Pulwama district. Seven were later rescued.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited Srinagar on Saturday and later conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu.

He said the worst floods in six decades had affected 2,600 villages — 1,600 in Kashmir and the rest in Jammu, with 450 completely submerged.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said South Kashmir was inaccessible with rescuers unable to reach the affected villages because of torrential rains.

“We are waiting for a break in the weather,” he said.

Mr. Abdullah briefed Mr. Singh at the Srinagar airport and later himself drove the Home Minister through the waterlogged roads of the city.

Revenue and Relief Secretary Vinod Koul said 50 bridges were damaged and hundreds of kilometres of roads were washed away.

Power installations units had broken down and the State urgently needed 25,000 tents and 40,000 blankets, Mr. Koul said. Large parts of Srinagar went without power on Saturday. There was no water supply, too, and residents said they had run out of drinking water.

There were no reports so far of food and essential commodities running out, with people stocking up for the worst.

The city resembled a ghost town with schools, colleges, shops and offices shut. Most of the people were moving their belongings to the second floor as flood waters had entered their homes.

Despite the best efforts of the Army, the National Disaster Response Force and the authorities, many complained that they were left to fend for themselves with no help from the government.

“No one is coming to help us. Yesterday the CM came and assured us that the government would provide us blankets and food but nothing has come yet. Our children are starving,” Nazir Ahmad said.

‘We last saw floods in 1996’

For the last three days and nights, everyone was waiting for floods. Under the grey skies, residents hoped the waters spare them this time but they knew it was just a matter of time before their houses submerged. While some were being evacuated, others were busy shifting their goods to the second floor of their two-storey building. At 1.30 p.m., the water finally breached the one embankment that was standing in between and came roaring towards them.

“We last saw floods here in Natipora in 1996. We almost forget that there could be floods, and kept investing in houses and property,” said Mohammad Shafi, a 51-year-old shopkeeper, even as he was busy selling milk powder, candles and baby-food to a horde of anxious people who want to stock up on essentials.

Scores of neighborhoods now find themselves marooned in their three-storey houses and are looking for safe places to park their big vehicles.

Nearby, on both sides of the Nowgam-Lasjan Highway on the outskirts of Srinagar, dozens of new vechiles were battling water inside the showrooms. Army personnel rescued people from the second floor and ferried them to the safety of the highway.

Call taxis make an impressive start in Mysore

 The introduction of call taxis in Mysore for the first time, by at least two private players over the last three weeks, is expected to give locals as well as tourists the option of an alternative mode of transportation.

Available on call round the clock, these taxis, enabled with Global Positioning System (GPS), are offering competitive rates to lure customers. “When we launched in the second week of August, we were receiving about 10 calls per day. But, three weeks later, we are receiving 60 calls per day,” said J. Binny, Manager of Nano Taxi Service, Mysore.

Encouraged by the good response, Nano Taxi — which has deployed around 21 vehicles at present — is planning to increase its fleet by another 20 to 25 vehicles in the coming weeks.

B.S. Prashant, who runs a travels company in the city, said the availability of taxis on the doorstep within minutes of making a call was surely an added commuting facility that a tourism centre like Mysore badly needed.

Though the cabs rented out by his company cater to a different segment of travellers, Mr. Prashant said sections of the business class, who travel with blazers and three-piece suits, may opt for such city taxis over commuting by autorickshaws. Nano taxis can be hired for a minimum of Rs. 70 up to 4 km after which Rs. 14.50 is charged for every km.

Meanwhile, Fast Track, which operates in a few Indian cities, also launched its services in Mysore last week. “We not only provide pick-up and drop facility, our cabs can be engaged on hourly basis,” said Varun, marketing manager of Fast Track in Mysore.

Representatives of these taxi services said they were receiving more calls from certain middle and upper middle class areas like in Hebbal, Jayalakshmipuram, J. Nagar, Jayanagar and Gokulam. “Such taxis will be convenient for a family to travel from home to railway station or bus-stand,” said Satish, a resident of Rajarajeshwarinagar in the city.

“Our cabs are often engaged for visits to tourist destinations within the city as well as Brindavan Gardens and Chamundi Hills,” said a representative of one of the taxi service. “With automatic billing system, there is no room for confusion over the fare,” he said.

With traffic police putting up checks for drunken driving, a representative of the taxi service said they receive a lot of calls in the night from people who are at clubs and restaurants as well as from people, who wished to be dropped home.