Journalist abducted and killed

Miscreants allegedly owing allegiance to the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) have murdered a young television journalist at Mandwai, 25km east of Agartala.  Santanu Bhowmik, 27, was attacked with sharp cutting weapons while covering a road blockade agitation of the IPFT, which is demanding a separate tribal State called Tipraland.

The murder of the journalist, who was working for a local television channel, occurred amid continuing clashes between supporters of the IPFT and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in the Khowai, Teliamura and Jirania subdivisions. Scores have been injured, houses burnt, police vehicles torched and policemen attacked in the second day of tension in Tripura.

Police recovered journalist Santanu Bhowmik in a critical state after he was attacked by a group of miscreants at Mandwai. Doctors declared him brought dead after he was shifted to the GBP Hospital here. He had received injuries on his head.

A large number of journalists from all segments of media gathered at the hospital to demandthe immediate arrest of the murderers.

When Guard administered stitches to a patient

A video that went viral on the social media shows a private guard administering stitching on the head of a 20-year-old patient in the Sirsa civil hospital in Haryana.

The video, reportedly shot by an attendant of the patient, was uploaded on the Facebook and WhatsApp.When the hospital authorities came to know about the matter, chief medical officer (CMO) Govind Gupta ordered a departmental inquiry and sought explanation into the matter from those concerned.

Rakesh, a resident of Jhorarnali village, had met with an accident on near Bhuratwala village under the Ellenabad sub-division of district Sirsa.

“A friend of my son was there when a guard started attending him in the absence of the doctor on duty and he even started stitching the patient’s head injury. After stitching, the hospital authorities referred him to Agroha Medical College for further treatment, but we took him to some private hospital,” Tara Chand father of the patient said.

Deputy civil surgeon Viresh Bhushan said, “We came to know about the matter from the media. Though we have not received any complaint from the patient’s family, we are investigating into the matter.”

He said senior doctor Suhashini will conduct a probe into the matter. “The role of doctor on duty, Vikas Sharma, who was on will also be probed.”

ND Tiwari hospitalized

Former Union minister ND Tiwari was admitted to a private hospital in New DElhi after he suffered a brain stroke, his son Rohit Shekhar Tiwari said. Max Hospital, Saket, said the condition of 91-year-old Tiwari, a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, was serious and he was being kept under observation in the intensive care unit (ICU). A team of doctors was attending on him, they said.

Canal breach ahead of opening

The Bihar Government had to face the biggest ordeal and embarrassment and  ordered a probe into the breach of a canal in Bhagalpur, which led to the cancellation of its inauguration  by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Kumar was scheduled to inaugurate the Rs 389.31-crore Bateshwarsthan Ganga Pump Canal Project, aimed at providing irrigation facilities in the state and neighbouring Jharkhand.

The wall gave way after being forcefully hit by the Ganga waters when the pump was switched on for a trial run. Gushing waters entered Kahalgaon, 3 km from the site, and inundated areas in an NTPC township.

“A probe by Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department, has been ordered,” Water Resources Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan said. On his part, Principal Secretary Arun Kumar Singh admitted the “department’s fault” in not checking the canal before its inauguration. The project would be inaugurated “after two months” during which the deficiencies would be addressed, he said.

Meanwhile, Water Minister Lallan said “it has come to light that the NTPC had constructed an underpass below the canal”, which could have weakened the canal. NTPC Kahalgaon Executive Director Rakesh Samuel, however, said the underpass was constructed long ago. “The NTPC does not do any work without obtaining an NOC.”

The minister said the canal was built during 1985-88 and the government just did the mechanical part by constructing the pump station in the past one year to lift Ganga waters for irrigation. “But officials should have checked the canal,” he added.

The collapse invited harsh comments by RJD leaders, who said it was constructed with “poor quality” material.

“Earlier rodents caused a breach in embankments to trigger floods in Bihar. Did crocodiles break the canal wall?” RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said.