Uttarakhand: Three killed as helicopter crashes in rain-hit Uttarkashi
Dehradun: A helicopter engaged in relief and rescue operations in the rain-ravaged Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand crashed on Wednesday, killing all three persons on board.
A private helicopter with three persons on board crashed near Moldi in the rain-hit Uttarkashi district after getting entangled in cables, Uttarakhand's DG (law and order) Ashok Kumar said.
The pilot, co-pilot and a local were killed in the crash, he said.
Torrential rains in the Mori area of the district caused large-scale damage and demolished a number of houses on Sunday. Sixteen people were killed and around half a dozen are missing.
The helicopter, belonging to Heritage Aviation, was among the ones engaged in relief and rescue operations in the affected villages spread over 70 square km area of the district.
The crash occurred when the helicopter was returning after distributing the relief material among the affected people, Uttarkashi Disaster Management officer Devendra Patwal said.
Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, in a tweet, expressed grief at the deaths in the crash. He prayed for strength to the family members of the deceased to bear the loss.
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Surat LS candidate Nilesh Kumbhani whose nomination form was rejected suspended from Congress
Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.
A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".
"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.
"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.
Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.
Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.
