4 unrecognised madrasas sealed in UP's Shravasti
Lucknow, Apr 30 (PTI): Four unrecognised and illegally operating madrasas were sealed in Shravasti district on Wednesday as part of the Uttar Pradesh government's drive across districts bordering Nepal against unauthorised religious structures, an official statement said.
Besides, several temporary and permanent encroachments within a 15-km radius of the Nepal border were cleared, it said.
Till date, 36 illegal madrasas have been sealed and 131 unauthorised encroachments demolished.
A mosque in Bhartha village in Roshangarh under Bhinga tehsil, Bahraich was also razed as it was constructed on government land, the statement said.
In Pilibhit district, a special drive was carried out within 10 km of the Nepal border to remove encroachments on public land.
The operation, led by the Additional District Magistrate and Additional Superintendent of Police, did not yield any objectionable material, but confirmed encroachments were present.
In Maharajganj district, enforcement action has been taken against 13 illegal madrasas and mosques in Nautanwa tehsil.
Six illegal encroachments in Nichlaul and 14 in Farenda tehsil were also demolished there, the statement said.
In Lakhimpur Kheri, specifically in the border tehsils of Nighasan and Palia, demolition drives were carried out against an illegal mosque in Krishnanagar and an Idgah in Chandan Chowki, with full coordination between Police and Revenue officials.
In Balrampur district, one illegally occupied madrasa has been vacated, and notices have been served to five others. Encroachments on two tombs have been removed, while notices have been served to five more.
Overall, 13 illegal encroachments have been identified, and action has been taken against three, the statement said.
A case involving an unauthorised Idgah is also being processed, it said.
Investigations have revealed 20 madrasas failing to meet the required standards all of which have been shut down, it added.
Besides, two madrasas have been issued notices for failing to submit necessary documentation despite prior warnings.
In Bahraich, five encroachments were removed on Wednesday in the Nanpara and Mihipurwa tehsils.
So far, 127 illegal constructions have been demolished in the district, the statement said.
Based on a report by the Minority Welfare Officer, a madrasa was sealed on Wednesday, bringing the total number of sealed madrasas in the district to six.
In Siddharthnagar, action was taken on Wednesday against one illegal encroachment. So far, 17 such cases have been addressed in the district, including three mosques and four madrasas, the statement said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
