65th National Film Awards:Few awardees to boycott
New Delhi, April 3:At the dress rehearsal of the prestigious National Film Awards, a number of awardees expressed disappointment after they were informed that the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind would attend the prize distribution ceremony for only an hour which is scheduled to be held today evening at the Vigyan Bhavan. President Kovind will only hand out 11 awards within the that one hour.
This has upset the remaining awardees who are now contemplating the idea of skipping the ceremony altogether in lieu of the recent developments. The winners protested this development by highlighting the fact that last year, former President Pranab Mukherjee presented all the National Film Awards personally.
“In all the award ceremonies he has attended, he gives away major awards, and takes photographs with all awardees. That has been the standard practice, which has been conveyed to the organisers well in advance,” press secretary to the President,said Ashok Malik.
If sources are to be believed, a number of awardees led by a filmmaker refused to attend the 65th National Film Awards after being informed about the President Kovind’s schedule and plans. The Information and Broadcasting Minister, Smriti Irani had to personally pacify them.
“It was extremely disrespectful on the part of the organisers to treat the awardees this way. We were informed that we would receive the awards from the President himself, and we have brought our family members with us for the ceremony. But it was only this evening that we were told that only 11 awardees will receive them directly from the President,”
While there has been no confirmation if the group will attend the ceremony, however, they have expressed that their disappointment is not against the organisers but the President. As a result, they are not refusing the award, they just won’t attend the event and receive it.
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UP: Misled by GPS navigation, car falls into river from partially constructed bridge, 3 dead
Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024
