China Eastern launches Shanghai-Delhi flight with near full capacity
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Beijing (PTI): China Eastern Airlines started its Shanghai-Delhi service on Sunday with a 95 per cent occupancy, becoming the first mainland Chinese carrier this year to resume direct flights to India after a gap of five years.
Flight MU563, carrying 248 passengers, departed from Shanghai Pudong International Airport for Delhi, the state-run Global Times reported.
Indian airline IndiGo will begin its daily Delhi-Guangzhou service from November 10.
China Eastern becomes the first Chinese mainland-based airline in 2025 to resume direct passenger flights between China and India, the report said, adding that the Shanghai-Delhi flight achieved a load factor of over 95 per cent.
The Shanghai-Delhi route is considered a key corridor linking two major economic centres and is expected to boost exchanges in trade, economy and culture, the report said.
Flights between India and the Chinese mainland resumed on October 26 when an IndiGo aircraft landed at Guangzhou in Guangdong province from Kolkata, ending a hiatus that began with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Services were not restored due to the military standoff between the two countries in eastern Ladakh, which ended in October last year.
China Eastern's Shanghai Pudong-Delhi route, operated by an Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft, will run three times a week on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The airline said it plans to increase frequencies based on market demand and also aims to resume the Kunming-Kolkata service and launch a new Shanghai-Mumbai route.
Bilateral relations between Indian and China hit their lowest point since the 1962 war after the Galwan Valley clashes in June 2020. Following several rounds of diplomatic and military talks, the two sides withdrew troops from various friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
A disengagement pact for Depsang and Demchok, the last two friction points, was finalised in October last year.
Days after the agreement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Kazan, Russia, and decided on steps to stabilise bilateral ties.
In recent months, the two sides have taken a series of measures to rebuild engagement, including resuming the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and restoring flight services.
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Codeine syrup seized in UP; six held in separate operations in Etah, Mirzapur
Etah/Mirzapur (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh Police have intensified their crackdown on the alleged illegal trade, diversion and distribution of regulated codeine-based cough syrup, arresting six persons in separate operations in Etah and Mirzapur districts, officials said on Monday.
The action comes as the probe widened into the alleged codiene syrup trafficking racket, suspected to be involved in illicit trade estimated to be worth hundreds of crores -- with links stretching across several states and possibly beyond international borders.
In Etah, a joint team of the Agra anti-narcotics unit and Aliganj police recovered 47 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup, estimated to be worth around Rs 50 lakh, from a tobacco warehouse under Aliganj police station area limits Sunday night.
Four persons, including a retired serviceman, were arrested on the spot, police said.
According to police, the raid was carried out at a warehouse in Nagla Bani village following a tip-off. Preliminary investigation revealed that the seized cough syrup bore the name of a Baddi-based pharmaceutical company, 'Wings', but the batch numbers printed on the wrappers had been deliberately scratched off, indicating that the consignment was illegally manufactured.
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The arrested accused have been identified as Jitendra Yadav, Jitendra Shakya, Pramod Shakya and Punjab Singh, a retired soldier. Cases have been registered against them under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and other relevant sections, and further investigation is underway, police said.
Official sources said the Etah recovery is suspected to be linked to Varanasi-based drug trader, Shubham Jaiswal, who is allegedly associated with an international drug syndicate.
A lookout circular has already been issued against him, while his father was arrested earlier from Kolkata. The main accused remains absconding, officials said.
In a separate development, Mirzapur police arrested two more accused -- Ajit Yadav and Akshat Yadav -- in connection with a case of illegal supply of codeine-based cough syrup registered at Adalhat police station. The arrests were made on Sunday evening following sustained investigation of the suspects, police said.
According to officials, the two accused had allegedly floated firms using forged Aadhaar cards and supplied cough syrup through fake documentation.
During investigation, police found that transactions worth over Rs 1 crore had been routed through bank accounts opened in Varanasi in the name of the fake firms.
Police said Akshat Yadav, proprietor of a firm named A K Distributors, was supplied around 36 litre of New Phensedyl cough syrup (100 ml bottles) from a trader based in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
The firm was found to be non-functional on the ground, and records showed it had been opened only once or twice without carrying out any genuine pharmaceutical business.
Further scrutiny revealed that the Aadhaar card used for obtaining the drug licence carried a Mirzapur address and was forged, while a different Aadhaar card with a Varanasi address was used for banking purposes, pointing to deliberate fabrication of documents, police said. The firm's bank account in Varanasi showed a turnover of around Rs 1.28 crore.
The two accused have been booked under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the NDPS Act and sent to jail. Police said involvement of more suspects is likely and the investigation is ongoing.
Officials said the recoveries and arrests form part of a broader state-wide investigation into the illegal diversion of codeine-based cough syrup, a regulated drug.
