Veteran RSS leader, former Maharashtra assembly speaker Haribhau Bagde new Rajasthan Guv
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader and former Maharashtra assembly speaker Haribhau Bagde has been appointed the governor of Rajasthan.
Affectionately called Nana, he is well known for his passion for farming and is widely respected for a stellar political journey despite coming from a humble background in the state's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, formerly Aurangabad.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi called me yesterday informing me that I would have to go out of Maharashtra. He also asked me to not reveal it to anyone," he told reporters while speaking about his new gubernatorial assignment.
"I have been associated with the RSS since I was 12-13 and completed its three-year course. Till 1980 I was with the Jana Sangh. I like taking up challenges. I may have been chosen for this post because of my work in the party for so may years," he added.
Bagde said his colleague Devendra Fadnavis, who is currently Maharashtra deputy chief minister, made him speaker of the assembly.
"I have never asked for any post. The state leadership of the party may have suggested my name for governorship. I will try to do full justice to the new assignment," he said.
Incidentally, Bagde was accused by the opposition of not listening to their views while he was speaker.
After the MVA government was formed, when Congress leader Nana Patole became assembly speaker, some MLAs made veiled remarks against Bagde.
The BJP leader, while addressing the house, recounted that vending milk on a two-wheeler in cold mornings in his formative years led to hearing loss in the left ear.
Bagde (79) became MLA for the first time in 1985 and represented Phulambri for five terms. He became minster for employment guarantee scheme when the Shiv Sena-BJP came to power in 1995, and in 2014 was made assembly speaker after Fadnavis became chief minister.
He said he was the first to receive formal education in his family, which was involved in social work, adding that he wanted to take up a job but his RSS mentor told him to get involved in farming.
Farming became a lifelong passion for Bagde, who has named his house Phualmbri Krushi Yog.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
