2 senior citizens inside, car 'illegally' towed by parking contractors in Noida
Noida, Mar 20: Two senior citizens, including a heart patient on the way to a hospital, on Wednesday alleged misbehavior by contractual parking workers in Noida after they "illegally" towed away the septuagenarians' car while the elderly were sitting inside.
An FIR has been lodged in the case and the private agency handling the parking work in Sector 50, where the incident took place, has been slapped with a penalty of Rs 50,000 and issued a show cause notice as to why it should not be blacklisted, according to officials.
A purported video of the incident surfaced on social media, showing a crane towing the red-colour hatchback even as the senior citizens were sitting inside it.
While speaking to a TV news channel, car owner Vishwajit Mazumder said he had gone to a hospital in Noida Sector 50 with his sister-in-law and they were asked for some payment in cash along with photocopies of some documents.
"In a little hurry, we parked the car in a no-parking zone in Sector 50 and could not see the no-parking signage as it was covered by some tree leaves. We were back in five minutes after work but by that time, the car's front portion was lifted up for towing," Mazumder told NDTV.
"We begged the parking workers that we have a patient who needs to go to the hospital. She has a heart ailment. We are senior citizens, 70 years old. The parking workers did not listen to us. A crowd gathered there and even they appealed for us, but to no avail. The parking workers insisted that the car can be taken from the police station now," he claimed.
The elderly man said he even offered some money to the parking workers to release the car, citing shortage of time at their end.
"The boys (parking workers) were very indecent. This is usual with contract workers now. They are not educated and have no process of working. We were sitting inside the car and they towed us to the police station," Mazumder said.
Later in the day, the Noida Authority said it is operating surface parking in various sectors through private agencies for smooth traffic in the city.
It noted that MG Infra Solution has been allotted work in Sector 50 and on Wednesday its crane operator and his assistant "illegally" towed away the car from there to the parking of Logix Mall in Sector 32, and "tarnished" the image of the authority with this act.
"This company has been warned in the past also about violating the conditions of the contract by misbehaving with citizens and extorting money from them. For the incident on March 20, an FIR has been lodged at Sector 49 police station against the crane operator and his assistant while a penalty of Rs 50,000 slapped on MG Infra Solution," the authority said in a statement.
A show cause notice has also been issued to the company to explain why it should not be blacklisted for works of the authority, it added.
पूरे उत्तर प्रदेश में अवैध वसूली के चक्कर में पार्किंग संचालको की दबंगई चरम पर है।
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नोएडा सेक्टर 50 से कार में बैठे बुजुर्ग दम्पति सहित कार को क्रेन से उठाकर ले जा रहे पार्किंग संचालक।
ऐसे ट्रैफिककर्मियों के होते किसी गुंडे-मवाली की जरूरत ही नही!
धिक्कार है ऐसे सिस्टम पर! pic.twitter.com/kEdWHNcKFM
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
