Arvind Kejriwal takes dig at Gujarat CM over Rs 191 crore plane
‘Prefer to provide free rides to women, instead of buying new plane’
New Delhi, Nov 18: Taking a veiled dig at his Gujarat counterpart Vijay Rupani, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that instead of buying a Rs 191 crore-plane for himself he preferred to provide free ride to women in public transport buses.
He said that opposition parties were getting "uncomfortable" by his government's schemes for facilitating people.
"We allowed free travel to women in public transport buses and the opposition raised noise over it. People ask where did the money for it come from. The chief minister of a state bought a plane worth Rs 191 crore for himself. I did not buy a plane and instead made travel free for my sisters," Kejriwal said at Rithala here.
The women in Delhi have been allowed free travel in public transport buses by the AAP government from October 29.
The move coming a few months before the Delhi Assembly polls due early next year has been criticised by the BJP as a "freebie" for political gains.
Inaugurating construction of roads in Rohini under Rithala Assembly constituency, Kejriwal said opposition parties were not happy with his government's schemes for the people.
"We made 200 units of power consumption free and opposition leaders are opposing it. Their MPs get free 4,000 units free, but if a driver gets it, they are pained," he said.
The chief minister said that cost of road construction will be brought down by reusing old road material.
He said the new roads will be constructed by digging up the old ones and reusing the dug up material. He said the technique will save 30 per cent of construction cost.
The technique which will overcome the problem of uneven road surface, was available earlier but was not employed due to corruption, he said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
NEET aspirant from Haryana hangs self in Kota; parents suspect murder, demand fair probe
Kota (Rajasthan), Apr 29: A 20-year-old NEET aspirant was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his hostel room in Kunhari area here, with his parents suspecting he was murdered, police said on Monday.
This is the eighth case of suicide by a coaching student in Kota since January. The number of student suicides in Kota stood at 26 in 2023.
Sumit Panchal, who hailed from Haryana's Rohtak, had been preparing for NEET at a coaching institute here for over a year, the police said.
His parents have demanded the registration of a murder case against unidentified persons and an impartial investigation into the matter.
On demand of the student's parents, a medical board was constituted to perform the autopsy, said Assistant Sub-Inspector Kaptan, who is investigating the case.
The body was handed over to the family after the post-mortem, they said.
The student had allegedly hanged himself around 9 hours before his body was spotted by the hostel staff, the ASI said.
Panchal's body was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room at the hostel in Landmark City under the Kunhari police station limits on Sunday night, they said.
However, his parents suspected Panchal was murdered, citing that the injury on his neck from the rope was too deep to be caused by hanging, the police said.
A case of unnatural death under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been lodged for initial investigation in the matter, they said.
No suicide note was recovered from the student's hostel room and the reason behind his extreme step is yet to be ascertained, Arvind Bhardwaj, Circle Inspector (CI) at Kunhari police station, said on Monday.
Panchal was supposed to take the NEET-UG exam next month, the police said.
He allegedly hanged himself sometime on Sunday noon but the matter came to light only around 9.30 pm when the warden spotted the body and informed the police, the CI said.
A police team rushed to the spot and recovered the body and shifted it to the mortuary of MBS Hospital for postmortem, he added.
In gross violation of safety norms, the hostel room did not have an anti-suicide device installed with the ceiling fan, which could have averted the tragedy, the officer added.
Meanwhile, the deceased's father, uncle and grandfather who reached Kota on Monday morning to claim the body suspected foul play and claimed Panchal did not commit suicide but was murdered.
"Sumit was good at studies and would always assure us of securing a rank among the top ten. He cannot commit suicide," his uncle Surendra Panchal told PTI outside the mortuary.
The wound on his neck is so deep that it couldn't have been caused by hanging, he claimed and demanded autopsy by medical board.
The student's family has also demanded the formation of a SIT for investigation in the matter, CI Bhardwaj said.
