Central financial assistance sought for cloudburst-hit Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand
New Delhi (PTI): Central government should in bipartisan manner provide financial assistance to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand where cloudbursts and accompanying landslides and floods have claimed nearly two dozen lives and several are still missing, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari demanded in Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Raising the issue through a zero hour mention, he said six people have died and 50 are missing following cloudbursts in Shimla, Mandi and Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh.
Three national highways as well as dozens of other roads have shut due to flooding, stranding tourists and other commuters.
In neighbouring Uttarakhand, 16 people have died and many are missing following heavy rains.
"Due to cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, 22 people have died and 60 are missing," he said.
He demanded that the central government should provide adequate financial assistance.
"Last time, Himachal Pradesh was not given financial assistance," he said.
Tiruchi Siva of DMK raised the welfare of gig workers.
Stating that the number of gig workers in the Indian economy are projected to rise from an estimated 80 lakh currently to 2.3 crore by 2030, he said gig workers like those working as delivery partners with food ordering platforms Swiggy and Zomato and e-commerce companies, as well as drivers with ride hailing apps such as Ola and Uber are vulnerable to unfair treatment.
Unlike some of the countries in the west where gig workers are provided accident insurance coverage, gig workers in India are often classified as independent contractors and so deprived of social security benefits, he said.
He demanded a national framework for regulation of the gig economy be framed and basic rights of gig workers protected.
Kartikeya Sharma (Independent) wanted one government hospital in each district of Haryana be upgraded to a super speciality centre for integrated medicines.
The central government, he said, should bear the cost of setting up the super specialty centre and the state government bear the recurring expenses.
DMK's M Shanmugam demanded strict monitoring of use of pesticides and chemicals in the agricultural sector, saying pesticides banned or restricted in many countries are still being used in India.
He said there should be a periodical review of pesticides and harmful chemicals and use of bio-pesticides that are largely safer be promoted.
Also, there should be optimum use of pesticides and fertilizers, he said.
Muzibulla Khan (BJD) sought direct flight from Delhi to Jagdalpur in Chattisgarh to ease travel of tourists and business executives who currently have to go via cities like Hyderabad and Raipur.
Jagdalpur, he said, has huge tourism potential due to the presence of revered temples and the Chitrakote water fall. It is also a place often visited by business travellers due to the presence of iron ore mines, Bailadila mines and a steel plant of NMDC.
He demanded direct flight from Delhi to Jagdalpur at least twice a week.
Sangeeta Balant of BJP demanded the start of commercial air service from Andhau Airstrip in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur district.
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.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
