Congress demands all-party meeting on NRC
New Delhi, July 30 : The Congress on Monday said the central government should convene an all-party meeting at the earliest to apprise political parties of the situation arising from publication of the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam.
Talking to mediapersons here, Congress leader Anand Sharma said the issue has inter and intra-state dimensions, and can also have external dimensions.
"The government must convene a meeting of all parties to inform them of the situation, the steps it proposes to take until the disposal of the matter," he said.
Sharma said the issue has implications not only for Assam but also for the states of West Bengal, Tripura, Odisha and Meghalaya.
He said the way the NRC exercise has been carried out raises questions on the government's credibility.
"As we have been told, indigenous people have been affected, tea plantation workers have been affected. The government had given a list of 16 documents and any one of them was sufficient. We have been informed an overwhelming number of people had several documents," he said.
Sharma said the issue should not be politicised and the solution can be found in the ambit of the Assam Accord.
The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 between the central and Assam governments on one side, and the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and the now defunct All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP), which spearheaded the movement, on the other, in the presence of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Sharma said jury was out if the central government had presented the case properly in the Supreme Court.
He claimed that Home Minister Rajnath Singh had admitted in his remarks in the Lok Sabha that there were some shortcomings in the process of preparing the NRC.
Singh had said the final draft of NRC that was published on Monday was not the final list and urged the Opposition not to politicise it.
"Whatever work is going on in the NRC, is happening under the supervision of the Supreme Court. To say that the government has done it, and it is inhuman and brutal... such allegations are baseless. It is not the right thing to say," the Home Minister said.
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Food adulteration: UP restaurants asked to install CCTVs, eateries to display names of proprietors
Lucknow, Sep 24: Taking cognisance of incidents of spitting and mixing of urine in eatables in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday directed that the name and address of operators, proprietors and managers should be mandatorily displayed at all food centres.
He also directed that chefs and waiters should wear masks and gloves besides making installation of CCTVs in hotels and restaurants mandatory.
Addressing a high-level meeting here, Adityanath said the presence of human waste in food items was disgusting and ordered strict action against those who adulterate food items with human waste or dirty things, an official statement said.
On September 12, a purported video showing a teenager spitting on rotis while preparing them at an eatery in Saharanpur district went viral on social media, leading to the arrest of the facility's owner.
Last week, a juice vendor in Ghaziabad district was arrested for allegedly serving fruit juices mixed with urine to customers. In June, two men were arrested by police in Noida for allegedly selling juice contaminated with their spits.
In view of such incidents, the chief minister has also given instructions for thorough investigation, verification of all hotels, dhabas, restaurants, and related establishments in the state.
Instructions were also given to amend the rules as per the need while ensuring the health safety of the general public.
Adiyanath said, "Dhabas, restaurants and food establishments should be thoroughly investigated and police verification of every employee should be done and necessary amendments should also be made in the Food Safety and Standards Act to ensure the purity and sanctity of food items."
According to the statement, now it will be mandatory to display the name and address of the operator, proprietor, manager etc. at the food centres.
"Now whether it is a chef or a waiter, they will have to wear masks and gloves and it will be mandatory to install CCTV in hotels/restaurants," the chief minister said.
In the meeting, Adityanath said in recent times, incidents of adulteration of food items like juice, pulses and roti with human waste, and dirty things have been seen in various parts of the country.
"Such incidents are gruesome and have an adverse effect on the health of the common man. Such efforts cannot be accepted at all," he said.
Concrete arrangements are necessary to prevent such incidents in Uttar Pradesh, he said, adding that by running a state-wide intensive campaign, verification of all the employees working there including the operators of these food establishments should be done.
The chief minister said this action should be completed quickly by a joint team of Food Safety and Drug Administration, police and local administration.
Earlier this year, the Uttar Pradesh government had mandated it for food stalls and fruit vendors along Kanwar Yatra routes to display the names of shop owners. The government argued the directive, which was criticised by a section of people, was aimed at promoting transparency and informed choice of Kanwariya regarding the food they eat.
