Public hearing for private coal mining cancelled after villagers clash in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh
Hazaribag (Jharkhand) (PTI): Villagers clashed among themselves during a public hearing organized by the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) for a private coal company at Barkagaon in Hazaribag district of the state on Tuesday, a senior police officer said.
A date for a fresh hearing will be fixed later.
Hazaribag Superintendent of Police Anjani Anjan told PTI that a group of villagers attacked another group during the public hearing organised at a football ground in Goldalpura in Barkagaon.
"The public hearing had to be cancelled as the clash created chaos and the atmosphere turned violent due to the presence of people protesting against the public hearing," the SP said.
According to eyewitnesses, a large number of people armed with spears, arrows and sickles arrived at the public hearing site in tractors and stormed directly into the venue. Most of them were wearing masks, mufflers and helmets to conceal their faces. Those who had already been present there also engaged in the clash.
"In a pre-planned manner, the attackers assaulted the farmers, villagers and other raiyats present there. Even women were not spared and were beaten, leading to screams and panic at the scene," a police official said.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition and BJP state president Babulal Marandi condemned the incident on the X platform and questioned the government's functioning.
Former Barkagaon MLA Amba Prasad also reached the spot and spoke to the villagers.
So far, no arrest has been made in this connection.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
