Separatist-called shutdown temporarily suspends Amarnath Yatra
Jammu, Aug 5: Authorities on Sunday decided to temporarily suspend the ongoing Amarnath Yatra from Jammu to the cave shrine in the Kashmir Valley for two days due to a separatist-called protest shutdown.
The complete protest shutdown in the Valley was called to support Article 35A that gives special powers to the state legislature. According to the police, no pilgrim was allowed to move from the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here.
Special check-posts have been set up in Udhampur and Ramban to ensure that the movement of pilgrims does not take place on the Jammu-Srinagar highway which passes through these two districts.
However, pilgrims camped at the Baltal and Pahalgam base camps in the Valley will continue to perform the Yatra, officials said.
Since the annual pilgrimage began on June 28, over 2.71 lakh pilgrims have performed it so far. The Yatra will end on August 26 coinciding with the Shravan Purnima festival.
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Govt floats tender for new Shivaji Maharaj statue in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg
Mumbai (PTI): In the wake of collapse of the Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg, the Maharashtra government has issued a tender for the construction of a new 60-foot-tall statue there, nearly twice the size of the previous one, officials said on Wednesday.
The statue will be built at a cost of Rs 20 crore and the government has set a six-month timeframe for the completion of the work, they said.
A 35-foot-tall statue of the 17th century Maratha empire founder, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rajkot fort in Malvan tehsil of Sindhudurg district on December 4 (Navy Day) last year, collapsed on August 26 amid strong winds.
The statue's sculptor, Jaydeep Apte, was later arrested.
The government has faced flak as the opposition parties alleged the decision to install the statue in Sindhudurg was taken haphazardly, which resulted in poor quality of work.
Maharashtra Public Works Department (PWD) had flagged concerns over rust gathering on Shivaji Maharaj’s statue and suggested permanent measures in a letter sent to a Naval official just six days before the structure collapsed.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had said the statue was designed and constructed by the Indian Navy.
He claimed winds were blowing at 45 km per hour when the statue collapsed.
A tender has been issued for the construction of a new statue and its height would be 60 feet, a PWD official said.
"The total cost would now be Rs 20 crore, including its engineering, installation and maintenance. The government has given six months to complete the work. The height of the statue would be 60 feet," the official said.
