Shimla water woes: Protests continue, tanker runs over woman
Shimla, June 2: Protests continued to rock the Himachal Pradesh capital on Saturday, as the densely populated Kusumpti area reeled under acute portable water shortage for the straight 14th day.
A water tanker driver deployed by the civic body got an epilepsy attack and run over a 65-year-old woman on the busy Mall Road, who was rushed to the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital here where she was declared dead.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Praveer Thakur confirmed that the tanker driver suffered epilepsy attack due to which the woman, Uma Keprate, got hit by the tanker.
Hundreds of residents blocked the road leading to the state secretariat in Kusumpti, raising slogans against the government and the Shimla Municipal Corporation, both ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"Despite instructions by the High Court on supplying water in the city on a rotational basis, there is no water supply in this locality.
"The piped water has not been supplied for the past eight days. Three days ago I got just three buckets of water for a family of five from a government tanker," housewife Sanjana Jindal told IANS.
Residents were out on the streets protesting even late on Friday.
"We are depending on bottled water for cooking and drinking. There is no water to clean utensils and wash clothes. I have not taken bath for almost a week now.
"Our toilets are stinking literally as we are refraining from flushing them. We just managed to collect two buckets of water from rooftop when it rained in Shimla on Friday evening," college-goer Nandita Chauhan said.
"We are prepared to live with very little water but we need that little water to sustain our daily chores and personal hygiene," she said, adding: "I think the government should promote dry toilets in Shimla in order to save millions of litres of water."
The problem of water shortage persisted in Pantha Ghatti, Chhota Shimla, Vikasnagar, Kangnadhar, New Shimla and Khalini localities.
A government statement said the civic body received 24.50 million litre per day water on Friday and it was distributed as per the timetable. It said 1.70 lakh litre water was supplied to different localities through tankers.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday rushed to New Delhi to brief the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on steps taken to restore water normalcy in Shimla.
"The PMO sought information and that is a routine one about the prevailing water crisis in Shimla. We have provided the information earlier also. Today, I have given the status report personally," Thakur told reporters in New Delhi.
Blaming the previous Congress government in the state, he said the Congress deliberately ignored the gravity of the water problem for five years.
"For the past 15 days, I am monitoring the water situation of Shimla on a daily basis and also through video conferencing if I am out of Shimla. We have improved the water supply but it still needs to be strengthened," he said, admitting that the water shortage this summer was worst in 10 years.
Officials blamed water shortage on the rising mercury and the drying up of natural water channels. Shimla has a population of nearly 200,000 that requires 42 MLD water.
Facing flak from the high court, which is monitoring the water situation on a day-to-day basis, the Municipal Corporation has disconnected the water connections of over 40 hotels for their failure to clear the pending arrears.
Issuing a slew of directives on Friday, it said all 62 keymen, who are responsible for supplying water in localities, should be kept under surveillance to ensure equitable distribution.
The court has listed the case for next hearing on June 11. It has also made it categorically clear that no individual request even to the VIPs, including the judges, would be entertained.
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False claims about former NDTV director Prannoy Roy’s ‘real identity’ as a Muslim resurface
Fact check by BOOM found that the CBI’s press release from 2017 does not mention Prannoy Roy’s full name, his father’s name, or his birthplace.
CLAIM: CBI has revealed secrets about Prannoy Roy, including his real name as Parvez Raja, born in Karachi, and NDTV’s full form as “Nawajud Din Taufiq Venture.
FACT CHECK: BOOM found that these claims about the CBI raid on Prannoy Roy are false and have been circulating since 2017. CBI's press note does not mention Prannoy Roy’s real name, his father’s name or his birthplace.
New Delhi: A viral social media post claims that during a 2017 CBI raid on former NDTV director and promoter Prannoy Roy, it was "revealed" that his real name was allegedly 'Parvez Raja' and that he was born in Karachi, Pakistan.
2017 CBI case against Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy
The CBI on October 1, 2024, had submitted a closure report in a Delhi court in a case alleging cheating against former NDTV promoters and directors Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy stating that there was "insufficient legally admissible evidence". The 2017 case was regarding Rs 48 crore loss suffered by ICICI Bank during a loan settlement in 2009.
Posts viral with false claims about Prannoy Roy
Posts are being shared on Facebook claiming that NDTV’s full form is actually ‘Nawajud Din Taufiq Venture’ and alleging that it is also the ‘real’ name of Prannoy Roy’s father. The posts further claim that Roy’s wife Radhika's ‘real name’ is Rahila and that the CBI found a dartboard with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s face in Roy’s bedroom.
These claims are being shared on Facebook with a photo of the couple.
Fact-Check: 2017 CBI press note about raid on Prannoy Roy does not mention details claimed in viral post
BOOM found that the claims made in the viral post about the 2017 CBI raid on Prannoy Roy are false.
What does the 2017 CBI Press note mention?
We checked CBI’s official website and found a press release from June 6, 2017, detailing the searches conducted at Roy’s residence.
However, the release did not mention any of the claims made in the viral post, such as Prannoy Roy’s real name, his father’s name, his birthplace, or the original full form of NDTV.
“Reports in sections of the media have raised certain issues and the statement issued by NDTV has leveled certain allegations against the CBI investigation in the case relating to the promoters of NDTV and others. It is clarified that searches have been carried out at the premises of the promoters and their offices based on search warrants issued by the Competent Court. CBI has not conducted any search of the registered office of NDTV, media studio, news room or premises connected with media operations. CBI fully respects the freedom of press and is committed to the free functioning of news operations,” the press note stated.
In June 2017, the CBI had raided several residences and offices connected to Prannoy and Radhika Roy. The raids were in connection with an alleged loss of around Rs. 50 crores caused to ICICI Bank by NDTV.
In 2008, ICICI Bank gave a ₹375 crore loan to the NDTV promoters, using their 61% shareholding in NDTV as collateral. It was alleged that the bank later allowed them to repay the loan at a much lower interest rate (reduced from 19% to 9.5%), as per news reports. This reduction allegedly caused a ₹48 crore loss to ICICI Bank and benefited the promoters. The CBI looked into these claims, filed as a case in 2017 based on a complaint by Sanjay Dutt of Quantum Securities Ltd.
However, in November 2024, CBI closed the case on finding no wrongdoing by ICICI officials. Their closure report concluded that it was a standard transaction and there was no violation of law or criminal conspiracy involved.
Similar false claims on Roy viral in 2017
BOOM had debunked similar false claims that were circulating on WhatsApp about Roy's religion after the CBI raid at his residence in 2017.
The WhatsApp forwards had falsely claimed that Roy, born to a Bengali Hindu father and an Irish mother, was a member of the Redemption Cathedral in New Delhi. However, the office of The Cathedral Church of the Redemption had firmly denied these claims, stating that Roy was not a member.
(This story was originally published by boom, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
